Long Time Gone

Chapter 3

It took Bob a whole week to recover. Throughout that week, it was my responsibility to check on him time to time and nurse him back to health. As my instinct told me, snow was an extremely effective remedy for Bob's wounds and in no time, he was able to stand on his feet again.

I got to know about Bob's recovery in an unusual way. A week later when I was doing my roundly checkups on him, I climbed the ladder to the go-to bedroom in the barn only to find the bed empty. At first, I panicked, my mind racing to the idea of Auntie Martha finding about Bob's latest residency and reporting him to Mr DeBrock.

However, on a second thought, I noticed the bed being neat and made, with the borrowed books perfectly stacked on one another on the bedside table. If Auntie Martha even were to discover Bob here, I was sure she wouldn't throw him out with a place looking this neat. She was indeed a bad tempered and ill mannered lady, and treating Bob with respect was the last thing she would do.

Rushing out of the barn, I searched everywhere for Bob, for he had a habit of disappearing mysteriously to places. His instinct and conscious were that of a pirate, digging around for undiscovered places and finding his tresure in them, which was peace and a temporary sense of freedom.

Upon searching for Bob around the village for twenty minutes, I finally located him resting in the landmark we usually favoured to carry out Bob's musical sessions- that was, by the outskirts of the woods and a walking distance away from the village library.

The said part of the woods was usually a sight to be seen in spring, summer and fall, but sadly in winter, the woods looked as if it homed creatures of the wild; wolves, beavers and whatnot. It was also rumored by the young ones that a moose and a bear were spotted, but that suspicion was quickly diffused by the church for reasons unknown to me.

The backside of the crimson bricked library building was just visible from where Bob rested, and as I approached him with heavy footsteps amidst the overly grown snow-covered weeds, I spotted his guitar and harmonica placed delicately by his side. With his back resting against an ancient willow tree, Bob's knee was perched up as a support to his diary, where he was supposedly writing lyrics for his new song, too submerged in the moment to take notice of my tired figure or heavy breaths.

I silently took my place across from him, facing him with my legs crossed underneath my skirt. Never daring to disturb him, I watched Bob mutter phrases softly in an undertone, writing and writing away in his lyric diary. His brown curly hair rustled gently by the chill breeze, his skin glowing almost white in the snow. His cheeks and lips where flushed red, his brows crossed in concentration. When a slight cough made him finally look up from the leaves of his diary and take notice of me, I realized how his eyes reflected an Artic blue shade from the snow around us. Truly and spectacularly beautiful.

"Didn't see you sneak up to me." Bob said, a smile instantly painting his features.

"Well, if you saw me sneaking up to you, I wouldn't be called a good sneak." I replied with my chin slightly up, making him chuckle boyishly.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, leaning forward and placing my palm flat on Bob's forehead to feel his temperature; he was mildly cold but nothing too serious.

"You disappeared out of the thin air from the barn- Least you could do was inform me where you were going." I finished my statement, glancing around our surroundings in an uncertain manner.

Bob shrugged nonchalantly, closing his diary shut and rubbing his cold hands against each other. "Well- I was desperate to get out since I tested the day earlier that I was too well to lay around on a makeshift bed. You lagged around much, Lizzie. My patience got the best of me."