RED NOTES AND KISSES-Chapter 89: FRIDA -

THE YEAR 2010

It was quite bright.

She and Laz had already known each other for half her life—or maybe not half.

She was just ten, and he was twelve. freewebnoveℓ.com

They lived opposite each other; the windows of their rooms faced one another.

He knocked three times on the window. "Calling on the queen of red velvet cupcakes and the fairy of plushies."

She looked up, her head popping out of her window. She whispered, "Laz, it’s night. Why are you still awake? Isn’t it past your bedtime?"

"Yeah, so?" he retorted, he stared at her, his brown eyes starting to lose their color, washing into an odd grey.

Well, they do say your eye color can change as you grow older. She heard a loud crash and shouting from his bedroom and flinched, knowing it was happening again.

"Your eye color is changing?" she said, trying to distract him from the noise.

He sighed. He hadn’t been talking much lately. "I know... I noticed."

She blinked, then said with a big smile, "Wanna come over for a tea party?"

He frowned. "What are you, six?"

She frowned back. "Geez, sorry for trying to cheer you up, Laziel Lazy Big Head. I’m going to bed."

He groaned. "Fine... I’ll sneak out the door. Can we play in the treehouse? I don’t want to be near the adults."

"It’s a bad idea, though. If you’re caught... you know what your mom’s like," she said, worried about him.

He gave her a hard glare. "I don’t have a mom."

She swallowed, not knowing why he kept saying that.

She sneaked out of the house, trying to be quiet so as not to wake her parents.

Laz sent up a short ladder and climbed over her fence, landing quietly on the grass.

She shook her head. "This is a bad idea. We’re going to get in so much trouble."

He smirked. "Well, that’s what my mom calls me. Might as well prove her right."

She noticed minor bruising on his neck and frowned as she reached to touch it, but he slapped her hand away. "Don’t."

"Is he...?" she whispered.

"Don’t ask!" he snapped at her, then grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"Slow down, Laz. Gosh, you don’t have a gentle bone in you—you’re hurting my wrist," she whined, and he let her go.

She fell back on the grass and watched him climb up the ladder to the treehouse. "A sorry would suffice. Gosh, what a jerk."

She wiped off the grass from her dress and climbed up after him.

They spent time climbing up the tree and running around in the treehouse, playing hide-and-seek.

She dressed in a pink frilly dress and pinned ribbons to his dark hair. He was glaring lasers into her skull, equally dressed in a pink dress. She whined, "You were the one who agreed to play with me."

"I didn’t include dress-up in the list of things I want to do with you," he spat spitefully.

She folded her arms. "You’re becoming really mean these days... What is going on with you? Are you going through pi-po-pwebrty?" She struggled to pronounce the word as she poured liquid into an awfully pink ceramic cup.

He focused on coloring a picture of Spiderman. "P-u-b-e-r-t-y," he spelled for her, and she blushed as he added snarkily, "You can’t even spell right. How are you the smartest in your class? They must all be really dumb."

Her eyes watered, and his widened. "Oh no, Frida, I didn’t mean to."

She began to sob. "Ugh, I’m sorry. I know I messed up."

"You always mess up..." She threw away her magic wand. "I don’t want to play anymore..."

He quickly grabbed her hand. "I’m sorry," he said sternly. "I mean it... Please don’t make me go home..." He pleaded, and she saw the fear in his eyes and the bruises on his hand.

"Okay," she said, and he did something strange—he leaned in and gave her a platonic kiss on the mouth.

She blinked at him, confused. "What was that?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know. Boys and girls do that in the movies when they fight."

She gasped, then slapped his arm. "Ewww! What movies have you been watching? Get away from me—you could have cooties..." She winced, wiping at her mouth.

He gave her a stare like he was holding back a mean, snarky comment. "Say one word, and I’ll go home."

He found a smile. "Of course I’m gross, with disgusting cooties. More tea?"

