Absent Presence

My parents tell me of a story from a family trip to a snow cabin which I once thought was a heartwarming tale turns out to be the fright of my life. I was 7 years old and I had just started my winter break of first grade so my family had rented out a cabin in a place I won't mention for the sake of the privacy of the residents. It was a long drive, a boring one too, and being a child you needed some form of entertainment. My mom thought it would be a good idea to bring us some small game boards and coloring books for me and my sister. The choice was either connect four or hello kitty. As we got near the location, I was in awe at the foggy road, it was getting colder so I wrapped myself up in my blanket and continued to stare out the window. A few hours go by and I ended up taking a nap. I woke up to my dad honking and yelling at a car that was weaving through the two lanes. Not long after we were nearing our cabin and already the other cabins were beautiful, they reminded me of the ones from the polar express movie or those from illustrations of winter postcards with the snow-draped roofs like blankets, or the sharp icicles, and the faint smell of burning firewood. I could only hope our cabin would have been the crown jewel of the neighborhood. Once we arrived I was a little disappointed, it was small, maybe two to three rooms, the paint was fading off and a smell of dust blew past me as we entered. As we were settling in my mom told me about how when she was my age her family stayed every winter in this exact cabin and would spend time with the neighbor's kid and suggested that I should see if anyone's home. I decided that I would've had more fun playing than bringing in bags of food and luggage, I put on my hello kitty snow boots and my pink polka dot parka and wrapped my neck with a scarf and I was off to the neighbor's home. The lights were off but there were footprints in the snow all around it, I figured id follow them, there was a kid there maybe around my age he was pale and looked a little cold. As I made my way over to him the snow crunched beneath my boots giving away my arrival. I waved, cupped my hands, and said, "Do you wanna play" he didn't say anything he just nodded and made his way toward me. I asked, "What's your name?" no answer, "Do you wanna build a snowman?" again he nodded. I began to think he was maybe shy and shrugged it off. As we started rolling a ball of snow I felt like I was talking to myself, I'd ask "Should our snowman have a carrot nose or a stick nose?" and he shrugged. moments pass and the sun starts to set, our snowman is complete and he finally says a word,

"Wanna play tomorrow?" he said, his voice was raspy, maybe he was sick.

"Sure!" I said.

I was making my way home and he was still there, staring at me and I just waved signaling goodbye. I told my parents about my day and how I had made a snowman. As the four of us had gathered in the living room watching tv by the fire I began to fall asleep again. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I was in a room, with one big window revealing the snowy landscape with branches of trees drooping down from the weight of the snow, and the bathroom door was open with a faint night light. As I made my way back I saw a snowman outside my window and I thought to myself that it was maybe the kid next door. Finally, its morning, the smell of pancakes and eggs and bacon, and a whole feast ready for me at the table, I was starving! While eating breakfast I told my family about the snowman outside my window and rambled on about how I cant wait to play today with the neighbor's kid again and this time I invited my sister along. She was 10, so we had similar points of interest in fun, and she joined. We geared up and we were off, coincidentally, the kid next door had just left his house too. I introduced my sister to him, "This is my sister, Ruby. She is older than me". He just stared at us but at this point, it was nothing new to me. I thanked him for the snowman and he looked down at his feet and blushed a little. And we repeat this cycle for about a week or so. On the last day, he finally told me his name.

"My name is Jackie" he mentioned in a quiet tone.

"Oh ok! My name is Isabelle" I smiled at him.

"Isabelle, it's time to go!" I heard my mom call out

"Bye Jackie!" I waved and ran to the car.

On our way back I told my parents about the neighbor's kid and all the fun things we did this week, play family, build a snowman, and then throw snowballs at the snowmen.

"It was so much fun! Can we come back next year? And the year after that year?" I exclaimed.

My dad chuckled and said "We'll have to see how the year treats us financially first"

Not having a clue about what that meant I just let out a fake giggle.

"His name was Jackie, I said I cant wait to come back," I said

"Jackie..?" My mom's voice started to break "Honey, there was a child by that name that died here two years ago, he drowned in a river!" She began to cry

I looked back in disbelief there he was standing there staring at our car leaving, I look away and then look back. He was gone.