My Book Of Random Things

The Reminder (Short Story)

   ❌❌❌ART IS NOT MINE❌❌❌
-This is a short story i wrote a couple months ago but I changed it up a bit (Thanks for reading it)-

        The eyes, of the painting, seemed to follow Alex as he walked down the corridor. It was a bittersweet reminder, of his mistake; His poor little sister, was now dead, all because he was oblivious to her pain.
    Before the funeral, he saw it; all the words, all the bruises, all the pain, carved into her soft, pale skin. And not once, through any of it, did he notice any of it. He felt so stupid, so useless; He was supposed to be her big brother; to protect her, help her... save her. Out of all his feeling there were three that stuck to his the most. Anger, Confusion, and Sadness.
    The anger for himself; He never noticed the pain, he knew he should've, but he didn't. But some was also reserved for her; How could she never tell him, why didn't she tell him? He let out his anger by throwing things, whenever he got the chance.
    The confusion came in when he asked himself all these questions, that would most likely never receive an answer; Why did she do it? Why didn't she tell him? How could he not have noticed? Why did he let this happen? When did all of it start? Why did it start? All these questions, but almost no answers.
     But then sadness; He knew she was gone, that she wasn't coming back, that with all the long sleeves, jeans, fake smiles, and spacing out, she didn't want him to know.And that he probably wouldn't have been able to stop it either way. He knew that at least but, why?
    Finally, he looked at the painting, the one painting he had made to remember his little sister. He smiled at the beauty of the painting. Alex had found the best artist he could and gave him a more recent picture, but told the artist certain changes he wanted, and the artist delivered the most beautiful painting he had ever seen, thought it wasn't anything compared to the real thing. The painting itself was from five months before his sister's death; She was sitting on a rock, in a short black dress, that faded to red at the bottom, and had a red belt and an off shoulder top, and no sleeves or shoes. Her long wavy black hair flowing down her back, framing her face perfectly, bringing out her crystal blue eyes, and her snow white skin, perfectly. Her lips were hot pink, and had a large smile of true happiness, but the tears, that shined like crystals, streamed down her face, told of her true pain. Though she looked so beautiful, the bleeding red marks on her arms told the truth; Even beauty is full of pain. But behind her was a faded blue and green paradise, letting others know she was in a better place than she was before.
    As Alex looked up he finally gave in, and allowed tears of his own, to slide down his cheeks, and opened his mouth, asking the same question he had been, ever since she died,
"Could I have saved you?" He let out, letting the silent sobs and cries out. Finally he couldn't take anymore, he turned away, unable to look at the portrait any longer. He walked back to his room, not sparing even a second to look back, but if he had, he would've seen the small girl, standing there letting out silent cries a permanent smile stuck to her face, as the tear slowly fell from her paper white skin.
She opened up her mouth and whispered out, wishing for him to hear her, "I love you, big brother, please don't blame yourself. You couldn't have known, I wouldn't have let you." And slowly, her body faded, and in the blink of an eye she was gone.

Thank you all to those who read
Chapter Question: What is your favorite book?
My Answer: Red Queen