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thoughts
again.
    He smiled in acknowledgement then stepped
through the slider.

Chapter 4
     
    The first few days after Michael’s visit I
would lay awake as long as I possibly could hoping he would come
again. Sometimes I would involuntarily fall asleep only to wake up
suddenly and scan my room expecting to find him there.  As the
days became weeks and the weeks became months I began to consider
the idea that it was all a dream.  I was sure that I had met
him that day at the mall but began to believe that when I went to
sleep that night my mind took the memory of meeting Michael and ran
away with it.
    A year slowly passed and I thought less and
less of him until he had nearly fallen from my mind.  I never
forgot him but I didn’t remember Michael as well as I promised
myself I would.  It all came back to me, though, when he
nudged me awake one night the following August and I heard his
distinguished voice in my head as I drifted from sleep, “Happy
Anniversary,” he said.
    “Michael!”  I was fully awake as soon
as I realized it was him.
    I scrambled from the covers, closed the door
and flipped the light switch.  He was sitting on my bed just
as he had the night after we first met at the mall.  He looked
very much the same but I couldn’t help thinking that somehow he was
a little different. 
    “Happier,” I thought to myself and something
else.
    “Stronger,” he slipped the word into my
mind.
    I would like to have said “Peaceful,” but
the expression didn’t immediately come to me.  I wanted to run
over and hug him but instead I did as I had before and propped my
pillow and tucked my legs under the covers. 
    “Happy Anniversary?”  I asked.
    “It was a year ago today that we first met,
at the mall, by the fountain.”
    “Only one year, Michael, it seems like
forever!”
    “It does now but when you are my age a year
will seem like a day.”
    I knew that wasn’t at all true but it didn’t
matter, I was just happy that he remembered me and had come back to
see me. 
    “Have you been well?” he asked me.
    “Oh, yes, I have been very well.  Have
you been good Michael?  Have you remembered yourself?” I was
so excited my words came bubbling out.
    He looked away as he reflected on my
question, “I have remembered you and that has helped me,” he
paused, “to be good.”
    “I’m so glad that you are trying.”
    He turned back to me with a mischievous
grin, “Would you like to come somewhere with me?   I want
to show you something.”
    “Right now?”  I was excited by the idea
but I knew that it would be very wrong.
    “We won’t go far,” he reassured me, both in
word and thought, “in fact, we won’t even leave your building,” he
reached for my hand.
    I fearfully looked toward my bedroom door,
“What about my mom and dad?”
    “They are sleeping and I will hear them if
they wake.  If I promise that I can get you back before anyone
notices you are gone, will you come with me?”
    I smiled and reached for his hand.  He
helped me down from my bed and we walked toward the slider
together.  I stopped midway and tucked my feet into a pair of
slippers.  I was still a little hesitant sneaking out like
that and in my pajamas as well but Michael seemed very confident
and I was too curious wondering what he wanted to show me to think
about the consequences.
    I noticed that it was very warm outside as
Michael held back the blinds and I stepped through the sliding
door.  Once we were on the balcony he let go of my hand and
squatted down with his back to me, “Hop up,” he said.
    At that point I was downright giddy with
excitement and all my previous hesitation was lost.  I wrapped
my arms around his chest, careful not to choke him.  I felt a
little cooler then, pressed against his back.  It reminded me
of the feeling you get when you crawl beneath the sheets at the
beginning of the night and they are crisp and cold wherever they
touch your bare skin. 
    “You’ll need to hold