But Iris took the hand of the ghost.
With a touch so cold it pained Iris, blinded her, and with a swirl of snow and sadness and anger, Iris went where Avery took her. She had the sensation of falling in a dream, but she knew she was very much awake.
And when she opened her eyes, she saw nothing.
Iris whirled around, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. There were trees. Faint, blinking Christmas lights in the distance. Snow under her feet.
She was in the clearing.
Avery materialized in front of her. She glided toward Iris, her arms outstretched to the graves surrounding them.
“You’re just like us. These people were forgotten,” Avery said. “We ALL have been forgotten.”
Iris said nothing, only nodded.
“If you are my forever friend, we will never be forgotten again,” Avery said, Iris getting colder the closer she got. “You’ll see.”
Avery wasn’t a spirit of the snow, or a nightmare. She was a girl who wanted to be remembered, just like Iris.
“I only want to be your friend,” Avery repeated, her black eyes absorbing the moonlight. “What do you say?”
Iris hesitated, almost hearing Daniel’s plea to leave this ghost alone, her mom’s words about not seeking recognition.
She shook her head to rid her mind of those thoughts, and nodded.
Avery grinned, one that was too wide, too slow. It took up her face. Iris thought it would go past her ears.
“Let’s play,” Avery said, her voice high-pitched again.
Avery held her hands over the ground, and a gust of wind formed, rolling the powder into a ball. She sent the ball flying toward Iris, and the cold stung a bit, soaking through her pajamas to her skin.
A snowball fight.
Avery giggled, a too-fast titter.
Iris scooped a handful of snow off the ground, her fingers scraping the grave underneath. It felt wrong to play out here knowing who was beneath her feet.
Avery threw another snowball, hitting Iris squarely in her chest. “It just came back to me … There are few things I loved more than playing in the snow.”
Iris smiled and molded the snow in her hands and hurled it at Avery. Avery squealed as the ball went through her chest to the ground behind her. Her squeal echoed off the trees, lingering a little longer than it should have.
But Iris kept playing, kept gathering snow and hurling it through the air. The exertion took her mind off everything that had happened earlier. The longer she played, the more she felt like she was dreaming, removed from the real world. The edges of her vision were getting fuzzy. She felt numb. She no longer felt her hands as she gathered up the snowballs. It seemed as if time was moving slower. It was taking her longer to gather up snow to make the snowballs, especially since she couldn’t feel her fingers.
After a while, she grew tired. Iris realized that she was warm enough from running around that it would probably be okay if she lay down for a little bit. She curled up on top of the graves to rest. The powdery snow was soft, comfortable, and Iris burrowed deeper into it. Avery hovered over her, humming a little song.
Suddenly, there was a bright light behind Avery, illuminating every part of her except her eyes.
“Hey. What’s going on?” Iris asked. She peered behind Avery and squinted her eyes.
It was her neighbors with the Christmas lights. They had turned on their back porch light.
Avery was still as a statue.
“Is someone back there?” Iris heard someone call faintly.
Oh no. If Iris was caught back here, she’d be in so much trouble.
She inched backward, deeper into the woods.
“Avery,” Iris whispered. “Help me hide.”
But Avery was gone.
Iris whipped around, only greeted by the pitch-black darkness of the woods behind her.
She heard the voice say, “No one there,” and the porch light turned back off, leaving the colorful lights in its wake.
She shivered violently, feeling all the melted snow on her bare skin.
“Avery?”
Iris heard nothing. The trees moved silently above her head.
The ice around Avery’s grave sparkled in the night sky.
She was alone, in a graveyard, covered in snow.
She had to get out of here. Fast.
As quietly as she could, she ran past the neighbors’ house, praying that they were already back in bed, not looking for anyone anymore. She kept running, across the street, and ended up at her front door. She didn’t have her key, so she had to knock.
What was she going to say when her parents saw her out here?
She couldn’t think about it.
She knocked on the door again, frantic.