She clinked their glasses. "More tea, Princess Red Laz of Lazy Town."

He groaned. "Ugh, I hate that name."

"What was that?" she questioned, hands on her hips.

"I mean I love it here. Your tea is exquisite," he said painfully.

As they walked back to her room, Laz held onto her hand tightly.

"Laz, go home," she insisted.

He shook his head. "I don’t want to."

She tried pulling her hand free, but he didn’t budge. "Laz!"

He turned to her with big, pleading eyes.

"Laz! Let go! You can’t stay with me."

But he didn’t listen. To her surprise, he followed her into the house and straight into her room.

"How ugly," he muttered, taking in the red and white decor.

"Get out!" she snapped, throwing a pillow at him.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "I mean, what a lovely room."

She threw another pillow at him, and he fell onto the bed with her.

"Are you seriously staying here?" she asked, exasperated.

Laz got comfortable, tucking himself under her blanket. "Yes."

She stared at him for a long moment. "What does he do to you?"

Terror flashed in his eyes as he grabbed her hand tightly. "Let’s not talk about it. I’ll leave once it’s bright and early..." His voice trailed off as he drifted into sleep.

Frida sat beside him, watching his peaceful face with worry. "What makes you so scared, Laz?" she whispered.

The sound of birds made them stir in their sleep. Frida opened her eyes and gasped to see Laz staring at her, still in her bed, and it was bright and sunny. "Oh my God, you’re still here!"

She pulled him out of the bed. "Your mother is going to kill you. And mine too," she whispered just as the crazy yells reached her from downstairs.

"Where is my son!!!"

"That witch of a daughter can’t stay away from my boy!" Laz’s mother snapped at her parents downstairs.

"Keep your voice down—your son’s not here!" Frida’s mother snapped back.

Her mother yelled back just as crazily, "Did you just call my daughter a witch? I can see why your son doesn’t stay home. What is that booze you reek of? Being pretty and rich can save you once—a slut always a slut!"

Frida and Laz ran downstairs just in time to see their mothers throwing hands, pulling at each other’s hair.

Frida’s father had to hold his wife, who was still kicking at Laz’s mother. "Doctor, my ass—you’re just a gold-digging slut!" Laz’s mother screamed. She turned to see Laz at the bottom of the stairs, gripping Frida’s hand tightly.

His mother walked up to him and slapped him. "Hey... What are you doing, scaring me so early in the morning, huh?" Frida’s mother screamed in shock.

"Giving me a jump scare like that right from sleep? Let that bastard father of yours come back and take you soon—I’m tired of your shit," she spat, pulling him by the ear out of Frida’s house.

"Honey, are we going to let that crazy woman take him? We should sue her," Frida’s mother gasped.

Frida stared after Laz, his cold eyes the last thing she saw—the brown life filtered out, leaving only harsh grey storms.

She didn’t see him again after that.

He didn’t go in or out of the house.

For seven days, he didn’t come to school. He didn’t come to the window.

She waited...

And waited...

And waited... until she couldn’t wait anymore.

"I’m coming to save you, Laz..." she whispered.

She snuck out into the cold night, jumping over his fence.

The dogs ran over, about to bark, but she hushed them. "It’s just me, Roger," she whispered.

She walked to the front door, which was left slightly ajar.

She peeped inside, and her eyes took in the vision of a woman—Laz’s mom—and a man, not his dad, intertwined in an illicit act.

She tiptoed past bottles of alcohol and discarded clothes, searching for him.

She peered into every room, all the way to his bedroom.

His bedroom was cleanly laid, like no one had been in it for days.

She walked around, looking for clues—in his cabinets, his wardrobe, under his bed. "Where are you, Laz..." she whispered, only for the room lights to come on.

And the terrifying vision of a man filled the doorway. "Welcome. Let me take you to where he is." He gave her a smile that made her gulp.

"Mom, help..." she whispered before darkness.