Lost Girl
By Kristen Lantz
“I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see.”
- John Newton (Amazing Grace)
Prologue
A young man, probably early twenties, sat on a creaky porch cradling his brand new baby. Salty tears streamed down his cheeks. A four year old girl with porcelain skin and large curious eyes bounced happily beside him; her silky black curls bounced with her and he couldn't help but almost smile.
“Daddy, I want to hold the baby!” She begged.
As more tears ran down his cheeks, he couldn't find his voice to respond. He just nodded and patted the wooden step beside him. She plopped down and held out her pudgy hands. He placed the baby in her arms and helped her hold him there. He was startled when the door opened behind him. He immediately stood, baby in hand, and wiped his tears. The woman in the doorway gave him a look filled with mixed emotions. Compassion? Impatience? Probably both. Wordlessly, he handed her the baby, kissed the little girl on the top of her head and turned to walk away.
“Daddy! Wait for me, daddy!” She called after him.
But he wouldn’t turn back. She tried to run after him but strong hands lifted her back and cradled her, sobbing, on his shoulder.
“Calm down, Lily.” The man said softly, as he walked her back to the house. Looking back, she watched through tear filled eyes, as her daddy walked away and disappeared into the city. Soon the only sounds to be heard were the sobs of a broken hearted little girl with silky black curls and the ticking of the pocket watch she clutched in her hand, the only remaining piece of her dad.
Chapter 1
Drip drip drip
The dripping on the roof tiles made it hard to sleep. A little girl with silky black hair slid out of bed and tip-toed across the room. She tried to hold her breath, so she didn't wake Thomas. Poor Toodles (as she often referred to him) hadn't been sleeping well and she hated the thought of contributing to his poor sleep. As she neared the window she noticed a small marble on the floor where she was about to step. Instead, she kicked it to the wall. Silly Toodles often left his rocks and marbles and bugs everywhere. As was common with 5 year old boys, he was fascinated by everything. She knelt in front of a small window at the top of the 3 story townhouse they lived in, in downtown Boston and looked up at her dear old friend. The moon was out tonight. Bright, warm and welcoming. He was full and yellow and ready to catch up on the day's activities.
“Good evening, Mr. Moon.” She started, pausing for him to reply.
She continued on after a moment,
“I missed you last night, during the rainstorm. I have trouble sleeping without our chats.”
Again, she paused, giving the moon a chance to respond. She then prattled on, listing the day's events. Everything was the same as it had always been, but she listed each activity regardless. She told him of the messes her twin cousins, Benjamin and Theodor, made and how Uncle Cole made her clean it up because he didn’t want a fight. They were both the same age as her sweet Toodles, but with none of his sweetness. She told him about how Timothy, her cousin just a year older than her, locked her out of the house after they had run to the market for her Aunt Emma and that Emma then scolded her and refused to give her sweet bread after their supper that night. She told him about her chores that day and the meals she had. But always the most important part of her day, the part she couldn't wait to share with Mr. Moon, were her adventures with Toodles.
They would make forts from their sheets and read books pretending their candle was a fire. They would explore the street in front of their house and chase cats and make up stories about the lions they were hunting in Africa. And every night she sat by his bed and sang to him the way she imagined her mother would have done if she were still with them. Lily finally finished telling the moon about her day.
“Goodnight, Mr. Moon. I hope to see you again tomorrow. I will wish so hard to keep the clouds away so we can be together.”
The next morning Lily arose the same way she did every morning. She woke up with the Sun, padded down the stairs and started breakfast, the way she did every morning. She fed all the boys and cleaned up the mess, the way she did every morning. Then she started on the floors, the way she did every morning. After she cleaned up lunch, she took Toodles out to play on the street. Not five minutes into their game of hide and see, Lily heard her name being called from inside.
“Lilllyyyy!” her Aunt called.
She grabbed Toodles’ hand and pulled him reluctantly into the house.
“Yes, Aunt Emma?” She asked, out of breath from rushing in.
“I have extra wash and need your help to get it on the drying rack before dinner,” replied Emma.
Emma often asked her for extra help. Even though Tim was older than her, he never had to contribute much. Lily suspected it was because Aunt Emma never wanted a daughter to begin with and here she was raising the daughter of a man who abandoned his family, so she may as well take advantage of it. At least she was kind to Toodles. Toodles fit right in with Emma’s boys. And for the most part they were kind to him and included him in their play; whereas they mostly ignored Lily’s presence. Unless of course they needed something from her.
It really wasn’t terrible there, though. No one was really unkind to her. And her Uncle Cole loved her. She knew that much. Every night he kissed her on the forehead and told her she would have made her parents proud. He did everything in his power to assure her that her father did the best thing for her and Thomas. She never understood how being apart from him was the best, but she appreciated the comfort regardless.
Lily started on her share of the laundry. First she went from room to room collecting shirts, pants, socks and sheets and carried them down to the kitchen, where Emma waited with the dolly tub. She hung the clothes on the drying rack while Emma washed and by the time they were done dinner needed to be started.
