Indwell (Chasing Natalie's Ghosts) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shirt. His arms were strong. I wondered what he did during the day when I was at school. I didn’t like to think of him going away to college soon, as he once mentioned. He had said that he had been planning on leaving this town before his parents died. I couldn’t help but wonder if he thought of leaving again soon. I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to go. I knew he liked being in the country, but there were some amazing places that I could see him liking a lot more. I thought back to the mountains that used to be in our back yard when I was young. The two little kids that went missing there flashed before my eyes.
    It’s strange how the memory of that day came flooding back. I could actually feel the hot sun that day, blurring the lines between the earth and the sky as I had walked out of the house. The grass was prickly beneath my bare skin as I took unsteady steps out into the backyard. I had taken a few steps more when strangely I knew what was coming for me. By instinct, I tilted my head up toward the mountain ready to greet them. The warm breeze was intense as it blew through my hair. I smiled and breathed it in as it washed over me. My toes even tingled as the breeze began to subside. I smiled and whispered, `Good Bye’. I was in another world, mesmerized, as the two little faces disappeared in front of me. 
    I can remember afterwards, hearing my mother shout, “They’ve gone missing!”  She had run into the house, throwing her laundry basket to the floor. She was shaking as she told John to take care of me for a little while.
    “Mary needs me and I have to help her,” she had explained as she walked out the door, locking it behind her. I was scared but this wasn’t the first time she had left us alone. My mother was usually alone for weeks at a time until our father would show up with food and good cheer but needless to say, sometimes we ran out of food before he returned. She used to hitch a ride into the small town of Golden Bridge to try and beg for food from friends or the church for us. 
    When my mother had returned that afternoon, she was dirty, wet and crying. She gave us each a hug, silently, without saying a word. She went into her room to change. When she came back out I noticed the dirt was still smudged on her face. She had streaks on her cheeks now, revealing where the tears had fallen.
    “Mary’s babies have gone missing,” she stammered. Her words were catching in her throat as the tears began to roll down her cheeks again. As she sat there shaking, her shoulder bones jutting out, she reached for me on the couch.
    “Don’t cry. Jessie and Billy are happy now.” I tried to calm her. She smiled at me, not wanting to upset my optimism. Jessie and Billy were the closest neighbors we had on that dusty, long road. We had only been there a few months, but my mother and Mary became very close friends. They would help each other if there were any problems or if they were just lonely.
    Jessie was five years old and Billy was seven that summer they disappeared. They were known to run off. My mother had been out many times with Mary hunting them down. Sometimes they would come over to our yard to play or sometimes they would head into the woods across the dirt road, but they always found their way back home. This time it was different. They had been gone since dawn and the sun was now beginning to set. The search party had been set up that afternoon. A lot of people from the town had driven out to help with the search.  My mother was home to check on us and she planned to go back out. As she was about to leave again I ran over to her. I had to tell her what I knew, what I saw, what I felt. I had to somehow make her understand. As a young child I didn’t really comprehend all of it. At that time it had seemed so simple.
    “They are okay mommy. You don’t have to keep searching anymore. You can stay home,” I tried to convince her.
    “I want to stay honey but Mary needs me to help her. She