Chapter 6: Jasper: Take Another

“Hi my names Annea,” the little girl with blonde hair whispered from her sandbox on the back porch. My brother Clark and I were venturing into the backyard looking for a way to burn off steam, our mom had said we were driving her nuts. We were three and a half when we meet Annea for the first time. “Do you want to play too?” she asked. Her tiny hands with pink fingernails were trying to build a sandcastle. Clark and I didn’t think twice when we rushed over and climbed in with her.

            “I’m Clark!” Clark yelled loudly as he helped her pack sand into the tower mold. She giggled at him.

            “Hi Clark,” she flung her arms around him in a great big hug, “thanks for helping me build my castle. Mommy and daddy work a lot so I don’t get much help.” She looked a little sad when she said that but her frown didn’t last long.

            “I’m Jasper,” I said and gave her a hug. “We live next door! We will help you whenever!” A big grin crawled across her face. The three of us sat side by side and built a sand castle that looked exactly like the palace, it took up the entire sand box. As we started to dig out the moat, a woman who looked like an older version of Annea stuck her head out the backyard.

            “Annea,” she stated but then caught eye of Clark and I. “Oh!” she exclaimed. Clark and I quickly jumped to our feet and straightened our clothes. We gave a deep bow as we had been taught to do in front of adults and introduced ourselves. “Ah the Meres boys!” she said smiling a nodding. “I was wondering how long it would be before the three of you met. Well I am Mrs. Tournes. Alan!” she called back into the house. “We have visitors!” A man rushed to the backdoor just to see what she was talking about. Clark and I repeated the same formalities as we had when we met Mrs. Tournes. Mr. Tournes seemed to be just as please as Mrs. Tournes with our arrival in their backyard

            “Boys why don’t you run home and invite your parents over for dinner tonight,” Mr. Tournes told us with a grin. We did exactly as we were told and rushed back to our house.

“What a lovely dinner Megan,” our mother said to Mrs. Tournes.

            “Thank you Aurora,” Mrs. Tournes replied. “I’m just so happy that the children have finally met. I was thinking we would have to get them together for a play date soon. Annea gets a little lonely, but since her and the boys have struck up a friendship I don’t think that will be an issue anymore.” The grownups continued on at the big table while Clark, Annea, and I giggled at our small table.

            “We have to play more!” Annea said. I could tell we were the only kids she got to play with. Clark and I nodded in agreement, so excited to have a friend.

            Our sandbox date became an everyday thing. After lunch we would go rushing outside to find Annea in the sandbox building a new creation. We built castles, houses, spaceships, everything her little mind could think of. She was always so excited to see us, Clark and I began to realize we were the only people besides her parents she saw on a regular bases. She didn’t have any siblings, Clark and I had always had each other, but she only had herself. This was our normal routine for over a year and a half playing in the sandbox with each other, sometimes climbing the tree that divided our property, playing tag. We always stayed out until our parents called from the back porch saying it was dark and time for supper. Until one day just before her fifth birthday Annea didn’t come outside to play.

            “I’m sorry boys,” Mrs. Tournes said to us as we showed up to play, “but Annea is very ill and can’t play today. Hopefully she’ll be able to play tomorrow.” Clark and I exchanged looks then went running back to our yard to play. By the end of the week Annea still wasn’t feeling better and we were really starting to miss her. She was the one that always broke up fights between Clark and I, and the more days she was gone the more times our mom had to put us in time out for fighting.

After nearly a month without Annea she finally came back outside. We almost didn’t recognize her though. She was so frail and pale. Not the tough little girl we had always known. When we started into our normal play we could tell she wasn’t all the way better. She was wheezing and coughing. Struggling to keep up with her normal routine. Clark and I asked her what was wrong but she wouldn’t say. As the days passed she continued to keep up with us but it was clear she couldn’t. Clark and I tried to slow down for her but she always got mad if we treated her differently. Summer was almost over when Annea finally got fed up with us slowing down for her. She painstakingly climbed the tree that divided the properties.

“See I’m just fine!” she called from the top. “I’m going to prove it too!” She let go of the branch she was grasping and did the unthinkable. She jumped

“Jasper! Jasper!” Clark shouted interrupting me from my day dream. “Dude you were a long way away. What in the world were you thinking about?” He questioned

“That summer when Annea got sick,” I said with a sigh. We had been on this bus nearly twelve hours and I was ready to get to the hotel. Twelve hours was a long time to be constantly interrupted from thought.

“I remember that,” Clark said sitting down next to me, “when she was so frail but wouldn’t admit it and jumped out of the tree trying to prove it and ended up breaking her ankle.”

“The very one,” I closed my eyes remembering. She had screamed a blood curdling scream sending every parent in the neighborhood to our backyard. I scooped her up and went running to her backdoor, yelling for her mom and dad.

“Do you think Annea’s alive somewhere?” Clark asked after a while of sitting together in silence. I pondered that for a moment, I wasn’t sure what I thought. My brain told me it was foolish to think she was still alive, let alone remembered me, but my heart couldn’t give up on her. I told Clark that and he nodded. “Will you ever take a wife Jasper?” Clark asked. I looked at him in astonishment. Where in the world was this coming from? Clark quickly back peddled, “It’s just you’ve been so lonely lately. It’s been nearly seventeen years Jasper. They would have found her by now if she was still alive. Leo and the Elders have noticed and have started talking…”

I cut him short, “No. I will not take another not until they find her. Even if it is just a body they find.” Clark didn’t say anything else, we just sat together in silence. Contemplating what had happened to the carefree little girl we grew up with.