Heart Patches
Six-year-old Anne Boleyn Seymour ducked under the lilac bushes crawling into her secret place. Which was now also Cathy's secret place too, Cathy was her best friend so they shared basically everything now. Their mums said they were practically joined at the hip more often than not and that they did everything together.
So it was no surprise for Anne to find Cathy in their safe place, leaning against the fence. However, it was a surprise to see her quietly crying into her knees.
"Cathy, what's the matter?" The six-year-old scooted closer to her friend, reaching out to gently grab her hand through the fence. At first, the curly-haired girl just shook her head refusing to look up, but Anne persisted. "Cathy, why are you sad?" She whispered fondly as she gave Cathy's hand a gentle squeeze, Anne bounced in place anxiously waiting for a response. After a few minutes of silence, despite Cathy's crying, Cathy looked up at her best friend, her lips trembling and face flushed with tears.
"I...I...I t-tore Lizzie...Anne, I am...awful…I hurt her" she sobbed hiccuping hysterically and Anne contemplated her words for a moment. Cathy hardly ever went anywhere without her beloved bear, so it being torn was breaking poor Cathy's heart. Anne nodded confidently before she slowly crawled out of their hiding spot, leaving Cathy feeling even worse and wondering why Anne would just leave her. That is she felt awful until Anne walked around the fence and crawled onto her side of their secret place, effectively tackling her sad friend to the ground in a very tight hug. Little lilac petals rained down onto them as Anne hugged her friend close.
"Don't worry, Lizzie will be better soon," she promises softly and Cathy nuzzled closer to her friend as her hiccuping breaths faded to soft sniffles.
"I didn't mean to tear her, what if my mama can't fix her?" She asked tearfully and Anne sat up looking down at her friend with a dazzling conviction that only the bright-eyed girl could give.
"Then we'll just have to give her a nice funeral. " she insisted and Cathy smiled slightly at her best friend, she always seemed to know how to make Cathy feel better.
"Thanks, Anne." Cathy sniffed rubbing her eyes with a wry smile.
"Come on, let's go to my house, if I tell my mommy you want cookies she'll make us some." Cathy giggled at her friend's reasoning as she allowed the hyperactive child to grab her hand and tug her from their special place and to her feet. Anne swung their joined hands as she loudly sang (screamed) London bridge is falling down and skipped towards her house dragging a smiling Cathy behind her.
It was later that evening after Cathy had been called home hours ago, that Anne returned to their special place and saw Cathy sitting on the other side smiling widely. She proudly held up her stuffed bear, who now had a blue heart-shaped patch on its head.
"Look, Anne, Lizzie's okay!" She exclaimed and Anne beamed ecstatically at the fantastic news.
"Yay I knew she'd pull through!" Anne enthused before she pulled her stuffed dog from behind her back and sat him in her lap. He was definitely used, one of his ears didn't match because her mommy had to make a new one after Anne put his ear in the garbage disposal. He had various patches along with his mangled lime green fur from various incidents, and his button eyes were mismatched from when Anne had chewed one-off when she was two, resulting in her mommy freaking out and a trip to the emergency room, but that wasn't relevant at the moment.
"Aww, Anne you brought Butch?" Cathy questioned brightly, in their whole year of friendship Cathy had only seen Anne take Butch from her room a handful of times. Anne had, had the dog since her first birthday, he obviously meant a lot to her friend. Anne nodded seriously. Gently Cathy reached through the fence patting his matted fur fondly.
"Yes, I thought if Lizzie didn't get better then you could have Butch." She whispered avoiding Cathy's face as she squeezed his paw.
"You were gonna give me Butch?" Cathy questioned in awe and Anne nodded.
"He was my only friend, but now you're my friend...and he always made me happy when I was sad so…." She trailed off uncertain on how to express herself. "But you make me more happy." She whispered so softly that Cathy had to press her ear against the fence. "I didn't want you to be sad…" she mutters uncharacteristically shy.
"Now Butch and Lizzie are friends, and you're my friend." Cathy enthused brightly and Anne looked up meeting Cathy's bright brown eyes and smiled wide.
"Friends forever!" She encourages bouncing up in down on her knees, getting lilac petals in her hair.
"Yeah forever!" Cathy agrees and they hook pinkies through the fence and share a smile.