“Do you remember?”
Simon stopped his bike at the tone of his sister's voice—turning to see her stare almost longingly at the forest's edge.
“Remember what? ” he asked, smiling a bit. He knew how it would go: she would ask a random question and he would give an answer only for her to turn it on its head.
“You got lost in those woods.”
Simon laughed. “Really?” He shifted to better look at her as the setting sun reflected on her bleach blonde hair, forming a halo around her head. The smile faded a bit from his face as he saw her serious expression.
“When you were three we were on our way to Grandpa's,” she said. “We got a flat, so we had to stop for Uncle Hugh to fix it.”
Simon noticed the sun was nearly gone and shifted back onto his bike, wondering where the story was going. “Look Lexi, I’m sure this is a cool story that can be told at home so we should probably get—”
She cut through his words as if she couldn’t hear him. “We were near this forest. Nothing else around us except for grass and a gas station half a mile away. I had to go to the bathroom and so mom went to take me while you stayed in the car.”
Lexi’s tone grew flat and her eyes unfocused, transfixed on the tree line.
Simon gave a forced chuckle as the last bit of sunlight left the sky. “Lexi, you’re starting to freak me out.”
He made to move towards her but she shifted out of reach, letting her bike clatter to the ground. “When we came back, you weren’t there, Mom and Uncle Hugh searched everywhere for you. Mom called the police—they searched everywhere, but nothing. It’s like you poof, vanished into nothingness .”
She walked towards the tree line, and her voice grew louder. “We hung up flyers. We called everyone we knew. We cried. Nothing. Five days you were gone. Five days of me being in my room at night, mom crying near me trying not to wake me up. Five days of police visits, and questions. So many questions...” She trailed off at the end.
And suddenly, she laughed. "Then you showed up. Just out of the blue on the sixth day. You rang the doorbell, with your stupid horse pajamas and not a single scratch on you.”
Simon was moving towards her, slower and more unsure with each step. “Look, Lexi, I don’t remember—”
“That's all you ever say. 'I don’t remember, I don't know,' not a single thing. All that worry, all that stress.”
“Lexi, you're scaring me.”
She flipped around towards him and gripped his shoulders. “Where did you go, Simon? Why can’t you just remember?”
“I don’t know…I’m, I’m sorry!”
Her breaths were short and quick, drawing steam in the chilled night. Her eyes were wild and wanting. "Don't you realize how important it is to remember?"
She seemed to reach a tipping point and all Simon could do was stand there, trapped. The moon shone brighter than it should. The shadows grew longer, clawing at his skin. The air grew heavy and cold. Simon couldn't breathe.
Then, it stopped.
Lexi relaxed, and then blinked, looking up at the night sky. “Oh damn, we're gonna be late. Come on Simon, Mom’ll kill us.”
She raced back towards their fallen bikes leaving Simon standing there.
The moon was once again a dim figure, the shadows far from him, and the air unnoticeably light. Had...had he imagined that. It seemed the only explanation.
"Come on Simon, or I'm leaving you behind."
On instinct, Simon raced forward. He grabbed his discarded bike and put his foot on the pedal.
He hesitated, though, and glanced back at the forest. The leaves on the trees looked like spikes, the branches like arms waiting to grab him.
He took a deep breath of the chilly night air. It was going to be okay. He just needed to get back home. The sentiment felt familiar somehow. Simon peddled after his sister as she raced along the dirt path.
Everything would be fine.
-
Scarlett Martinez (she/her) is a tenth grader in the WAVE Pathway at Woodrow Wilson High School. She has always enjoyed writing though admits to have a problem of jumping project to project. If she had to choose a quote to live by it would be, "If you can’t be kind, at least be vague.” —Judith Martin
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