Joe

The woods were always fun to play in. Playing manhunt and hide and seek with Joe and our brothers. Split into teams of two, and run and hide in the tall, tall weeds. Once when we were running through the woods we found a stream. There was a dead tree suspended off the ground, and we used it to make a house. We found a tarp, and tree branches, to make it water proof and camouflaged. In the winter, while it was snowing, we went out to our house. We kept walking exploring, until we got tired, and decided to go back. His mother was waiting, angry, she didn’t know where we went, she had gone out into the woods looking for us, and he was grounded, so go to your room. I went home.

He had a secret world in his head, and he showed it to me, painted it in my mind. The streets were in the field, the trampoline the spaceship. We were married in this world, and could do whatever we wanted. But then something happened, and the world was gone. We didn’t see each other, our moms were busy. I stayed home to play with my new best friend, a girl, and I didn’t mind.