The Clubhouse

by Chantal Bellehumeur

Robert looked forward to summer days where he could play all day with his three best friends. The young boys spent most of their free time inside their treehouse. No girls were allowed; no exceptions!

That is, until Robert became seriously ill and befriended a girl his age at the hospital. Meagan truly understood him and made him laugh. Having spent most of their summer away from their usual friends, the two sick kids became inseparable.

When Robert found out Meagan was dying, he became inconsolable. His other friends took pity on him and voted to break the “no girls” rule. They invited Meagan to the clubhouse before the start of the school year. To their surprise, the boys discovered a girl could actually be cool.

Meagan didn’t care about getting muddy, nor freak out at the sight of insects or spiders. She loved playing sports, doing messy science experiments, and reading comic books. It didn’t take long for Robert’s friends to get attached and treat her like one of them. They even encouraged Meagan to carve her name next to theirs, on the sacred wooden wall where they also carved FRIENDS FOR EVER. One night, they all slept in the clubhouse and told each other ghost stories. Meagan came up with the best ones.

When Meagan passed away, the boys were devastated. They made a tearful pact to keep her memory alive. They tried inventing ghost stories about her, but felt she had to be a friendly ghost and it wasn’t spooky. It made them miss her storytelling.

The boys eventually decided to keep a notebook in the clubhouse so they could share their fun with her. They even included secrets. When Robert died of his cancer a year later, the boys kept the notebook for him too.

Chantal Bellehumeur is a Canadian author. She has several published novels of various genres as well as short stories, poems and articles featured in compilation books, magazines, plus a local newspaper. For a complete list of publications, including free reads, visit: https://author-chantal-bellehumeur.webnode.com/products-/