Our Final Dreams

It had been twenty four years since she`d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, when did you last see her Daniel, as Daniel stepped back looking up at the house where he once lived with Charlotte his head slowly turned and now facing John he relied "I`d say a good 18 months" and slowly Daniel turned his head and looked at the house again and the memories that stilled in his eyes of what had been such a dear place in his heart.

Daniel slowly walked backwards to purely get in all the warmth that surrounded his heart when gazing around the old place, and when suddenly Daniel stumbled, luckily John was at hand to grab him and stop him from tumbling onto his backside "Woh! thank you John" as Daniel turned to look down to see what had made him stumble he spotted in the ruff looking long grass a head of a garden ornament appeared.

John bent down to collect what was lying there, it was a cherub still in tacked but the paint work had lost it`s beauty but nevertheless it was noticeable, John handed it to Daniel "She is looking old Daniel" as Daniel gazed at it in his hand, a small tear gathered in the corner of his eye remembering when he bought this for Charlotte with his first pocket money he received from his father for helping in the garden, and the joy on her face when she saw the cherub for that very first time.

Daniel walked a bit closer to the house and laid his hand on the front door and closed his eyes, he slowly breathed in and out and then came a sigh, as he opened his eyes, it was a like he had been sent back in time, visions of himself and charlotte running around him and back into the house up the stairs and back again, a memory he forgotten, but as he closed his eyes again and took a deep breath he opened his eyes once again, and the memory had disappeared.

John and Daniel had grown up on the estate, looking quite ruff now to what it used to be when they were kids, the houses around them falling apart, yet in the distance there was a large board stating that there was future new homes to be built on this estate, "Can you see that Daniel, the council are taking our memories away" as Daniel looked over he also spotted the sign, "Maybe so John, but let`s hope the kids of the future have the memories we have"

As they both smiled at each other John asked, "How is Charlotte these days?" Turning to face John with the cherub still in his hand "She ain`t been to good lately, but she is a fighter" John walked over to Daniel and placed his hand on his shoulder "She will get through this Daniel" Placing the cherub into his pocket making sure it was safe, as he knew this would be the highlight of Charlottes day when he sees her again, and gently hands her that tiny item that brought so much joy to her face when they were children.

“So, Daniel, what happened here, why did you want to revisit your old place again?” asked John, another deep sigh came, as Daniel looked at John the tears welled up in his eye`s once more “This was the only place I ever felt so safe, our mum & dad always there for us, and you really could feel the love in our family even at such a young age, and my mum & dad the love they had for one another really glowed”

“You really are such a sentimentalist Daniel, can you remember that day your dad made that tree house for us, that was awesome, and Charlotte with her friends trying to pull out the nails so it would fall apart?” Daniel grinned at that “Yes that was a great time, my dad was so good at making things when he put his mind to it.

It was now coming in dark, and Daniel knew it was about time they both left, yet Daniel just couldn`t seem to drag himself away, “What happened to you dad Daniel, as you never ever said?” Daniel slowly turned to face John and said “When Charlotte was 7 she was due to go to her dance class, mum obviously couldn`t take her as I had a Drs appointment so we all waited in for my dad, as he was on his way home from work”

Daniel put his head in his hands and even after all these years he still cried of losing his dad, “There had been accident on the way home, so dad decided to take a different route home and he was only 10 minutes away from home when a truck hit his car and sent it diving into the river, we didn`t know at the time what had happened and mum was getting frantic with worry, when my uncle Michael came and told us what had happened”

Again John put his hand on Daniels shoulder, “Oh my god Daniel, and you`ve carried this on your shoulders all these years, you must miss your dad so much” replied John walking down the steps away from the house and towards Johns car Daniel turned and looked again for the final time at his loving home full of loving memories.

“How has Charlotte taken to all this?” as they both got into the car, and Daniel fixed his seat belt up he placed his hands on his lap, “She hasn`t taken it well, you won`t know she contracted brain tumor?” John turned his head quite fast to look at Daniel “What?.....A Brain Tumor, Oh My God Daniel, I`m so so sorry to hear this news” Daniel gazed at the house again from the car window and replied “After mum remarried Charlotte couldn`t cope with it, as she thought it would have been Mum & Dad forever, and after that things didn`t go well for her”

“She didn`t resort to drugs did she Daniel?” with a worried expression from John as Daniel was staring at the house still and trying to log all the memories and store them deep inside him, he said to John “God no, she had a nasty fall about 3 years ago and she constantly getting headaches, as ever Drs didn`t check properly and she had another fall about 5 week`s ago, and was rushed into hospital”

John so wanted to asked more questions but felt it wasn`t the time to ask anything, as he could see Daniel hurting so much inside, “Daniel turned and said “That`s when she was admitted to hospital and after a brain scan we knew, and sadly she has months, not years, so I`m doing all I can to help her and her family” John decided to start up the engine and left.

