What Used to be Arkansas Chapter 3

with audio

Alvie was a runner. No doubt about that. 

If Axel had guessed right, and the boy, who was about five, had escaped Ginny’s protective gaze, it would be the fourth time in the last three weeks. 

Could he learn to trust them?

This community had everything Alvie could want—including people who understood him. And yet, he still hadn’t settled in.

At least the boy was clean and had his fill of food, even if his eyes still narrowed with suspicion more often than not.

Just yesterday, Axel had thought things were going in the right direction. Alvie had been in the play yard with a handful of toy trucks. It was the first time Axel had seen him playing, and it warmed his heart. He’d stopped on the path beside the fenced-in area and smiled. 

In little more than a whisper, Alvie said, “Zoom, zoom.” He drove one little truck, then another down a sand path someone had made for that purpose.

As the little one played, his tight shoulders relaxed. His normal expression of worry disappeared, and the corners of his mouth lifted the tiniest bit.

Axel waited, holding his breath. Would Alvie smile?

Behind the teenager, two middle ones raced past him—kicking up reddish dirt and snapping the small pine branches that had fallen to the ground.

Alvie jumped, his gaze darting to the children. But once he saw them, he relaxed. 

Axel’s smile widened. It was progress. The boy was learning to trust the community.

But now the little one was gone again, and there were too many dangers out there for a boy Alvie’s age to be on his own.

Ginny stopped her sprint from across the square to stop in front of the leader. The normally quiet, withdrawn girl stood before him, ringing her hands and talking a mile a minute. “I can’t find him, Axel. Why’d he take off when things were going so well? I guess I know why. Can’t none of us just take three steps forward? No, there’s got to be a few backward steps in there too!”

“We’ll find him, Ginny.” Axel started to put a hand on her shoulder, but pulled it back when he remembered she didn’t like to be touched. “This isn’t the first time he’s taken off. We found him then, and we’ll find him this time. Don’t you worry.”

She sighed and ran a hand over her long, loose brown hair. 

“Ginny?” Maybe mothering a child was too much for her. She was a middle one but could be as old as thirteen. Axel rarely asked someone how old they were. Many didn’t know their birthday.

Despite the fact that she was one of his original foster siblings, he realized he didn’t know Ginny very well. But that was only because she arrived at his foster house the day before The Fall. He did know that even though she mainly kept to herself, she took on any task asked of her and did a better job than most.

Axel would bet ten pieces of fruit she didn’t exchange over ten words a day with her household. But here she was, scowling with her hands on her hips as she tried to remember all the places her boy liked to hide.

As if she’d read his mind, she said, “I can do this, Axel. Raise Alvie, I mean. I didn’t ask for a child until this one—didn’t want one. But I’m fixing to raise this one.”

“He ain’t making this easy on you.”

“No,” Ginny said. “He ain’t. But I looked that boy in the eye, and I knew—I knew we’d been through the same things. I told him, ‘Whatever’s happened—I get it,’ because I did.”

Ginny rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and sniffed. “I took his little hand and gave it a tiny tug to see if he’d come with me. It only took a minute, and he came right along.”

“Don’t worry, Ginny. You’ve done everything just right.”

“Then why does he keep running?”

Axel looked at the ground. “You know why.”

“He’s still scared.”

“It takes a while, is all,” the older boy said.

“It does.” Ginny wiped a tear threatening to fall from the rim of her eye and shuddered. 

Axel studied her for a moment. Was she still afraid, even after all these years? Sure, the bad things might come back sometimes—in a nightmare or a flash of an old memory. But her reaction seemed to show more than that.

It was something he’d have to worry about later. Right now, they needed to find Alvie.

Axel looked over Ginny’s head and scanned the area around the cabins. 

At the entrance of the community, he stood on the front side of the “square” where they held events, serious and fun. On the other side of that was the circle of cabins. And since their numbers had grown, a row of newer cabins built along a dirt path on the far side of them. There were no walls around the little village yet.

As much as Axel wanted to see a mischievous youngster peeking around the corner of a home, there seemed a slim chance it would happen. It was too quiet.

As the morning wound to a close, most little ones rested or played indoors under the watchful eye of a mother or father as they cleaned up the last of  breakfast and started cooking lunch. Other teens worked in the barns and gardens or gathered from the woods and rivers. Middle ones also tended to be indoors, working on their lessons.

Axel hoped the search for Alvie was quick, not only to know he was safe but also for his own stomach’s sake. The leftovers from breakfast would soon be put away, and he was hungry.

If the kid was around here, he should stick out like a sore thumb. So that probably meant he’d picked one of those tiny, dark hidey-holes he was so fond of hiding in.

When his stomach rumbled again, Axel murmured under his breath. If Alvie sat in one of those, it would take hours to find him. The forest had tons of them.

“Well,” he said, “let’s split up. Ginny, you take the cabin area again. Look everywhere—even if you already did. Wolf and I will check out the barns and gardens.” 

When a few other teens came by, Axel flagged them down. “We’re looking for Alvie. Can you check the tall grasses and the path to the river?” That group rushed off to look, splitting into two.

After seeing his plan in motion, Axel felt some of his own tension ease. Especially when Wolf waved him over, pointing to the ground. His friend had found tracks. 

They were sure to find the little boy in no time.