Unforgotten | Calum Hood

Prologue

TEN YEARS AGO

"Calum, let go of my doll!" I shout at the young boy dangling my toy above my head.

"You have to get it yourself!" Calum says as he runs off with my doll still in his hands. I chase after him in his backyard and push him over in the small sandbox. Our giggling is uncontrollable. When we sit in the sandbox, Calum carefully wipes the sand littering my doll and fixes her hair. He hands it over to me with a shy smile.

"Thank you! She looks even more beautiful!" I scream with excitement and wrap my small arms around him.

"Yuck, cooties!" the eight-year-old says and we both burst into wild laughter.

"Lennon, we have to go now! Our flight back to London leaves soon." my mother says with her sweet voice. I get up and brush off the sand on my floral dress, leaving Calum behind in the sandbox.

"Lennon, wait!" Calum yells and I turn around to face him. "You're coming back to Australia soon, right?" He asks with a bright smile.

"I hope!" I tell him honestly with excitement.

"Pinky promise me that you're going to come back, and that we will be friends forever," he says to me as he lifts his arm in the air and sticks out his pinky finger.

"Friends forever!" I tell him as I wrap my pinky around his. At that same moment I hear the small click of my mom's camera, but I choose to ignore it.

I return my hand back to my side and run off to the pavement where my mum and Calum's family stand. Calum's dad places our small amount of luggage in the trunk of our rental car while my mum and Calum's mum cry in each other’s arms. Why are they crying? Don't they know that they can be friends forever? I wave back at Calum and his older sister before climbing into the car. While I stare at the young boy, he raises his left hand and crosses his heart with his right. I do the same back, reassuring him that I will always keep my promise.  I shut the door of the car while my mum started the ignition.

"Goodbye sweetheart!" Calum's mum says to me and blows a kiss. I playfully pretend to snatch her kiss and wave as my mum pulls always from their small Australian home.

"Friends forever," I whisper to myself while leaning my head against the cool glass window. I repeat my promise with Calum while my mum softly hums along to a song on the radio.