I Waited on the Melting Snow While They Sang Her Birthday Song Chapter 06

By the time everyone left the restaurant, it was dark.

Graham sent me a message, but got no reply.

Graham: [We’ll talk when we get home.]

“She’s gotten mad enough to ignore our messages before,” Elliot said.

“But she’s never left her bag behind,” Miles replied.

Lily stood nearby and asked quietly, “Why don’t you go check her place? I can get back to campus by myself.”

This time, none of them offered to go with her.

Graham borrowed a car and drove back that night. Along the way, he called me more than a dozen

times, but every call went straight to voicemail.

At first, he was still complaining about how stubborn I was. “She goes hiking without even bringing a portable charger. Just great.”

Another half hour passed before he turned to Elliot.

“Did she leave you any messages?”

“No.”

“What about you, Miles?”

Miles shook his head and pulled up the Apple Cash payment he’d sent that afternoon. It was still

pending.

He stared at the screen, then suddenly said, “When she called me, she said she couldn’t walk the trail today.”

“Of course she couldn’t. None of us went with her,” Elliot said, his voice trailing off.

When they got back to town, they went straight to my house.

The door was unlocked. The day I’d left, all I could think about was making sure I didn’t miss my bus. I’d never imagined I wouldn’t be coming home again.

Old photos of the three boys were spread across the table.

The first had been taken at the foot of the mountain after I’d rescued them as children. Graham had tied a red cord around my wrist, promising that if we ever got separated again, he’d recognize me

by it.

The second was from last year, taken beneath the pine tree. All three of them had crowded around me, each refusing to be the one left out of the picture.

Beside the photos were four bus tickets for this year’s trip. Mine was the only one that had been

used.

Elliot picked them up. “She bought tickets for all of us?”

Graham noticed the gloves on the table.

They were the first pair he’d knitted for me. I’d finally been unable to wear them the day before the trip, so I’d switched to the other pair and left these at home. I’d rubbed the fingertips of the right glove so often that the yarn had gone fuzzy. Once, when he’d asked why I wouldn’t replace them, I’d told him I’d wear them for one more year.

He picked up the gloves and tried slipping one onto his hand. Before he could even get his fingers

inside, he set it down.

“Maybe she’s staying with a friend,” he said.

“You know how few friends she has in this town,” Miles replied.

Graham had no answer.

Lily called to say she’d made it back to campus safely and asked whether they’d found me. Graham

told her everything was fine and quickly hung up.

Early the next morning, all three of them went to the foot of the mountain.

Mr. Lawson recognized them immediately.

“Yesterday, I asked her why none of you had come.”

“What did she say?” Graham asked.

“She said you’d be here later.”

Mr. Lawson took them to the trailhead logbook. I’d checked out a visitor tag at seven the previous

morning, and it had never been returned.

“I brought her things down from the mountain and put them in the trail office,” Mr. Lawson said.

“Her phone, her bag, and a wet coat. But I never saw her come back down.”

Elliot gripped the edge of the logbook so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

“Are there any security cameras up there?” Graham asked.

“There’s one covering the snowy trail.” Mr. Lawson looked at the three of them. “I was going to try

find you last night. You’d better sit down first.”