“Aren’t you going to write anything for today, Evelyn?”
The eight-year-old girl looked up at her teacher. “I just don’t feel like it today…” she said softly.
“Oh, but you always write lovely little songs and things like that!” the older woman smiled kindly. “Remember, this isn’t for a grade. These journals are for you to exercise your creativity and writing skills. You always tell me how much you enjoy the journal writing sessions.”
“I know…I’m just…I can’t think of anything to write.”
“Why don’t you write about yourself then? Start with your name and act like you’re telling someone about yourself.”
“I guess so…” Evelyn sighed, picking up her pencil again. After a moment, she wrote My name is Evelyn Rose. Everyone calls me Eve for short. I am eight years old. I have one blue eye and one green, and naturally blonde streaked brown hair. Mommy says those things make me special, but I feel like they just make me different…And recently—
The bell for recess rang before Evelyn could finish her sentence. She sighed and closed her journal, putting it away in her desk.
“All right everyone, that’s recess. When we come back, I want you to pull out your math workbooks and do pages ten and eleven. We’ll go over them together—.” As usual, the teacher’s words were drowned out by the rush of kids running out of the classroom. The only one left was Evelyn, taking her time on getting her lunch and sketchbook. “Eve? Aren’t you going to recess?”
“Yes, miss…I just like to miss the rush right after the bell.” The little girl managed a smile for her teacher before making her way to the door and down the hall, ignoring the sniggers and hushed whispers behind her back, or at least doing her best to.
She was concentrating so much on blocking out the other kids that she wasn’t watching where she was going and ran head on into someone. “S-Sorry--!”
“HEY, WATCH IT!” Eve yelped as she was suddenly lifted off her feet by Cooper, a huge sixth grader. “Oh, what a surprise. I always said those freaky eyes made you blind.” He sneered.
Eve kicked and struggled, trying to get out of his grasp. “Put me down!”
“Put me down!” Cooper mocked in a high pitched voice. “What a baby!” he knocked her things out of her hands, sending them all over the floor. All the kids around them laughed.
Eve was really getting upset now. Why did everyone always have to pick on her? All she wanted to do was go to recess, she hadn’t meant to run into Cooper. In fact she had been trying to avoid such a thing. Tears springing to her eyes, she struggled more. “PUT ME DOWN!”
***
She had let it happen again…
Eve looked around the principal’s office fearfully. No matter how hard she tried, she could never seem to avoid getting sent here…And she never even knew what she did wrong. She winced as the stretcher went by the door, holding a whimpering Cooper. She really did feel sorry for him, despite it all. She never meant for that to happen…She never meant for any of these things to happen. But they always did. They had happened since that day she was five and had yelled at a bully to stop saying bad things…he did. He didn’t say anything after that. His voice was gone. She still remembered the look of terror on the boy’s face when he realized no sound was coming out of his mouth. Eve had been scared too. She heard later that the boy had gotten his voice back after a few days, but that didn’t stop the police from visiting their house. Eve knew who they were by their uniforms (she had always been smarter than most children her age). Her parents had answered all of their questions, all the while insisting Eve would never hurt anyone…
Then the strange uniformed men came. Eve had not recognized them at all. They wore long black coats with a strange symbol on the back and simply said that they were from ‘the agency’. They had offered to take Eve away! They said she belonged in a place called ‘The Academy’ and that they would take her there. Her father had angrily refused and it was after they left that her family moved the first time. But it wasn’t the last time…Something similar happened when she was six, and it all happened all over again.
She had thought that things were going to be different here…she had made it two years without anything happening. But here she was again, in the same situation…
“Evie? Evie, are you okay?!”
Eve looked up as she heard her mother’s voice. It wasn’t long before the blonde haired woman was kneeling in front of her, hugging her and stroking her hair.
“Oh thank goodness you’re all right! I saw the stretcher and thought that was you! Your father’s on his way…It’s going to be okay, Evie.” She soothed.
Eve hugged her mother tightly, hiding the coming tears in the woman’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, mommy…I didn’t mean for it to happen again…”
“Shh…I know, sweetie…It’s not your fault…none of it is. Don’t worry, everything will be okay…” she kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Your father and I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”
***
Later that night, Eve snuck downstairs after her father had tucked her in and said goodnight. She knew that her parents always talked about the bad things when she was asleep…she just knew. Seeing as her mother and father had insisted to her that everything was all right all day, she could guess that it really wasn’t all right…she had to find out. Pressing herself against the wall, she listened in on her parents talking in the kitchen.
