Hide and Seek
Seven days went by before I saw Sal again. Seven, agony ridden, lonely days. Of course, I tried banging on his door. Multiple times a day, but no one answered. I was sure his mom would open it at some point, and what would happen after that? No clue. It scared me, but everything that scared me was something worth fighting for.
She never opened the door, however, so I was left to look for Sal in other places. My father and I were finishing up harvesting season, so I had many hours to search for Sal and his father in the fields. Yet, they never appeared. So, next I tried knocking on every house that had chickens squawking in their yard.
“Oh yes, we love Sal.”
“I wonder where the boy has been? Do you know where he is?”
“Oh I hope he hasn’t fallen ill; what would we do without him?”
“Please tell him to check in with us when you find him.”
These were just a few sentiments expressed by the owners of said chickens. Like I knew where he was! That’s why I was asking them.
The third party I went to look for found me first. I was in the middle of walking to Sal’s house again, actually. It was the fourth day since I last saw him. The ginger haired boy stopped me before I could reach Sal’s door again. Leofric. I wasn’t sure how to feel about him still. I hadn’t seen him in a few days either, but I wasn’t actively seeking him out. I figured I would give him his distance and let him come to me. That would probably be the best way to win him over, as I think he thought I was annoying.
“Hello, Godric” He greeted. His voice was a little louder than it needed to be; I was only a few steps away from him.
“Oh, hi Leofric.” I stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to prompt me with a conversation question.
“Why are you walking around outside of Sal’s house?” He asked curtly. .
“Well, I haven’t seen him around in a few days.” I responded, “I was wondering where he was.” Leofric’s gaze narrowed as I spoke, but he didn’t say anything back for a while.
“Hmm…” Leofric spoke, “Come with me and we can chat. Away from here.” He turned and walked away, not looking behind him to see if I was coming.
We wandered for a while. I stepped into pace with him at some point in our journey, and he acted like he didn’t notice. Neither of us said anything to the other until we were completely enveloped in trees. “Where are we going, Leofric?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“Just, away.” Was his only answer. When a clearing finally broke, Leofric sat on the dirt ground. Wherever we were was still in the forest, it was just the trees weren’t as dense as they were a few moments ago. I sat down with him and looked up into the canopies above.
“Did you know I have never been inside Sal’s house?” He asked. I shook my head to answer him.
“I was his first friend on the farm.” Leofric drawled, “It was years ago, and I still remember seeing a little boy in posh clothing waltz up to the doorstep. And when I say waltz I don’t mean walk, I mean waltz.”
When I didn’t respond back, he kept going. “And his accent. It was the worst bloody accent I’ve ever heard. When we first talked, I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying. Partially because of his vocabulary, but that awful accent really just threw me for a loop.”
“Hmm,” I said, to let him know I was listening but not really understanding what he was getting at. I mean, I loved the story and that he was being open, but what exactly was he doing with me here?
“Anyways, that first time was the only time I ever saw his mother. A terrifying creature she was. Her clothing was uh, well, it was immaculate. But I also felt it was going to suffocate me. Some black gown with ruffles and poofs everywhere. Like she had strung stray rags on her clothes on purpose. Yeah sure, the fabrics looked nice, but they also looked like they might have eaten me whole if I stared at them for too long.”
I’d never seen Leofric like this. So open, and nice. And relatable, I was terrified of Sal’s mother too.
“But,” he continued, “her clothes weren’t nearly as daunting as her face. I honestly couldn’t take another glance after the first one. But then there was Sal, who, upon spotting me after walking up to the door of his new home, gave me a bright wave. It was so strange, seeing how they contrasted each other. Here was this bright little boy waving to me, with a mother who I swore could use her dress to kill me.”
“Sounds like you do not have a very high opinion of her, then.” I said. Leofric gave me a disapproving glance, confirming my statement.
“Sal, although you’d think he’s an open book, is extremely private about family matters.” Leofric told me. I thought that was strange, since he’d spent so many nights exhaling those sorts of secrets to me.
“Do you know anything about his family?” I asked, eager to know if I was the only one Sal confided in.
“I’ve tried. He just laughs most of my questions off, coming up with poor excuses as to why his mother hermits inside the house, why I’ve never been invited inside even though I’m a close friend. He’s always said that his father was simply a quiet guy, but I never quite believed it. There was always something more there. You can see it with his siblings too.”
“Oh yeah,” I nearly forgot about his siblings, since I never see them, “does he truly have siblings?”
He nodded. “Aelius and Elianna. Aelius works like a madman in the mill, so no one often sees him. And Elianna is trapped in that house with her mother. I’ve only seen her a few times as well.”
I considered everything he told me for a moment. “Hmm. Interesting.”
Wait,” I asked, “why are you telling me all of this?” It just wasn’t making any sense.
“I’m telling you all of this now so that you don’t get your hopes up. So you don’t feel like you will become close to him, because you won’t.” His tone was startling, and unrelenting. Just a few minutes ago he had been- “Sal is solitary at heart.” Leofric continued, “He will not let you in, no matter how hard you may try. I’m not sure what’s going on in his home, but he may not be out of it for a while. So, you can stop whatever you’re doing. Stop following him, meandering towards his door, and looking for him every chance you have. It’s ok to be on the outskirts of someone’s life; especially if they have built a wall around their sacred city.”
