Chapter 2: Finding Willow Behind the Stars

About 6 months later Willow was nowhere to be found for an entire week. I spent that time calling checking for her in class every day, calling her phone, and going by the house but no one answered. It wasn't until that second Friday of no Willow that I waited outside her house all day as soon as school was out. Her parents found me sitting on the steps of their front porch reading for my Advance English Course.

Willow’s mother recognized me first, “Luna?”.

I met her eyes eagerly stuffing the book in my bag and standing up to give them both a hug. There was something different about them today they both seemed so warn out and their smiles didn’t reach their eyes. Everyone knows that one family who has nothing but inspirational art with bible verses and quotes hanging on every wall of their household. This was that family. They were always so positive and hoping for the best that sometimes I found it disgusting.

My face grew serious as her father avoided me and headed inside while Mrs. Barnes grabbed my hands with tears in her eyes, “Oh Luna. It’s just so plain horrible.”

She began crying hysterically shielding her face from being seen. I reached over and patted her back to soothe her as I whispered, “It’s okay Mrs. Barnes. Whatever it is it will be okay.”

Her cries had grown louder at my words as she sobbed, “We had to send Willow to Ellis Sanitarium.”

“What? Why!” I blurted out unable to hide my shock.

As I stared at her yearning for a response all she was doing was shaking as if she was in total shock.

I began patting her back again and tried to get her to talk to me, “Please. What happened to Willow?”

Her body finally stopped shaking as she muttered, “Willow is gone and she’s never coming back.”

It felt as if my heart was going to fall out of my chest as I reached for her shoulder and asked, “What do you mean she’s never coming back?”

I couldn’t stop the anger I felt at the thought of them giving up on her. I put both my hands on her shoulders to shake her out of it.

“Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong with her? Snap out of it!’ my scream echoed off the house.

Mr. Barnes must have been heard or was watching from the window because it was at that moment that he came to take her inside the house.

I pleaded with him to tell me what happened, but he only said two words, “She’s gone.”

He proceeded to grab his wife to pull her inside and slammed the door in my face without another word. It took me about 15 minutes from their home to finally arrive at Ellis Sanitarium. The building had been around since the ’60s and reminded me of those haunted asylums you see on the discovery channel.

As I walked through the double doors, I was greeted by a lady who looked like she really hated her job. When I checked in my name was already on the list of visitors and I was quietly escorted into the family room. Just like her parents, they refused to answer any of my questions. All I could get out of them was that it was against some type of Hippo policy and they just told me she would be out in a moment.

It took 15 minutes for them to bring her out to us sitting Willow in a chair that was facing the window. As soon as she was seated, I was able to get a good look at her. She didn’t look like her usual happy self. It was like a blank slate as she sat there not acknowledging me as she stared out the window.

The nurses had informed me previously that I was not to make physical contact with willow because she could have something called an episode. I found this whole thing ridiculous Willow would have loved to be comforted by me. Whatever happened to her I could help her get back to her old self.

I took a step toward her and announced my presence, "Willow? It's Nova."

There was no reaction to my words, she wouldn't even look in my direction. What was wrong with her? Why wasn't she responding to me? I decided to ask her a question that wouldn't require a response, "Willow... You don't have to talk okay? All you have to do is nod your head yes or no."

I waited a moment for her to nod her head and then asked, "Are you okay?”

My eyes followed her closely as she breathed evenly in and out repeatedly. Even her eyes refused to move other than blinking and staring at the nothingness outside the window. I tried asking her every question I could think of like what did she eat for dinner, did she make any new friends, and if they were treating her good here but I got not one response for her and it broke my heart. She was usually filled with so much warmth and love. This was not my friend. It was a shell of a person that was inhabiting her body.

That day I went home in total defeat feeling that I did nothing to help my friend but knowing that tomorrow was another day. At bedtime, I decided that I wanted to try to astral project to try again to get her to speak. I spent the entire night in my astral tunnel looking for any star that would take me close enough to town. That night that I began counting the stars as I passed them. I was determined every day at finding Willow behind the stars. She was here somewhere I just had to find her.