Big Little Things - Chapter 2

Evelyn and Daniel saw each other again the next day after that, near the same place they met. She got her bear back, and Daniel... Daniel didn't change. Although he played with Evelyn and had fun with her, something just wasn't right.

It had been a couple of weeks since Evelyn had gone outside and played In the woods, so she decided to go out, supposing that he would have been down there. Every corner she turned, every tree she looked behind, and every bush she searched, he wasn't there. She thought nothing of it, so she ran back up the steep hill to her house only to notice that her neighbors weren't home.

She never paid attention because of all the yelling she would hear while playing outside, but it was no concern for her parents either. She would cover her ears when going inside to avoid the fear of whatever happened there.

She walked inside and her parents were sitting on the living room couch staring at her. Her mother smiled while her father had his eyes stuck on the television. "You weren't out there for long. Why'd you come back inside?".

Evelyn walked sluggishly toward the couch and sat down next to her mom, "My friend wasn't out there." She frowned and stared blankly at her bear as she fiddled with its fur.

Her mom smiled again and wrapped her arms around Evelyn, "You made a friend? What's her name?".

"It's a boy," She hesitated, "His name is Daniel."

Claire was determined about this boy. She never knew his name, but she was sure that she had seen him before. "Is he nice?" She asked calmly.

She nodded and continued playing with the bear until she fell asleep on her mom's lap. After a while, she woke up in her bed. The lights were off but her door was ajar and the only thing she could see was the silhouette of a boy. She got out of her bed and went to check who it was, but in the flicker of light, he disappeared. She awoke on the couch to the microwave going off, her parents were in the kitchen preparing for an afternoon snack.

Not only did that catch her attention, but she also heard people talking next door. She peeked through the curtains and saw two men and women talking beside their cars. She immediately backed away from the window and ran to the kitchen.

"Mommy, who are those people by our house?" She asked while watching her put another plate into the microwave.

Both her mom and dad looked at each other with confusion in their eyes, then looked at her. "It's just the neighbors, sweetie. Don't pay attention to them". Her mother answered with no expression on her face.

Evelyn ran back to the living room and sat by the window, watching the people next door put bags into one of the cars. After they all left, she stared at the now empty driveway, wondering if they would be back. She asked to go outside again to go look for Daniel, still hoping that he would have been out there, but he wasn't.

She cried herself to sleep that night, worrying about him. She didn't have many other friends to play with, mostly because there weren't any other children that lived near her, but she waited to see her friend for a long time.