chapter 17

SIX YEARS AGO

David and I were playing hide and seek in the woods. It was part of dads training. This time I had to find him, which was no easy task. He was better at stealth between the both of us. His far superiority sometimes got me feeling down but he always noticed and comforted me- saying that he had more experience, and I had just needed more time to learn and I could be as good as him. I knew he was trying to make me feel better and that I would never be on his level but it still encouraged me at the moment.

Anyway, that day as I moved through the woods to find him, I entered further than I usually did. The reason being, David wasn't one for following Dave's rules. As a matter of fact, he would sometimes go out of his way to break Dave's rules and he always got into trouble for it. I hated hearing Dave yell at him those times... It scared me to think maybe Dave would get tired and kick David out, but it never happened.

I went deeper into the forest and I kept on wondering until I saw footprints in the soil. I got excited thinking David had gotten sloppy. I followed the footprints until I got to an opening in the middle was a creek. I had never seen this place so I moved around it. The water was so clear that I could see my reflection. I stared in awe until I heard rustling in the bushes nearby. I froze and slowly turned around. Staring at me were too glowing blue eyes.

Like I previously stated David's eyes were unnaturally blue so much so that under the right lighting they seemed to almost glow...., Which is why I felt zero fear staring into those blue eyes, however instead of my dear David, out popped a boy his age, wearing ragged clothes that were torn in some places. I was initially surprised and confused but I did not get a chance to feel anything else as the boy ran and tackled me in a shockingly fast motion. I hit the ground hard and I felt his whole body weight squelching me. I knew I was in a bad position so I used all my strength to roll. It worked a bit too well because we ended up falling into the creek. He obviously let go of me once we entered the water which was deeper than I initially thought and I used the opportunity to swim away from him.

I climbed back onto the bank taking a deep breath. I turned to see my attacker and realized he was struggling to swim and he didn't make a sound. Come to think of it even when he was squelching me he never made a sound. I decided to save him before he drowned and I did. It wasn't easy as he was much bigger than me... like David. I struggled to get him on the bank especially with him trashing and pushing me away. In the end, I had to hold his head and force him to look into my eyes so he could see I wasn't a threat. He eventually calmed and I managed to get him to follow my lead. We made it to dry land both completely wet.

After catching my breath I studied the boy. Who was he? Why was he in rags and what on earth was he doing in the forest? It made no sense to me. I walked towards the boy who was still trying to catch his breath. The moment he began backing away. He looked genuinely scared and it reminded me of myself when I lived with my mother... I sat down in front of him and patted the space beside me urging him to come to sit beside me. Unsurprisingly he didn't. He just looked at me with confused eyes, for a moment it looked like he was actually going to come but at that moment we both heard a noise in the bushes nearby and he ran into the wood. I wanted to follow him, he seemed scared and in need of help but as I stood up I heard another noise

"D!" It was David, I realized that I had forgotten all about our game and he must have been worried. Looking around I noticed it was night time. Had I been with that boy for that long?

I ran in the direction of David's voice and found a very worried David looking for me.

"I'm here!" I shouted as I ran in his direction. I could see the relief on his face when he saw me. I got scolded by both him and Dave who was apparently checking a different part of the woods. My excuse was that I got bored and started wandering and lost track of time because neither of them would believe me if I said I got lost and I didn't want to tell them about the boy... I probably should have but something told me he would not like that.

Over the next week, I went back to the creek bringing food and clothes. On the first day the boy didn't come back there so I left the cloths and food and when I came back the next day the clothes were gone and food was eaten. On the third day I found him waiting by the bank, he was wearing the clothes I had brought. They were David's but only the ones he wouldn't notice were gone. I turned quickly when he heard me coming. He looked nervous as he shuffled on the spot,

" Hi," I said trying to lighten the mood. He did not respond. I came and sat by the creek and motioned for him to come sit with me, this time there was not interruption so he did as I asked. I brought bandages with me because I saw he had some cuts on the first day we met. I slowly placed his hand close to me and began bandaging him. He didn't seem to mind and just looked at me intently. It made me a bit nervous having some watch me so closely. I wanted to do it faster but, I did not want to hurt him or frighten him either so my pace was relatively slow.

I tried talking to him but he never responded. I guess he can't talk. Once I was done I packed up and left. He watched me leave the entire time. For some reason even after I had reached closer to my house I could still feel his eyes on me. For the rest of the week, I would go see him. Fix up any new scratches he got. I tried asking him who he was and what he was doing there but he never responded he always had a blank look on his face. I suspected abuse, and bad parents like my mother but I never voiced my suspicions.

On the last day that I saw him, I brought some games. I tried to teach him games like Ludo, Snake and Ladder, but he looked bored. So I opted for I more physical game like tag. It was fun. we were both fast and the game dragged on. At some point, he fell into a muddy puddle. I laughed as I rushed to him but I slipped and fell beside him. My face was covered in mud and he laughed. It caught me off guard hearing his voice. We both laughed at ourselves as we got up. I took off my jacket and jumped into the creek to clean myself. He watched me for a while then took off his shirt and jumped in with me. He cause a splash and I was worried for a moment remembering that he could not swim. But he surprised me by swimming toward me. Did he learn to see in the last 5 days?

We played in the water for a while until we had to get out of the water and that was the first time I saw them. Scars. Spreading across his back. It shocked me and seeing my shocked face the boy looked self-conscious about his back. He face me as if supposed to hide his back from me and refused to meet my eyes. I slowly walked toward him and lifted his head so our eyes could meet. And I hugged him. I understood him.

I had scars too... from my mother. Mine had faded a bit but they were still very visible from all years of abuse. As we hugged I took hold of his hands and brought them into my shirt and to my back. I stopped moving his hand freeing him feel all my scars for his-self. He looked at me with shocked understanding and the hug tightened and lasted longer than socially acceptable. He started crying and I patted his bare back, calming him. He still didn't speak and this time I didn't ask.

I came back the next day and he was nowhere to be found. I waited and waited and continued coming back the next few days, but he never came back. I started to wonder if he was just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I wanted someone other than David to play with and I imagined him. It didn't know what to think or how to feel... I ended up repressing thoughts of him until I completely forgot about him... Until now.

BACK TO PRESENT

Dean looked at me with hopeful eyes that just like that day seemed to glow. "Did you remember?" he asked walking towards me.

I looked at him with disbelief, " You... You're him?"

He nodded slowly, I could see he was about to start crying... I could blame him as I was also tearing up.

It was going to be a long night.