Rose’s determination to return Edmund’s handkerchief and play with him didn’t fade even the next day.
But just as she was about to leave home early in the morning, handkerchief in hand, her mother caught her.
“Edmund is still little,” Aileen advised gently. “He might be sleeping in. Try going later in the day.”
With no other choice, Rose decided to wait it out in the storage shed until noon.
Fortunately, her brothers were there making toys. She spent the entire morning sitting atop a haystack, watching their work.
For several days now, the three brothers had been building what they called “wings” out of wood and fabric—an invention inspired by Charles after seeing a flying squirrel. Their grand plan was to strap on wings and soar through the air.
But their more sensible friends, Noel and the Kelly brothers, strongly objected to this dangerous idea.
“You’re going to jump off the church roof on Sunday with those things strapped to your back?”
“That’s insane!”
Elizabeth, Charles’ girlfriend and the Kelly brothers’ sister, had cried and pleaded with them, saying they’d break their necks.
But the three boys dismissed everyone.
“If you’re scared, just stay out of it!”
They ignored the warnings and continued the project.
After days of work, today was the big day. Each brother had completed a pair of wings.
“We should test how the wings handle the wind.”
“So… who wants to be the first to jump off the roof?”
At Charles’s suggestion, Felix and Chris glanced at each other uneasily. They clearly understood how risky this first flight would be.
Then, as if thinking the same thought, all three turned to the youngest sibling, who had been watching them and sniffling from atop the haystack.
“Rose, want to give it a try? I’ll even lend you my wings.”
“Yeah, you’re lighter than us. You’ll probably fly farther!”
Their devilish whispers were no different from when they’d once ruined her hair with gum. Now they were set on breaking her limbs too.
Even Rose, innocent as she was, knew that jumping off the roof with those shoddy wings was dangerous.
Before her brothers could grab her, she bolted. She tore away from their clutches and ran straight to the red-brick house.
Just then, Anna happened to step out the front door. Seeing Rose, she spread her arms wide with a smile, and Rose ran straight into her embrace.
Panting and breathless, she gasped out, “Ma’am, where’s Edmund?”
“Oh, Rose. Edmund went off with his friends this morning to play in the mountains.”
“With his friends?”
Disappointment clouded her face. Anna, sensing it, added gently, “You know, Edmund only recently moved here. So we invited some of the village boys over, and they all went out together.”
“Then… why didn’t he invite me?”
Rose’s voice was full of hurt. She’d been waiting since morning just to see him.
Anna stroked her head with a warm hand.
“I’m sorry, Rose. We just thought it would be fun for the boys to play together this time. But next time, I promise we’ll invite you too. Alright?”
“…Okay.”
Even after the promise, Rose remained glum as she turned to leave. But instead of going home, she changed course and headed into the birch grove.
If she went home, her brothers would surely try to strap wings on her and throw her off the roof. She’d rather go to the Sadie River and wait for Edmund.
“Once I see Edmund, I’ll return his handkerchief… and if he says yes, we’ll go fishing too!”
She decided to catch a few dragonflies to use as bait. But when she arrived at the river, she spotted someone—Luca and a group of boys were making their way down from the mountain.
“Hey, guys!”
The boys flinched at the sight of her running toward them.
The memory of what had happened at church—the time they bullied Rose and were punished by her older brothers—made them nervous. They whispered among themselves.
“Just ignore her. Who knows when her brothers might show up again?”
Rose, seeing them pretend not to notice her, still greeted them cheerfully—until she noticed someone was missing.
“Where’s Edmund?”
No answer.
“I said, where’s Edmund? You all came down from the mountain without him?”
“Why would we know, you little snot?” Luca snapped.
But when Rose refused to back off, he gave in with a scowl.
“That weakling tripped over a rock and started whining that he couldn’t walk. So we just came down without him!”
“What?!”
Rose screamed. Her eyes widened in horror.
They’d left him alone in the mountain—injured?
Worse, in a place said to be full of monsters and wild beasts?
The boys, knowing they were in the wrong, bolted into the woods.
Rose was left alone on the riverbank, panic surging in her chest. She looked up at the mountain.
Edmund was somewhere up there, alone—and unable to walk.
Her legs locked in place.
Below the pale white cliffs stretched a dark green conifer forest, the pines so dense they blocked out sunlight. The shadows that pooled beneath them seemed to conceal all manner of nightmares.
Her brothers had warned her about the monsters in those woods.
They had blood-red eyes, they said. They’d snatch up children and vanish into parts of the forest no one could ever find again.
She had to hurry. She had to save Edmund before they got him.
But her feet wouldn’t move. Her face crumpled. She looked as if she might cry.
She imagined Edmund screaming as he was dragged away by monsters—and broke out in a cold sweat.
All the stories her brothers had fed her… they came rushing back in a blur, and soon Rose became convinced that Edmund had been taken.
Her eyes trembled.
She had to go.
She had to save him.
__________𓍯𓂃𓏧♡𓇢𓆸_________
Nothing went right today. Everything was rotten.
That’s what Edmund thought, sitting in the forest, seething.
It had all started when his mother, without even asking him, had invited Luca and the other village boys over.
She probably thought she was helping him make friends. But Edmund had no intention of befriending the boys of Aylesford.
They were the same ones who had mocked him before—called him a city brat and shot slingshots at a girl for fun.
He’d rather be alone.
Unfortunately, the boys had no interest in Edmund either. They were far more taken with the cakes offered by Mrs. Shore and with Edmund’s toys.
Most irritating of all, they kept sneaking glances at Sophie—his maid.
Edmund hated when people paid attention to things that were his. He had barely held back from screaming at them to get out.
Then his mother had made it worse—urging him to join the boys when they decided to explore the mountain.
With her watching, he couldn’t throw a tantrum like usual. It was humiliating.
So, dragged along, he followed them… and promptly tripped on a rock and fell.
“Seriously, Edmund? Tripping over a pebble?”
“Guess that fancy city life didn’t prepare you for this, huh?”
“Quit whining and get up already!”
When they realized he actually couldn’t get up, the boys lost interest. They told him to come down on his own and left him there.
“Yeah, thanks. I can’t walk, remember?!”
Now he sat among a thick bed of pine needles, angrily kicking a rock with his good foot.
Everything had gone horribly.
He looked around, helpless.
Even at midday, the forest was dim.
The distant coo of mountain doves echoed eerily. Branches snapped now and then—perhaps stepped on by animals. Each crack made Edmund’s hair stand on end. His heart pounded like a trapped fish.
“I should’ve stayed home. Shouldn’t’ve come with those idiots…”
He buried his face between his knees.
The voice that rose in his memory—
“Don’t go up the mountain!”—
belonged to Rose.
Should’ve listened to the little snot.
His hands clenched. His thoughts were spiraling.
He was scared. He admitted it.
The cold felt sharper here. The towering fir trees stared down like silent judges, and the wind brushed past him like a ghost.
His fear distorted even the most ordinary things into terrors.
He could no longer bear to keep his eyes open. Tears slipped down his cheeks.
“…Mom…”
In the end, what he longed for most was the warm embrace of his mother.
