Chapter seven:
Marian's POV:
After my chores, every day I went to the clearing in the forest, but Robin and Much didn't show up. Which was peculiar because we met there every day, if only for a couple of minutes.
For the first few days, I waited at the clearing, assuming that maybe they got too caught up with chores. But after a whole week passed, and they still didn't show up, I began to play on my own.
I ran around the forest, shooting arrows as I went. It would have been more fun with my friends, but I could make do on my own.
Spending most of the day there, I only walked back home when the light started to fade. Opening the door, I walked into the dining room, to find dinner on the table and my parents talking intently. Father stopped talking immediately when he heard me.
"Marian love, we didn't hear you come in." He turned to me and gave me a small smile.
"Did you find Robin and Much?" My mother asked, her eyes red and puffy, as if she had been crying.
"No, Much most likely had chores to catch up with, and Robin probably stayed behind to help him." I could already feel the tears threatening to escape from my eyes.
My mother gave my father a concerned look, they were definitely hiding something.
Coming up with a new excuse for them every day, was tiring. It was making me restless.
Where were they?
It's not like them to vanish. Especially with the conversation Robin and I had the other day! Robin could've at least left me a note, he's let me know before if he was heading out of town with his parents.
Robin's Father had business in Scotland every couple of months, so Robin went with him sometimes.
"Don't worry dear, I'm sure they have a good reason." Mother came and hugged me.
She knew it was upsetting me more than I was letting on.
"I'll just dump my things in my room, and I'll be right down." Running upstairs, I tried to keep the tears in.
Turing back, I picked up the arrow I dropped, my parents shared a discreet look, they were hiding something.
After shoving my bow and arrows in my wardrobe, I started to walk back down stairs. Mother said something that made me stop and listen. She hadn't heard me coming, so she kept on talking.
"Marian can't find out yet, Fredrick, not yet. You know how much they mean to her!" Mother told my father, waving her hand around for emphases.
"She has to find out sometime, Elsie! Marian is wondering why they haven't been around. I can hear the pain in her voice, when she speaks about them." My father sounded exasperated, as if they'd been talking about this for a while, but had not found an end to their argument.
They knew where Robin and Much were?
Clearing my throat, I started to walk down the stairs and they immediately stopped talking. If I asked them outright, they would deny all knowledge, so I'd play it dumb and try to find out more.
"How was shooting, Birdy?" Father called me by my nickname, trying to dissuade from the fact that they were keeping something from me.
He called me Birdy because when I was little, I always complained that I couldn't fly, like a bird. Ever since I was little, I yearned to be as free as the birds I saw.
"It was great actually, I managed to get some so high, I had to climb the tree to get the arrow back! Speaking of birds, one arrow landed right next to a bird's nest, luckily it missed the eggs."
William giggled, which made my parents do they same.
Eating quickly, I finished my dinner as soon as possible, in the hope that they would carry on their previous conversation.
Yawning for effect, I stated that I was tired, and made a show of walking up the stairs. Closing my bedroom door, so it sounded like I'd gone inside, I crept back onto the landing, to listen.
Just about to sit down, Hazel was walking past.
"Marian, what are you doing? I thought you finished your dinner." She asked sweetly.
"Umm…," Panicking, I struggled to think of a response, "I was just going to get a cup of water- my throat is a bit sore." Tapping my throat for emphasis, in the hope that she wouldn't ask me anymore.
My plan having failed, I quickly filled a cup with water from the pipe outside, in order to make my story seem plausible. Glancing up at the stars as I was heading back inside, there was movement in the tree next to my bedroom window.
"Hello, is anyone up there?" I called up, nervously. When no reply came back, I went back inside and straight up to my room. It must have been a bird or something, what else could it be?
Unless…
Suddenly very curious, I ran to my window and flung it open, spilling my water in the process. My breath got caught in my throat, just in time for my tired eyes to see a figure running from the bottom of the tree into the now dark forest.
The figure looked like a boy, about my age, maybe a bit older, they had a bow and arrow strapped to their back. The boy turned around, holding a lamp close enough to his face that I could see a pair of green eyes, glowing through the night.
Before I could recognise any other features, the figure ran away again. The only proof that the figure actually existed outside of my imagination was a note stuck to the tree with an arrow, it only said six words.
"I'm sorry. I love you, always."
There was no name at the bottom, but I recognised the arrow. Confused, I ripped the note off of the tree and flipped it over, nothing on the other side either.
Realising how tired I actually was from shooting all day, I sighed and figure that I would figure it out tomorrow.
Changing quickly, I flopped into bed and tried desperately to fall asleep. My mind was full of thoughts about the absence of my two best friends, the conversation I overheard between my parents, and the mysterious note left by the figure.
Eventually, I fell asleep to the sound of a robin chirping outside my still-open window and the clatter of Sarah (our cook) washing up downstairs.
I'm sure everything will smooth itself out in the end.