Page 12 of The Sun
And my entire world stopped. For a moment, it did.
My pulse sounded like a train barreling down the tracks in my ears, my throat tightened, and just as soon as the fear of losing her set in, the hinges to the Lower’s backdoor creaked.
“Hey, kid!” I could tell from Aunt Billie’s voice that she had a cigarette gripped between her lips.
I sat still, praying that if I didn’t move, she wouldn’t see me.
Sunny dropped her chin to her chest, and a soft sob broke free from her throat. That was like King John had shot a poisoned arrow right through my heart. Then I did the only thing I could think to do, pretended none of this was happening.
“Hey,” I said, opening my palm and holding out my hand where she could see. “I got you something.” She didn’t budge, so I leaned down so low that my head was nearly on the floor of the treehouse. It was the only way I could see her face hidden under all that hair. “I got you something special, Sunny.” Her eyes moved to my face, then my hand. “One for me,” I said. “One for you. The sun and the moon.”
She sniffled, then wiped her face dry. “They’re pretty.”
“It’s a promise. Never. Ever. Okay? I’ll never ever leave you.”
Tears welled in her eyes again. “But you are leaving. . .” Another arrow in through my chest.
“I’ll still see you.”
“What if she won’t let you?” she whispered.
“Elias. Yoo-hoo?” Aunt Billy had tottered halfway across the yard in her high heels. Mr. and Mrs. Lower followed closely behind her with deep-set frowns on their faces.
“No matter what, I can’t leave you forever,” I said. “The sun and the moon, remember? They belong together.” I grabbed her hand and slipped the ring with the moon on her finger. It was too big, and when she held up her hand, it slid down over her knuckle. I placed the sun ring in her palm. “Now put mine on my finger.”
Sucking back tears, she pushed the ring on my finger. Mine fit a little better, but not much, so I made a fist to make sure I didn’t lose it. “This way I always have you with me,” I said. “And you always have me.”
Sunny’s lip quivered, and she threw her arms around my neck, squeezing so tightly that I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t care. Had she been able to keep squeezing me until I died, I would have let her. Clinging to Sunny as hard as I could, I stared down at Aunt Billy and her bouffant, bleached hair and electric blue eyeshadow. Then I glanced at Mr. and Mrs. Lower. “Please let me stay with you.” My throat tightened and burned. “Please.”
Mrs. Lower’s gaze dropped to the ground, and she covered her mouth while shaking her head. Mr. Lower placed his arm around her shoulders while shooting a half-smile in my direction. I’d seen that not-a-possibility-smile one too many times in my life. There was no arguing.
“Sunny,” Mr. Lower said, and she hugged me even harder. “Elias has to go. But we’ll keep in touch with them.”
“That’s right,” Aunt Billie said, taking the cigarette from her lips before flicking the gray ash onto the Lower’s nice lawn. “We’ll be sure to keep in touch and all that jazz. Now, we gots to go get your brothers.” A silver lining at least, I’d be with my Judah and Atlas again. But as much as I loved them, they weren’t Sunny.
“Please don’t go,” Sunny whispered.
“I don’t think I have a choice.” And with that I untangled myself from her hold, fighting back the urge to cry as I climbed down the ladder.
Sunny’s face crumpled from the inside out as she crawled to the edge of the treehouse. I was sure from the way my chest stung, I was going to die.
“I mean it,” I whispered where no one could hear us. “I’m gonna marry you when we get grown up.”
“Okay.”
I clenched my jaw when I turned away from the dogwood, not wanting to cry. I didn’t want to hurt Sunny any more than I already had.
Aunt Billie knelt and wrapped her bone-thin arms around me. She smelled like air freshener and smoke which caused my stomach to turn. “It’s gonna be all right, kid. It’s all gonna be all right.”
Mr. and Mrs. Lower hugged me. I turned my emotions off when I thanked them for having me stay with them, then I went to gather my things while Sunny stayed in the treehouse.
I wanted to run back out to the backyard, climb up that ladder, and hug her one more time, but Aunt Billy was at the front door when I came down the stairs with my backpack.
We loaded my stuff into the back of the truck, and Aunt Billy waved at the Lowers when she turned the ignition. The engine choked, then sputtered to life, the entire vehicle rumbling.
I watched that two-story house with the wrap around porch grow smaller and smaller as we backed down the drive, and just before the truck turned around, Sunny stepped onto the front steps, staring down at her hand. I couldn’t breathe; I figured it meant I loved her. Maw always said love left you breathless, and abandoning Sunny took every ounce of air from my lungs, leaving them burning and aching.
“Well, kid. I been fighting the courts long enough to get custody of you little terds.” The gear shift ground and the truck lurched when Billie put the car into first. Steering with her knee, she reached for the pack of smokes on the dash. “Gonna go fetch your brothers then we’re on to Mississippi.”
