Overly Energetic

6: Bubbies

The summer sun beat down on Thwart Park. Evelyn cupped her phone in her hand, her legs lazaly pushing her back and forth on the playground swings. The park was unusually quiet, despite being surrounded by suburban houses.

Evelyn dug her black converse into the bark beneath her feet and let her phone fall into her lap. Summer vacation had started and she still hadn't heard from Sarah. Evelyn had sent her a string of text apologies asking to talk things over, but Sarah was bent on ignoring her.

As if her best friend ignoring her wasn’t enough, Evelyn’s last few days of school were spent watching Jason take over each class they were in. His one-liners and personality had made him an instant highschool celebrity. It wasn’t like Evelyn was the most popular person at school, but she was most well known. She felt that her personality was unique, quirky and something she could define herself by. Jason took all that and threw it in her face, proving that if someone else was just as crazy as her, then maybe who she was wasn’t that special after all.

A plane flew above her, streaking mechanical white clouds across the sky. Evelyn scanned the park and spotted two figures walking up a small grassy hill that lay a few yards away from her. She was reminded of last summer, when she sat on the hill with Allan as he taught her how to make flower crowns from the daisies that grew around the park in spring.

Evelyn’s phone buzzed in her lap. She opened a text from Allan.

‘Want to go get ice cream before I leave pick up my brother from university tomorrow? I’ll let you have some of my dr. fudge muffin if you promise not to eat it all this time.’

Before she could respond, a small voice chirped below her.

“I like your phone case.” The tiny voice said.

Evelyn pulled her attention away from her phone and at little girl with an odd pairing of a lime green Kermit shirt, unicorn leggings and a pink fluffy tutu. The little girl pointed at Evelyn’s phone case. “I really like cats,” she said, revealing two missing front teeth.

Evelyn turned her phone over in her hand to look at her clear phone case covered in small black cats lounging in various positions. “Thanks,” she said, “I like cats too.”

“Can I have it?”

“Have what?”

“The phone case.”

Evelyn eyed the girl’s tattered blonde hair that had been hastily thrown into two crooked ponytails. “Where are your parents?” She asked, scanning the park for an adult.

The little girl shrugged. “I dunno, I came here with Mr. Benevolence.”

“Mr…. Benevolence?” Evelyn said the second word slowly, “Where did you learn that word?”

The little girl shook her head and pressed her tiny hand into Evelyn’s. “There’s no time! We have to hide!” She pulled Evelyn out of the swing and dragged her towards the play structure close to where they were standing.

“Okay,” Evelyn giggled to herself, “but what are we hiding from? Is it an evil monster? Is it a boogie man?” She gasped tightly, “Are we running from a corrupt politician!?”

The little girl crouched under the slide of the giant play structure. Evelyn followed, ducking down low so she wouldn’t hit her head. The girl put a figure to her lips, asking Evelyn to be quiet. That’s when Evelyn heard the voice counting down in the distance. “Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty! Ready or not, here I come!”

Evelyn heard footsteps move from concrete to bark mulch. “Noah,” The voice sang, searching for the little girl. “I’ll huff and I’ll puff,” The voice grew closer to the play structure, Evelyn saw a pair of dark sneakers walk up near the slide. The black shoes crunched beneath the bark and came to a stop beside her. The girl, Noah, let out a little giggle, the top of the slide still keeping her from being seen.