Gone

Shoe

The treehouse was a wonderful place for snowball fights in the winter, and dipping in the shallow pond in the summer.

We shared many memories there- tears, laughter, sweat, joy. There was always kids there, some we didn't even know.

But this time, there wasn't any kids. There wasn't any tears, joy, laughter, or sweat.

There was a dead silence and an emptiness around the place.

I was disappointed. Now my friends could be anywhere out here, having fun without me!

Well, If I was gonna be out here alone, might as well go home.

I decided to take a shortcut; instead of walk through the forest, walk around it.

I headed a few hundred feet East to a prairie that bordered the forest.

The long yellow grass danced across my legs and shivered up towards my spine.

Dragonflies, which were more common in the Summer, raced around looking for fun. I even saw a bunny; it darted into a hole as soon as I came near it.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the prairie, alone or not.

People drive 4-wheelers and gators all the time back here, so I was not surprised to see a blue pickup race by.

The person driving was young-maybe 15 or 16.

The man in the passenger seat looked around 30-40, probably teaching his son how to drive.

They both glared at me as they zoomed by. What's their deal?

After that, I continued on always staying close to the border between the prairie and the forest.

I tried to hurry- it was 5:30 and the sun would set soon. Mom would kill us if we came in after dark.

At a familiar point, I crossed through the forest until I got to the creek. I hopped into some shallow pebbles and made my way across.

The bottoms of my shoes soaked into the water.

As I was climbing up the other side of the creek, I saw something bright blue.

I picked it up. My brother's shoe? What was my brother's shoe doing floating down the stream?