Snapdragons

Hide and Seek

1876

"Ready or not, here I come!" spoke a shrill voice lilting with laughter and anticipation. A young girl, just six years of age, skipped through the house of the Fairfax family, peeking behind corners and checking under furniture. Little did she know, tucked in the small space between the settee and the back of the staircase hid Alistair, curled into himself tightly. Luckily, Alistair was small for his age of six and a quiet child, making him exceptional at hide and seek...or so he thought.

"Found you!" the giggling voice proclaimed.

"Are you just saying that to make me come out of hiding?" Alistair asked cautiously. He was a nervous kid, always making sure to do things properly so as to not cause an accident.

"Nope!" The voice became a touch that extended down the back of the settee and poked Alistair on the head. "You're bad at this game!"

Alistair carefully crawled out of his hiding spot, using his socked feet to inch himself forward. "I am not. You are just too good at this game, Rosalie," he muttered.

"I know!" Rosalie agreed. She nodded her head, and with it bobbed tight, round curls. Her flowery features formed a smile. There was never a way to stay cross at that smile. "My turn to hide, then. Eyes closed." She raced off as Alistair turned his back away and began to count.

"Ready or not, here I come," he said after forty-five seconds. He snuck across the room, thinking he knew for sure where Rosalie must have been hiding based on her running. When he checked under the dining table, however, she wasn't there. He moved on to the second option, thinking that she must have moved under the buffet after hearing him coming. No luck.

Alistair continued to search the house and saw no sign of Rosalie. Until giggling sounded from his bedroom. Hiding in his laundry basket was his neighbor and friend, giggling to herself and unable to hold her excitement in. Rosalie really did love hide and seek. "I told you my room is off limits, Rose." Alistair helped her out of the deep basket where an impression of her small body had been made in his clothing.

"But your room is so pretty," she marveled, glancing at all the books, the tidy bed, and the mobile of stars and moons that hung from the ceiling.

"It's…embarrassing," Alistair insisted, gently dragging her out and shutting the door behind them.

"Nuh uh."

"Yuh huh."

"No way!"

"You should get going, Rose. Your mother is going to get angry if you're late for supper."

"Aww. But I love hide and seek."

"I know."

Rosalie lived next door to Alistair when he was growing up. They would often spend days playing inside, rain or shine. In the city, there really is no place outside for small children. Their personalities were nearly opposite, Alistair quiet and careful, Rosalie loud and impulsive. Their friendship worked out nicely.

Alistair was with Rosalie when the coughing started. They were playing tag (not rough because indoor tag is never a good idea) when Rosalie paused and began to wheeze. From her lips came a sickly crimson. The cough had carried blood from her lungs.

Luckily, it wasn't a long, dragged out process, the sickness.

But it's horrible how Alistair can't quite remember her face. Can't quite picture her smile, or hear her laugh. It felt like so long ago, when she was alive. Only the memory of the words she told him one day through a note at the door remained clearly in his memory. Do something good with your smart mind. And get good at hide and seek. You are bad at that game.