The Twilight Zone

Chapter 32

Ellie's heart beat in her chest. She remembered when Noah and her had held hands, grasping onto each other firmly. The world had stopped around her then, and she could only hear two heartbeats.
Hers.

Noah's.

Never again would she feel the warmth of his hand and hers, together, him placing both of his hands around hers and making everything seem fine even when it was the polar opposite.

Her heart was like a drum in her chest, wrenching to get free.

Nothing would be fine, ever again.

*****

Ellie was an only child, and it was harder than she'd thought it would be. Not that many of her thoughts made much sense, for she was only three, but to her everything was orderly and complete in her own brain.

Her parents never paid attention to her, they spent time out of the house or cooped up in their bedroom; alone, not paying attention to their only daughter, whom, Ellie reasoned (in her own three-year-old way,) ought to have been their pride and joy.

She attempted to touch her tongue to her nose, and after a few tries found success, which bored her to her core, for now she had not a thing to do. Then, Ellie plopped down on the sandy ground and began to draw a heart in the dirt, overlapping it with smaller and larger versions of itself.

She smiled, content with the world. All she really wanted was what every young child wants, even though they don't know that they want it yet, and that is the feeling of comfort and safety. Ellie Johnson did not get the vital feeling often, in fact, so little so that it was almost a treat.

Her fingernails became gritty with the sand after a bit of using them as her drawing tools, and her lower lip formed into a pout. She heard a voice behind her, all of a sudden, surprising her in the midst of what was already showing the fatal signs of a tantrum. 

"Here. It works, try-" A boy pressed a stick into her palm, patted her on the shoulder, and ran off with a shout of "I'll be there in a couple seconds!"

Ellie didn't pay much attention to his face, of course.

She was three, and much too occupied with marveling at the stick like it was God's gift to humankind.

********

Ellie tossed and turned in her sleep, and the bit of her that was conscious of what was happening inside her brain wondered why she was remembering such pointless moments.

But I suppose I was happy, then, she thought, trying to credit her dreams. She stilled once more, letting her thoughts take over.

**********

Ellie shivered. She was still three, of course, and although it was only the night after which she had been drawing in the sand and the sun hadn't risen yet in the slightest, only gone down, it felt like forever to her.

You see, this is what happens to kids, for every hour is a day and every day is around a year in their minds. It is quite simple to busy a child with a large imagination, and this was something Ellie did not lack.

She barely even remembered the earlier interaction with the stick and the boy, and she certainly did not bring it to memory. She had much more concerning things to worry about.

She was in the woods, and it was nighttime. Every rustle, no matter how trivial, was a potential beast out to get her.

"Where is she?"

"I've told you as many times as I thought possible, why would I know any better than you?"

"Because you're the older sister, and you should be able to figure it out. What am I? The youngest, of course, I can't help..."

"Please, just bear with me when we try to find her, and don't pick a fight." A small, protesting grumble from the other person, Ellie listening intently, frightened and inherently alone. "Okay, I'm going to run ahead... I don't want to lose her, if there is a reason she would come this way... she can't get too far ahead. You'll be okay on your own?"

"For Pete's sake, I can take care of myself! I'm twelve!"

A snicker.

"You're eleven."

"Same flipping thing." A dash of sudden movement as a girl-Ellie supposed she was a teenager, yet she had seemed so much older then-bounded through the bushes and paved a path through the woods. The boy's voice kept talking. "It's the same thing, I'm not a kid anymore, geez! She needs to lay off." He kicked a tree, then punched it hard, making a small noise upon contact. Ellie found herself making the same whimpering, mewling, noise, except for she found it so ambiguously delightful that she did not stop.

"What in the Burrow?" He turned around.

"Hello!" The whole affair had set Ellie in good spirits. The boy looked so confused, and this in itself made Ellie laugh. As she thought about his punching the tree just minutes earlier, she spiraled into uncontrollable laughter.

"Hi? Look, be quiet, won't you?" With shaking hands, he took a matchbox out of his pocket. "Sorry, but I can't see you at all. I'm using this, I'll just have to get firewood later." He struck it, fast, with a subtle flick of his wrist. A lick of fire arose, making Ellie gasp and the boy chuckle softly. Running back into the bushes, he selected a lantern with an expiring candle and tapped the match to it lightly.

He raised it so that it was level with his eyes. All of a sudden, she could see his face, too.

*****

Ellie jolted up.

How was it possible that, ten years ago, Noah looked the exact same?