The Willow Tree

Chapter 4

I didn’t leave my room the next morning until I was certain that my Father had gone to work. I was still slightly shaking as I entered the kitchen, scared that he might have forgotten something and had to come back, but luckily it was empty. I quickly ate something before heading back up to my room to get ready.

Jake had invited me round to his house for the day and I had to say that I was very excited about spending the day with him and his family. I had spent everyday for the past three years in my own house, alone, and it would be nice for a change. I had received a text from Jake earlier that morning telling me to come round to ‘the only other house around here for miles’ at about 10. I had an hour before I had to be there, so I decided to take a shower before getting dressed. The feel of the hot water down my back relaxed me and it only took minutes to clear my head of all the horrible things that I so desperately wanted to forget.

An hour later I was ready and stood outside Jake’s house, waiting a couple of minutes so as not to seem too eager. I looked at my phone which told me that it was now three minutes past ten; then knocked on the door. The door opened and I was greeted by a little girl, with long brown hair that was similar to my own, dressed in a pink tutu and wings a tiara on her head and a wand in her hand.

‘Hello,’ she looked up at me with wide eyes. ‘Are you Jake’s friend?’

‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I’m Willow.’

‘Like the tree?’ She asked curiously.

‘Yes, like the tree.’ Usually a comment like that would have upset me, but I knew that she wasn’t trying to offend me and I couldn’t get annoyed at a little girl dressed in a fairy costume.

She opened the door wider, beckoning for me to follow her inside. ‘I’m Scarlett,’ she smiled at me before standing up on her tiptoes to close the door behind her.

‘I like you’re costume,’ I told her and she beamed up at me.

‘I’m a fairy,’ she replied and happily spun round, I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Is Jake here?’ I asked once she had finally stopped spinning.

‘I’ll go and get him for you,’ she smiled at me. ‘You can wait through there.’ She added pointing to a room behind me, before skipping up the stairs waving her wand around as she did. I followed where she had pointed and ended up in a living room that wasn’t too different from my own, an old, worn down carpet, a grand light fixture not too unlike a chandelier and an old stone fireplace that looked like it hadn’t been lit for many years. I walked over to the fireplace, picking up an old looking photo frame that was placed on the mantelpiece above. A woman in her mid thirties, I guessed, sat with a tiny baby in one arm and about a nine year old boy, with messy brown hair that I quickly recognized, in the other. They all sat and smiling up at the camera, looking like the kind of happy family that I had always wanted.

‘I love that photo,’ I heard Jake say from behind me. I span round to see him walking towards me. He took the photo out of my hand before adding, ‘It was taken a week after Scarlett was born.’ He smiled at the memory.

‘You all look so happy,’ I replied, nervously tucking a piece of loose hair behind my ear.

‘We were,’ he replied placing it back on the mantelpiece. ‘We are.’

‘Can I ask you a question?’ I asked taking a seat on an old looking arm chair.

‘You just did,’ he smirked, sitting down on one that was directly opposite.

‘Why didn’t you question me about what happened last night?’ I asked him, the question had been bugging me all night and I knew that if I didn’t ask him now then I probably never would.