672004

It was she, the 60-year-old woman standing in the 6-year-old little girl's path. The little girl so immature, and clueless yet has a grip on what love means. The graceful woman's face looking into the little girl's hazel brown eyes in the sunlight, holding hands about to enter the park, the woman smiles from ear to ear. Her face wrinkly yet so graceful with rosy cheeks and green eyes the color of Lilly pads. Both of them so happy, so grateful to be in each others presence. The little girl loved the smell of her, the smell of an old-driven-mind-set woman, so brave and so beautiful. They continued to walk down the long winding path hand in hand until they hit the monkey bars. The little girl was so full of joy when she knew she could finally climb them. She was gaining bravery off of this woman and she knew she was. She felt so fearless and so brave. The little girl then started to jump as high as her little arms could reach, and as high as her little sneakers could lift off the ground. She tried and tried and tried but her fingers just wouldn't let her get a good grip to pull herself up. The little girl then felt soft hands on her sides lifting her up until she could reach them. She smiled and knew it was the woman she had come here with. She said, "Thank you" and lifted her legs onto the next one and hung upside down. The woman yet again, staring into her hazel brown eyes and replying, "You're Welcome, Sweetheart." The little girl felt butterflies in her stomach, she felt like the woman really loved her and was really proud of her for doing such a simple thing. The girl then jumped down off of the monkey bars, then her shoe came untied. She didn't know how to tie her shoes. She looked up at the woman in confusion, "Can you tie this for me, please?" the little girl asked. The woman looked straight forward, walked towards the crouched down little girl and simply said, "If this is a day for accomplishments, no, you can do it!" she exclaimed. "All you have to do is, loop, swoop and pull." she said. After several times the little girl began to get frustrated, she punched the ground and got red faced. "Calm down sweetheart, practice makes perfect." The woman explained. The little girl didn't get how patient she was, she just couldn't understand how calm she was. She tried and tried and finally got it. The little girl then looked up and said, "You taught me how to tie my shoes! I love you!" as the little girl leaped at the woman for a nice warm hug. The woman giggled to herself and said, "Anytime, dear." "Shall we go home for some cookies?" The woman questioned. "Yeah! Let's go!" The little girl was so excited. They walked back down the winding path retracing their steps back to the woman's house. When they both got there, they talked about how eventful and how full of fun the day was.

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Later on in life, the little girl grew attached to this woman. She took knowledge from her, learned how to tie her shoes from her and was with her every second of the day. She wanted to live there, but, unfortunately she couldn't. Life isn't fair. So as the little girl became 8 years old, to 10 years old to 12 years old, she still went over the woman's house every day. She saw the woman change for the worse, and the woman saw the little 6 year old she used to know change for the better. She saw her grow up, jump on the monkey bars like a true pro, and tie her shoes without looking. The woman began getting ill, so ill she had to go to the hospital. After a few months she was still in there, not coming off of the bed. IV's were sticking out her veins in her neck, and tubes going down her throat. The girl came to visit her often, but not enough before it was too late. June 7, 2004, a Friday. The girl was in 6th grade now, but not in school. In the hospital waiting room, haunted by the smell of viruses, germs, and death floating through the air. Water stained parenting magazines, and science magazines stared at her while she sat and looked out of the 20th story window of the building. Her stomach was sick, her heart was racing.

As it reached, 9:00 p.m. the girl's parents decided it was time to head home. She had school tomorrow and she couldn't skip two days in a row. When she reached her house, she layed down on the couch confused, and angry and sad. Mixed emotions, anything but happy, though. She kept looking at the fabric up close on the couch thinking to herself, wondering if she would ever get to hold hands with this woman and go to the park and climb monkey bars and tie her shoes with her ever again. Merely a second after she thought about this, the phone rang. It was louder than ever, the girl covered her ears. She then felt a tap on her shoulder, she felt bad energy from her mother's finger. "She's gone." The girl had no reaction, she knew it. Life isn't fair. She ran upstairs and slammed the door, opened her window and sat on the roof. She found a nail and dug it into her leg. Her tears burned her open wound as blood dripped all the way down to her ankle. She then looked in the direction of the park, seeing holograms of her and the woman looking into each other's eyes in the sunlight, smelling her, hugging her, climbing and laughing and holding hands... I guess this is the part where I tell you the little girl, was me.

-kayla