As always, by the end of the day, Lily was exhausted. She had a full day of chores and no time for Toodles. She missed the days when she was younger and had more free time that she could spend in play with her brother. Oh well, he had their cousins so he wasn’t lonely. Once she was sure he was soundly sleeping she tip-toed to her window, the way she did every night. She sat down with her dear friend, but he was nowhere in sight. In his place was a dull gray cloud. The kind that meant rain and lots of it. Lily stood up, shoulders slumped, and went to her bed. Tonight would not end with love or encouragement from her only friend. Tonight would end alone. She laid her head on her flat pillow and a single tear dropped onto the white cotton material and quickly absorbed as she fell asleep.
The next day, Lily’s day went along like every other normal day. When she finally had a free moment, she went to find Thomas.
“Hey, Toodles. Would you like to play a game?” Lily asked.
“I’m playing pirates with Ben and Teddy.” He responded. “Can we play later?”
“Yes, of course,” Lily replied.
She walked away, trying not to feel rejected, but there it sat, right in her stomach. Her Toodles had chosen their cousins over her. She knew he didn’t mean it that way. After all, they were already in the middle of a game. Maybe she just wished they’d had invited her to play with them.
Later that day Emma asked Lily to take Uncle Cole his lunch, she was busy and couldn’t make the time and with Toodles preoccupied with Ben and Teddy, Lily welcomed the distraction. She walked slowly as she took in the city. It was dirty and smelly and fascinating. There were people everywhere. Rich people, poor people, old people, young people. Everywhere she looked there were just everyday people living their lives. These days there were also pro
testers on every corner. Uncle Cole had been telling Aunt Emma that he was worried that a war would be breaking out. According to him, a lot of people weren’t very happen with President Lincoln. That thought scared Lily. Every story she had ever heard about war ended with everyone losing someone they loved. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing Uncle Cole to a war.
As she turned a corner there was a man asleep on the sidewalk. She couldn’t believe that anyone could sleep in this chaos, yet there he lay. She finally rounded the last corner and Uncle Cole’s shop came into view. She ran the remainder of the way and was out of breath by the time she reached the door. She pulled the door open and the bell rang to announce her presence. She looked for Cole but he was in the corner with a customer, so she started looking around. She loved to visit the store. It was always full of amazing and wondrous items. Sometimes they looked like they were from another world. Lily was so mesmerized by her surroundings that she hadn’t noticed Uncle Cole had finished up business until she heard the bell ring, when the door opened and the man left.
“To what do I owe this surprise?” He asked her.
He always had a way of making her feel like he was pleased to see her.
“I brought your lunch.” She told him.
“Well this is a wonderful surprise, indeed. I had figured that dear old Emma had forgotten about me. But here you are, vanquishing all my fears of starvation.” He had a playful twinkle in his eye. He was exactly the way she remembered her father. Although she wasn’t sure if those were dreams or memories. It probably didn’t really matter which. They were happy dreams and that’s how she liked to remember her family. Happy. She lingered in the shop a little longer, not wanting to break the spell that she was always placed under while here. Uncle Cole showed her maps and artifacts and the most beautiful jewelry she had ever seen. She ventured to the far corner of the store and found a string of watches. She ran her fingers across the cold metal of each of them. Then a thought occurred to her.
“Uncle Cole,” she started, “these look alot like my watch.”
“Yes, but your watch is special, your grandfather gave your father that watch.” he explained.
“But where did grandfather get it? Was it here when grandfather ran the shop?” she asked.
“A man brought it in, when your father and I were boys. My father thought it was the most unique watch he’d ever seen, so he brought it home for your father. When your father was a boy he loved to collect unusual things.”
Lily loved when her Uncle told stories of when her father was a boy. It helped her feel like she knew him better than she actually ever could.
The day went by without another moment with her Toodles, so she looked forward to singing him to sleep. Lily sang a soft lullaby to her brother; one she thought she remembered her mother singing to her as baby. Once she heard his breath even out and knew he was asleep, she slipped out and headed to the window again.
“Hello, my dear Mr. Moon.” She began again.
Again she went through her day and again she paused and listened for his. As tired as Lily was, she wasn’t quite ready for sleep, so she started on one of her stories of the happy family she should have had. After she had finished she sat in silence for a minute and began to drift off.
Lily perked up at the sound of a loud clank outside her window. She stood and looked out in every direction, but saw nothing. It was probably the cat, she decided, and headed off to finish her night in the comfort of her bed.
Lily’s eyes flew open. That sound again. She sat up in bed. How long had she been asleep? Minutes? hours? It was too dark to gauge time. She looked out at Mr. Moon, hoping his light could answer those questions. As she neared the window, she could see that Mr. Moon hadn’t ventured far from his previous resting place, so she couldn’t have been asleep for very long. She pressed her face to the window and looked out again. Still nothing.
