Will You Hold My Heart? - Phan

Chapter 11

Phil

"Phil! Wait up!" a high-pitched voice shouted.

I stopped and looked behind me. It was a young boy wearing a light yellow shirt and overalls. I grinned at him.

He ran towards me and tackled me to the lush grass, each of us scrambling to pin the other to the ground. We were in fits of giggles, getting grass stains on our clothes and dirt in our hair.

Finally, he had me on the ground, holding his chin up high in victory. "I won, Phil!" he announced.

"You sure did!"

The boy got off of me and started to pick at the grass. "Thanks for inviting me to your birthday party on Sunday," he said.

I giggled. "Of course I would invite you! You're my best friend, right?"

Don't do this.

He nodded his head excitedly, his face displaying a huge grin. "I still can't believe you turned 10! That's so old! Double digits!"

I smiled and looked at him, my eyes meeting his. He daintily plucked a small, white daisy from the grass and twirled it between his fingertips.

"We'll always be best friends, right Phil?"

"Totally! Forever and ever."

The boy reached up and carefully placed the daisy behind my ear and then scooted back to admire his work. 

All around us, the green blades of grass swayed gently to and fro, back and fourth, dancing to the rustling of the trees' leaves. We could hear the faint joy of the other kids playing on the playground, screaming in delight as the sun happily beamed down on them.

"Hey, you wanna play hide and seek?" he exclaimed with brightness gleaming in his eyes. "Anywhere but the field or playground is off limits."

"Yeah! You can hide and I'm gonna find you, okay?"

He eagerly nodded his head and ran off to find a spot to hide. I turned my head towards a tree, covered my eyes, and started counting.

"... 8, 9, 10."

"Ready or not, here I come!" I uncovered my eyes and looked around the field and playground. I ran towards the large trees, checking behind each of them to see if he was there.

Nope.

Then I headed towards the playground and ran around, dodging the other kids. I checked on all of the slides, underneath the play structures, and on top of the monkey bars. I searched every inch of that playground.

He wan't there either.

"Hey, where are you?"

Silence.

"Hello?" I tried again, calling out even louder.

More silence.

"I'm serious, come out, it's not funny!" My mind began to race wildly. "I don't feel like playing this anymore."

Nobody responded.

Stop it.

I started to panic and shiver, feeling the air around me getting colder and denser. Did he leave me? Surely he said that everywhere else was off limits.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted a glimpse of a light yellow shirt and overalls behind the school. I sprinted there as fast as I could, ready to ask him why he left.