Growing up, I had a lot kids on my block that my brother and I would play with. We didn’t all go to the same schools, but we all hung out once the weekend started. Over the years, we became pretty tight-knit, and I still keep in touch with most of them today. One summer, when we were all about 10-11, a new kid and his family moved in to one of the houses on the street. The boys and I decided to greet them and see if maybe he wanted to go throw the football around, but he kinda just stared at us and didn’t know what to say. His father saw us trying to talk to him and quickly moved to get between us and him. “Sorry boys, Ed doesn’t really talk much, he’s a fragile boy. Maybe he can play with you all tomorrow?” We all shrugged, said okay and didn’t think twice about it. I remember my brother and I telling our parents about the interaction, and they thought it was odd, but brushed it off as the parents being overprotective.
The very next day, we all went to ring Ed’s doorbell to see if he wanted to come out and play, but nobody answered. We figured they weren’t home, so we just played outside and went about our day. Now I didn’t see this, but my buddy Nate swore up and down that Ed was in the window, watching us play. He would phase in and out, barely peeking from behind the closed curtains. Nate waved at him to come outside, but apparently once Ed realized Nate noticed him, he vanished. We thought maybe he was just shy and would join us eventually, but a couple of days passed, then a week, and nothing. We didn’t see him again. My brother and Nate asked his parents when they were outside one day if Ed would ever come outside to play, and his parents insisted that Ed was very delicate and didn’t really like playing outside, and that it was probably best if we let it go. “Ed is a fragile boy”.
One night, I stayed up late playing Pokemon on my Gameboy, and decided it was time to go to bed. I don’t know how many of you had a Gameboy Color, but it didn’t have an internal light, so you needed another light source to be able to see the screen. Anyways, I digress. I got up to turn off my lamp, and, through a crack in the window blinds, I saw someone standing outside on the street looking lost. It was Ed. This was around midnight on a Friday. I kept watching. He was stumbling about, almost as if he was drunk, just kinda stupefied by his surroundings. He was looking into cars, looking up at the street lights, and just wobbling around. Suddenly, his dad appears, speed-walking towards Ed, gesturing at him to come over, but Ed didn’t even seem to notice him. Once his dad was within his reach, I remember him yanking Ed by the arm and lifting him over his shoulders, like a farmer would a lamb. His father looked around before carrying him back to the house. Something about the whole thing felt so detached, so violent. Ed looked limp over his father’s shoulders. It seemed like his dad was more concerned about being noticed than his own son’s well-being. I didn’t really sleep that night.
The next day, I told my Dad what I saw and he said he would go over to check if everything was alright. I stayed inside that day with my brother since it was raining, and we had Nate over to play some Super Nintendo with us. When my Dad got back to the house, I asked him if everything was okay, and my Dad explained that Ed was sick and needed medication to keep him healthy. He had apparently wandered off and his dad was so apologetic about scaring me and that I had to witness Ed like that. It felt weird, but that was it. I overheard my parents speaking later when I went to the washroom and I think I heard my dad say “schizophrenia” and “bipolar”, but I had no idea what that meant at the time.
A couple of weeks went by and the summer continued on. The days spent outside with my friends were fun and we came to terms with the fact that Ed just couldn’t join us. Our friend Lee always had a pool party for his birthday, and it was coming up, so we were all deliberating on what we would do and what games to play. The pool party finally arrived and we all had a blast. The parents sat on the patio while we ran around, swam and played in Lee’s giant backyard. When it started to get dark in the evening, my brother suggested we play hide and seek. We all agreed, played black shoe to decide who would seek first (Nate) and then promptly ran off to hide. We would jump nearby fences, and hide in a neighbour’s yard if we had to, we were kids. I hopped the fence on the left of Lee’s house and then hopped the next one, which was Ed’s house. The backyard hadn’t changed from the last time I hid under their balcony when the old owners still had the house, so I hid there again.
“Hey.”
I almost pissed myself. I turn around to see a little dingy window with Ed standing right as the screen, eyes wide open. I never noticed the window before when I hid there prior, I think the old owners had covered it up. There was a smell coming out from the room, almost like sewage.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m hiding, we’re playing hide and seek” I replied.
“Oh. That’s fun. Wanna hide in here? They’ll never find you, I promise.” he said, hushed.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because they never found me.”
Even recalling that moment, it sends a sharp, shooting chill down my spine. He just stared at me. Never blinking. I ran. I didn’t know what else to do, I was so deeply terrified, I just ran home. Even to this day I can see his face. His uneven haircut, his grey eyes, unblinking. The colour of skin, faded. Just the look of pure sedation. Almost lifeless. Once I got home, I cried. My brother came home about 15 minutes later and came into my room and asked if I was hiding here the whole time. I said I ate too much cake, wasn’t feeling well and came home to sleep. He said okay, he’ll let our parents know, and went back to the party. I couldn’t tell him, I didn’t even know what to say. The next day my parents woke me up and asked how I was feeling, I told them I felt much better, but the truth was I couldn’t stop thinking about Ed. I wanted to tell my parents, but I kept thinking about how he was “sick” and needed medication. Right after breakfast, I decided I should say something, and just as I was going to tell my mom she asked me to go the living room as Dad had a surprise for us. Our parents surprised my brother and I with a trip to Disney world. I feel fucking awful about it today, but I got so excited with my brother, that I forgot to tell them. I’m ashamed, but I was a kid.
When we got back from the trip, Nate told us that Ed’s family moved away. His dad told him that Ed’s mom travelled a lot for work and they were relocated by her company again. I never heard from Ed after that, but I remember the look on his face. His cold, grey eyes, almost lifeless. That fragile boy.