Once there was a gate, Roman regularly crossed over to Sienne’s side of the woods. He always had to wait until she trusted him, but it never took long. They played games in her woods and shared picnics. They strung a hammock between two trees and read books. Some days, Roman couldn’t stay long because of school or chores. Some days were cut short because of snow or rain.
Lenora constantly pestered him, claiming the woods to the south were cursed. It was a ploy to either scare him or get him in trouble, so he kept his mouth shut until she finally wed and moved away the summer he turned sixteen. She left without ever knowing of Sienne’s existence.
Roman rarely missed a day meeting Sienne. She was always there, and he had long since given up understanding her memory loss. There were benefits to starting fresh each day, especially after a day where they’d fought. Though they typically only fought when she resisted coming to his side of the woods.
“I dare you to step a single foot on my side of the fence,” he said one afternoon. He’d made the same dare countless times, and it always ended in her tears.
Sienne’s face paled, and she took a step back. “My parents have forbidden it.”
Roman leaned in to whisper. “And how will they know if you do?”
The crease between her eyebrows deepened as she looked between him and the open gate. She always considered the dare, but she never gave in. Being a sixteen-year-old boy, Roman was determined to encourage any rebellion.
“Fine. Let’s play a different game.” He pulled out a blindfold and wrapped it around his eyes, tying it in the back.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a laugh.
“I want you to spin me five times and see if I can tell where I am.”
They each played the game three times, failing miserably in their sense of direction. The fourth time he spun her wildly. With each spin, her braid brushed his face, sending the scent of honey to tickle the back of his nose.
She giggled uncontrollably, and the trust she exhibited in letting Roman spin her blindly made him hesitate. Trust was something he should never want to lose. But he still spun her across the gate and onto his father’s property.
Sienne sucked in a gasp and fell to her knees, gripping the grass as if her life depended on it. “I feel sick,” she murmured.
He bent over and pulled off her blindfold, placing a steadying hand on her back. “It’s just from the spinning. I guess we played too many times.”
Her eyes darted as she regained her balance and focus, then they widened in horror. “You took me across the fence.” Her breath came faster, and she crawled back toward the opening.
Roman grabbed her arm and tugged, wanting her to stay. “It’s fine. See? You’re on my side of the fence, and you’re fine.”
But she wasn’t fine. Her fast breaths turned to panic, and she clawed at her throat. “It’s making me sick,” she said between gasps.
He released her, and she crawled across the property line before collapsing in the grass.
Anger brewed inside him. Her reaction was overdramatic, her fears unfounded. He stood, leaning on the fence to glare at her. “Are you saying you never leave your home? What does it matter if you stay on your side of the fence?”
She stared up at him, eyes pooling with tears. Her suffering made his stomach flare with guilt, but that only made him angrier.
“Why am I the one who always has to cross over? Why must I always be the one who brings books and food and games? Why can’t you ever remember who I am?”
She flinched, her panic shifting to fear. Fear of Roman and his words that didn’t make sense.
Only they made more sense than anything he’d said to her in the past. As the words spilled out of him, hot with anger, he realized that was the crux of it. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t cross the line or that she wasn’t willing to. It mattered that their friendship could never cross a line. If she only ever remembered one day, how would she ever trust him enough to share her secrets, to share her burdens? How would she ever care as much as he did?
Roman wanted to be more than the new neighbor boy who helped her pick flowers for her mother. And as long as she forgot him every day, that wouldn’t be possible.
He never tried bringing her across the fence line again. It had been unkind of him to do it the first time, and he’d learned his lesson. But that didn’t mean he didn’t find other ways to experiment.
“Why do you wear that chain?” Roman asked. Summer had come and gone, and fall was soon to end. They expected the first snow in another day or two, so they were both bundled up in their winter coats, pretending it wasn’t too cold to sit outside and play cards.
Even though her right hand already grasped the chain, Sienne placed her left hand over it self-consciously. “It’s supposed to have a pendant. I think I must have lost it in our move.”
“What did it look like?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. They’d searched for it before, but it always felt like there was more to the story. Things she wasn’t willing to tell him.
“It was a beautiful red stone,” she said wistfully. “My father found it when he worked the mines. I was only a baby, and he brought it home and fashioned it into a necklace. I’ve worn it every day of my life since. I never meant to take it off.”
The pain that shadowed her face spurred Roman on. “Where have you looked for it?”
She shrugged. “I’ve looked everywhere. I spent all morning looking for it in the house. In fact, it’s the reason I came out here. Something made me think it might be at the edge of the woods, which is silly since this is the first time I’ve been here.”
He couldn’t hold back his snort at that.
“What if it is out here?” He stood and brushed off his trousers. “If that’s what you came for, we should look for it.”
