Leah Adams woke up one beautiful spring morning to the most unpleasant sound of the long yellow school bus passing her home in Tennessee. A few moments passed by and the roar of the bus could still be heard as it made its way down the hill. Leah groaned softly, and slowly crawled out of her bed, dreading the fact that she had to go through another Monday morning, her least favorite day of the week. She moaned softly at the annoying pain in her back that seemed to intensify a bit each day and then walked over to the bathroom which was decorated plainly in a shade of blue and peered into the mirror. Leah frowned at what she saw, her face was old and wrinkled and all signs of youthfulness had disappeared long ago. Anyone who saw her would assume she was about seventy years old, but her real age was sixty-five. Her skin was light, almost pallid, mainly because she spent most of her time indoors. Leah’s only feature that was somewhat admirable was her sparkling grey eyes that seemed alert and alive all the time. She grabbed a gold charm bracelet that gleamed brightly in the light. It was given to her by her husband and son on her fiftieth birthday. They both died about five years ago in a tragic plane crash into the Atlantic Ocean. Leah pushed the memories out of her mind and after brushing her perfectly white teeth, and styling her sandy-blonde hair into neat curls she applied some makeup, grabbed her purse and keys, and then headed out the doors of her lonely home. 

Just a few moments later, Leah stormed back into house, slamming the door behind her. Her cheeks were flushed red as she threw her purse on the floor and went back into her bedroom. She had completely forgotten to change out of her blue-plaid pajamas and her fuzzy white slippers. The careless laughter of the impudent teens in the neighborhood still rang in her ears as she threw on a plain brown designer skirt and a blue button-up sweater. For the second time that morning she walked out of the house and got into her car. As she passed the teens who had laughed at her just minutes ago she looked straight into their reckless eyes and showed them her middle finger. She chuckled as their mouths dropped in surprise. Hopefully they wouldn’t tell their parents, Leah though regretfully.

“Reputation is key,” she muttered to herself as she thought of her own fairly good reputation. 

Just a few minutes later Leah pulled her car into a popular coffee shop that she visited just about every morning. Usually she came with some of her friends, but for the rest of the week they would be vacationing in Cuba. She walked in, almost slamming the door behind her because of her bad mood. In the middle of the seating area a group people were crowded around an older man who seemed to be telling funny stories. Everyone’s joyous laughter only seemed to give Leah a headache as she ordered a cup of coffee. She didn’t even realize that her treasured gold bracelet had fallen off her hand as she sat down at a table near the back of restaurant. 

The large group in the middle of the restaurant roared with laughter again, this time even the staff members were laughing. Leah rolled her eyes; it was obvious she was annoyed. 

“Have they no manners whatsoever?” She muttered angrily, looking at the man who seemed to be the center of attention. 

The man wore a nice plaid, long-sleeved shirt tucked into a pair of blue jeans. He sat on top of the table and to Leah he acted like he owned the world. Around his wrist was a very expensive watch, which seemed to clash with his appearance badly. Leah suddenly gasped when she saw what was wrapped around his other wrist; her bracelet. The man saw her and winked, and returned his attention to the crowd. It was obvious he was probably telling jokes about the bracelet. Leah stormed towards the man, ready to give him a piece of her mind. 

A wave of silence flooded the restaurant as Leah neared the old man wearing her bracelet. Everyone’s eyes where focused on her because it was obvious not many people had a mean to thing to say about the arrogant man. His teasing eyes watched Leah, regarding her as no threat whatsoever. 

“That is my bracelet! Take is off this instance before I pull out whatever hair is left on your head!” Leah yelled her eyes full of rage. How dare he take something so special from her!

The man frowned, but there was still a mischievous gleam in his grey eyes. The exact same grey as Leah’s eyes in fact.

“Calm down miss, was only trying to lighten the mood in this place with a couple jokes. I found this pretty piece of jewelry on the floor. Forgive me, but all you guys seem to do these days are fight over politics and gossip about your friends!” he replied. Everyone in the room chuckled in agreement, except for Leah. 

She coldly replied, “Give it to me now.”

“Say please,” he teased.

Leah gave up talking and decided to use force as she swung her purse at the man, who was too surprised to dodge it. He slipped and fell off the table, coming into contact with the cold, hard floor. The whole room gasped in amazement, and nobody was able to speak a word. Leah immediately began to worry, what if he was hurt? What if her friends heard about this? Her worrying suddenly disappeared as the old man, who was on the floor, shot his arm into the air and showed off her gold bracelet as he waved it around teasingly. Leah’s mouth dropped open and then decided she was done with this. She pulled from her purse a cell phone and started to dial the police number. The man’s eyes widened as he realized he had gone too far.

