The rusty hammer I had been holding on to might as well have weighed a ton. It slipped from my fingers, falling hard onto the ground. The moment it landed, loose mud quickly molded around it like a dinosaur sinking in a tar pit.
"S-She ain't know nothin…" I whispered to myself.
My knuckles suddenly flashing colors of white and red as I tightened my fists as hard as I could.
"You hear that!" I yelled towards the spot where she had disappeared into.
"You ain't know nothin bout me!"
...
Silence...
I suddenly felt a bit like a moron, yelling at slowly rustling leaves, watching as a random squirrel stared at me from atop a tree limb like I was an idiot.
She ain't know nothin...
The next day at school, I found myself unable to sit still from the moment I arrived, to the ding of the last bell. That girl sat at the front of the classroom, occasionally glancing back at me with a cocky smirk across her face. I would silently hope the teacher would catch her and call her out. Maybe that would set her straight or something.
No such luck.
That just seemed to be a hobby of hers.
I could tell that she knew full well she had me dangling from her fingertips. Like she was some master manipulater, intentuinally burning my face like a cotton ball thrown on a raging bonfire.
When school finally let out, the thought of that annoying girl was at the forefront of my mind.
I knew for a fact that she would find a way to mess with me. I had somehow signed up for an unrelenting crash coarse in patience.
I barely had my first book inside of my backpack when…
"Hello, Sir Tucker!"
Called it...
"What you want?"
"Will you be going to the alcove today?"
After a brief pause, I shook my head.
"Nope… Pop wants me home to do some yard work."
It felt kind of good to see that smirk she was wearing all day fade from her face so quickly.
"R-Really? But… you promised at church that you would teach me to fish…" She was looking sheepishly to the side, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her long sleeve spring dress.
She's doubling down that stupid spell! I should bring a Bible to school tomorrow! Scare this sea witch off!
"I-I... But..." I mumbled, my words tripping over one another.
Her eyes darted towards me as that smirk returned.
"You're so gullible, Tucker!"
She poked my nose before twisting around on the tip of her toes and walking away with a hum in her throat.
So cocky...
"Y-You! I-I don't like you's!" I yelled as she continued to walk away with all the confidence of a queen in her kingdom.
I stomped the rest of the way home, muttering various insults about her under my breath.
How she was annoying.
How she teased me like I was some toy to be played with.
How she called me "Sir" for whatever stupid reason.
Proly some England stupid thing...
I threw my backpack inside, and began to go the alcove.
Maybe I would've felt guilty for lying to her if she didn't make everything such an insufferable game.
I snuck my way through the dirt roads and damp pathways that made up about half of all of Ferngolly. Though, I rarely ever saw a vehicle. I honestly think they just made the roads to try and blend into the greater world. Though, they clearly didn't even know or care of our existance.
I may have loved the fact that our little town was hidden from the wide world, but that girl was single handedly making me feel a nonstop sense of unease about the place.
I could just imagine her waiting around any and every corner, like she was expecting me at any moment. She had a way of just... showing up all the time.
I felt like a fugitive in my own home town.
Once I had made it up the hill and out of sight of the streets, I could finally begin to breath easy, free from the looming threat that was Charlotte Bellflower.
I picked up a random stick along the way, wacking small pebbles as I made my way through the woods, whistling some hymns they would always sing at church. Those were pretty much the only songs I ever heard honestly. Well, aside from when my father would shift through the channels on his old radio for the baseball games. I would occasionally hear snippets of what was popular in those brief moments between stations.
I watched as the pebble I hit flew through the air, hopping over the murky water like a dragonfly. When it splashed in the swampy muck, I threw my hands high into the sky.
"S'homerun!"
Suddenly, the unexpected sound of a dainty clap hit my ears.
In shock, the stick slipped from my fingers, smacking me hard on the top of my head.
"Ah! Stupid little! Gah! That hurt!" I growled out.
I knelt down in the mud, rubbing the aching soreness running through my newfound headache.
