Seven year old Claire Debony dashed outside of her pa’s barn. Her short, brown hair bouncing behind her as she ran. Her tee shirt flapping behind her in the wind. She was going to meet her friend Wyatt down at the crick. It was an everyday ritual for them.
When she reached the bank of the crick she glanced around for Wyatt. She walked out onto the pier. The pier went about one-fourth into the water.
Claire spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She began to turn, but it was too late. Wyatt, a gangly boy with black hair and bright blue eyes, was swinging from an old rope tied to a tall tree. He howled as he fell down into the water. He came up to the surface.
“Well, are ya’ just gonna stand there?”, Wyatt grinned up at her, his hair sticking to his head. Claire smiled, and jumped into the water, too.
“Wyatt Thomas, one day your gonna come off of that ol’ rope, miss the crick, and bust your head”, Claire imitated Wyatt’s mother’s words. The last time he’d went home, he had a big knot on his forehead from swinging on the rope and hitting a rock.
“Well, that’s what momma seems to think,” Wyatt rolled his eyes at the memory of his scolding mother.
“I’ll race ya’ to the rope,” Claire challenged. Wyatt grinned and agreed. “Ready? Set? Go!” Claire jumped straight out of the water and headed toward the rope. Somehow along the way Wyatt managed to get in front of her. He grabbed a hold of the rope, and swung into the water, making a gigantic splash.
Yep, thirteen years ago, that’s how summers used to be for Claire, until Wyatt reached eighteen. He left for college, leaving Claire behind. She spent most of her time in museums, or working on paintings.
Claire didn’t help much on the farm anymore. Pa and momma wanted her to experience life. She wanted to go off to college with Wyatt, but that’s where they drew the line. She was twenty years old now. Wyatt had been gone for two years.
It was a bright, mid-summer day, Claire was sitting by the crick she and Wyatt used to play at. She was working on her latest painting. She was having flashbacks from when they were younger. They would have races to the rope. Then, as they got older, they started laying out under the stars, talking the night away.
Claire was just starting to paint the sun’s reflection on the water when she heard a strange sound. She glanced up near the trees…Nothing. Hmm, she thought, maybe I’m imagining things.
A few moments past, and she heard footsteps. She looked at the trees again, but no one was there. Claire began to worry. She knew of animals straying from their barns and attacking civilians. Suddenly, she heard an all too familiar howl. She stood, and whirled around to face the rope, to find Wyatt standing at it, smirking. He looked like he did two years ago. Black hair to his shoulders with startling blue eyes. He was tall, and slender.
“When did you get here?” Claire asked excitedly.
“Just this mornin‘. I had to search everywhere to find you,” Wyatt said. He walked down closer to her. He was dressed in a pair of old torn jeans, and a green button up shirt.
“How long are you stayin‘?” Claire hoped this wasn’t the last time she’d see him.
“As long as I’m welcome I reckon,” Wyatt said looking into her green eyes, with his blue ones.
“Where are you stayin’?”
“Right now, I have no clue,” Wyatt shrugged. The wind blew, and he moved a piece of her long, brown hair out of her face.
“You can stay with me if you’d like,” Claire offered.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Wyatt said.
“You wouldn’t be. Come on back up to my house with me. I’ll fix ya up a cot,” they left the crick. Wyatt helped carry some of Claire’s paints to the house. After a short walk they arrived. “Go on inside, I’ll be in in a minute.” Wyatt walked inside the house while Claire cleaned her paint brushes.
“So, when did you get the house?” Wyatt asked from behind the screen door.
“It was after you left,” Claire replied. She remembered not wanting to even buy a house. All she wanted to do was lie around, she had missed Wyatt so bad.
“Ahh,” was Wyatt’s only response.
A few hours later Wyatt offered to cook dinner.
“Are you sayin’ I’m a bad cook?” Claire asked somewhat offended.
“I’m not sayin’ that at all. I’m sayin’ that you’ve worked hard today, let me make you supper,” Wyatt was very stubborn. Claire knew he wouldn’t give up, so she gave in. While he cooked supper, she started making up a bed on the living room floor. It looked cozy enough. Hopefully he’d think the same.
“Dinner’s ready,” Wyatt said. Claire walked into the kitchen to find freshly picked vegetables in a bowl. They had some sort of sauce on them, but she didn’t ask about it.
For a while they ate in silence. She never minded the quiet with Wyatt, though. Actually, it was quite peaceful.
Weeks went by, and Wyatt was still living with Claire. They spent the daylight hours at the crick. Then the dark hours were spent at the house, in the living room, with coffee and laughter.
One day nearing the end of summer Wyatt and Claire were at the crick.
