Harly

Chapter Thirteen (Edited 08/2021)

A broken arm.

All things considered, it could have been much worse. I couldn't tell you the amount of fear that had found it's home in the pit of my stomach when I looked back and saw his still body laying on the wood chipped ground under the jungle gym.

I knew almost immediately that his arm was broken. There was no way the bone could bend that way and not snap. But I was more concerned with the fact that he didn't budge, even when I shouted his name and ran for him. Other kids' parents were faster, getting there before me. One man had even asked if he was my son, and I had to tell him he was my nephew's friend that I was supposed to be watching.

I guess the panicked shouting woke him up, because Kurt began to stir, but started crying when the pain of his arm got to him.

The dad who rushed to help scooped him up and carried him to El's car where we piled back in and sped off to the hospital. I couldn't help but notice how he wanted to sit as far away from Lilly as he could. "It's her fault!" He once shouted, and Lilly was the only person who defended herself. The rest of us were quiet.

How could we explain that it wasn't Lilly, but the poor choice in friendship she made with a bonafide demon?

His mother met us at the hospital, and surprisingly she was pretty calm about the whole ordeal. "Boys will be boys, y'know." She said in a friendly way as we sat in the waiting room. She was cool and collected, reading a home magazine while I was about ten seconds from pulling out my hair. She had six boys though, so it makes sense that she'd been through some things. "Boys break bones all the time. This isn't my first rodeo."

The story, the part everyone agreed on at least, was that Lance and Kurt were playing pirates and Lilly asked if she could join. Lance was fine with it, but Kurt decided he didn't want a "little girl" slowing them down, and said no.

They argued for a bit, Lilly trying to make a case for herself. Lance and Kurt were closer to her age than Lacey and I, and she wanted to play pirates really bad. But Kurt was adamant that little girls couldn't be a pirate. She'd have to be a tavern girl. Lilly wasn't sure what that was, but she knew it wasn't a pirate, and the argument continued.

A verbal fight broke out, and Lilly mentioned Harvy wanting to play as well, and since he was a boy, surely they'd let the both of them play.

Kurt had asked Lance who Harvy was, and lack of a better word, said her imaginary friend.

When Kurt said Harvy wasn't real, that was when things went south.

No one really saw anything. Just Kurt shouting from the top of the jungle gym down at Lilly who shouted back. Lance seemed uncomfortable at that point, and was trying to convince Kurt to "just let them play too." But Kurt didn't understand Lance's resignation and thought he had to fight for the both of them.

The onlooking parents said the last thing Kurt said was "Why don't you and Harly go play somewhere else? He's your only friend and he isn't even real!"

Then suddenly Kurt was airborne.

Until he wasn't.

Understandably, Kurt didn't really want to hang out with Lance again after that. He especially didn't want to come over if that meant being anywhere near Lilly. He began to avoid Lance at school until their friendship was just as invisible as Harly was.

Lance seemed dejected at first and I wondered if maybe Kurt was his only friend. I asked Lacey about it, since they went to the same school.

"Lance is actually kind of popular," She answered with a tone that resembled, what, envy? "He has lots of friends. Girls seem to really like him too." We both watched Lance, me astonished and Lacey disgusted, as he quietly played his Gameboy.