Page 21 of The Two Halves of My Heart

“Hold up, Mads,” Oliver called as we pulled off the track to find some shade and rest for a while. I drank down half of my water as Maddison rode back to us. We’d been riding for a while and already had gone farther than we’d been in the past.

“Hey, what’s in there?” Before I had a chance to look, Maddison was over the gate, and down the mud track we’d stopped by. The road we were on wasn’t even a proper road. It was dusty and covered in rocks, and we’d seen about two cars all morning. There was nobody down here.

Oliver and I passed each other cautious glances as Maddison walked out of sight.

“Should we go after him?” I asked.

“Let’s move the bikes off the path first.”

After making sure they weren’t left as they’d fallen, Oliver and I hopped over the gate and went in the general direction of Maddison. A few minutes’ walk, and we caught up with him in what looked like an abandoned greenhouse—a really big one like you see at a garden centre. There were overgrown plants and weeds everywhere.

“What is this place?” I asked, looking around and feeling a little uneasy about being somewhere we shouldn’t. This wasn’t like the wooden fence with the old sign we happily ignored to play in our tree. The gate wasn’t rusty or falling down, and we were out of sight from the road.

“Relax. Nobody’s here. Come on, Grace.” Maddison snatched my hand and pulled me into one of the structures. Only a few panes of glass remained, all the others were missing or broken, and it made the place feel eerie. I looked back to see Oliver following a few steps behind. Rows and rows of plants covered the tabletops, growing out of control. At the far end stood a wooden shed that was rotting and falling apart like the rest of the place.

“Are we allowed to be here?” I muttered.

“There’s no one here, Grace. We’ll take a quick look, that’s all.”

Maddison dropped my hand as he opened the wooden shed. My heart raced faster and faster the greater the distance from the path we ventured. The air turned deathly still; the heat beating down on us.

Then a horrible, ear-piercing squawking noise broke the peace as I watched Maddison stumble back out of the shed. “Run!” he shouted as he flapped his arms about in defence. Oliver and I both turned and darted in the other direction. Oliver led the way through the long grasses around the greenhouse structures until we were clear. We stopped, panting and puffing from the sprint.

Maddison chased after us, but Oliver started to laugh at the frightened look on his face.

“What was that?” I spluttered, trying to keep my laughter under wraps.

“Enough exploring for the day, Mads?” Oliver giggled.

“Shut up, would ya. It was just a bird.”

I stifled my own giggle behind my hand, now seeing the funny side.

“It wasn’t funny. It scared me to death.”

“Time to head back,” Oliver announced.

We retraced our steps back the way we’d fled but kept a wide berth of the shed. I stubbed my foot and nearly tripped on an old hose running around one part of the rickety structure.

“Ow!” I moaned and hopped a few feet.

“Do you think these still work?” Maddison picked up what looked like a sprinkler attached to the other end of the hose.

“Leave it, Mads. Come on.”

But he ignored Oliver and started searching for where they connected. “Found it.”

The next moment, spouts of water were bursting up from all around us, drenching us in frigid water.

“Maddison, turn it off,” I squealed as we ran through the water trying to escape. I could hear Oliver laughing behind me. “Maddison.” I caught him laughing at both of us trapped in the downpour.

He turned the water off, and we all ran from the abandoned place back to the bikes. The icy water dripped from my t-shirt and hair, and I made an attempt to wring it out.

“At least you’re not hot anymore,” Maddison offered with a giant smirk on his face.

“Evil.” It was the only comeback I’d offered, but then I tipped the small puddle of water from my hands down his top and watched him dance around in shock.

We all laughed, happy to be here together and having fun, the three of us, for the first time in what felt like weeks. This—the feeling of contentment—was what I wanted to have all the time, with nothing to get in the way or divide us.

“What time did you say you had to be home?” Oliver asked as he picked up his bike.

“I didn’t.” My smile spread over my face. I wasn’t prepared to give this day up just yet.

“Come on then,” Maddison said and led the way farther away from home.

I wanted to freeze this day and protect it like in a magical snow globe that I could treasure. Even as young as I was, I knew there was something magical about it. And I didn’t want it to end. It had been hard-fought to get this back, and I wanted to make the most of every second I could.

It was the last time we’d spend a day like this together, carefree, and happy.

But despite how hard things got, I still wished for days when the worst thing to worry about was a scary bird flying at Maddison or being drenched in cold water.

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