Found (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 26

***Flashback 8ish years ago - RIVER POV***

I sat outside with my notepad and a box of colored pencils. I hadn't seen my mom all day, but that's more than okay with me. These are the only times I felt safe to let my mind wander back to "my real family". Was my "real family" ever actually real? No, probably not. If they were real they wouldn't have let me get away. But that's okay. I can still pretend they're real. That's what I like about daydreaming. Daydreaming and drawing. When I draw something, it's at least real if only on the page.

I started with her dark hair. My pretend "real mom" had the most beautiful hair. It was tricky to draw the little braids that she had. Well not so little- she was very big. But you know, her braids were thin, almost like strands of hair, only they were little braids mixed into the loose hair. Then her beautiful eyes. So big, so clear for me to see. Would I ever be that big one day? Probably not. I'm supre short. But maybe, when I grow up, I'll be big like this lady.

In my imagination this beautiful woman is my mom and she loves me so much. We would play together every day. Not like my mom I have now. My mom doesn't ever play with me. Only when she's super happy, which is not a lot. In my imagination, I have a mom, a dad, and a big brother, and they all love to play together. Especially hide and seek, but not like hide and seek that my mom plays with me. It's fun hide and seek where I always win because I'm so good at it hehe. I wish I could do that now.

After I drew my secret drawings, I decided to take them to my secret spot. I entered the woods and found the tree with the hole in the bottom. I bet something like a bunny used to live in this hole, and the hole made me think of the hole that took me to this word. Out of my old world from one tunnel to the next. I placed my newest secret drawing into the box. Then I slid the box back into the hole under the tree.

Sometimes my imagination can feel like a memory. When I think hard enough, one of my first pretend memories is from the day I first went into the hole. I'd spent most of the day playing, and since I was littler than I was now, I was extra silly. I'd been playing with the boy who I always imagined being my big brother. But when I say big, I mean, enormous. Like bigger than my house, big. But he's not scary. In my head he was super fun. I can't remember his name... I think it started with a T... Well, me and the big brother guy had been playing hide and seek.

"River! For real, come out already!" He'd called. I remember hearing frustration in his voice that only made me laugh victoriously. In my head, I was hiding in a house that was so massive that it was super easy for me to win at hide and seek. Not like in my real house now, where there's only two rooms. In this giant room everything was bigger than even one house. Everything but me. Being small made me special in my imagination though, so I'd use my tiny size to find super sneaky hiding spots.

"Dad! Can you help me!" My big brother's voice rumbled out. I was so good at hide and seek that he couldn't even find me, so he needed our dad to come help.

I would imagine rumbling steps that were always familiar and brought me comfort. I could tell from the rumbles whether it was my pretend brother, pretend mom, or pretend dad. It's pretty silly.

I was hiding behind something big. I think it had drawers? It was super huge. Then my pretend dad would finally come to play too! "River? It's time to come out now," He'd say with a gentle tone. Meanwhile my big brother would grumble back and forth before leaving the room so that just my pretend dad and I could play. "Alright River, you have til the count of 3. If you don't come out when I get to 3 you will not get to meet-" Aw man, I can never think of the name. It's my pretend brother's special friend. I think I've ended up calling her Morgan. I imagine that this Morgan person would be my ultimate best friend. Maybe even twins? It would be so cool to have a twin. Then you could hide and seek together, and even switch places to play tricks on people.