E. Egg's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

E. Egg stayed in the doorway of the outbuilding, watching the stranger through the grass stems. The voices from the egg hunt were getting louder now, moving closer to the tall grass. He needed somewhere else to go, somewhere that would feel the same as the hiding spot he'd lost. He circled behind the outbuilding and found a small space between the wall and a cluster of wild roses. The ground was bare except for a few crumpled candy wrappers someone had dropped there earlier. E. Egg pressed himself against the weathered wood and pulled the gold ring from his pocket — the one thing he always brought to his hiding spot, never shown to anyone. He turned it slowly between his fingers, watching the light catch the engravings. The ritual had never been about the ring itself. It was about having something private while Jamie knew where he was without needing to see. A basket landed in the grass near the outbuilding's corner. Then another. The egg hunters were spreading out from the field, their laughter sharp and too close. E. Egg's chest tightened. This space wasn't right. It was just a corner, not a hiding place. He could hear footsteps now, multiple sets, coming around both sides of the building. E. Egg slipped the ring back into his pocket and moved. He crossed the open ground to the tall grass, stepping past the stranger still sitting in his old spot. The stranger glanced up but said nothing. E. Egg pushed deeper into the grass, found a small clearing the stranger hadn't claimed, and sat down. The voices reached the outbuilding behind him. He could hear them searching the corners where he'd just been. But here in the grass, even in the wrong spot, the stems closed around him. He'd found a new place to hide. It wasn't his place anymore, but it would hold him until the hunt passed.