Richard Hale - Frozen Past

“I like your new haircut,” she whispered.

“It’s stupid,” he said and fiddled with it.

She reached up, pushed his hand out of the way and combed the hair over to one side with her fingers. Little electric shocks ran up and down his spine as she played with his hair. He didn’t want her to stop.

“There,” she said. “That’s better.”

He grinned and said, “Thanks.” He could feel himself blushing and was glad she couldn’t see it in the dark.

He looked up and found her staring at him with a little smile on her lips. He couldn’t help it. He smiled, too, and said, “What?”

She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It startled him and he almost pulled away, but then her soft, warm lips held him and he kissed her back. She pulled away a bit and whispered, “I know you’ve been wanting to do that, and I knew you never would, so…”

It was like he was floating in a pool of warm water. Sounds grew muffled and distant, his breath was quick and shallow, and all his senses tingled, feeling electric. He reached up, holding her face in his hands, and pulled her to him. He kissed her and felt everything else disappear. Nothing existed but her. The feel of her face in his hands; the smell of the soap she used; the heat from her body radiating out to him; her soft, moist, lips pressed against his; all those things and so much more. It was just him and her in the world and no one else.

Then he heard the voice.

“Help me…”

She jerked away, and now he saw fear in her eyes. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” he said, thinking John or Jimmy must have seen him kissing her and was messing with him. “You heard it too?”

She nodded quickly and kept looking around in the dark. He started to say something but she put her finger to his lips and shushed him. They both listened to the silence drag out and Luke could actually hear his heart beating. Nothing happened for a bit and he was about to say something when the voice whispered again.

“Help me…”

It came from behind. He heard her take a sharp breath in surprise and look up over his shoulder. He was afraid to see. A palpable presence felt like it was pressing up against his spine and he shivered as he slowly turned.

He could see nothing in the gloom as his eyes tried to penetrate the dense growth of bushes. He heard a faint sound, almost like laughter, but it was so soft and seemed so distant he wasn’t sure if he was imagining things.

Ellie whispered in his ear. “I heard a laugh.”

He nodded but stared into the darkness where they heard the voice.

“It sounded creepy,” she whispered and shuddered involuntarily.

He suddenly grabbed her hand and said, “Come on!” He crawled from the bushes with her following behind and stood up. “Time!” he yelled and it sounded huge and booming in the silence. “Jimmy! John! Get over here! Quick!”

A grunt of anger came from the direction of the voice and then a crashing noise as someone, or something, broke through the hedge and ran off down the path through Luke’s backyard. Ellie and Luke jumped at the sound, and Luke had a hard time holding his ground. He wanted to bolt and run in the other direction, but he couldn’t leave Ellie there. He squinted into the darkness as he tried to follow the noise, but he could see nothing. John ran over and then Jimmy was there too.

“What’s up?” John said. “You guys quitting?”

“Someone was here,” Luke said.

“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.

“Someone was in the bushes with us,” Luke said.

“So,” John said, not understanding. “You can hide wherever you want. Everybody could hide in the bushes at the same time if they wanted. It would be stupid, but they could do it.”

“No,” Ellie said. “Somebody else was here. Someone not in the game.” Her face looked haunted and she held on to Luke’s arm with a vice-like grip.

Jimmy’s mouth was set in a tight line and he looked at John, who stared back at him.

“Was it him?” John asked quietly.

“I think so,” Luke said. “It was creepy. This voice whispered ‘Help me’ twice, and then we heard a laugh. Not a funny laugh, but a mean laugh. That’s when I yelled ‘Time’ and called for you guys.”

“Is he still there?” Jimmy whispered.

“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “We heard a grunt and then someone ran off through my backyard.”

Just then Paul and Alan came running around the corner and they all jumped in surprise.

“What’s happening?” Paul asked. “We quittin’?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “We’re done.”

“Why?” Alan asked. “It’s still early.”

“We’re just done.” And Jimmy yelled, “All-e-all-e-all-come-free!” Jimmy led the way back to the center of the court.

“Hey! What the heck?” Paul said. “What’s wrong with you guys?”

“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “I said we’re done and that means we’re done.”

“Man-ever since you guys found that dumb dog you’ve been acting weird,” Alan said.

“Hey!” Luke yelled. “That dog was our friend!”

“Yeah! That so called ‘dumb dog’ was mine,” Ellie shouted, her voice breaking.

“Jeez! It’s just a dog!” Alan said.

Luke got in his face. “Tell her you’re sorry!”

Alan was taken aback. “What?”

Luke grabbed Alan’s jacket sleeve and repeated himself, poking him in the chest with every word. “Tell-her-you’re-sorry!”

Ellie had tears in her eyes even though she was angry. She stood waiting for the apology. Alan looked around. Jimmy and John were staring at him intensely. Paul looked at the ground shuffling his feet.

“I’m sorry,” Alan said.

Luke let go of his sleeve. “Alright.”

All the other kids were coming out of hiding now and as Ralph walked up he asked, “What’s up?”

“They’re quitting,” Paul said. “Game’s over.”

“What happened?” Ralph asked.

“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “We’re just done.”

“But it’s early,” Ralph whined.

“I don’t care,” Jimmy said. “I’m telling you, go home. We’re done.”

“I don’t want to go home,” Ralph said. “You’re not the boss of me.”

Jimmy strode over and pointed a finger into Ralph’s face. Ralph’s eyes grew big and he flinched a little.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home,” Jimmy said, and then looked around. “All of you. Game’s over.”

“Fine,” Ralph said and grabbed his sister and started home. All the others mumbled something and headed off down the street.

Luke could tell the three new kids didn’t know what to make of it all. They stood around for a minute and then Cece said, “Well, it was fun for a while. Nice meeting you guys.” They waved goodbye and walked home.

Luke, Ellie, John, and Jimmy were left standing in the middle of the street. They stared at each other for a moment and then John said, “Do we go look?”

“For what?” Luke asked.

“Footprints.”

“Why?”

“To see if someone was really there,” Jimmy said.

“Someone was there alright,” Luke said. “Ellie heard it too.”

“I did. It was creepy,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

“I think we should wait until it’s light out,” Jimmy said. “No use traipsing around in the dark.”

“I agree,” Luke said. “Besides, what if he has a gun or knife or something?”

Nobody said anything for a minute as they all thought about that. Finally, Ellie said, “Sorry you had to be the bad guy Jimmy. Everybody seemed pissed.”

“I don’t care about that,” Jimmy said. “They’ll get over it.”

Ellie smiled at him. “Still-it was big of you to take the heat.” He waved it off.