Stolen From My Eyes

The tall hedges turned this way and that, leading her along in who knew what direction. She strolled along at a leisurely pace, enjoying the partial sunshine and the neatly trimmed natural walls. Before long she was humming to a tune of her own imagining, not really trying to figure out where to go.

This had been a good idea, she decided. Being outside was lifting her spirits again, making her temporarily forget her uneasy appointment from earlier that morning. It was over and done with, and now she only had a fun, easy day ahead of her.

Or so she thought. No sooner had she turned a corner when she was brought to her knees by another flashback. She reached up and grabbed her head, trying to stop the dizziness.

Her younger self skipped into a dining area, getting up into a chair as her mother brought in a plate of food and a glass of orange juice. Her father was sitting opposite her, reading a newspaper.

“What do you have planned for today?” Her mother asked, sitting down beside her with a cup of coffee.

Elise swallowed a mouthful of juice. “Gerard promised we could play castle today. I’m going to be a princess and he’ll be my knight in shining armor.”

Her mother laughed, smoothing down some hair on her daughter’s forehead. Her father glanced over his newspaper at her, narrowing his eyes. “Elise, stop that nonsense. Gerard isn’t real”

She turned confused eyes on him. “Yes he is, Papa. He reads to me every night and if I get hurt he puts a bandage on it and it’s all better. And he’ll play games with me, whenever I want.”

He put down his newspaper, face turning red. “Enough, Elise! I don’t want to hear about your imaginary friend anymore.”

“Edmund, she’s just a little girl. Let her have her fun.” Her mother intervened, putting a protective arm around Elise.

“This is your fault, you know.” He spat, turning on his wife. “You encourage this, Lily. It’s time she grew up and put all this nonsense behind her. I won’t put up with it a moment longer.”

He stood and walked over to Elise, gripping her chin hard in his hand. “If I hear another word about him, I’ll paddle you so hard you won’t be able to sit down for a week.”

Then Edmund turned and strode out of the room, leaving a sobbing Elise to be comforted by her mother.

She gasped as it finally came to an end. Her body felt cold all over. Despite Gerard’s first words to her, she had believed her father to be a good man. But seeing this had given her doubts; he had treated her so harshly at such a young age. Little girls were supposed to play and be happy, not grow up as quickly as possible.

And the hatred that was so clear on his face as he spoke to her mother made her angry inside. Then her anger was replaced by confusion. If he had been such a hateful man, why had he rushed to put Elise in the best care possible? It seemed to contradict the memory, but she knew it had been true. No answer would come, so she stood and dusted herself off. She felt tired and decided to continue on for a little ways and then find a spot to eat lunch.

He was waiting for her around the next corner, as if he had sensed she was in distress. A surprised yelp escaped her before she could help herself. “Must you always show up out of nowhere?” She asked, exasperated.

A smile was his only response. “So you remembered more.” He stated.

“How…?” Elise began to ask, and then shook her head. “Yes, I did. But its only confused me more.”

Gerard nodded slowly, eyes searching her face for…something. “Sometimes that is the way of it. But it will make sense when more starts coming back to you. Just have a little patience.”

“I was getting ready to sit down and eat lunch.” She said, changing the subject. “Would you…join me?”

He didn’t answer right away, instead watching as she made her way over to a small tree sticking out of the hedge that offered up some shade. And then, very slowly he sat down a careful distance away and watched her, waiting.