The Exotic Touch

Chapter 4

                                                      10 Years Ago

“Give it back!” Ava shouted in distress. Her big doll-like eyes were starting to fill with tears.

“No!” Elijah replied, laughing as he held Ava’s old teddy bear up high above her reach.

Ava helplessly jumped and reached her arms up as high as she could but it didn’t do her any good. He was going through a growth spurt and was almost a foot taller than she was. Her short little legs were no match for his.

“Eli!” Ava exclaimed in a high pitch squeal.

“Don’t call me Eli! That sounds like a girl’s name!” Elijah said, waving the bear in front of her and then pulling it away as she tried to reach for it.

Ava jumped one last time to save her teddy, but then Elijah threw it over the neighbour’s fence.

Ava’s bottom lip started to quiver as she tried her hardest not to cry.

“I’m telling my mom!” Ava announced and ran off into the house with tears starting to roll down her face.

“Mommy!” Ava called out with a shaky voice as she stood in front of her mother and Elijah’s mother in the lounge room as they were sipping their coffee.

“What’s the matter sweetie?!” Ava’s mom asked.

“He threw teddy over the fence.” Ava replied, her voice thick with sadness.

“Let me handle this.” Elijah’s mother said shaking her head as she got up and headed out the back door.

“I don’t like that boy.” Ava stated, crossing her arms.

“I think that boy threw your teddy over the fence because he likes you.” Ava’s mom said.

Ava frowned with confusion. “But why would he be mean to me if he likes me?” Ava asked.

“Because he is trying to get your attention” Her mother replied as she chuckled under her breath.

Ava wasn’t sure what to think about this, it was all very difficult for her young mind to process. She thought it would be easier to just frown and pout and stay mad at that boy.

Elijah and his mother emerged into the room after a couple of minutes. Elijah’s eyes were red which suggested that he had been crying, and he was holding Ava’s teddy.

“What do you say?” His mother asked him.

He hesitated for a moment, and then gave the teddy to Ava. As soon as he had extended his arm, Ava snatched it from his grip and hugged it tightly in her embrace.

“I’m sorry for throwing your bear over the fence.” He said, his eyes avoiding any contact with hers. Ava didn’t say anything, and her mother lightly nudged her arm.

“That’s okay.” Ava replied.

“Now why don’t you two go and play outside for a bit?” her mother said to the both of them.

“Okay,” they both answered simultaneously as Elijah spun around and pranced back out the door and into the front yard, with Ava following him with a sour expression still slapped on her face.

“And be nice to each other,” Elijah’s mum called out to them, but Ava knew she was warning Elijah more than she was warning Ava. Ava was too small and shy to push people around.

“So what do you wanna play?” said Elijah, staring down at the 6 year old Ava with his big blue cherubic eyes.

“Hmmm,” Ava thought to herself before shouting, “Let’s play tea party!” She didn’t actually want to play tea party with him, she just felt like annoying Eli as revenge for what he did earlier. The look he gave her after she said that made her want to take it back. She didn’t want her teddy going over the fence again.

I tease Eli a lot, does that mean I like him too? She thought. But the thought of liking Elijah was gross. No, there wasn’t a chance. And just as fast as the thought came to her, it flew away again.

“Gross Ava, you’re such a sissy little girl,” He spat. After insulting Ava, Elijah went quiet, thinking something over in his head. A spark all of a sudden lit up in his diamond like eyes.  “I know, let’s play cops and robbers,” he suggested enthusiastically. Ava smiled and nodded her head, genuinely excited to play this game.

“So I will be the cop and you can be the robber.” Ava said forcefully, but Elijah wouldn’t have any of it. He shook his head and scowled at her, “I shall be the cop and you will be the robber, okay?”

Ava wanted to put up a fight, stamp her foot and yell until she got her way, but for once she let it go, and with a sigh she simply agreed.

“Okay then. I’m counting to 30. Ready and… 1,”

Ava quickly looked around, her little curls frantically bouncing around her small face as she searched for a hiding spot. She looked to the house but knew her mother would tell her off for running inside. She looked to the bushes surrounding the fences on the front lawn. She hesitantly walked towards it before deciding not to hide their. There would be bugs and other creepy things that she did not want to crawl in her hair.

“11… 12…13…,”

Ava bit down on her bottom lip, wishing that she had more time. And then she spotted it.

Her mother had decided to do a little spring cleaning around the house and had chucked out furniture and random objects on the front lawn, allowing people who passed by to take them. Ava though, didn’t know who in their right mind would take such junk.

There was a broken down chair, an old rusty fan, a couch which her mother no longer wanted and a giant toy box which Ava had no place for in her room any longer.

She secretly thanked her mom as she rushed her way, in her little shoes to the toy box. Ava could distinctly hear Elijah behind her, almost done counting.

Ava’s heart sped up, like a humming bird’s wing. She was scared that she wouldn’t be able to make it in time and then she would have to run for her imaginary robber life.

“25…26…27…”

Ava reached down, trying to lift the lid up as fast but silently as she could and stepped in, ducking down till she was curled up in a ball. She let the lid drop with a small thud and waited patiently.

“30. Here I come ready or not?” he yelled out and Ava silently giggled to herself, thinking she had found the most perfect hiding spot.

The inside décor of the toy box looked different once you were inside it. The box was made out of a soft brown wood, with little creases running down each plank. The top lid was a black rubber which felt soft against Ava’s small little hands.

Her back was already starting to hurt from the hard wooden bottom which was rough against her spine. It sure as hell was uncomfortable but it was worth it. There was no way Elijah would find her. And as that thought flew around in her head, the sound of distant footsteps reached her eyes. It sounded like they were growing closer and closer and with every step that headed her way, Ava’s heart would pick up pace until it seemed like the sound of it was booming itself against the wooden walls.

There was nothing she could do though. She couldn’t try to sneak out of the box, because there was no way Eli wouldn’t see her. She couldn’t just try to jump out and run as fast as she can, because Eli was bigger and faster. He would catch her.

With nothing else to do, the little robber waited, knowing that any second now, she was going to get caught.