The Odd Family's Book of Bedtime Stories

Dead Sweater

Spencer wasn't a bad kid. Alice didn't think any boy named Spencer could be. As far as she was concerned, Spencer was perfect. Her father disagreed. Alice's father hated Spencer and his entire family. He said they weren't any good because they had little money and Spencer's dad was in prison. He had forbidden the two teens from seeing each other. It wasn't fair. His parents didn't want them to be together, either. According to a letter sent from Spencer's father, Alice's father had bullied him in school.

That was why Alice had begun sneaking out. She and Spencer had a secret meeting place in a park nearby. It was easy to slip out her window and down to the swings to wait. She pushed the swing back and forth gently, letting her feet drag in the crisp fall leaves. It wasn't long before Spencer came riding up on his bicycle. He hopped off, and they both hugged one another.

"Do you want to run away together?" He asked when the hug was over.

"Run away?" Alice asked. Spencer nodded.

"My older brother has a place in Florida," he told her. "We could go there! He said he'd hide us out and I could get a job with him." Alice laughed, shoving Spencer away. She covered her arms over her chest, watching him.

"And how would we make it to Florida?" She asked. "You don't have a driver's license and I don't have a car." Spencer grinned and shrugged at her, turning away to kick at the leaves.

"We could hitchhike." Alice realized he was serious. Running away was crazy. They were still very young and their parents would be furious. Hitchhiking wasn't safe either. Then again...
Alice looked toward her house. Her father would never let her be with Spencer. She hated it there, hated not being able to make her own decisions. She looked back at Spencer, her mind made up.
"Let's do it." Spencer laughed and scooped her up, swinging Alice around. They both collapsed into a pile of leaves, panting. They laid there for hours, holding hands and planning out their future together. They would meet the following night with what money they could scrounge up and a bag of clothes. They would have to leave everything else behind. It would be too heavy to carry while they were hitchhiking all the way to Florida.

The next night, Alice told her parents goodnight, though it was really goodbye. It saddened her a bit. Alice loved her parents, but she knew they didn't understand her. She would never be happy there. They had just finished watching the news like they did every night and they were acting very strange. They were particularly loving, almost careful with her. It was like they knew she was going to be gone in the morning.

She laid in her bed, her bag tucked under it and ready to go, until her parents were fast asleep. As soon as she was certain that she could escape, Alice dropped her bag out her window. She then slipped out behind it, landing quietly in the thick mulch there.

At the park, Alice climbed onto a slide to sit and wait. She waited for hours, but Spencer didn't come. He wasn't answering his text messages, either. Assuming he had fallen asleep, Alice gave up and got ready to go back home. They would try again later. She had just picked up her bag when she saw him. Spencer was pedaling furiously across the park toward her. He looked terribly pale and when he gave her the usual hug, Alice figured out why. Spencer was freezing. He didn't smile when he looked down at her. He looked sad.

"Spencer!" Alice swatted his arm. "You're going to freeze to death!" She looked around and frowned. "Where's your bag?"

"We can't go tonight, Alice." He mumbled. His voice sounded far away. "I'm sorry."

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked. Spencer looked away, back toward his house and then to her, and he shook his head.

"No." He replied, "we can't go tonight. I just wanted to tell you I love you." Alice nodded, blushing. Spencer had never said that before. Sometimes his mother got drunk and he didn't like to talk about it. If she was drunk now, he wouldn't leave his little sister easily. Alice suspected that was it, and hugged him again.

"We'll meet back here tomorrow." She told him, pulling a sweater from her bag. It was her favorite one. It had plenty of room and a large hood. Spencer had given it to her when they had first started dating. "Here." She told him, holding the fabric out, "you take this and stay warm... I love you." Spencer gave her a weak smile and pulled the sweater on. He looked off into the distance again, as if searching for something.
"I'm sorry, Alice." He said, "I have to go. Be safe going home."

The next morning Alice's parents were behaving strangely again. It was as if they thought Alice might explode at any moment. Neither of them would look her in the eye. Alice sat down with her cereal and ate it slowly, watching them just as carefully.

"Alice, honey," her mother said sweetly. She placed a gentle hand on Alice's wrist. "There's something you need to know." Alice set her spoon aside, watching her mother. Her father shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Now he wouldn't meet her eyes. "Darling, there was an accident yesterday. That little boy you used to see... that Spencer? There's no other way to say it. A car hit him on his way to the grocery store... he didn't make it, baby."

The entire world stopped. Alice's heart stopped beating. Spencer was dead? It couldn't be. She stared at her parents for what seemed like an eternity. Then she exploded. There was no way that Spencer was dead. She broke down and confessed everything. She told her parents that she had seen Spencer the night before. That there was no way that he could be gone. They insisted it had been a dream. They told her Spencer had been dead well before dark, and that it had even been on the news.

Eventually, to prove to Alice what had happened, they took her to the funeral home. Spencer was there. He was laying incredibly still, his skin freezing. To her horror, he was still wearing the sweater she had given him the night before.
"It was his favorite sweater." She heard his mom telling someone, a handkerchief clutched tightly in her hand, "I found it on his bed this morning. Like... like he wanted to wear it."