“Who could that be, this late?” she heard Daddy ask Mama as their footsteps got closer and closer to the door.
Daddy opened the door. Her mom was standing in the foyer, her eyes wide.
“Mama,” Iris said, wrapping her arms around her mom, shivering. She was starting to feel exactly how afraid she was, relieved she was. She was so glad to be home.
“Iris!” Mrs. Rose’s eyes flitted from anger, to concern, to fear. “What are you doing outside? With no jacket? How did you … ?”
Get out there? Iris wanted to finish her mother’s sentence. A ghost took me.
Iris opened her mouth to speak, but her throat tensed, her nose burned, her arms tingled as she started crying. “I was sleeping and the next thing I knew, I was outside!” Iris was bawling. She heard Vashti run downstairs. “I didn’t sneak outside, Mama, I promise!”
“Iris!” Daddy knelt down in front of his daughter. “Are you hurt? Did you see someone out there?” He looked behind Iris, narrowing his eyes at whatever he thought was lurking.
Iris shook her head, crying, her nose and face wet. “I’m not hurt,” she sniffled.
“It’s okay, baby, we’ve got you,” Mama said as her parents pulled Iris tighter. Iris hugged them back—relieved, but unable to ignore the pain as the feeling came back to her fingers. It pushed more tears out of her eyes, but she knew her parents just thought she was afraid. “Iris, you’re soaked! Baby … you’ve been sleepwalking again.”
“Huh?”
Mr. and Mrs. Rose looked at each other and nodded.
“You sleepwalked straight outside! We didn’t hear you slip out.” Mrs. Rose put her hand in her hair and sighed. Iris could see her mom’s mind working, looking for an answer. “Your sleeping habits have been so fitful lately. Vashti’s, too. Were you on your tablet?”
Iris just nodded, then sank into her mother’s arms, the adrenaline running out of her body.
“Well, no more tablet time after dinner.”
Iris looked up. “Mama! You’re punishing me after what just happened?”
“I’m not punishing you, Iris! But you’re sleepwalking! Every time you fall asleep on that tablet, your sleeping patterns change,” she said. “This is dangerous! Anything could’ve happened to you out there! How far did you get?”
Iris didn’t want to tell her about the clearing. She felt it would make her parents even more nervous than they already were.
“I only got to the mailbox,” she said. Another lie.
Mrs. Rose looked at Mr. Rose and threw her hands in the air. “Imagine if she would’ve tried to cross the street! Sleepwalking!”
“This weekend, I’ll install bolt locks on the front and back doors,” Mr. Rose declared, giving Iris a kiss on her forehead. “It’ll be okay.”
Vashti tugged on Iris’s pant leg, her sleepy face scrunched up in a confused expression. “Sissy,” she said. “Sissy—”
“Sissy is going to bed now, Vashti.” Mama turned back to Iris. “I’m taking you upstairs and getting you out of these clothes. And I’m taking the tablet. Come on.” Mrs. Rose led Iris upstairs.
“No! Sissy! Wait!” Vashti screeched, running upstairs behind the two of them.
“Hey!” shouted Mr. Rose. “Vasht
i, you heard your mother. You’ll have to talk to Sissy in the morning. She’s not feeling well tonight. Let’s go back to bed.”
Vashti’s screams and cries followed Iris and Mrs. Rose all the way up to Iris’s room. “I have to tell her!” she heard her little sister cry faintly.
Mrs. Rose sighed. “Vashti’s been so upset all night. She must’ve known something was going on with her sister.”
“Yeah,” was all Iris could say. She felt weak.
They walked upstairs. Mrs. Rose looked through Iris’s drawers and picked out the warmest pajamas she could find and gave them to Iris. She had to admit that Avery’s plan worked. She was getting all the attention again.
“Iris, honey, is there anything else going on?”
Iris froze and looked up at her mother. “What do you mean?”
