The little girl had grown fond of their strange house guest during the brief couple of weeks she had stayed with them. At first she was just smelly with gross hair. But she had a very pretty smile. All white teeth on display.
She played with the little girl a lot. Always telling crazy stories and saying odd stuff, like ”I had a dream that I was a sea-angel! All made of light and glowing in dark waters!” and ”Did you know if you climb to the very top of trees, the birds will tell you their secrets? I’ve done it before, would you like me to tell you some bird-secrets?”.
Her favorite color was blue, like the sky. So I made her bracelet blue and green (because that’s my favorite color).
She wore it the day she left.
"Here, kiss it for me!" Her wrist were tanned.
"Why?" I was going to do it anyway.
"For good luck."
I kissed it.
"Why is it good luck?"
She smiles small and leans in very close, like it’s a secret.
"Do you ever pray?" She asks me.
"Sometimes." I say.
"A kiss is like a prayer. You think of it, then the kiss seals it to the bracelet, so that I can keep it with me wherever I go."
"You get to keep my prayer?"
"Yes!"
I kissed her on the cheek. She was warm and soft.
"You can keep that one too." I say, a little quieter because she isn’t smiling anymore.
The strange girl takes both my hands in her bigger ones. She kisses me on the cheek too.
It gives me butterflies.
She’s smiling again when she says, “You keep my prayer too, okay?”
"Okay."
Giving my hands a last gentle squeeze, she lets go and starts off down the road, taking my prayers with her.
I touch the prayer on my cheek when I see her disappear over the horizon.