“We can’t let this happen again, Nick. They’ll come and take Evie away!” her mother was saying. It sounded like she was crying.
“No they won’t.” her father said firmly. “We’ll leave before anyone asks questions. We’ve got to protect our baby girl.”
“But we’ll be on the run! That’s no life for her!”
“Kate, we have no choice. You remember those pricks from the agency. They almost took Eve without our consent! Whoever they are, they’re intent on getting our daughter into that academy. We CAN’T let that happen.”
Eve’s heart skipped a bit at the mention of the scary men who had tried to take her away last time this had all happened.
“But…”
“So far, no charges have been pressed. We got lucky this time in that it looks like an accident…but those Agency people…I’m afraid they won’t look for a reason. I’ll look for places farther away. Maybe we’ll move out of country.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I know we can barely make ends meet as it is, but we can get enough money together from that emergency fund for tickets out of here.”
“I know you’re right, Nick. But what about a house?”
“We’ll figure something out. We have to get out of here first. For Eve.”
“For Evie.” Her mother agreed.
Eve slumped. She hadn’t know that she was causing her parents so much trouble…if they moved again and couldn’t afford a house or somewhere to stay…Her mother’s immune system was weak to begin with. She wouldn’t last long on the streets. Her little heart stopped at the thought of losing her beloved mother. No. No, she couldn’t let that happen. They had to stay here in this warm house…but her father had said they could barely make ends meet…Eve nodded to herself, biting back tears as she made her decision and quickly made her way upstairs.
She went into her room and quickly took out the little suitcase she kept for small trips and began tossing things in. Her favourite sweater, jeans, a skirt…when she had tossed in everything she wanted, she sat on the suitcase to close it. She sat there a moment longer, the gravity of her decision setting in. She really didn’t want to do this. She loved her mommy and daddy. But it was because she loved them that she had to do this. They were constantly in danger and in trouble with her…they would be safe if she did this.
She nodded to herself again, wiping her eyes on her nightgown sleeve, and went to her closet, taking out her warmest coat and throwing it on over her pyjamas. She also took out her favourite backpack and put all of her sketchbooks, pencils, books, and any other things she might want for the long journey. She looked at the stuffed cat on the bed, her every night stuffie ‘Boots’. She couldn’t leave without him…She stuffed him on top of her stuff in her backpack. She then slipped on her boots and backpack, picked up her suitcase, and went to the window.
She paused as she opened it. She really didn’t want to leave them…at least not feeling like they had MADE her leave. She put down her suitcase and went to her desk, taking out a piece of paper and a pencil. She quickly wrote a few lines on it before folding it and putting it in an envelope on her bed, labeling it ‘Mommy and Daddy’.
She paused again at the window, looking at the room she would never have again, thinking about all the things she would miss…But most of all, she would miss mommy and daddy…Tears welling up in her eyes, she climbed out the window before she could convince herself to stay, sobbing silently as she made her way from the house as fast as she could.
***
The next morning, Kate Ravencroft went to get her daughter up for breakfast. She wasn’t going to school today, they were going to tell her about the move… “Evie? Evie, honey, it’s time to wake up…” she smiled as she opened the door to her daughter’s fantasy themed bedroom. “Good morning, gorgeous girl!”
She froze as she saw no little girl in the bed. “Evie?!” she looked around, wondering if her daughter was already awake. But she saw no sign of her…In her frantic search, she saw the little envelope addressed to her and her husband, clearly from Eve. She hurriedly opened it and read the letter inside. When she finished, her eyes welled up with tears and she ran down the stairs, calling for her husband desperately.
Dear Mommy and Daddy,
I have made a really hard choice…I’m not coming home again. Please don’t be sad. This isn’t something you pushed on me or anything like that. I’m doing this because I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. If I stay here, you might get into big trouble and I really don’t want that…There is something wrong with me…As much as you always told me that there wasn’t, I can’t help but think that there is. Please, if the bad guys from the ajencee come back, pretend you don’t know about me…I really hope to see you again one day. I’m going to miss you but I’ll try and be a big girl and not cry so you won’t worry about me…I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy.
Love to the great big moon and back,
Evie |