“Is there something else going on that you want to talk about? Something that’s been bothering you?” Mrs. Rose looked at her daughter intently. “I know things are hard with your baby sister right now, and being left out of the Young Captains ceremony, and you are working so hard on your project and your Cleanup Club … but it’ll get better. Vashti just wants to be like you, and if your school decides not to notice you, that’s their loss. You’ll continue to do great things while they get left behind.”
“No, Mama. I’m okay.”
“Okay, baby. Well, give me your tablet.”
Iris sighed as she handed over her tablet to her mother.
“I’ll give it back to you in the morning. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Do you want me to keep the night-light on?” Mrs. Rose tried to ask as casually as possible. It must’ve flickered back on in Avery’s absence.
Iris sighed again. “Yes, please.”
After Iris’s mom closed the door, Iris lay there, replaying the night. The idea of her being out there, in the dark, alone, made her shiver all over again. Avery said she wanted a friend. A forever friend. She couldn’t wait to discuss this with Daniel, knowing what he might say. Iris was still shivering. It felt like a million little needles were sticking her in her fingers as the feeling came back to them.
Any chance of Iris falling asleep escaped the night.
Was Avery trying to be Iris’s friend?
Or trying to hurt her?
Iris was so drowsy the next morning she felt like she might faint. It seemed as if she’d only blinked before her mother shook her awake.
“Are you okay?” Mama asked. “Do you need the day off from school? You had a long night.”
Iris considered this, but she had step practice after school, and she needed to tell Daniel what happened as soon as she could. And she needed to work on her project. She still wanted to help Avery get the recognition she deserved. Even if Avery already had a plan of her own.
“I’m okay, Mama,” she finally said, before taking a long, hot shower, getting dressed, and meeting Daniel outside.
When he saw her, he opened his mouth to say hello, but his face quickly turned to concern when he saw Iris. She could only imagine how tired she looked.
“What’s wrong?” he asked when she approached him.
“Daniel, I need you to listen to me.”
“What is it?”
“Last night, after I went up to my room, Avery came again,” she said, lowering her voice. “I went with her to the clearing.”
As Iris recapped last night, she noticed Daniel’s face turning a sickly shade of green.
“My mom thinks I was sleepwalking, and Daddy said he’d put up bolt locks to keep me from leaving. But it was Avery that took me out there, Daniel—”
“Iris, this has got to stop.” Daniel used a tone Iris had never heard before. “You could’ve frozen to death! We need to finish this project so you can stop sleepwalking. I’m glad your dad is putting up bolt locks.”
They stopped on the sidewalk on the way to school, and Iris looked at Daniel. “Daniel, are you even hearing me?” Iris said. “It doesn’t matter if he puts bolt locks on the doors because I didn’t leave through the door. I went through the window, because that’s how Avery has always come to my room. But after we heard the neighbors and she disappeared, I had to use the door.”
Daniel shook his head, over and over. “Iris, you have to realize it now.” He took a deep breath. “You’ve always had nightmares and they’re just getting worse with the project. I mean, we are talking about graves, and looking up a lot of sad things. I think it’s getting to you because you want the best project, or—maybe you’re just …”
Daniel looked so fearful, so serious, Iris was taken aback. She stared at him.
“Afraid.”
The word hit Iris like a block of ice.
Iris pulled her jacket in closer. “I am not afraid,” she muttered. She wasn’t, was she? No. She went outside with Avery all by herself.
Iris squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s not true. I’m not sleepwalking. Avery is coming to visit me because she understands that I don’t want to be forgotten. She picked me to help her because I’m brave! She said there are few things she loves more than playing in the snow, just like me!”
Daniel stopped pacing and scoffed.
“You’re finding yourself in the middle of the woods, making Vashti sad and lying to your mom.”
“She needs my help, Daniel! She just—”
“Iris, we should’ve never gone to the clearing that night. That’s when your dreams got worse! All of this is happening because you didn’t want to follow the rules!”
Iris’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t know why she was feeling so angry toward Daniel. On the one hand, he was making a good point. But on the other …
“Is that what this is about? Me following the rules?” Iris asked him. “You’re upset that I’m not being such a big rule follower like you?”
