Sally and Amber

Amber and Sally walked in perfect unison, side by side down the grassy track, their footsteps light. Trees towered over them on each side, branches heavy with lush leaves and fruits bending over like a guard of honour. Birds called cheerfully to their mates; three deer ambled across the path while rabbits and squirrels frolicked amongst the flowers.

Two gates loomed ahead, adjacent to each other, and Amber and Sally hesitated, unwilling to break the calm beauty of the moment. Without speaking, they held out a hand for the other to hold and squeezed, giving each of them a sense of comfort and encouragement.

Sally had no idea which gate she was meant to go through and stood, waiting for instructions. A group of young girls cycled past, almost knocking her over in their haste. They jumped off the bikes and pushed past her, laughing and joking, not even seeming to notice her. She felt Amber’s hand slip away from hers.

“Camp Living, here we go!” they bellowed, entering the left gate as if they knew exactly where they belonged. “Come on Amber! It’s time to get summer started!”

Sally watched Amber disappear behind the gate, the echoes of young laughter making her ache with nostalgia. She sighed and drifted towards the right gate, wrought from black iron, carved with images of animals and flowers. Pushing the gate open, she gasped with pleasure as she saw a small, wooden shed, just like the old Wendy house she had owned as a child.

“Name?” Sally looked around for the speaker and then peered inside the shed. Vaguely, she registered that her back stooped with unusual ease.

A young boy, blonde spiky hair shining like a halo, sat behind a table, quill in hand.

“Peter? Is that you?” cried Sally. She crouched down on her knees, and crawled inside the Wendy house, her shoulders grazing against the door frame. She knelt and gazed at the boy.

The boy raised his eyes to hers and a warm smile engulfed his smooth face. “Sally? Is that really you?” He clambered over the table like an eager puppy, flinging himself at her. She toppled to the floor, amazed to find how easily she now moved and they laughed, hugging each other tightly.

At last, they sat up and Sally brushed a tender hand over his always untameable hair. “I’ve missed you so much, Peter!”

“I’ve been waiting for you so long!” Peter answered, planting a kiss on her wrinkled cheek. “This will be the best summer ever!”

Sally smiled at his enthusiasm but then questions tumbled one after another in her mind.

“Peter, where are we?”

Peter shrugged. “Summer camp of course. You have arrived at Camp Ever After.”

“Summer camp? Peter, I’m 82 years old!”

“Age is no barrier here.”

“And it’s not summer,” Sally continued. “It’s January and absolutely freezing outside!”

“Do you feel cold now, Sally?”

“I – er-no, I don’t!” Sally looked down at her body, astonished to find it felt neither too cold nor too hot but simply comfortable. She looked back at him, confused. “But I was freezing, just moments ago. There was a terrible snowstorm and I was trapped inside. I couldn’t get warm, however much I tried to, and then…and then....”

Peter put a tender finger to her lips. “That’s all over with now. It’s always summer here, Sally. The best summer you could ever imagine, now we’re back together, favourite big sister. Come on, I’ll show you around. You’re going to love it!”

***

Amber tried to reach down inside her cast to reach the annoying itch with a stick and moaned to herself as pain drove through her thigh. She lay back on the bed with tears brimming. Her injuries from the car accident were improving, but she was finding summer camp so difficult this year. She was sorry now that she had insisted on coming. Her parents had been right to worry.

Amber knew she had pushed herself too far today with a rowing activity in the rain, ignoring the camp leader’s advice in a brave attempt to keep up with her friends. This evening, she had elected to stay in the dormitory to rest, while her friends took part in a moonlit survival challenge.

Survival. Amber grimaced as she pondered the word. It was no game to her now, but a daily chore. Only a few weeks ago, her life had trembled in the scales, with death only a hair’s width away.

She vaguely recalled a dream-like moment when she had wandered pain-free along a path of trees and flowers with a sweet companion at her side. How she wished she could return to that moment.

Amber jerked upright, the vivid memory bringing a name to mind. “Sally!” she called. “Where did you go?”

***

Sally followed her little brother on light feet, marvelling at their speed and agility. It had been years since she had been able to move so freely and joy illuminated every footstep.

Peter, proud as if he’d invented this haven himself, showed her the forest, alive with a cacophony of animal chatter. No people disturbed the peace. Above the glossy canopy, the sun blazed and clouds floated by in an azure sky.

They came to a lake, lapping lazily against the banks where yellow irises, her favourite flowers, waved in the breeze. Sally relaxed amongst them, dangling pain-free toes in the waters, and closed her eyes.

“Sally! Where did you go?” The anguished voice sliced through the silence.

Sally’s eyes snapped opened and she gazed around, abruptly anxious. Peter, noticing her discomfort, leapt to her side. The sun reddened and sank low as the half-moon emerged, hazy in the darkened sky.

“What can you hear?” Peter asked.

“It’s Amber.” Sally listened intently, her face flinching as she heard the desperate voice again. “Can you hear her? She needs me! I’ve got to go to her.”

“Amber?”

“We were in hospital together. I didn’t think she’d make it. She was just a kid, Peter.”

“Sometimes, kids don’t make it through.” His young face, wise beyond his years, shone in the moonlight.

Sally gulped, her throat aching with the old sorrow of losing him decades ago blending with this new searing pain.

“Oh Peter, if you could have seen her! She used to cry out at night. I wanted to protect her.” Like I couldn’t protect you, she thought, remembering the silent, pale five-year-old boy, her little brother, drifting out of this life so effortlessly, long ago.

“Sally!” Again, the voice called her.

“Listen to her, can’t you hear? Amber! I’m coming!”

Peter sat, cross-legged by her side, his sombre eyes freezing her into stillness. “Let her go, Sally. She doesn’t belong here, in our camp.”

Amber limped past the survival teams, all those happy teenagers laughingly shining their torches on each other’s faces to quench their nerves. She drifted, as if in a dream, down to the lake, driven by a yearning feeling she couldn’t name. All those horrible nights in hospital, only one voice had been able to soothe and comfort her, amongst the incessant beeping of the hospital machinery, like a tender mother guiding her to safety. It was all she wanted to hear now.

Standing amongst a crowd of yellow irises, Amber leant forward, straining to catch that comforting whisper. The cast on her leg made her clumsy and she tumbled forward, crying Sally’s name as she fell.

Sally glimpsed a flash of light, darting like a firefly across torchlight and reached out eager arms.

***

“Amber, we’ve got you. You’re safe now.” Bill, one of the camp leaders, knelt panting, gripping the distraught teenage girl. Thank goodness, her friends had come back to find her, uncomfortable about leaving her alone in the dormitory. They had seen her determined, blank-faced shuffle to the lake and had called for his help. Otherwise, Bill shuddered, who knew what her fate would have been? He would call her parents first thing in the morning and make sure she went home to rest properly. Camp Living would be waiting for her to return when she was truly recovered from her injuries.

***

Sally’s hands gripped thin air and she turned to Peter, eyes glistening.

“Where is she?”

“Amber doesn’t belong in Camp Ever after.” Peter smiled. “At least, not yet.”

Sally nodded, exhaling softly. “Just you and me then, kid?” she said, ruffling his hair.

Peter leapt up and ran into the forest, swift as a deer, as the sun rose in the sky. “You can’t catch me, Sally!”

She laughed and chased after him, already knowing that she had.