georgey.

georgey would cut my toast into triangles and eat my crusts.  He would wear Sophie’s pink shoes and always go backwards down the slide at the big park near our dad’s work. We brushed our teeth together every night in the same sink, even though there were two in our bathroom. he would hold my hand when i walked down the stairs and say, “bless you,” every time i sneezed (even if it was four hundred times). georgey didn’t have to tell me he didn’t like it when mum and dad got mad—i just knew. My heart knew. Just like his heart knew Sophie hated the pink shoes that Mum bought her. Sophie wouldn’t stop crying, so Mum asked georgey to give Sophie his new black shoes. He didn’t say anything; he just gave them to her. i know his heart told him to do that, and i know georgey loved his black shoes, but he loved his sophie more. when georgey gave sophie his shoes, mum went to get something from the garage, and i followed her. I could hear Mum crying. happy crying. so, whenever georgey did something his heart told him, i would squeeze my eyes shut and try to remember every single thing – because that was real, real love. Mum says that real love is tricky; hearts open, and hearts close. I told Mum I never want mine to forget. When Sophie is with her friends, she always forgets to come back home. She doesn’t play games with me anymore; she just stomps around in her black shoes; she has lots of black shoes now; they all look weird and bad for running. When Mum says I love you to Sophie, she doesn’t say, I love you too, she just says, “I know, - I think she forgot you have to say it back. dad forgot to pick me up from school once, and i didn’t want him to see me crying. I shut my eyes and thought about the monster truck cake he made me for my birthday last year, and I felt my heart open, and all of my tears went away. I love my real, real love, even if it is tricky. "Sometimes, our hearts forget to talk to us..." georgey said that to me the first time Dad made Mum cry. I won't ever forget that. my heart says i want to wear the black shoes georgey gave sophie, but mum says i can’t go into sophie’s room unless she lets me. i wish her heart would tell her to let me in, and i wish georgey had told me he was going to die.