Unfortunately Lily was wide awake now, so she sat down on the window sill and started up another chat with the Moon. Only this time she poured out her heart to him. She told him about the things she secretly wished for herself and Toodles and the little whispers in her heart that told her she was alone and unloved. The whispers, she told herself were untrue and tried to ignore them, but sometimes it was so hard. Sometimes she wanted to believe the whispers. When she was done, she was shocked by her words. They were things she never even admitted to herself, but she had just said them out loud. And to her dearest friend in the world. She was worried he would think she didn’t love him and his friendship.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Moon,” she pleaded, “You know you are my friend. A better friend than I could ever imagined.” And she turned to go back to bed. But this time it was a shadow that got her attention. A shadow right at the end of the ledge outside her window. A shadow that suggested there was someone outside her window.
Chapter 2
Lily jumped back to hide behind the window shutter. She slowly peeked around the side and there they were, shining back at her, two large green eyes. She turned to run to her bed, but stepped on a marble and ended up on her backside, staring up at the ceiling.
“Dang that Thomas,” she mumbled to herself.
She sat up, shook herself off and it was then that she noticed a hand, slightly bigger than her own, reaching out toward her. Against her better judgment, she took the hand and it helped lift her to her feet.
“How did you get in here?” She asked, when she had finally regained her composure.
“Through the window.” He replied, she could now tell it was a he.”It wasn’t locked or anything.”
She looked over the boy and realized that he was, indeed, just a boy. He couldn’t have been more than a few years older than her.
“Has no one ever told you that it’s rude to stand outside people’s windows and come inside their homes without an invitation?” She asked.
“I was only outside your window so I could hear you better and I only came in so I could make sure you were ok.” he replied.
Lily studied him for a moment. His clothes and hair were wild and windblown. He wasn’t dirty, but he wasn’t exactly clean either. She didn’t know what to make of him. Then a thought occurred to her.
“How did you get up here? It’s quite a climb”
“I didn’t climb at all.” He snorted at her.
He was obviously hurt that she would suggest such a thing.
“Ok, if you didn’t climb, then how?” She pressed, softly.
The corner of his mouth turned up into a slight smile.
“I flew, of course.” He answered.
Lily couldn’t hold it in. A loud laugh burst from her lips. She had to slap her own hands over her mouth to stifle it. She had forgotten about Toodles, asleep in the corner.
“You flew? That’s absolutely ridiculous. Fine, keep your secrets. I’m going to bed.”
And she trotted off towards her small bed at the opposite side of the room from Thomas.
“Please close the window on your way out.”
“I can prove it!” he defended. “Just watch.”
And with that, he floated up to the ceiling, spun around and kicked off heading back toward Lily. Lily just sat on the edge of her bed, speechless and wide eyed.
“How in the world did you do that?” Lily shrieked, slapping her hands to her mouth again.
This boy in her room threw her so off guard that she kept forgetting about her poor Toodles. If Toodles woke up, it would be nothing but bad. She needed to maintain hushed tones.
“What? Now you believe me?” the boy spat. Lily just nodded her head enthusiastically. How could she not believe him after what she had just seen?
“Well, it’s just something I know how to do.”
Lily had a thousand questions for him. Who was he? Where was he from? Why was he here now?
After a moment of silence, Lily gained the courage to ask, at least some of her questions. She should probably start with the simplest questions first. She didn’t want to
scare him off before she got all of her answers.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“”My name is Peter.” He replied.
Remembering her manners, Lily straightened her back and extended her hand.
“Pleased to meet you, Peter. I’m Lily.”
Again, they sat quietly looking each other over. Both unsure of how to break the silence.
“What are you doing here?” Lily finally blurted out, almost exasperated. Peter looked stunned from her tone.
“I was flying by and heard you talking.” He answered.
Lily looked down at her hands folded in her lap. She was embarrassed that anyone had heard her conversation with the moon.
“Actually,” he started “to be honest, I was flying by a few weeks ago and heard you then. I’ve actually listened outside every night since.”
Lily wanted to pull the covers over her head and wake up from the dream that this had to be.
“Why were you listening!?” She insisted. “Those were private conversations between me and….. Someone else.”
She had to fight back tears. There was no way she was letting this dumb flying boy know that he’d gotten to her. But she was also so horrified that anyone had heard those words she had spoken to her dear moon.
“Between you and the moon?” He asked.
She just let her head drop.
Peter was confused as to why Lily was so mad that he’d heard her conversations. They were usually just about her day. Sometimes there were stories about her family, though he didn’t believe the things in the stories had actually happened. Perhaps, they were more like wishes. Still, none of those stories had ever drawn him down from his place on the roof, above her window. Not until today. Today every word she said was filled with heartache and loneliness. And he knew exactly how she felt. That was why he’d been so willing to reveal himself after he’d been so careful with his hiding place. She was lost, just like him. Yes, she was with her family in the home she’d known for years, but she wasn’t really home. At least that’s what she had told the moon. She had never felt home before. In this house, with these people, she was just the eternal guest. Lily was upset now and he needed to do something to make it right.
Lost Girl (The Lost Series Book 1) Page 1