The clapping sound didn't stop, now accompanied by a faint chuckle.
I turned towards the sound of soft laughing coming from my left.
There she sat… My nightmare come to reality.
She threw her hands into the air just as I did a moment ago.
"Woo-hoo! Homerun! Whatever that means!"
I scrambled to my feet, trying to ignore the ringing in my ears.
"What ya doin here?! I-I-"
She stood up from the rock she was lounging on, a small blanket placed over the top of it, I assumed to prevent the dreadful nightmare of dirt from getting onto her.
"Isn't it obvious? Waiting for you, silly."
"B-But I-I said…"
Her hands rested behind her back as she slowly and deliberately took one step after another towards me.
"You're a horrible liar, Tucker. Your eyes dart around like a nervous mosquito, and you fidget with your hands like your heart is about to explode. It's very obvious, you know?"
My shoulders slumped as she stood only a foot away from me.
"Shut up… I got work I gotta do…" I mumbled.
"Don't need some nosey gal gettin in my way."
She giggled, stepping to the side for me to walk past her.
"Aye aye, Sir!"
I tried to ignore the fact that she was staring at me like I was a prize won at a carnival as I got to work.
Placing an old piece of wood in place, I began to nail it against the other ones, trying my best to avoid hammering my finger like I had done countless times before.
Surprised I never broke a finger now that I think about it.
I was always far too ambitious with my builds, imagining some pirate sea vessel that a kraken wouldn't stand a chance against.
Baby steps... that's what was needed.
I figured the simplest boat to make was a raft.
Wood floats after all... I figured if you just throw enough of it together, it should be enough to float one skinny little boy, right?
That's what I hoped for anyways.
As much as I tried to ignore Charlotte's very existence, her stare was like a constant poking at the back of my head.
She just... sat there... resting her chin on her hands as she hummed softly on that little blanket of hers.
Just... watching me with the eyes of a hawk.
Every now and then, I would catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye. She wore a smile that said she was in her own little bubble of heaven.
Eventually, her presence snapped something inside of me. I dropped the hammer and gave her what I assumed she wanted.
My annoyed attention.
"What ya want?! I ain't go and bother you's when ya playin with dolls or whatever!"
She giggled behind delicate hands.
"Just watching you, that's all. What are you making, sir?"
I pointed my finger at her like it was a dangerous weapon.
"S-Stop callin me that!"
I hid my face, turning back towards the few pieces of nailed wood, bent and uneven.
It looked... sad.
I think giving a chimpanzee the same tools would have gotten a better result.
"If ya must know, I'm makin a boat... Happy? Got ya answer, so leave!"
I could hear the soft rustle of her dress as she finally stood up from her resting plave. Thst was followed by the silent patter of her little feet against the mud.
"Oh! That's interesting! What do you want to make a boat for?"
I turned my head towards her, only to quickly be met with her face mere inches from my own.
That habit of hers was beginning to drive me absolutely insane.
I flinched back with a nervous stumble, falling back and onto my butt.
"Too close? My bad."
"See! Reasons like that is why I ain't sayin nothin to you's bout nothin! I'm makin it for my own reasons! It's none ya business."
Her bottom lip began to quiver softly...
"A-Are you mad at me?"
Her eyes glistened with a moist shimmer, hands clenched into tiny balls to cover her lips.
"I-I'm sorry... I just wanted to get to know you, and I'm not good with people. So, I just thought that I should... try and stick around. I-Im so sorry."
My ears might as well of had a stethoscope attached directly to my heart.
Thump Thump.
Thump Thump.
Thump Thump.
"I-I... didn't... I- uh... I'm sorry... I swear, I didn't mean to hurt you's feelins..."
Her balled fist lowered, revealing that she had been hiding a little smirk.
"Your adorable, you know that?" She said eagerly.
I slammed my hand against the shallow puddle it laid in.
"I hate you!"
"I have a feeling I'll grow on you..."
I growled like an angry puppy.
