9

I visited Christophe in the hospital everyday for three weeks. Sometimes Arlen came with me, sometimes he didn’t. Christophe seemed to be making a slow, but definite recovery. He was talking now and described to me how he occupied his time. He met a girl (also a patient) and told me of their conversations. Honestly, their budding friendship bugged me a little. Although I would never admit that to Christophe.

One day, Arlen and I went in to check on Chris. I brought him some lunch – he’s always complaining about the disgusting hospital food.

We walked through the hospital to his room, B26.

“Good morning!” I said. “Arlen came with me today. We brought you lunch.” I placed the paper bag on the end of his bed and sat down in one of the three chairs in the room.

“Oh, Arlen’s here, is he?” Chris asked.

“Of course, he’s right here. Come in the light Arlen, so he can see you.” Arlen walked into the room and took the seat next to mine.

“How are you feeling, Chris? You’re looking much better,” he said.

“He’s been dying to come, Chris,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to visit.”

Christophe looked from my face to Arlen’s. His eyes moved so fast between the two that I thought they would fall out of his sockets.

“Sile...” he said.

“What’s the matter? Do you need me to call a nurse?”

“No, it’s not that... I’m fine... I just need to... to talk to you.”

“What about, Chris?” he paused and I said, “Spit it out.”

I gave him an encouraging smile and nodded. “Go ahead.”

“I think... I think you might need some help.”

I hesitated for a moment. “What do you mean, Chris?”

“I think you’ve been... seeing things.”

“Seeing things? Like hallucinations?”

“It’s been going on for a while, Sile. I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it might be a coping mechanism, but it’s... well, it’s clear to me that you really think you see him.”

Trying to hold back a few giggles, I said, “Chris, what are you talking about? See who?”

“See Arlen.”

I stopped giggling. “Arlen? What do you mean? He’s here. He’s right here!” I pointed to Arlen, who was laughing a little.

“Oh Sile, don’t you see he’s kidding,” Arlen said. “Just a little light humor, right mate?”

I looked at Christophe, whose eyes were unwaveringly on mine. He didn’t seem to hear Arlen.

“Sile... There’s nobody there,” Christophe said.

I started hyperventilating. Chris was obviously crazy. Maybe he hadn’t been making any progress at all. Maybe he was getting sicker. He must have been getting sicker. I stood up suddenly and grabbed Arlen’s hand.

“We have to go. I’ll call the nurse in. You obviously need some help.” Hand in hand, Arlen and I walked out of his room and back out through the hospital, ignoring the shouts coming from Christophe’s room. When we left the building, I started running home, dragging Arlen behind me.

“Sile, relax! Everything is okay!” He jerked my hand back and wrapped his arms around me. “Shhhh... It’s okay. It’s alright.”

“Arlen, let’s get out of here. Let’s leave. Let’s go back to Ireland with dad. Please. Let’s just go back...”

“You know,” he said, holding my head in his hands, “I think that’s a fantastic idea.” He smiled at me and kissed my forehead. He took my hand again and we walked slowly to Castle Apartments.

Arlen suggested that we walk through Sherwood Forest to get home – he thought it would calm me down a bit. Even in the daytime, the forest was dark. We were so busy looking at trees and squirrels and other distracting things, that we didn’t see the runner speeding down our path. She apparently didn’t see us either because the next second, we all three were on the forest floor, dirt in our faces. Breathing in the damp leaves and lying on the tree roots reminded me of the old man with his flying bulls who granted my wish to go to a happier time. Smiling to myself, I stood up and brushed my shirt off saying, “I’m so sorry. We were hardly looking where we were going!”

“Oh that’s alright,” said the runner. “I wasn’t watching either. I’m Spring, by the way.” She stuck out her hand and I shook it.

“I’m Sile. And this is my brother Arlen.” Arlen smiled but Spring gave him a funny look. She looked at my face again with a similar expression and said, “Yeah, well, I better go. It was nice meeting, uh... both of you...”

She moved to the right of me. She glanced at me once last time before plugging her earphones back in and taking off. Her first step though, was directly at Arlen. She must be very unobservant because she started to run into him for the second time. Right as their bodies should have collided though, a strange thing happened. Spring ran straight through him. One minute she was in front of him, about to collapse into his body, and the next she was behind him, running happily through Sherwood.

I looked at Arlen. I looked at Spring’s back.

“What’s the matter, Sile?” Arlen asked. He didn’t notice what happened.

“Didn’t you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

Confusion settled in. Spring definitely walked straight through my brother. I stuck out my arm and felt Arlen’s shoulder. But the longer I held onto his arm, the less I felt his warmth, his strength. My brain started flipping around inside my head, trying to understand what I wasn’t feeling.

I started to run. How could Spring walk through him? How could I not feel him? How was he standing right next to me but unseen by everyone else?

“Sile? Sile! Where are you going?!” 


On the way home, I ran past my old, grimy friend. I never realized he was so old or tattered. I felt tricked; his appearance was a little disappointing. I slowed down in front of him. He picked his head up as if he sensed me. Arlen called my name, running to catch up, and the blind man didn't even acknowledge my brother's voice. He didn't hear him.

I ran back through town and to Castle Apartments and sprinted up countless steps to the roof. I ran 36 strides to the side of the building and stood up on the ledge.

Below me walked little ants that I knew were people. I saw small buildings, cars driving on the streets, birds flying in the grayish sky above the world.
I wonder if I can fly, I thought. “I said I wonder if I can fly!” Nothing was keeping me grounded. Looking at the dull birds instead of at the ground below, I spread my arms, held my head high, and jumped.