Seven

Anne swung over the creek. Back and forth, back and forth, on the toy her father had strung up among the edge of the forest a decade ago. The ropes went high into the trees, disappearing into the leaves.

She hadn’t swung in ages. It’s childish, she always thought. I’m not a kid anymore.

But now she had returned to her safe space. Their safe space.

Lee was gone. Murdered.

Anne’s eyes welled with tears as the memory of her friend - no, her lover - flashed through her mind. Lee’s father had caught them kissing. She remembered his hand clenching around Lee in a fit of rage. How she was thrown across the room. Screams filled the entire house. Anne was kicked out, and Lee was never seen again.

Not even after death. Her body was too mangled for an open coffin.

Wind blew through Anne’s hair. The world was shockingly peaceful, too peaceful. She felt as if everything should be crumbling, because that’s how it felt. Her heart was absolutely shattered and she closed her eyes, remembering when they were just kids.

“Anne, come on!” Lee ran through the long stalks of wheat, her braids bouncing in the wind.

Anne could barely keep up, could barely see her friend. But eventually, they burst from the wheat field and stopped in front of a creek separating the wheat from the forest.

“You’re too fast!” Anne said, smoothing her messy blond hair. “Hey . . . what are those?” She pointed to bruises on Lee’s arms.

“I was caught by a pirate!” Lee said. “He took me to his ship and he wanted me to help him find buried treasure. But I wanted you to be a pirate, too. So he brought me home.”

“A pirate?! No way! They aren’t even real.”

“Yes they are,” Lee insisted. “Look, I’ll be one right now.” Fearlessly, Lee leapt into the creek.

“Lee you’ll drown!” Anne screamed. “Hurry! Swim out before the gators get you!”

“Come in! You’ll love it. It’s so nice and cool in here.”

Anne shook her head, taking a step back. “My daddy says not to do dangerous things. I could get hurt.”

“My dad says he’ll hurt me if I talk too much,” Lee shrugged, before turning back to swimming.

Higher, Anne swung. Higher. The creek beneath her. She wished she’d jumped in as even more memories flooded her mind.

They sat in the wheat field on a warm summer afternoon. “Lee . . .”

“What is it, Anne? You look serious.”

“I’ve been meaning to tell you . . . I think your house is haunted. Your dad is always mad, and that must be why.”

Lee let out a guttural laugh. “No way. Haunted? You’re silly, Anne. There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

“But there’s such thing as pirates?”

“Of course there is.”

Anne lay back with a sigh, staring up at the clouds. “I don’t get why he’s always so angry. You always have bruises. It makes me upset.”

Lee rolled to her side to look at Anne, taking a deep breath. “Bruises aren’t that bad. It’s only skin. Anyway, it lets me picture things better. Like I was on a big, brave adventure.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, like this one. This is from fighting a big bear in the woods. His giant teeth got hold of my arm! I thought I’d lose it, but at the last second, I grabbed a stick and THRUST it into his eye! The bear roared and fell off me. I had conquered the beast!” Lee was standing triumphantly, her fist in the air and a grin on her face. “You just have to see things different.”

Different. Lee had said. Always positive. Always careless. Perhaps that’s what got them caught. Or maybe it was Anne’s fault . . . Anne knew it was her fault. She never should have visited Lee that day. They should have gone to the swing like Lee suggested. They’d been sitting all too close on Lee’s bedroom floor. Anne never should have closed what little distance there was between them.

She had gotten Lee killed.

It wasn’t fair. Lee was good. She deserved better than her fate. Deserved to live a long, happy life. It should have been Anne.

“I’m so sorry, Lee.” Anne cried, staring up at the blue sky as she swung. “I did this to you. I let the fun die. I let you die. I wish we could be kids again. I wish I could see your face again. I wish - I wish that you could come live with me and we could be pirates. And he wouldn’t ever hurt you. You’d never cry, you’d never be hurt. But it’s too late for that now.”

“Hey, Anne,” Lee said, as they sipped sweet tea, enjoying the summer on Anne’s cottage-esque porch. “You have to promise not to tell anybody. But I love you. I love you to the moon and to Saturn.”

Anne smiled, a blush creeping up on her face. She turned away to try to hide it. “Cross my heart, I won’t tell no other. And Lee?”

“Anne?”

Anne finally met her friend’s gaze. “I love you to the moon and to Saturn, too.”

Lee reached over and grabbed Anne’s hand. “It’s like those folk songs about love. We’ll be together forever, Anne. I promise it.”

Anne had reached the swing’s peak, high above the creek. She could see the wheat field where they ran as young kids, her porch peaking out on the horizon where they shared their tea as pre-teens. And the run-down home that used to belong to Lee and now sat as a reminder for the rest of time.

Come in! You’ll love it! It’s so nice and cool in here!

My daddy says not to do dangerous things . . .

A deep breath, and Anne finally jumped off the swing. “I’m coming, Lee.” The creek was seven feet below, but for now, Anne was soaring. She could almost feel Lee’s arms around her as she flew through the sky like a bird. She would rejoin her love soon.

Just like a folk song.