Anna & Robert

"No one will ever find me, Robert," she said, hugging the tree branch that her legs dangled off of.

"Is that so? Then how did I find you here, Anna?" Robert replied. He scooted closer to her and pushed her long, greasy hair behind her ears, showing off the imperfections of her face. She turned her face away from him and looked over towards the sun setting.

"You know me better than anyone else. No one else besides you would think to look here. Besides, no one cares that I'm up here. They're just happy I'm out of there way..."

"Anna, do you really think that I'm naive enough to believe that? There's many people that want you back."

"Like who?" She looked back at Robert for a second, and he returned her glance with a gentle touch on the shoulder.

"Like me. Like your family. Like your friends...There's so much that you're leaving behind. You just can't run away from us. We need you."

"A hell of a lie that is," she said with tears beginning to role down her face.

"A hell of a lie that isn't. Look," he said as he began to climb higher in the tree to where the branches became thinner, "up here you can see the sunset better." She looked up at him with a sense of wonder in her face, and then she climbed up to the top of the tree where Robert was. "See," he continued, "this shows us that you have a purpose in our town and that you should come home. Don't you think four days is long enough?"

"I guess..." she murmured.

"Now, won't you climb down and come home?"

"Only if you will come with me."

He looked away from her and down at his shoes and said, "I'm sorry, but you know I can't...You have to do this on your own now. You just have to be brave, that's all."

She sighed. "I guess so..."

"Alright. Good. Take care."

"Bye, Robert," she whispered to him. "I'll miss you so much."

"And so I will miss you." He grinned, and then he disappeared out of thin air.

Then Anna slowly climbed down to the ground, grabbed her bag of belongings, and began to return to her small room in her town's mental facility.