Remember to Forget, Revised and Expanded by Ashley Royer

therapist’s,
his house, Aiden’s house, and the park.
    The park! I can’t believe I didn’t check there sooner. I run down to the park and
search for Levi. It can’t be that hard to find a six-foot-tall boy dressed all in
black.
    He’s not in the obvious places, like the swings or the slide. I check the basketball
field, but he’s not there either. I head toward the fenced-off area, and I see Levi
hidden in a bunch of trees. He’s hugging his legs into his chest and is looking down.
I crawl through the huge opening in the fence that’s been there forever. I quietly
walk over, not wanting to scare him like last time. As I get closer, I can hear him
crying.
    â€œLevi?” I whisper.
    He looks up at me through the trees, his eyes red and swollen. His cheeks are rosy
and blotchy and tears stain his face. His shirt is all wrinkled and dirt covers his
jeans.
    When he sees me, he quickly gets up and starts to run. He runs fast, rapidly getting
farther away from me and deeper into the trees.
    I run after him, worried for his safety. He’s clearly upset about something, and
he could decide to hurt himself.
    The trees get more numerous as I run farther away from the fence. I’ve lost Levi;
he could’ve gone anywhere. I look in every direction and finally see him lying on
the ground. His pants are ripped, and there’s some blood on his leg. He must have
fallen in the short time since I lost him.
    â€œLevi!” I shout, running in his direction.
    He tries to scoot away from me, and he’s crying even harder now. Something is seriously
wrong.
    I peer down at the small cut on his leg and look at his eyes, which are filled with
tears.
    â€œJust let me help, all right?” I say.
    He slowly sits up and allows me to sit beside him. He doesn’t look at me—he stays
turned away. I can still hear him crying.
    I grab the water out of my bag and pour it over his cut. I gently wipe it with a
tissue I found in my bag, and he winces.
    â€œSorry,” I mumble.
    We sit in silence for a few minutes. I’m unsure of what to say or do. I’m not good
at things like this, especially with Levi. He’s so different and hard to understand.
I don’t know why he’s so upset right now. I decide to start with simple questions,
the way I’ve seen therapists do.
    â€œWhy are you out here?” I ask quietly.
    He stays turned away from me.
    We sit silently some more. Questions aren’t going to work because I know he won’t
answer, so I just start saying what’s on my mind.
    â€œI know you don’t like me, and I haven’t always been so great to you. But you’re
clearly hurting, and I don’t want to see you upset. It’s not good to keep it all
inside, trust me. You don’t have to tell me everything, or anything if you don’t
want to. I just . . . I think it’d help if you told someone. Maybe Aiden—you trust
him, right? Just so you’re able to get it all out, you know?” I take a deep breath.
“You probably don’t want me here, but I am, and I’m not leaving you here alone.”
    He doesn’t respond for a few seconds. Then he slowly turns around and faces me. His
eyes dart around, avoiding mine, and he nervously bites his bottom lip. At least
he has stopped crying. He takes out a piece of paper from his pocket, along with
a pen. He quickly writes something and passes it to me. I wonder why he’s carrying
paper and a pen.
    It’s been 210 days since she died. And it hurts. A lot. Days go by, and she’s not
here. I hate being here without her. I hate everything. I just miss her so much.
It’s so hard to get through every day.
    I look up at Levi after I read it, and he finally looks me in the eyes. He suddenly
bursts into tears, and starts to sob. I put my hand on his back to comfort him, and
he flinches at first.
    â€œIt’s okay to be sad, Levi,” I whisper. “You