“Wait! Come on now, this is no way to treat your own brother!” he said, with an apologetic smile on his face. Leah dropped the phone, and broke the dead silence of the room as it came into contact with the floor. She stared straight into his familiar eyes and repeatedly told herself he was lying. But a tiny seed of doubt had planted itself in her mind.

“You liar! Before this day is up, I’m going to have you in jail,” she said seriously.

“No really! I’m your older brother, Arnold! Son of Debbie and John, they got divorced when you were four and I was seven. We were separated with them,” Arnold replied, with honesty written all over his face.

“Liar,” Leah said.

“Oh come on! Do I have to pull out a birth certificate?”

Leah couldn’t handle what was happening, it was just too much for her to handle. She got up and swiftly left the restaurant, slamming the door very hard on her way out.

“We need to talk Leah! That’s why I’m here in the first place!” Arnold cried, as he watched her get into the car and drive away.

Later that evening Leah was on her computer, researching some information on Arnold. He had dropped by earlier and left a copy of his birth certificate on the doorstep, and eventually Leah came to accept the fact that he was her brother. Her memories of him had mostly faded away long ago, but she still remembered they were best of friends one minute, and enemies the next. Most siblings tended to be like that though. Leah was surprised when she saw that there were tons of articles on the web about Arnold. Some of them were about missionary trips, while others were about raising money for various causes. Apparently, Arnold was a millionaire. She found pictures of him with children and even holding animals from a rescue center. But what was strangest of all was that all of these events had occurred during the past few years. Any of the articles dated even earlier were about Arnold’s businesses and stocks.

The next day, Leah invited Arnold over to her home. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of her life. They spent the next few weeks practically glued to each other, in an attempt to catch up with all the years they had spent apart. Arnold had spent most of his life buying and selling businesses and soon became a millionaire, while Leah married a very successful doctor and became a stay at home mother. By the end of the first week, the two reunited siblings were best of friends. They spent all their time at parks, fairs, and many other places Leah never would of gone to before she met Arnold. She felt more alive than ever before, and realized she had missed out on so much in life. 

The happiness was short lived however, when Arnold collapsed during a church picnic. An ocean of tears continually ran down Leah’s face when the doctors told her Arnold had MOCD, a deadly disease that starts years before any symptoms arise. Once the disease actually starts to take affect the patient is tortured with excruciating pain throughout his whole body. There was a no known cure, but there was a medicine that might help the patient. The only problem was that the medicine would take ten days before the body is relieved of the disease. While the patient waited for the treatment to be effective he would be in extremely intense pain. Even then, the chance that the medicine would work was twelve percent, and the chance of a full recovery was only three percent. Arnold had no other family besides his sister. Leah would be forced to decide whether to take him off life support and end his suffering, or keep him alive and in pain for a slim chance of recovery. She spent that night weeping at her brother’s bedside. How could she end the life of her own brother when they had finally become a big part of each other’s lives? Then again, how could she keep him tortured by the pain of the disease? The next morning, she informed the doctors to give Arnold the treatment. If she had learned anything at all during Sunday school so many years ago, it was that miracles could happen. Arnold was a miracle to Leah in the end, but not how you would think.

Arnold Adam’s funeral was held three weeks later and the days leading up to that sad day were the most miserable Leah had ever experienced. The treatment seemed to be working perfectly at first and the chance of Arnold recovering seemed to get higher each hour. It all ended abruptly though when he turned out to have an allergic reaction to the medicine, and before the doctors could take him off the medicine Arnold was gone, just like that. He had a nice funeral, and for a man with little family there were many friends there, all of whom had many wonderful things to say about Arnold. By the end of the service everyone was crying softly, especially Leah. As the service ended she was able to stop crying for a moment and overhear a young child speaking to her mother.

“Mommy, I don’t understand why everyone is crying. Don’t they know Mr. Arnold gets to spread kindness in Heaven now?” she said sincerely. The mother looked at Leah and they both began to cry again, although it wasn’t as sad this time around.

A couple weeks later, Leah discovered Arnold knew about his disease years ago. She was able to piece everything together from that point. When he learned of his illness, Arnold knew he had only so much time before he died. Looking back on his life he realized how greedy and selfish he had lived. Arnold decided it was not too late to change his ways, so he spent every second working for the benefit of others. In the end he had done what he aimed for. Leah could name countless times where families Arnold had helped came to speak to her about how much they appreciated him and how he was such a great influence on their lives. After learning this, Leah felt great shame, and realized how her life had been so selfish and greedy. The thought brought even more tears to her eyes, just when she thought she was done grieving. So when Leah learned she had inherited quite a sum of money from Arnold she knew exactly how it would be spent, Arnold had led her in the right direction. When Leah passed away years later, she died peacefully knowing she had lived a life she could be proud of.