Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,11
not a big fan of winter,” she says, smiling. She turns and looks at the sunset. It lights up her face, making her skin look like gold.
The conversation comes surprisingly easily. For whatever reason I have no problem talking to her like this. It’s only when I try to form the words “will you go out with me?” that I suddenly can’t make any sound come out of my mouth.
“Your sister looks just like you.” I glance at the little mini-Mabel. “Do you have any other brothers or sisters?”
“Nope, it’s just us.”
“Oh.” It’s not the answer I expected. “That’s kind of a big age difference, isn’t it?” I look at the little girl and try to guess how old she is. She looks about five, maybe six.
“Um, yeah,” she says with a little laugh. “I was ten when I found out I was going to have a little brother or sister. I was so not happy. Typical only child stuff, I guess.” She shrugs, looking over at Sophie. “Of course now I can’t imagine life without her.”
“I know what you mean. I’m the youngest of six and—”
“Six?”
Her eyes are wide with shock and it makes me laugh even though it’s a question I’m used to getting. “Yeah, six. But they’re all out of the house now. It’s really weird. And quiet. Very, very quiet. When I was little the house was always filled with chaos.”
“I suppose it’ll be strange for Sophie when I leave next year, too. I hadn’t really thought about it.” She turns back to Sophie, but she’s gone.
“Wait, where did Sophie go?” Mabel asks, stepping toward the monkey bars.
I spin around looking for her. There are little kids all over the place, but I don’t see Sophie. She’s not on the slide, the swings, the merry-go-round.
“She’s got to be here somewhere,” I say calmly. Maybie has her hand over her mouth and her eyes are darting back and forth.
We walk around the park for over ten minutes, calling her name. We search every hidden spot we can think of. Under the slide, in the tower, behind the cut-outs of cowboys. There’s no trace of her, and it’s starting to get dark.
“Oh my God, how did this happen? Where could she have gone?” Mabel is practically spinning in circles. Her eyes are red. I feel totally useless.
“I was supposed to be watching her,” she yells at herself, her voice shaky.
“We’ll find her,” I say, because I don’t know what else to say.
“And what if we don’t?” She finally breaks. Tears fill her eyes. There’s a giant boulder in the pit of my stomach and my throat is pinched shut. Without even thinking about it, I take a step closer and put my hands on her arms.
“We will,” I say, doing my best to keep my voice steady and confident.
She falls into me and lays her head on my chest. Despite the seriousness of the situation my heart starts beating at double speed and my stomach does somersaults. She’s warm and soft against my chest and it takes every ounce of willpower I have not to lift her chin and kiss her right here in the middle of the park.
“Um, okay, think,” I say, trying to focus. “We haven’t looked everywhere.”
She starts to nod and pulls away, wiping at her eyes. “Okay, okay. Um, I don’t know. I can’t think,” she says in a rush.
I scan the playground again, trying to think of anywhere we haven’t been. “What about the fountain on the other side of the park?” Water shoots up out of the center and it looks like something a kid might be drawn to. It’s the only place I can think of where we haven’t already searched.
“Yes!” She looks up at me for a second, her eyes wide. “She loves that stupid fountain. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!” She turns away from me and bolts. I run after her.
“Sophie,” she yells as she goes.
Then, on the far side of the fountain, I see a little figure stand up. Sophie. Mabel drops to her knees and wraps her arms around her.
“Where were you? What were you thinking?” Mabel scolds while she hugs her. When she pulls away, I see that Sophie is totally soaked and has left a big wet imprint on Mabel’s shirt. “What happened?” Mabel asks.
“I fell in the fountain,” Sophie says matter-of-factly. A laugh escapes me and Maybie gives me a dirty look.
“I can see that, you’re sopping wet,” she says, wiping