“Claire, may I ask you somethin‘?” Wyatt looked at her.
“Yes, you may,” she wondered what on earth he could have on his mind. It was hard to tell knowing him.
“Would you like to go back to the city with me?” Wyatt asked. Claire was speechless.
“I…I don’t know,” she didn’t know what to say. What would pa and momma do without her there?
“Why? Don’t you wanna go?” Wyatt pried.
“Because I don’t wanna leave pa and momma here all alone…What if somethin’ were to happen while I was away?” Claire knew it was a long shot, but it was a very real possibility.
“We wouldn’t be that far away,” Wyatt said.
“Liar,” Claire knew how far away the city was. It took two hours to just drive to the outskirts of the city.
“Look, Claire, if you will just-”
“No,” she interrupted him, “I will not go with you. I want to, but I can’t.”
“Just because of pa and momma?” Wyatt was getting irritated, but she didn’t care. She was not going to go with him.
“Yes, my parents actually mean something to me, unlike you. Your selfish and hateful!” Claire wanted to stop saying such cruel words to him, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“I believe I’ve worn out my welcome,” said Wyatt darkly. He looked into her electric green eyes.
“I believe you have,” she replied venomously. Claire watched as he stood up, and walked away. After Wyatt was out of sight she started to cry. Why had she said such hateful words to him? He deserved better than that. She just hoped he wouldn’t do anything irrational, like he was prone to do. She hoped that she would go home to find him lying on the living room floor.
Claire waited a few hours before deciding to go back to the house. She started walking, on her way to the house she saw a train stopped on the middle of the tracks. The conductor was standing across from the tracks talking to the sheriff. She wondered what it was about. Shaking her curiosity off, she walked the rest of the way to the house.
Claire opened the door up, and peered inside. She could tell no one had been there since she and Wyatt
left to go to the crick. Wyatt’s clothes were still in the wardrobe, but Wyatt was not to be found anywhere in the house.
Claire went out to search for him around town. She wanted to apologize for her behavior. After hours of searching, she had no luck, so she went back home.
Wyatt still wasn’t there. She lay down on his cot, starring up at the ceiling. After a while she heard a knock on the door, she stood up. She ran over to the door, praying it was Wyatt. Claire yanked the door open, and saw momma. She had an old sundress on, and a sun hat on top of her graying hair.
“Momma, have you seen Wyatt?” Claire hoped that was why she was here. Momma didn’t say anything she just solemnly shook her head. She looked up at Claire, there was red around her deep green eyes. Like momma had been crying.
“No, baby, I haven’t seen him…” momma looked down at her shoes.
“Momma, what’s wrong?” Claire felt a knot in her stomach.
“I was hoping you already knew, but-”
“Knew what?” Claire interrupted.
“The sheriff said he was coming from the direction of the crick. The conductor said Wyatt looked distracted. As he walked onto the track the train was right on top of him. The conductor didn‘t have time to stop,” momma’s eyes started to get tears in them.
“No…no, no, this-this cannot be true,” Claire was in denial. She shook her head as tears began to fall down her face. Claire felt like she was going to be sick. She fell to her knees.
Momma stayed a while, and tried to soothe her. It was no use, but she tried anyway. Momma couldn’t get Claire to stop crying. She finally started to calm down a little bit, so momma left. As soon as momma shut the door, she fell onto Wyatt’s cot and cried more.
After hours of crying, Claire finally fell asleep. She had dreams about Wyatt all night. She dreamed he was moping around, as if he did something wrong. Claire would try to apologize, but every time she opened her mouth he would disappear.
She awoke around nine the next morning. The first thing Claire thought of was Wyatt. She went outside, she looked up at the sky.
“I’m sorry!” she screamed. “I shouldn‘t have been so hateful! I shouldn’t have acted the way I did! Please, please, forgive me, Wyatt! Forgive me!” Claire fell to her knees. She sat like that for an hour until she finally stood, and went back into the house. She lay on Wyatt’s forever empty cot.
Claire never did go to the funeral. She thought it would make things worse. Winter came, it was a harsh, cold winter. She was in the hospital for half of it, though. She was dehydrated. She wouldn’t eat, or drink anything. After a while she started to make progress. She finally started eating and drinking again.
She was released from the hospital just in time for spring. Claire went home, and sat on the floor. She sat there, and just simply thought.
After days of thinking and re-evaluating things, she decided she was going to live life how Wyatt would’ve expected her to. Claire was going to become an artist. She sold her house, and built a small cabin by hers and Wyatt’s crick.
She sold paintings out of her home too. She was making plenty of money, so finance was not one of her concerns.
