forgetting me

09

The Peterson Household
June 30th, 2002

Lainie Peterson had a habit of getting into trouble. But since her brother disappeared, she had been very quiet. She spent most of the day in his room. She ran her fingers along his books, lay in his bed, sat at his desk, and pretended to carry conversation with a William that wasn't there.

"Where did you go?" Lainie asked. She was having the conversation she had most often with her missing brother. "We all miss you. You need to come back home."

Lainie bit her lip. "I miss you." She wiped her eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling.

There was a tap at William's window. Lainie's head jerked from her lap to the window. A man with curly brown hair smiled at her. Lainie grinned. She shrieked in delight and ran to the window.

Diana and John came pounding into the room. "What is it, Lainie?" John asked. Lainie was bouncing.

"Will! He's here!" she replied, opening the window. She pulled the screen up at stuck her head outside. "William!" she called.

John approached Lainie.

"Baby, he's not here."

Lainie shook her head. "No! I saw him! Right out here, he tapped on the window!"

Diana hugged Lainie.

"You're seeing him again, Lai. He hasn't come back, and Daddy and I are starting to get worried about you," she said.

"You shouldn't be worried about me!" Lainie insisted, "you should be worried about Will!"

"We are baby, but we can't do anything to help him. We can help you, though." John lowered himself onto his knees and held onto Lainie's shoulders. "Your mother and I decided that we should take you to talk to someone about William."

Lainie shook her head. "No!"

She broke free from her father's grip and ran out of William's room. She slammed her door shut and locked it, and started throwing everything she could into her school backpack.

She could hear Diana and John knocking on her door, but she didn't care. She opened her window and dropped her backpack to the grass.

"I'm going to find Will!" Lainie shouted. She glanced back at her door before hoisting herself out of the window. She grabbed her backpack and took off down the street, ignoring the cries from John and Diana.

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A/N
Petersons are rather good at running, you know.