Auburn

Hi! My name’s Lee!

I’m nine years old, and I’m really fast! The other day I raced a dog to the end of the street and almost won! So yeah, that’s pretty cool, huh? Anyway, listen! I’m going to tell you about where I live.

I live in a place mama and dad say is pretty average size. There are plenty of pine trees and rocks, lots of houses (probably almost two hundred!) We only have one school, so I know who most of the other kids are. There are a few who learn at home, but I don’t see them outside very often, so I don’t know them very well. My mom says that their parents like to teach them different subjects than what we learn in school, which I think is not fair. If I have to learn math, so should they!

Anyway, our town also has shops. My parents run the BEST one. There are always people coming in every day, some even like to take their time and chat for a while.

They sometimes even let me run it all by myself, if I’m careful. Like today, I have been here since the morning, and nothing bad has happened at all.

Mrs. Patsun came by to pick up milk, but otherwise it has just been me and the cats playing out in the street.

I’m really excited because today I should be receiving my special package!

Ever since I can remember, my big brother has been older than me. He was always as big as my dad, and he talked like him, too.

He would take me for rides into the woods in his truck and we would pretend like we were wild animals, gracefully bounding through the trees. Sometimes, on the way back, we would stop at the drive thru to get ice cream. After that, we’d drive up the mountain and park to look at the stars, or the lights of whoever was up below.

Before he left, we decided we would keep all our traditions going by sending “surprise packages”. We take a box and fill it with anything that reminds us of what we have been up to recently. One time, I put a whole bunch of candy wrappers because I decided to eat so many!

The next part didn’t make much sense to me, mama says that we always have to send our packages with the special mail service. So, she takes my package and sends it off.

I received my package..

There were some interesting pieces inside; a teddy bear with a rubber band around its neck, a loose sock, and some pieces of dried up paint, along with a letter.

There wasn’t much written on it. Normally, I have to have mama read it for me because there are so many words, but this time there were only a few.

“Old future gone, now present here.”

It’s hard to tell what he is trying to say to me. He would always give me clues in the letter. This was nothing like any of the other packages.

Mama asked me how I liked my package. I was too scared to tell her, what would she think? I didn’t want her to believe that my big brother was in trouble.

But, what if he was?

How could he be? He is my big brother, he has been the size of my dad for as long as I know.

How could anything bad happen to him?

Today I learned the truth:

My brother was not acting weird..In fact, my brother was not acting at all.

Not anymore...