“Iris!” Daniel’s eyes widened in shock. “How can you say that? It’s not just about following the rules. It’s about keeping you safe! I don’t want to see you freeze to death! Plus, your parents specifically told you not to go to that clearing and you’ve been back already. Your dad had just told us the day before we both went the first time, remember? And our parents just told us again!”
Iris scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Gosh, Daniel! I’m not afraid, you are! You’re afraid that I could actually be communicating with a ghost! When will you grow up and stop acting like such a baby?”
As soon as the words left Iris’s lips, she tried to take them back.
“I—”
“Wow, I never thought you’d ask me that.” Daniel looked down at his feet.
“Daniel, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that—”
Daniel backed up from Iris, his eyes glistening like ice in the sun. “I’ll see you in class, Iris.” He jogged a little ahead of her and walked the rest of the way to school.
“Daniel! Daniel!”
Iris watched as her very best friend walked away from her, leaving her feeling the coldest she’d ever felt.
Daniel finally left the library, where he went after class to do some last-minute work on their project. His too-big book bag was weighing on his shoulders, on top of the fight he and Iris had.
Was he wrong? Was he wrong for being so cautious, for wanting Iris to be safe?
Daniel was only close to a few people, and had already lost one person. He almost lost another, his very best friend, last night, because she thought she was sneaking outside with a ghost.
He wasn’t trying to tell her what to do—and deep down, he knew Iris knew that. But she called him a baby. Just like some of the guys at school did.
His eyes stung, which made him even more frustrated. The last thing he wanted to do was cry.
His house was only a few blocks away, then he could—
“Hey! Daniel!”
Oh no.
Daniel hastily pushed his glasses up to wipe the tear escaping his eye and walked a little faster to drown out the sound of his name.
“Daniel!
I know you hear me, man!”
He heard a cluster of footsteps thump behind him before slowing down to a walk. On either side of him were two of his friends—if they could call each other that anymore—Jamal and Derek.
“’Sup, man?” Jamal said, holding out his hand for the usual handshake. Daniel dapped him up, firmly, just as his father always taught him, but didn’t slow his pace. He was ready to go home.
“What’s up,” he murmured.
“We’re about to go hoop down at the court. Want to come?” Daniel looked over to see Derek holding a basketball under his left arm.
“Not today, man. I—have to help my mom with something.”
“You never hoop with us anymore!” Derek said, sucking his teeth. “What’s going on—wait, are you crying?”
Daniel realized he was hunched over under the weight of his book bag, and stood up straighter. Taller. “No, I’m not crying. It’s cold. It gives me the sniffles.”
“Oh. I was about to say. Because, if you were crying—”
“Look, I’ll catch y’all later, okay?” Daniel said, his back aching under the pressure of his book bag. “My mom’s waiting on me. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.”
“Dan, come on, man. When did you turn into such as mama’s boy?” Jamal said, masking the disappointment, the sadness in his voice. “We miss you on the court!”
“Jamal, chill,” Derek said, trying to catch Jamal’s eye. And suddenly, Daniel knew what the unspoken words meant.
His dad died, so don’t pick on him.
“My mama needs some extra hands around the house now,” Daniel said. Which wasn’t entirely a lie. She would be happy for the help with dinner.
“Oh yeah, man, my bad.” Jamal stumbled over his words. “I—uh—”
“I’ll see y’all tomorrow,” Daniel said again, not turning around when Derek chastised Jamal. He left a trail of two of his friends calling his name.
Derek, Jamal, and Daniel all hung out frequently, sometimes even calling on Iris when they needed to make the basketball teams even. But after Daniel’s dad died, it was hard for them to really talk about it. They didn’t know what to say to one another, didn’t know how to talk about it. They were afraid of crying. Afraid of consoling. He knew it wasn’t their fault. It seemed like they were all afraid of something.
The Forgotten Girl Page 9