Summer came again, and Claire sat out on the pier. She painted her, and Wyatt sitting together under the stars. Claire knew he was still there in spirit. When the wind was just right in the middle of summer you could still hear Wyatt howl.
When she reached the bank of the crick she glanced around for Wyatt. She walked out onto the pier. The pier went about one-fourth into the water.
Claire spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She began to turn, but it was too late. Wyatt, a gangly boy with black hair and bright blue eyes, was swinging from an old rope tied to a tall tree. He howled as he fell down into the water. He came up to the surface.
“Well, are ya’ just gonna stand there?”, Wyatt grinned up at her, his hair sticking to his head. Claire smiled, and jumped into the water, too.
“Wyatt Thomas, one day your gonna come off of that ol’ rope, miss the crick, and bust your head”, Claire imitated Wyatt’s mother’s words. The last time he’d went home, he had a big knot on his forehead from swinging on the rope and hitting a rock.
“Well, that’s what momma seems to think,” Wyatt rolled his eyes at the memory of his scolding mother.
“I’ll race ya’ to the rope,” Claire challenged. Wyatt grinned and agreed. “Ready? Set? Go!” Claire jumped straight out of the water and headed toward the rope. Somehow along the way Wyatt managed to get in front of her. He grabbed a hold of the rope, and swung into the water, making a gigantic splash.
Yep, thirteen years ago, that’s how summers used to be for Claire, until Wyatt reached eighteen. He left for college, leaving Claire behind. She spent most of her time in museums, or working on paintings.
Claire didn’t help much on the farm anymore. Pa and momma wanted her to experience life. She wanted to go off to college with Wyatt, but that’s where they drew the line. She was twenty years old now. Wyatt had been gone for two years.
It was a bright, mid-summer day, Claire was sitting by the crick she and Wyatt used to play at. She was working on her latest painting. She was having flashbacks from when they were younger. They would have races to the rope. Then, as they got older, they started laying out under the stars, talking the night away.
Claire was just starting to paint the sun’s reflection on the water when she heard a strange sound. She glanced up near the trees…Nothing. Hmm, she thought, maybe I’m imagining things.
A few moments past, and she heard footsteps. She looked at the trees again, but no one was there. Claire began to worry. She knew of animals straying from their barns and attacking civilians. Suddenly, she heard an all too familiar howl. She stood, and whirled around to face the rope, to find Wyatt standing at it, smirking. He looked like he did two years ago. Black hair to his shoulders with startling blue eyes. He was tall, and slender.
“When did you get here?” Claire asked excitedly.
“Just this mornin‘. I had to search everywhere to find you,” Wyatt said. He walked down closer to her. He was dressed in a pair of old torn jeans, and a green button up shirt.
“How long are you stayin‘?” Claire hoped this wasn’t the last time she’d see him.
“As long as I’m welcome I reckon,” Wyatt said looking into her green eyes, with his blue ones.
“Where are you stayin’?”
“Right now, I have no clue,” Wyatt shrugged. The wind blew, and he moved a piece of her long, brown hair out of her face.
“You can stay with me if you’d like,” Claire offered.
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Wyatt said.
“You wouldn’t be. Come on back up to my house with me. I’ll fix ya up a cot,” they left the crick. Wyatt helped carry some of Claire’s paints to the house. After a short walk they arrived. “Go on inside, I’ll be in in a minute.” Wyatt walked inside the house while Claire cleaned her paint brushes.
“So, when did you get the house?” Wyatt asked from behind the screen door.
“It was after you left,” Claire replied. She remembered not wanting to even buy a house. All she wanted to do was lie around, she had missed Wyatt so bad.
“Ahh,” was Wyatt’s only response.
A few hours later Wyatt offered to cook dinner.
“Are you sayin’ I’m a bad cook?” Claire asked somewhat offended.
“I’m not sayin’ that at all. I’m sayin’ that you’ve worked hard today, let me make you supper,” Wyatt was very stubborn. Claire knew he wouldn’t give up, so she gave in. While he cooked supper, she started making up a bed on the living room floor. It looked cozy enough. Hopefully he’d think the same.
“Dinner’s ready,” Wyatt said. Claire walked into the kitchen to find freshly picked vegetables in a bowl. They had some sort of sauce on them, but she didn’t ask about it.
For a while they ate in silence. She never minded the quiet with Wyatt, though. Actually, it was quite peaceful.
Weeks went by, and Wyatt was still living with Claire. They spent the daylight hours at the crick. Then the dark hours were spent at the house, in the living room, with coffee and laughter.
One day nearing the end of summer Wyatt and Claire were at the crick.
“Claire, may I ask you somethin‘?” Wyatt looked at her.
“Yes, you may,” she wondered what on earth he could have on his mind. It was hard to tell knowing him.
