Me and my friends are all together after the easter-egg hunt, but it’s still early and our parents aren’t back yet. So now we’re all gonna play hide-and-seek, and I’m so excited! I know the woods behind the park we’re at really well, and I know the best hiding spot. Mia, who’s one of the oldest of us, is the seeker. We all run off as she turns her back and starts counting.

“One, two, three…” she counts.

I dart into the woods as quietly as I can and climb up an old tree. There’s a little hollow spot about seven feet up, and it’s just big enough for me to fit. Only I know about the hollow tree, because everyone else is either too big to sit up here or too little to climb all the way. No-one will ever find me here.

“Eighteen, nineteen, twenty! Ready or not, here I come!” I hear Mia call.

It’s hard to hold my giggles as she walks right under me, still calling for us to come out, come out, wherever-we-are. I can only barely see a flash of Mia’s blue skirt through all the springtime-green branches. I remember I still have a pink plastic egg in my pocket, that I stuck there earlier when my basket got too full. I crack it open and start snacking on the jellybeans inside. After all, no-one will find me here.

A bee shows up in my hiding spot. It must’ve smelled the candy. I try my best to shoo it away quietly, even tossing my last few jellybeans down to the ground, but the bee doesn’t leave. I get mad and swat at it, and it gets madder and stings my arm. It hurts a lot. I can see it getting pinkish-red and puffy. Then my chest hurts, then my throat. I try to calm down, so no-one will find me. Then it goes dark.

When I wake up, It’s dimmer and cooler outside. Evening? No, early morning. The sun is where it is when it’s about to rise. Wow, I slept all night and no-one found me! This really is the best hiding spot. I hear flies buzzing around me. Pesky things. I swat at them, since flies don’t sting, but they zip right through my hand. Uh-oh. My body is right next to me, swarming with insects. I lurch away from it. And now these stupid bugs will lead people right to me!

It’s later, and I hear people walking around, calling for me. They’re calling my name. I crawl to the end of the branch for a better look. There’s Mia, and some of the older kids, and her parents, and my parents, and a few other grown-ups. Some of them notice the jellybeans I dropped. One lady glances up and sees my body through the branches, looking scared. She calls everyone over, and soon they all know where I was hiding. Dangit.

Next time, I’ll find a better hiding spot.