LAUREN DICKIE Hope

We used to be the best of friends when we were very little. “Evie,” he used to say, “shall we visit the secret garden again today?” And when I nodded, he’d take me by the arm and lead me into our own little magical kingdom. We had the best of times at the end of his garden, where there was a wall strung with ivy and a fountain that bubbled endlessly. In summer it would be our whole world; we’d spend all day there until our mothers called us in because it was very nearly dark.

Then everything changed. One day, Mitch went to school. He was a year older than me, a bit like a dearly beloved older brother. I went over to his house after I knew that he’d arrived home, but his father answered the door.

“Mitch is in his room with his new friends, Evie. I’m sure he’ll play tomorrow.” He gave me a sympathetic smile and shut the door in my face. And I came the next day, and the next, and the day after that. But he never had time for me. What strong bond we’d had so little time ago had been broken fiercely and shattered, all over our memories, for the world to see. That’s when I knew that I was never going to be good enough for Mitch, the boy I no longer felt like I knew.

Several years later, when Mitch was leaving for university, he came up to me out of the blue and hugged me. And then he turned and left, no words playing from his mouth. But I knew what he’d meant. Mitch was always going to remember me. I’d left that imprint in his heart.

That was all I heard from Mitch for a long time. The years dragged by and I grew up into a determined person, so different from the curious little girl I had once been. And I was lonely. All of my friends had long since moved away, and with my mother dead my father now scarcely remembered who I was. I took long walks alone in the woods near my house, often passing beaming couples and blissful families with young children dashing around their parents’ legs, in wonder at the forest.

And then, one day, I saw Mitch. Strolling along the familiar path looking forlorn. He approached me cautiously, but that bond that I thought had been broken was still there. We