8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Erik
Thirteen years ago, age eleven
I zip up my jacket as I sneak along the perimeter of Rose’s backyard. It’s getting cold out, and I’m worried that she won’t want to come out to play. She’s a lot smaller than I am, and I think that means you get cold faster. I’ll be sad when the snow comes. It’ll be too cold for even me then.
As I approach the bush Rose is hiding in, my heart leaps. Its leaves have turned droopy, so I spot her pink coat with ease.
When she sees me, her face lights up, and she waves. “Erik!”
“Shh.” I crouch behind the bush and reach through the fence to grab her hands. “Gotta keep your voice down, remember?”
“Right,” she whispers. “Sometimes, I just get excited.”
“I know. Where are your mittens?” I rub her hands between mine, trying to get them warm.
“Lost them. Maybe they’re in the wash. Did you bring the paper?”
“Sure did.”
For weeks now, Raina has been begging me to teach her how to make paper airplanes. She says neither of her brothers will show her how, and she wants to beat them the next time they play together. I didn’t know how to make them either, but I found a couple tutorials on my mom’s laptop that worked well enough.
“Start by folding it like this.” I show her, watching to make sure she does it correctly. “Then this way. Yeah, that’s it. Oh, careful, it’s getting off center.”
“Oh, no!”
“Hey, it’s okay. Let me help.” I grab her paper and redo the crease so it doesn’t veer off to one side. “See? All better.”
“Thanks. Then what?”
I direct her through every step. Her hands are smaller than mine, and she still confuses her right from her left, but I don’t let myself get frustrated. I like Rose too much to get mad at her. Being homeschooled can be lonely, and I don’t want to screw up my only real friendship.
When we’re finished, Rose sighs. “I suppose I can’t fly it, can I?”
“Not without risking getting caught.” There’s too much of a chance that someone could see through one of the windows. “But it’ll work, I promise, and I’ll keep trying to look for different tutorials that are even better.”
“Thank you, Erik.” She reaches through the fence and grabs my hand. “I… I’m glad you’re my friend.”
I smile. “I’m glad you’re mine. And one day, we’ll get you out of here, and I’ll take you exploring. We’ll be together forever, all right?”
“You know I can’t, Erik.” She sounds sad, and her shoulders slump.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not real. You know that.”
“You’re real to me. Don’t you wanna see the rest of the world?”
She glances up at me hopefully. “You’ll keep me safe? From the bears and the strangers?”
“Always. I’ll—”
“Raina!” a harsh voice shouts. “What the hell are you doing?”
Rose gasps, and her fingers tighten around mine. “Erik, you have to go. Father can’t see you!”
But he’s already spotted her, so there’s no chance he’s missed me. I can’t abandon her. Not when he sounds so angry, and not when Rose always avoids talking about him. She doesn’t have to say it—I know he scares her.
“Erik! Go!” Rose tries to push at me through the fence as her father gets closer.
“I’m not leaving you.”
My stomach drops when I get a good look at Rose’s father’s face. He looks angrier than I’ve ever seen my own dad. He’s storming across the yard, his glare fierce.
“Get away from her,” he shouts.
I don’t budge. This is my fault. Ever since the leaves started drooping on the bush, I’ve been worried that someone would spot her. It’s too easy to see through it, and now that it’s cold, she’s forced to wear her bright coat instead of trying to disguise herself in greens and browns like I suggested.
Rose whimpers, trying to squeeze herself through the bars of the fence, but we both know the gap is too small. We tried to fit her through the second time we met so we could play tag.
“Stupid girl.” Rose’s father stoops down and reaches into the bush. He grabs onto the hood of her coat and yanks her back. “What did I tell you?”
“I’m sorry,” she sobs, yelping when he slaps her across the face.
“Rose!” I grasp the bars of the fence, wincing when he grabs her by her hair and drags her toward the house. “Rose, I’m sorry!”
She manages to look back at me as her father opens the door to the house. Tears streak her red cheeks, and she mouths my name, her eyes pleading.
“Don’t ever come back here,” her father snaps at me. “You’ll never see her again, you hear me?”
“I’ll save you.” I mean to shout it, but it comes out as a broken whisper. My throat is tight, my hands trembling as I stare at the door Rose disappeared through.
She’s gone. He took her. He hurt her.
“I’ll save you,” I say again, backing away. I’ll find a way to get her far from that cruel man so he can never hurt her again. So she’s never scared again.
As fast as I can, I run back into the forest and up the hill. When I get to my house, I burst into the kitchen. Mom is standing at the counter chopping up vegetables, and she yelps.
“Erik! You scared me. What’s wrong?”
“It’s Rose!” I’m panting and out of breath, but I can’t waste a single second. “She—she got hurt, Mom. I met her at our normal spot, and I was teaching her how to make paper airplanes, but then her dad came out. He—he hit her, and then he dragged her away. He said I’d never see her again, and then he threw her in the house. Mom, please, we have to help her.”
Frowning, Mom sets down her knife. “We’ve talked about this, sweetie. I know Rose feels real, but she’s not. You don’t have to worry.”
“But Mom, he hurt her. He—”
“That’s enough, Erik. You can’t keep using this as an excuse to not do your schoolwork. You’re already two weeks behind, and we’re not even halfway through the year.”
“No, that’s not—”
“Enough. I don’t want to hear another word of this. Go to your room and work on your math until your father gets home. I’ll talk to him about this then.”
“Mom, please. Please listen to me.”
“Go.”
With a frustrated yell, I stomp upstairs and slam the door to my room. My math books are on my desk, but I ignore them, pacing my room instead.
What am I going to do? What if Rose’s father hurts her more?
I’m not real. You know that.
But she didn’t mean it. She’s too little to even know what she was saying.
Because I don’t exist.
“No,” I whisper. “No, no, no.”
My knees hit the carpet, and tears fill my eyes as I remember Dad’s reaction when I came home after meeting Rose the first time.
Seriously? Your friend Rose gave you a rose? Nice try, buddy.
And later, I’d heard him talking to Mom, saying, You think he stole it from the Montgomery’s yard? Maybe he made up this girl to explain how he got the rose.
I sit like that, rocking myself back and forth until I hear the garage door opening. When the muffled voices of my parents talking drifts upstairs, I sneak out of my room and to the top of the steps. I know I’m not supposed to eavesdrop, but this is important.
“What if he’s telling the truth?” Mom is asking.
“We’ve been over this,” Dad replies, obviously frustrated. “We know he’s not. I’ve seen Montgomery family photos. They don’t have a daughter the age that Erik described. Just one, and her name is Marissa, not Rose.”
“I know, I just… I don’t want to brush this off if Charles is actually abusing a little girl. Do you think we should call the police? Just in case?”
Dad laughs. “Call the police on a Montgomery? Like that’ll do anything good. Besides, him and I are deep in negotiations. I can’t jeopardize all that just because Erik is growing up.”
“Growing up? What do you mean?”
“Hon, it’s obvious that’s what this it. It’s probably my fault for teasing Erik about Rose so much early on. He’s finally ready to move on from his imaginary friend, but he doesn’t know how to admit that he made her up, so he came up with a dramatic story about how she disappeared.”
“You’re sure? He’s just so upset.”
“I’m positive. This is just how kids are. He’ll be over it in a week.”
My body is frozen in place as they discuss potentially sending me to therapy. I want to scream, to cry, to throw something. But none of it will get them to understand. None of it will help Rose.
When it comes to saving her, I’m on my own.
But the next day, men come, and I watch from the forest as they tear the fence down. Over the next week, they build a stone wall so high I can barely see the window Rose told me is hers.
And I never see her again.