The Most Meaningful Gift

"Liam! Hurry up it's time to open your presents!" Liam's mother called out to Liam who was upstairs at the time.

It was Liam's birthday, but he had been making himself scarce all day due to his utter dislike for birthdays or attention in general. It also did not help that this was his first birthday where his sister could not be here. Liam's older sister, Nicole, had protected Liam since he was little and she was the only member of the family that could lure Liam out of hiding to socialize with others.

He might have been more willing to socialize without Nicole there if he knew that this was the only time she wouldn't be here, but he knew she would never be at another one of his birthdays.

Nicole had been diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer 3 years prior which was a gigantic shock to the whole family since she was so young and it is rarely seen in 19 year-olds. Liam was 14 (almost 15) at the time she was diagnosed and he stayed in denial about her condition until she started being visibly sick to him. She had been able to hide her signs of sickness from him for a long time trying to prevent exposing him to her pain. Once it was severe enough that she couldn't hide it from him anymore, then her decline happened rapidly. Liam held onto the hope that she could get better until the very end, and when she passed away just a couple months ago, he felt like his soul was broken in half.

Liam had told his parents that he did not want to have a birthday party this year because it was just too soon after Nicole's passing; however, they said that she would've wanted him to continue living life and they were throwing a party anyway. He reluctantly agreed to have the party to honor his sister's wishes.

When he heard his mother calling up to him from downstairs, he knew it was time for him to pull it together and go down there. Since the wound was relatively fresh, he was still in shock and feeling numb.

Okay, I have to put on a smile and go down there. I don't want to bring everyone else down because of me. Liam thought to himself as he slid off his bed where he had been laying down under the orange and blue tie-dye blanket that his sister had gifted him on his birthday last year. He slowly descended on the stairs and worked up more and more of a smile as he got closer to the bottom.

When he reached the first floor of the house and then creeped into the living room area he heard "Happy Birthday!" erupt from the small group of family and friends that were present. A quiet "thank you" escaped his mouth and he walked towards the middle of the room where his presents were piled up.

Amidst all of the birthday bags and wrapping paper covered in bright colors and interesting shapes, one present caught Liam's eye because it was a box wrapped in plain brown paper with just a pink ribbon around it. This struck Liam as being very suspicious because he hadn't ever seen any of his friends or family use just brown paper to wrap a present. He also thought to himself who would put a pink ribbon around one of my presents?

He reached for the suspicious package first to end the suspense, but then he heard his mom's voice from across the room say "Save that one for last, it's special". He felt the urge to roll his eyes, but he pushed it down and decided against it. He followed his mom's instructions and started opening the other presents in front of him.

Several hollow "oh wow" and thank-yous later, it was time to finally open the package with the brown paper. Liam held it in his hands for a moment before going to open it, almost like once he opened it the suspense would be gone and then it would just be back to feeling numb. He touched the pink ribbon gently to pull it off the box and instantly he got a flashback of when his sister received a care package that had pink ribbon representing breast cancer. Once he touched that ribbon he knew it was the same one. It was softer than any other ribbon he had felt before and that stood out to him when he touched it the first time probably 8 months ago.

The memories that the ribbon brought back only made him more curious about what could be in the box. He ripped the brown paper off faster than he had unwrapped any of the other presents. Underneath the paper was just a plain giftbox with no indication of what could be inside. He lifted the top of the box off to reveal what appeared to be a journal.

Wow, all that suspense for just a journal Liam thought. His mother could see his confusion and disappointment so she told him to open it. He opened it to the first page and saw his sister's handwriting.

Hi Liam,

If you're reading this than what I feared has come true - it's your 18th birthday and I'm not there. I don't know how long I've been gone, but I know that according to you me being gone from this Earth for 10 seconds would be too long. I am so sorry that I cannot be there for this milestone in your life. I want you to know that even though you turn 18 and are considered an adult, it's okay to still be scared about things. You don't have to put a wall up and hide your emotions about me being gone (or anything else) because you're scared of what will happen if you fall apart. I promise you that mom and dad will be there to put you back together or support you no matter what. I am going to fill up the rest of this journal with random thoughts and things that I wish I could be there to tell you in person. I hope that it can be a comfort for you to have this book with only my words in it that you can read anytime you want. I'm always going to be with you in your heart.

I love you,

Nicole

The first genuine smile since Nicole passed spread across Liam's face after he finished reading that first page of the journal. He could feel the peace that came with knowing he had a piece of Nicole that had not been shared with anyone else and never would be.

The End.

Note from the Author: Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read this story. My heart goes out to anyone who has personally dealt with cancer in any way.