As they pulled up outside of Daniel`s home, Daniel thanked John for his kindness for giving up his day to help him with what is going on in his life, at that moment Daniel had a text from Charlotte, he chuckled “What`s making you laugh” asked John, he passed the mobile to John for him to read, after reading it and whatever the text read John said “Do you think we could get Charlotte to come with us next time as a surprise, as I think she could let her demons rest before her time?”

Daniel was shocked to hear this, as it was something he wanted to do but as he didn`t drive this was an issue, so again his best friend John came to his rescue and Charlotte`s knight in shining armor “John that would be awesome, but we must keep it a secret” John nodded and agreed, Daniel slowly got out of car and again thanked John for his kindness for what he had done for him “It`s what friends do Daniel”.

Charlotte`s health got worse, and as the weeks passed Charlotte got to the point she couldn`t cope with the pain she was constantly feeling, so Daniel knew he had to act fast on this little treat for her, Daniel got Charlotte settled before her children returned home and asked if she would like a cup of tea before he left to pick up his daughter from school “Yes please Daniel that would be so kind of you” she replied Daniel turned and replied “Anything for my little sister” as he walked away he could of sworn he heard Charlotte whimper.

As Daniel made the tea, he sneakily called John, “Hey Daniel, how`s things buddy” trying to hold the tears back he asked John about this plan they came up with, “Erm how`s Thursday for you Daniel?” at that moment Charlotte shouted out “Who you talking to Daniel?” all went quiet for a moment “John Thursday is great, shall we say around 11ish?” after agreeing the time and day Daniel took in Charlotte`s cup of tea, “Who were you talking to in there?” Daniel had to think quickly here “The School, making sure Sofia was ready for home” Charlotte knew he was up to something, but didn`t say anything else.

Thursday came, and Daniel was at Charlotte`s and he told her he had a little surprise for her, as ever Charlotte demanding what the surprise was, “Ah that would soil the surprise wouldn`t it, suddenly the door bell chimed, “Can you answer that for me Daniel please” asked Charlotte, as Daniel made his way to the front door he knew exactly who it was “Hey buddy” said Daniel as John walked into the house John asked “Does she know yet” with a small snigger, “Good god know, and I`ve still got that cherub in my pocket, as I thought that would make it even more special for her” John tapped his shoulder “Good thinking my friend”

They all entered Johns car and once in the car Daniel said “Right little sister I want you to wear this eye mask” Charlotte looked at him and asked “What on earth for Daniel?” as he turned she smiled and said “You`ll have to wait” to keep matters sweet and calm she agreed to wear the mask for the hell of it, and off they went, and to Charlotte the journey seemed to take hours, “We are nearly there sis” Daniel stated, and not long after that they arrived at their destination.

As they parked up, John got out of the car and Daniel followed, then once they got out they both helped Charlotte, as she stood there John walked around to the back of the car to get a small folded up chair for Charlotte to sit on, Charlotte asked “What are two up to?” with a little chuckle, “Here sit on this chair” said John, as they both guided her arms to the seat Charlotte managed to grab hold, as she was still wearing the eye mask.

“Well sis, are you ready for this?” asked Daniel “Ready for what?” replied Charlotte, as John walked over to Charlotte he slowly took of the eye mask, and as John and Daniel feared this would not be good idea, her eye`s widened and her chin dropped “Oh my god Daniel, it`s our old house” the joy and tenderness in her face made it all complete, “I wanted to give you a piece of your childhood again, and to share our memories once again” said Daniel, the tears welled up in her eye`s “Our home, our family home, we had some great time`s here didn`t we Daniel, can you remember the tree house…..” Daniel stopped her there and said “I`ve told John all about your tactic`s of trying to pull out the nails”

The tears slowly running down her face, when Daniel bent kneeled down beside her and said “I have something here for you sis, something I think you lost” as Charlotte looked at him, he pulled out of his pocket the small cherub that John and Daniel found hidden away, as he handed it to her she flung her arms around his neck “I love you so much big brother….you are my brother and my best friend”

After a while gazing and talking about all the fun time`s they both had with their mum & dad and everything was perfect then, life was always good, and holding her lost cherub that Daniel bought her all those years ago when they were kids, she thought to herself our life was good if not better and that was all that mattered