Two Hearts, One Lie

Prologue

"We should play hide and seek!!" I giggled.

"Okay. You count and I hide. Ready?" Drew replies.

Counting to 10, I begin the game. "Okay! Ready or not, here I come!"

Turning around, I search for Drew around my mom's garden. Mom loves this garden. She's spent my entire life pruning and pimping out this garden, especially with a backyard this big. As I'm continuing my seeking, I sneak in through the garden gate. I fight the urge to yell out "Marco!", in hopes of hearing back "Polo!" from Drew, fully aware that's not how hide and seek works.

I've gone through the river, the bridge, the flower beds, and the birdbath that's in front of the backyard door, and I see no signs of Drew ever existing. I know he's probably waiting up in the treehouse, his most common hiding place, but I take this opportunity to go inside the house and grab a glass of water before continuing my sacred hunt.

After around 5 minutes of searching up and down around the garden, I'm getting antsy. I checked in the treehouse, and to my surprise, he was nowhere to be found. I make a mental checklist of everywhere I've checked and come up short of one place. The old shed. This shed is my dad's. He built the shed when we first moved to the house. Dad loves to work in this backyard because he and Mom are so connected at the hip, that there should be opposite couples therapy to make them hate each other. Although, nowadays, it's nice to see a couple so in love.

The shed is so beat up and run down, it's a maze to try and open it. I'm shocked Drew even decided the shed was a viable option for hide and seek. I haven't been to this part of the garden in so long, visible in the way I'm struggling to open this 8' by 10' wood habitat. I look around for something to smash this lock in and discover an incredibly large hammer. I grab it like it's the legendary Sword in the Stone, and use every bit of my 5'2" self to break into the shed. To my surprise, it works and I quickly switch on the light. It's freaky being in here so I try to go through every nook and cranny, searching for my beloved neighbor and best friend. I take out this huge box underneath Dad's corner desk, only to find a tedious and frightening board of murder at the very top. Black push pins, crossed out black and white pictures, one singular picture with millions of red strings fanning out from every inch of it. This picture looks incredibly familiar but I can't pinpoint off the top of my head where exactly I remember this picture from.

"Boo!" Drew screams out, coming into the shed.

Incredibly startled, I jump and frantically scramble to put away this murder board at the very bottom of the box. It breaks me out of my trance, thank God it did, because I suddenly have a vision of where I remember this picture from and I really would like to forget it. "Oh...Oh! You got me. Guess I lost. Let's get out of here quickly and celebrate your win with some banana bread before dinner. Come on. Chop chop. Let's go. Right now."

"Why are you in such a rush? The banana bread isn't going anywhere." He says, starting to wander around the room, poking around in things. "C'mon, don't you want to investigate what secrets your dad keeps out here? This is his sacred 'Do Not Disturb' location. I bet he's an undercover cop or detective or something. Woah! He is obsessed with red string. And duct tape. Freaky."

"Oh c'mon Drew, you're so immature. Quit being a weirdo. Please." I lead him out the door as he starts to try to fight with me, digging his feet in the dirt.

"Oh please, Charlotte. Quit being a baby. We're at the age where our parents are going to try and start talking to us about the birds and the bees. Have you gotten 'The Talk'? If not, would you like me to give it to you? Duct tape is very notable in some cases. However, it's not very safe. I can't imagine ripping some skin or hair off during a supposed pleasurable activity."