Elisa

Elisa

 

 

There once was a young boy who lived in a creaky old house with his mother and father.  The boy and his parents moved to the small home a few months ago, but the boy had yet to make a single friend.  His was labeled as “weird” and “scary” by the kids at school, so no one wanted to talk to him.  The boy’s parents were both too busy with their own lives to pay much attention to him.  Sometimes they would let him go outside to play, but he always had to stay within eyesight.

            Every day after dinner, the boy would go up to his room and watch from the window as the neighborhood children rode bikes and ran up and down the sidewalk.  He longed for nothing more than just one friend.

            He tried to preoccupy himself by playing inside, but the house was tiny, and there wasn’t much space for him to be a child.  His parents would snap at him if he made too much noise or begged too much for some kind of attention.  As a result of their uncaring attitude towards him, the boy only had a handful of toys, most of which were old and broken in one way or another.

            The stairs of the house moaned and groaned under even his tiny feet.  The slightest bang would shake the house, which really got his parents going.  Every room, except the bathroom, was fitted with two windows.  Linoleum flooring was in both the kitchen and the bathroom; the rest of the house had shoddy wood flooring.

            One evening in early Fall, the boy was sitting out on the back porch playing with an old Tonka truck when something caught his eye in the small graveyard that bordered the yard.  Out amongst the tombstones stood a little girl dressed in a green t-shirt and blue jeans.  The mysterious little girl didn’t move, but just stood there staring.

            The boy smiled and waved at the girl and she waved back, but never moved closer to him.  He got up and ran over to the chain-linked fence that separated the two properties in order to get a closer look at the girl.  Again, the boy waved to the girl and called out to her, but she just stood there.  Suddenly, his mom yelled at him from the backdoor.  He turned back at told his mom that there was a little girl in the graveyard.  His mom sighed with disgust and told him to get inside for dinner.  Turning back to graveyard, he was unable to find any trace of the girl.

            During the whole time he was sitting at the dinner table, the boy could only think about the strange girl.  His absentmindedness was unnoticed by his parents, who both were arguing about their credit card bill.  From time to time, he snuck a peek out the window at the graveyard, but she was never there.

            After dinner, the boy helped cleanup and excused himself to this uncaring parents and went out to the backyard.  This time, he saw the girl even closer to the fence.  She was leaning up against a tree with a smile on her face.  The boy smiled back at her and ran over.  He introduced himself to her and she simply replied that her name was Elisa.  He asked Elisa what she was doing in the cemetery.  Elisa smiled and told him that she was out there to play.  Elisa then asked if he wanted to be her friend and play. 

            This invitation thrilled the little boy, and he said that he would very much like to be her friend.  The girl smiled and moved closer to the fence, and closer to him.  Just then, the boy’s mother called out that it was getting late, and he needed to get in the house immediately.

            Elisa said that it was okay and that she would be back to play with him later on.  Broken-hearted, the boy nodded his head, said his goodbyes to his new friend and went back into the house.

            After he had taken a bath and brushed his teeth, the little boy tucked himself into bed and tried to drift off to sleep.  Just as sleep was coming on, he heard a voice in the darkness whispering his name.  Being the curious boy that he was, he sat up and slowly scanned his darkened room searching for the source of the sound.  Just as he was about to dismiss the sound as his mind playing tricks on him, he heard his name again.  This time, he pinpointed that the sound was coming from the area by this bedroom door.  Staring at the location and squinting his eyes, the boy could make out the outline of a figure standing by the door.  Suddenly, the lights to the room flicked on, and he saw Elisa standing there.

            The two spent an hour quietly playing, so that his parents wouldn’t hear.  The boy had never had so much fun in his short life.  Elisa taught him all sorts of games, and he showed her all his toys.  With the introduction of each new toy, Elisa said that she had never seen toys like his before, which the boy thought was odd, since all his toys were standard toys for little kids to have, but he put the thought to the back of his mind and just went on playing.

            Once the boy was really, truly tired, Elisa said her goodbyes and promised to return soon to play some more with him.  The boy smiled and gave her the biggest hug he had ever given anyone before.  As he pulled away from her, she astonishingly faded right before his very eyes.

            Was it all real?  Did he imagine the entire night?  These were all the thoughts racing through his bed as tired to go to sleep.  But sure enough, it was real, and Elisa did return to him.  Sometimes she appeared in his room, and sometimes she came to him while he was alone in the backyard.  Other than the fact that she would always come to him, Elisa always wore the same clothes, the green shirt and the blue jeans, even as the weather turned colder and snow appeared on the ground.  The chill didn’t seem to bother her though, even though the boy couldn’t come out to play without bundling up.

            The pair was inseparable when together.  Sometimes they played games or with his toys, and other times, they just walked down the street.  This walking around without supervision upset the boy’s parents, but he didn’t care anymore.  He had a friend, and she was all his.

            One night in mid-December, Elisa appeared in the boy’s room late at night and woke him up from a peaceful sleep.  She had never appeared to him twice in one day, and this was her first time doing so.  The boy quickly came to the conclusion that something must be wrong.  Elisa begged for him to come outside and play with her.  He groaned and said that he was too tired to play at such a late hour.  Again, she pleaded, this time saying that this might be the last time he’d see her, unless he came out to play.  This revelation snapped him awake; he didn’t want to chance losing his only friend.  He agreed to come out with her, and got up to get his coat.  Elisa grabbed his arm and said there was no time for coats, they needed to go outside.

            The boy and Elisa snuck down the stairs, moving ever so quietly as to not make a single sound.  He then opened the backdoor and allowed her to go outside first.  He slipped his shoes on quick and followed after her.  The trudged through the snow after her and towards the cemetery, he cried out for her to please slow down, but Elisa marched on.  The cold cut through the boy, but he fought through it for his best friend.  They weaved their way through snow and tombstones until Elisa stopped in front of the exact marker where the boy had first seen her standing.  Snow had blown against the gravestone, making it difficult to read without being cleared away.

            Elisa then turned and held both her hands out for the boy.  He moved a few inches closer before grabbing her little hands.  She didn’t say a word to him, but just stared into his eyes.  Snow started to fall around them and the wind started to pick up.  He watched her blonde hair gather the falling snow and water droplets form on her eyelashes.  Elisa then said that he was were very best friend and that she didn’t want them to ever be separated.  She wanted to play with him forever.  He smiled and said that there was nothing that he wanted more in the world than to be her friend forever.

            The storm increased quickly until it overcame the pair.  The little boy could no longer see Elisa standing in front of him, even though she was just a foot or so away.  For the first time that night, he could really feel the chill of the storm.  He tried to pull away from her and start going home, but Elisa’s grab was ironclad and he couldn’t get away.  He started crying and pleaded with her to let go.  Elisa coldly answered that if he wanted to be her friend, he would stay.  She then said that it would be quick and then they could play forever.  Against his body’s wishes, the boy fought to resist the freezing sensations all over his body and stay with her.

            After a few minutes of freezing, he suddenly felt nothing, no cold or warmth.  It was still snowing, but he could only feel Elisa’s hands holding his.  She then let go, smiled and gave him a hug.

            The boy had gotten exactly what he had always wanted during that stormy night.  A best friend.

Author's Note

Needs some more work, especially towards the end.