The Ride (Phan child story)

June 2, 2015

Dear Notebook,

The summer wind is coming, which means one thing, school's almost out. But of course like almost every other kid, my brain has already gone into summer mode. So I have tons of exams to study for but of course, what am I doing? Putting the pro in procrastination as I stare at the wall wondering if dogs think in their own barks if I think in my own voice. And maybe listening to Patrick Stump's incredible soul voice.

But while I was pondering these deep thoughts in the dark abyss of my room, the home phone was ringing. I went to one of many home phone hotlines and picked it up.

"Hello?" I answered casually.

"Hey Panda," said a familiar voice, the precious Andrew Nix. One of the small percentage of people I would take a bullet for and basically a brother.

Flashback 2 years ago

The forest looks oddly bright today, I thought, looking through my window at the swaying trees. "Amanda, aren't you going to come to the pool with us. You could help teach your little sister how to swim!" my mother suggested.

"Mom, do you think anyone goes into the forest?" I asked ignoring her suggestion and keeping my gaze on the trees. I felt my bed dip as my mother sat next to me and placed her chin on my shoulder.

"I don't know, that's for you to discover," she responded very poetically, almost as if it were a quote from a Disney movie. I looked at her and she smiled before getting up, halfway down the hall she called out, "I won't tell your father if you come back in time to teach your sister how to swim.". I smiled at this and jumped out of bed, I grabbed my shoes and headed downstairs. Once I was out the door I headed towards the swaying trees that were whistling in the wind, like they were calling my name.

I was out of breath when I heard soft hiccups coming from a very intimidating tree. It looked like the large tree from the first Slender game with its branches twisted in all different directions. Facing my fear that this tree was going to use its branches and swing me like the Whomping Willow, I climbed up slowly. And to my surprise, I saw a little boy about the same age as me- 6 years old- sobbing softly.

I bit my lip thinking about what to say as he kept sobbing almost not acknowledging my existence. I blew my hair out of my face after deciding to help this kid and said, "Hey, if you need someone to talk to, I can't get down". The boy stopped crying and looked at me with joy in his dark mocha colored eyes, as he started to giggle. I cursed at my awkwardness before I too started to laugh, and I choked out, "No really, I'm stuck." which only made him laugh harder.

Until he finally spoke, "I'm Andrew,". He spoke with such innocence and pureness. "I almost forgot why I was here in the first place-" Andrew was cut off by a large laugh that shook the tree branches we sat in. "Sorry-" he began after he saw the surprise in my face after discovering that a small boy, such as Andrew could spawn Satan through a laugh.

"It's okay. But, aren't you going to tell me what's wrong." I asked curiously. His face hardened.

"My foster parents are taking me back to foster care, these are my 3rd pair of parents so far since I was a small child. If I can't keep my two more, my next stop is out of state and country and continent. Back to England." he whispered. I was speechless, how do I respond to that? I wasn't a foster child and at a young age, my parents were, what looked like, happily married. I was clueless.

"I'm not a foster child, but that doesn't mean I won't try to help. So Andrew, from now on I will be your friend." I declared in my most proper voice possible. "Also, from now on, this tree will be our tree, our friendship tree." I patted the Tree and Andrew patted it too. Sure it was cheesy but who cares? I was 6.