Come to Me Quietly (Closer to You #1)(12)
Author: A.L. Jackson

On the other side, I straightened as a slow chill crept up my spine. Weeds grew high across the vast expanse of the vacant lot. In the distance, a fence rose to enclose another neighborhood to the south of ours, but in between were six acres of uninhabited land where we’d spent so many hours as children. The trails our play had tracked were no longer visible. The trees that had once housed our fairy tales now seemed out of place, tall and full in the backdrop of this barren desert. Stickers pricked at my legs as I trudged across to our tree. I hadn’t been out here in so many years.

I stood beneath the rotting wood, the small pieces of two-by-four that had been nailed to the trunk still offering their escape. I found my footing on the lowest one and gripped a branch as I hoisted myself up. Tentatively I took the next step, and the lower level of our fort came into view.

I yelped when the third step gave, but I managed to hold myself up on a solid branch, pulling myself up the rest of the way.

I settled onto the stretch of plywood that we had so carefully hammered into the safety of the tree. This little fort had seemed so massive when we’d built it. I drew my knees to my chest and rested my head back against one of the large branches that grew up from where the trunk had segmented into four.

And I closed my eyes.

SEVEN

Summer 1999

Aly dragged the heavy piece of wood as best she could. Jared called it plywood, and it was her job to get it from the fence to the tree. Earlier her dad had said they could use whatever they wanted as long as they didn’t make a mess and they brought his tools back.

“And watch your little sister, Christopher,” he’d said as he and their mom left to run some errands.

Aly turned around, walking backward as she struggled with the flat piece of wood. It was so big she could barely wrap her hands around it. It dug into her palms. She wanted to cry because it hurt, but she wasn’t a baby anymore. She was seven and she knew she needed to act like it. She tugged it harder, and it scraped along the ground. She huffed out a proud breath when she dropped it at the base of the trunk. “All done,” she said as she dusted off her hands.

“About time,” Christopher yelled from somewhere up in the tree, the sharp strike of a hammer echoing in her ears.

She jumped back when Jared suddenly dropped from the tree, landing on his feet.

“Good job, Aly Cat.” He leaned down and hefted the plywood over his head, balancing it on one shoulder as he climbed back up the tree. “This is going to be the coolest fort in history,” she heard him say.

“Can I be in the club, too?” she called as she attempted to climb up the same way Jared had gone.

“No,” Christopher immediately retorted, while Jared said, “Depends. You gotta pass the initiation first.”

Her stomach hurt a little. She didn’t think she’d be good enough.

She climbed up toward the sounds happening above her, the ground slowly disappearing below. She wrapped her hand around a branch and pulled. It snapped and her foot slipped. She screamed as she fell.

She hit the ground hard. She struggled to find her breath, but it was gone. Her heart hurt and it made her head hurt and she tried to scream again. Finally something gave and she wheezed air into her lungs. She slowly sat up, her attention going to the pain in her elbow. Blood oozed from a big cut. It hurt so bad, and she squeezed her eyes shut because she didn’t want to cry.

“Aly, are you okay?” Jared’s voice was frantic as he shook her shoulders.

She slowly opened her eyes to find Christopher gaping at her from behind Jared, his eyes wide with fear. Jared shook her again. “You okay?”

“My arm.” She couldn’t keep herself from crying any longer. Tears fell in hot streaks down her dirty face.

Jared looked down and then squeezed his own eyes. “Christopher, she’s bleeding really bad.”

“Oh man, oh man, I told you we shouldn’t bring her. Now we’re gonna get in trouble.”

Jared stayed focused on Aly. “Can you walk home?”

Aly vehemently shook her head. Her whole body hurt.

Jared scooped her up in his arms, kind of like he’d done with the wood, but a lot gentler. “Come on, Aly. Let’s get you fixed up.”

She clung to him while he carried her home. He was breathing all funny and hard by the time he closed the toilet seat and set her down on it. He wet a washcloth under water and kneeled in front of her. It was cold when he pressed it to her arm. She jerked a little because it stung.

“I hate blood,” he mumbled as he cleaned her arm.

Christopher rummaged through the medicine cabinet. “Here.” He shoved a box of bandages at Jared.

Jared carefully peeled back the wrapper and placed it on her cut.

He let out a breath, then smiled up at her as he ruffled a hand through her hair. “All better?”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “All better.”

EIGHT

Aleena

That night, I lay in bed, staring at the shadows as they climbed along my ceiling, listening to the peace outside my window. It was late. I’d gotten off work after eleven o’clock tonight, my pockets filled with tips from the busy evening. Apprehension had fluttered in my stomach when I returned to the apartment. The night had been still, the trees seeming frozen in time as I stepped from my car. Fear had clamored through my chest when I thought perhaps Jared had run, come back to the apartment in the middle of the day while I was gone and packed up his belongings, and turned his back on the things he didn’t want to face.

But when I opened the door to the silence of the apartment, I’d found Jared’s bag still shoved in the corner of the room, and I was struck with a deep relief that eclipsed the flickers of anger I’d felt throughout the day.

I couldn’t stand to leave things between us the way they’d been this morning.

After a shower to wash away the grime from the greasy kitchen, I’d crawled in bed with my sketch pad and allowed my thoughts to drift. I’d captured images, each time feeling I was close to touching on something beautiful, but in every stroke I saw my own imperfection. I’d drawn until my eyes had sagged with exhaustion and I’d finally set the pad aside.

But I couldn’t find sleep.

Hours passed, and now I stared.

Waited.

I rose to my elbows when I heard the apartment door whine open. Craning my ear, I listened, trying to discern the footsteps. They were subdued, but even then, I could tell they were too heavy to be Christopher’s.

Muted sounds leaked into my room. I rolled from bed, quieting my feet as I crossed the room. I slowly turned the knob, cringing with the slight creak it gave, and carefully pulled it open. Tiptoeing, I edged along the hall.