The early evening heat was stifling in the late Spring day. Olivia laid under the shade of the overgrown lemon tree in the Middleton's backyard, the water from the sprinklers cooling her legs as she quietly read her book. The town they had moved to was a quiet farming community in the Central Valley, and home to more retired seniors then kids her age. They had only been there for a month when Olivia decided that two things would inevitably kill her; the heat or boredom.

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Her mousy brown hair stuck to her tanned forehead with the sticky heat of the day, but thanks to Twilight she all but forgot about the sweltering annoyance.

 

 

The wind picked up slightly and a sweet smell hit her nostrils, the notes soft and dreamy, and the scent lulling Olivia into daydreams of the boy in her 4th period Math class. "What is that?" She asked herself as she inhaled the breeze wafting by.

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"They're Honeysuckles." A voice from behind her backyard fence, replied.

She sat up abruptly, startled at realizing she wasn't alone. "Who's there?" She called out to the voice, annoyed that her daydreams were suddenly ripped away from her.

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"My name's Robbie. You're the new family that just moved in, huh? I saw you helping your parents unload the UHaul. You look like you're my age. I'm 13." Robbie's voice was quiet, almost inaudible as he spoke, making Olivia almost have to press her ear to the fence just to hear him.

"Hi Robbie. I'm Olivia, and yea that's pretty close to my age. I'm 12." Olivia said brightly as she stared at the dark wooden planks that separated them. "Why are you whispering?" She added as an afterthought.

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"Ma's asleep. I don't want to wake her. She's... Not feeling well." He replied, "Hey have you gone down to the lake yet? It's pretty nice this time of year. We used to go there when I was younger. Before..."

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"Before what?" Olivia asked as she sat beside the fence, tucking her gangly legs beneath her.

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"Nothing. I haven't been there in years. But I remember it was beautiful." He finished softly, sounding closer as if he, too, sat beside the fence.

The two kids chatted until dusk fell and agreed to meet the same time the next day. Olivia tried to ask him to go bike riding or even to come over and hang out on her porch but he rejected both offers saying simply that he wasn't allowed to leave the backyard.

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A year past and the two became great friends, however never seeing each other face to face. Olivia noticed that there were times Robbie wouldn't meet with her for days at a time, but he always came back to their spot under the lemon tree, separated by their third wheel, the fence.

"Robbie, where do you go when I don't hear from you?" Olivia asked one day as she munched on a ham sandwich. It was the dead of summer and she longed to join her friends at the lake to swim and cool off from the humid heat permeating the air. She always kept her promise to Robbie, however, to meet at their spot at the same time everyday even though he sometimes wouldn't be there.

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"Mom is sick a lot. She needs me sometimes to stay in doors and tend to her. I always come back, don't I?" He asked as he listened to the sounds of her eating.

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"Yea, I guess, but what is wrong with your mom? Why doesn't she go to the doctor?" Olivia asked, finishing her sandwich and staring once again at the divider between them.

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"Liv," Robbie sighed, as if already pained to be having this conversation with his friend, "My mom drinks a lot. Has, since my dad left. Most of the time she gets angry, and I have to be there so she doesn't lash out at my siblings." He sucked in a breath, as if to keep from crying.

"Robbie... Does she hurt you?" Olivia asked quietly as she put her hand against a plank, wishing she could comfort her friend.

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"She doesn't mean to. She's always really sorry but she's just so angry at my dad." He vaguely answered, his voice trailing off. The pair sat in silence, not knowing what to say to the other. Both wanting to squash the awkwardness between them but unsure how to go about it.

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"Hey Liv. Remember how we first started talking? The honeysuckles?" Robbie asked, breaking the mounting silence between them. "Did you know that honeysuckle berries grow in pairs? That's why they're called twin berries." Robbie explained as he played with a blade of grass. "We've kind of been like the honeysuckle berries. The two of us sitting here together, day after day. Do you think it'll always be like this?" He asked as he threw the grass to the side.

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"I don't think it'll always be like this. We have to meet face to face sometime!" Olivia laughed as she rested her head against the fence.

"I love you, Liv." Robbie stated quietly. "I don't mean the cheesy romantic type. But I think you're one of the best friends I've had. I think that no matter where life brings us when we grow up, we'll always be like those honeysuckle berries. Inseparable." He laughed to break the tension and knocked on the fence. "Just think of your pal Robbie whenever you smell the honeysuckles." He chuckled again then said a quick goodbye, running into the house and leaving Olivia with her thoughts.

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"I love you too Robbie." Olivia said quietly as she walked back into her house.

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Robbie stopped short as he stared at his mother. She stood in the middle of the  living room, cloaked in a tattered bathrobe and a flannel nightgown. "Where the hell have you been you bastard. Out talking to that girl again, huh? Just like your father. You're gonna leave me just like your father. Well, I'll be damned if I let that happen to me again!" Robbie's mother screeched as she flew at him. Robbie only noticed too late that his mother had been holding an iron in her hand.

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Olivia finished washing the dinner dishes and noticed her parents hovered at the living room window, talking in hushed tones as the glaring red and blue lights flashed outside. Without hesitating, Olivia dashed out the front door and ran as fast as she could to Robbie's house. It was the first time she had ever seen Robbie's mom, as the police dragged her outside in nothing more than a nightgown and bathrobe. She was sobbing loudly and screaming how sorry she was through breaths.

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'Sorry for what? Where is Robbie?" Her heart thudded in her chest sounding like the deep thumping of a bass drum in her ears. Where was her friend? What was going on?

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Suddenly she saw it. The stretcher slowly being wheeled out, the body bag resting atop just big enough for a boy her age. The world spun wildly as she tried to focus. 'What are the police saying? Where is my friend?'

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An officer came up and gently guided her back to the sidewalk as another one roped off Robbie's house with caution tape. "Are you a friend of the boy's?" The policeman asked as he peered into Olivia's frantic face. "I'm sorry." His voice resonated deeply as he patted her arm. 'What is he sorry about? What happened to Robbie??'

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Olivia's parents grabbed her arms and hugged her tightly and listened as the officers talked amongst themselves quietly. She caught only bits of conversation. His mother was drunk. Something about an iron. So much blood. And her friend was gone.

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She was in such a state of panic and confusion that she didn't notice until just then, the wind blowing slightly, carrying sweet smelling notes on its back. The smell dreamy and soft and the scent lulling Olivia into daydreams about the boy behind the fence. A boy who's face she never saw, but who's voice would forever whisper in the wind.

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'I love you, Liv. You're the best friend I've ever had. We'll be like those honeysuckle berries... Inseparable.'