"Why you come down here anyway? Wish you's had stayed up in British land, or whatever."
She stood tall, her hands folded elegantly behind her back.
"You mean England?"
"Whatever! Go back why don't ya!"
She wagged her thin finger through the air, clicking her tongue like I just gotten the answer wrong to some unspoken question.
"I can't do that. All of those social workers said this is my new life for now on! So, I'm afraid you're stuck with me."
"Why's that? Ain't England got other boys you can annoy!"
She shrugged.
"I don't have anything to go back to after mum died. The only family I have left is my half brother. He lived all the way down here. So, onto a plane I went."
Not in a million years would I have expected such words to come out of a smiling face...
Her expression was soft and gentle, not a single speck of sadness or anger at the tragedy she just spoke into the wind.
My tense shoulder loosened as my lips parted. She kept her eyes on the setting sun, the wind blowing gently through her hair and dress. A quiet whisper of acceptance from the world.
For a brief second... only a fraction of a moment.
It slipped...
That permanent smile that I thought never left her face...
That gleam in her eyes...
That content mask just fell away...
But, within that mere breathless second, I saw a broken girl, hiding away in the depths of her sorrow. That was the first time I felt like I truly saw Charlotte.
"W-What you say?" I whispered.
She turned her eyes to me, the sunset still glowing on her face in a warming orange light, that false smile holding strong.
"Oh, come on... Don't make me say it again. It was hard enough to say it the first time."
Why is she so... calm about that? That ain't nothin to just accept.
That was the first time... the first time I had met someone who was going through exactly what I was.
That girl. That strange, overbearing, obnoxious girl... She was the same as me. At least in one way.
Looking up at her smiling face broke something inside of me. My lips parted slightly, an admission playing on the tip of my tongue. Something I had never told anyone before. For some reason, it felt right to speak about it in that moment.
"I... I ain't got no mama neither." I mumbled.
If she was looking at me, I didn't know, I kept my eyes on the mud puddle under my feet.
What you doin Tuck... Talkin to some stranger bout mom.
"Only got a handful of memories with her... She... uh... S-She took me to her favorite spot in the swamp a lot... That's bout all I member."
I began to twitch my toes, trying to muster the words I hadn't one said out loud. My father never wanted to talk about my mother. He tried to hide it, but I could tell he thought of her often. The empty liquor bottles told a story...
Charlotte didn't say anything, just listening intently to my every word.
I continued.
"Um... It's this spot far in the middle of no where. All I member is some turns along the way, and that ya need a boat to get there..."
I paused, my eyes darting to the sad lump of harshly nailed together wood on the shore.
"Thats why I... I mean, that's the reason... I just-"
I sighed, too embarrassed to look at it any longer.
"S'Stupid anyways... forget it..." I whispered, trying to fight back the breaking dam under my eyes.
What am I doing...
Stupid dreams, stupid girl, stupid boat...
What does any of this junk matter? Moms dead, and I can't even get two sticks to float.
With my head remaining downcast, I dug my foot into the mush below me.
And here I am... bout to cry in front of a girl...
Suddenly... something came into my view below me...
A tiny hand, holding my rusty hammer.
My eyes widened as I slowly raised my head.
Glowing in the shine of the water reflection was Charlotte, holding that old rusty hammer.
"Okay, you got me interested now! I have got to see that place. If it's really that special to you, I'm all in! I'm game!"
She grabbed my hand, flipping it over and slamming the hammers handle into my palm.
"That's a deal, got it? No matter how long it takes, you're going to take me there." She exclaimed, looking at me with a warmth I hadn't felt since...
Well...
Since the soft hums of old church hymns on a dead woman's lips.
"Tucker and Charlotte, sailing the swampy seas. Sounds like a dream book, doesn't it?" She said warmly, that smile of hers forcing its way into my memory forever.
"Um... alright, I suppose..." I mumbled, finally tightening my fingers around the hammer's handle.
Suppose ain't no harm in tryin again...