“Would you like to go back to the city with me?” Wyatt asked. Claire was speechless.
“I…I don’t know,” she didn’t know what to say. What would pa and momma do without her there?
“Why? Don’t you wanna go?” Wyatt pried.
“Because I don’t wanna leave pa and momma here all alone…What if somethin’ were to happen while I was away?” Claire knew it was a long shot, but it was a very real possibility.
“We wouldn’t be that far away,” Wyatt said.
“Liar,” Claire knew how far away the city was. It took two hours to just drive to the outskirts of the city.
“Look, Claire, if you will just-”
“No,” she interrupted him, “I will not go with you. I want to, but I can’t.”
“Just because of pa and momma?” Wyatt was getting irritated, but she didn’t care. She was not going to go with him.
“Yes, my parents actually mean something to me, unlike you. Your selfish and hateful!” Claire wanted to stop saying such cruel words to him, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“I believe I’ve worn out my welcome,” said Wyatt darkly. He looked into her electric green eyes.
“I believe you have,” she replied venomously. Claire watched as he stood up, and walked away. After Wyatt was out of sight she started to cry. Why had she said such hateful words to him? He deserved better than that. She just hoped he wouldn’t do anything irrational, like he was prone to do. She hoped that she would go home to find him lying on the living room floor.
Claire waited a few hours before deciding to go back to the house. She started walking, on her way to the house she saw a train stopped on the middle of the tracks. The conductor was standing across from the tracks talking to the sheriff. She wondered what it was about. Shaking her curiosity off, she walked the rest of the way to the house.
Claire opened the door up, and peered inside. She could tell no one had been there since she and Wyatt
left to go to the crick. Wyatt’s clothes were still in the wardrobe, but Wyatt was not to be found anywhere in the house.
Claire went out to search for him around town. She wanted to apologize for her behavior. After hours of searching, she had no luck, so she went back home.
Wyatt still wasn’t there. She lay down on his cot, starring up at the ceiling. After a while she heard a knock on the door, she stood up. She ran over to the door, praying it was Wyatt. Claire yanked the door open, and saw momma. She had an old sundress on, and a sun hat on top of her graying hair.
“Momma, have you seen Wyatt?” Claire hoped that was why she was here. Momma didn’t say anything she just solemnly shook her head. She looked up at Claire, there was red around her deep green eyes. Like momma had been crying.
“No, baby, I haven’t seen him…” momma looked down at her shoes.
“Momma, what’s wrong?” Claire felt a knot in her stomach.
“I was hoping you already knew, but-”
“Knew what?” Claire interrupted.
“The sheriff said he was coming from the direction of the crick. The conductor said Wyatt looked distracted. As he walked onto the track the train was right on top of him. The conductor didn‘t have time to stop,” momma’s eyes started to get tears in them.
“No…no, no, this-this cannot be true,” Claire was in denial. She shook her head as tears began to fall down her face. Claire felt like she was going to be sick. She fell to her knees.
Momma stayed a while, and tried to soothe her. It was no use, but she tried anyway. Momma couldn’t get Claire to stop crying. She finally started to calm down a little bit, so momma left. As soon as momma shut the door, she fell onto Wyatt’s cot and cried more.
After hours of crying, Claire finally fell asleep. She had dreams about Wyatt all night. She dreamed he was moping around, as if he did something wrong. Claire would try to apologize, but every time she opened her mouth he would disappear.
She awoke around nine the next morning. The first thing Claire thought of was Wyatt. She went outside, she looked up at the sky.
“I’m sorry!” she screamed. “I shouldn‘t have been so hateful! I shouldn’t have acted the way I did! Please, please, forgive me, Wyatt! Forgive me!” Claire fell to her knees. She sat like that for an hour until she finally stood, and went back into the house. She lay on Wyatt’s forever empty cot.
Claire never did go to the funeral. She thought it would make things worse. Winter came, it was a harsh, cold winter. She was in the hospital for half of it, though. She was dehydrated. She wouldn’t eat, or drink anything. After a while she started to make progress. She finally started eating and drinking again.
She was released from the hospital just in time for spring. Claire went home, and sat on the floor. She sat there, and just simply thought.
After days of thinking and re-evaluating things, she decided she was going to live life how Wyatt would’ve expected her to. Claire was going to become an artist. She sold her house, and built a small cabin by hers and Wyatt’s crick.
She sold paintings out of her home too. She was making plenty of money, so finance was not one of her concerns.
Summer came again, and Claire sat out on the pier. She painted her, and Wyatt sitting together under the stars. Claire knew he was still there in spirit. When the wind was just right in the middle of summer you could still hear Wyatt howl.