They spent hours searching at the edge of the woods. They did it again the next three days even though Sienne thought each day was a new search. Roman strategically mapped out sections of the wood, ensuring they didn’t search an area twice. Finally, their search brought them to a rock filled with crevices near the gate. When they rolled it aside to check each nook, the dirt felt loose, like it had recently been disturbed. Their eyes met, and Sienne’s brow rose.
“Is it possible you buried it and forgot?” Roman asked softly. Anytime he accused her of not remembering him or the things they’d done, she grew wary and left. But would she consider the possibility that she had a faulty memory for something like this?
She bit her lip and shook her head.
It could be something else. But if it was the stone, if Sienne or someone else had buried it, what would that mean? Roman didn’t ask, mostly because he wondered if she was already thinking it.
They dug up the dirt, its softness surprising when the rest of the earth had hardened with the frigid air. Five handfuls of earth came out before their fingernails scraped metal.
Sienne froze. With a trembling hand, she reached into the hole and pulled out a bright red stone. It glinted in the sun, one end polished smooth and the other set in metal with an undamaged loop. It couldn’t have fallen off her necklace any more than it could have buried itself in the dirt.
Her face crumpled in dismay. “How did it get here?”
Roman didn’t answer her question. His thoughts would only upset her.
Footsteps thundered down the path toward them, coming from her family’s home. They both jumped to their feet in surprise. Guilt crossed Sienne’s face as she shoved the stone behind her back, but shock rippled through Roman. No one had ever come upon them before. Their meetings had felt safe and sacred, like they’d stepped out of time each day to be with one another.
But now, a woman ran toward them, her brown dress similar in style to Sienne’s and her mostly blonde hair settled in a bun atop her head. She caught sight of Sienne and hiked up her skirts, the faster pace making wisps of gray fall around her face.
“What are you doing?” she called out.
They exchanged a glance and took a step away from each other, Roman’s purposely taking him back through the gate. Hopefully Sienne’s mother hadn’t noticed he’d been across it.
“Mother,” Sienne said. “This is Roman. Roman, this is my mother, Anna.”
Roman shouldn’t have been surprised. They looked so much alike. But after six years of meeting Sienne, he’d never met her mother. Why had she come today?
“You’ve been digging,” Anna said, ignoring Roman.
Sienne glanced down at the hole behind her. “Well, yes. But look what I found.” She held out the stone, her face a mask of confusion.
Her mother ripped the stone from her fingers. “Never dig this up again. Do you understand?”
Sienne blanched, and Roman itched to reach across the fence to protect her.
Within moments, Anna had the stone buried in its hole, the earth patted back down, and the rock guarding it once more. She stood and turned her glare on Roman. “And you”—she pointed a finger at him while using her free hand to grab Sienne’s arm—“I never want to see you here again.”
She dragged Sienne away before either of them could recover their senses, let alone say goodbye. Long after they left, Roman stared at that rock. He continued to see it in his mind’s eye all through dinner and while he lay in bed. The next morning, he rose after a sleepless night and headed to the fence before sunrise. The rock still sat there, tempting him.
He gave in and shoved the rock aside, digging out handfuls of dirt until he reached the stone to study it. What purpose did Sienne’s mother have for burying it? He considered pocketing it, but Sienne wouldn’t remember him today. Showing up with her most precious gift might be more suspicious than helpful.
A crack sounded, and he turned, curious to see if Sienne was ever out this early. But it wasn’t Sienne.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Anna asked as she studied him down the shaft of her arrow.
Roman froze, gaze locked on the arrow meant for his eye. For a moment, all of Lenora’s tales of a cursed wood came back to him. He almost believed this woman could be a witch who cursed the woods, who brought death on anyone who dared trespass.
“I just wanted to look at it, but I’m putting it back.” He slowly lifted his hands, pinching the red rock between his thumb and forefinger. He made a show of throwing it in the hole, then burying it and covering it with the rock.
To his surprise and relief, Anna let him go. But Sienne never showed up that day. Or any other day her mother caught Roman with the pendant. Over the next year, he only managed to dig it up and rebury it twice, once by a tree and once by the gate, before being caught. It didn’t matter the time of day; it was like Anna could sense it being moved. Both times, it still showed up under the rock the following day. As if he’d never moved it.
Whether or not Roman was caught, on the days he dug up the rock, Sienne didn’t come to the fence. Whatever mystery the stone held, investigating it wasn’t worth that price. After that year, he never dug it up again.
Instead, he dug for answers. The stone’s secret could stay buried, but Roman’s determination to free Sienne from the prison of her mind surfaced with fresh incentive.
He loved her too much to let her stay trapped.