Ah, so there was the punchline of his saccharine story. I found everything he was saying so, so confusing. It’s like we knew totally different versions of the same friend. Sal had always been an open book with me. I mean, maybe not in the fanfare and light, but when we were up on the roof he had never lied to me. Never kept me in the dark. Could he truly be so different with Leofric?
“Well, uh, ok then. Thanks Leofric.” I got up to walk away, and he let me leave alone. I was still unsettled. Another thing that perturbed me was that Leofric just offered up all of that information. He most definitely didn’t ask Sal if he could tell all of that to me, which Sal probably would have been fine with, because neither of us had seen him in days. But I didn’t know if Sal would have wanted information to be spread about him behind his back, especially if Sal didn’t tell Leofric stuff about his family in the first place. Or maybe Sal did tell Leofric about his family and Leofric just didn't want to tell me.
The walk home was dark and lonely. I missed being with others, specifically Sal, under the stars. Plus, there was the matter that I was guessing how to get home solely from how I remembered getting out into the woods. It took a very long time to figure my way back. I mean, once I was out of the trees I still ended up a far way away from the cruck houses. I had to walk across half of the fields, in which I hoped no seeds were sowed yet, as I’d be sure to accidentally step on one of the rows and break through the dirt.
When I entered the door of my house, I found my father still up. Luckily I had made dinner before I left, so at least he ate. But, it was strange that he was still awake; normally he went to bed early and woke up early. I thought it was pretty late.
“Hi father,” I greeted from across the room, “What are you still doing up?”
“Hello son.” He seemed in a cheerful mood. “So, were you finally able to find your friend, uh, Salazar, was it?”
“Well, no, not exactly.” I told my father earlier that I hadn’t seen Sal in a few days, the morning after he said those strange comments to me in the night. I don’t think he remembered saying them. I’m not sure he knew he said them. Neither of us talked about it. “I did talk to one of my other friends though, Leofric.”
“Oh, well that’s nice. Just thought you came home late because you found Salazar. You always seem to be home the latest after hanging out with him.”
“Yeah, um, I still don’t know where he is. The neighbors seem to think he’s fallen ill.”
“Hmm…” my father’s expression severely saddened, like he knew something I didn’t. “Yes, maybe he’s got something.” He had his head facing towards the ground. “I love you son, you know that right?”
Of course I knew my dad loved me; he had told me many times. I mean, maybe not everyday, but definitely enough to keep my heart content. Besides, I didn’t need words out of his mouth to explain his feelings. I saw how hard he worked every day to keep the two of us happy, and I appreciated him so, so much for it.
“Yes, father. I love you too, very much.” Now, on the other hand, I loved saying that to my father. It let him know how much I appreciated him, and honestly made me feel loved. I knew I had someone to say them to, always, and that made me feel less lonely in the world.
“Ah, well aren’t you sweet son.” He told me, “Now, come on, let's rest up so you may use those newly gained arm muscles from harvesting season and transfer them into sowing.”
My last option after the failed talk with Leofric was sitting on his roof every night. It also happened to be my favorite option. I really thought he would just sneak up, and we could talk about everything awful and everything wonderful. He never showed, however.
It wasn’t until the sowing season had officially ended that I saw him again. The field was barren, so it was easy to spot him. Well, more like it was easy to spot his hair.
It was hard to not immediately run up to him and tackle him to the ground. So hard, in fact, that I did just that.
“Where have you been?” I asked, practically on top of him in the middle of the dirt field, definitely breaking through some of the holes where seeds had just been planted.
“Hey Godric,” he said, smiling weakly up at me.
Something was wrong.
His voice was weaker, less vibrant, like someone had wrenched all of the color out of his mouth and left a grey aftertone. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. It always met his eyes.
“Um…” I searched for words. What happened? What did they do to him?
A grunt came from his father; I didn’t realize he was standing right next to us.
“Yeah, Godric?” Sal asked, ignoring the strange noise that had just come from his father’s throat. He looked up at me with saddened eyes, like he knew that I wanted to ask a question that he didn’t want to answer. “You were saying something?” He continued, after I said nothing.
“Oh, um, uh- nothing. It's- it's just good to see you again. I’ve missed you.”
I saw his smile brighten- only a tiny bit. He stared down at his hands, still on the ground. “I missed you too, Godric. Think I might’ve had a sickness, or something.” He didn’t look back up at me, only scratched the back of his silver hair and peered down at the ground..
“Oh,” I replied, “I’m sorry. Hope you are feeling better.”
“Yeah, I am. Thanks mate.” His eyes left the ground and quickly looked at, then away from his father. He looked back to me and raised his eyebrows. I think he was trying to secretly communicate with me. We stood in a sat for a few more seconds, and I felt the urge to hug him. My friend lied to me in front of his father just then. In favor of both of us, if I was to believe the man I met at the door the last night I had seen Sal.
“Ok then,” I said, “Glad you’re doing ok.” His hand began to twitch as I was talking.
“Yeah, see you later.” He replied, putting emphasis on the last word. I took that as my cue to leave him and his father to work, before going back to mine.