Teen Ink

Gone

“What was that about? Did you see her eyes?” I stumble over my words stuttering them out. “What was what about? Uh who? There was no-one here.” Sienna is looking at me confused and worried, her forehead is all crumpled in a way I never thought possible, it almost potato like. There I went again. I sigh “Áine, she was just here but she was acting strange.” “Who is Áine?” “You know that little girl with the ginger hair, she’s really perky.” “Vee? None of the children have ginger hair.” ”I know, it’s only Áine that does, come on we’ll go back and I’ll show you her.” We made our way back to camp in silence. Honestly I doubted whether Áine was real, and I was scared I would come across as mad. The time from the clearing to the camp passed so quickly, maybe it was because I was deep in thought. We came back and Sienna went up to an eight year old girl with long hair. “Hi, can you tell me where I might find Áine?” the little girl considered, and turned back to us in a sing song voice “Hi, I’m Abigail, oh Áine you say? Well I was talking to a girl called Áine-“I sighed with relish at this point and I admit I was a little smug, but then she continued, “She was ginger right? She was quite lively. Shame that plane killed her; she had a lot of potential.”
I stared at Abigail half expecting her to laugh and say ‘look at the look on your face!’ but she didn’t she gave us a farewell and went over to her family. “See, there is no Áine here, we’ve looked everywhere.” She elongated the last word making it sound like we’d asked a thousand people. “We only asked Abigail.” I stated, I was a bit frustrated with her. She looked muffled and then said in a low tone “Who’s Abigail?” Then I got it, she was playing a joke on me! Well it was a crude one and I didn’t think it was funny “Oh stop now. Seriously, it is not funny.” I turned round so fast I didn’t even notice her reaction. With that I stalked off and made my way over to a boy tossing a mango in the air “How’s it going?” he asked, have we met before? I’m sure I have not talked to him yet. “Good, you?” “I’m fine; you are probably wondering how I know you Vee.” “Yes I was.” “Áine told me about you” I exhaled, Sienna was joking, this was a sick joke of hers. I guess I took too much time thinking about Sienna and did not give him a reply, because when I went to speak to him again he was gone. Maybe I have that effect on people – I bore them so much that they have to leave. I don’t blame them; I would do the exact same.