Things Change

She sat on the swing letting it gently sway back and forth. She watched all of the other kids run up to their parents and boast about how good they were in class. How great the first day of school had been. She watched each one of the parents faces light up with joy just at the sight of their darling child. And the expression grew as the child began to recount their day with such enthusiasm.

She kicked the ground slightly, making it swing some more. The groups of people wandered off, the parents, the children. Eventually even the teachers left, without a glance back at the only girl left on school grounds. All of the cars drove off down the street. All of the people gone, the street now completely empty.

She kicked the ground again and sighed

“Come on mum...” She muttered under her breath. It had been her first day of school too; she wanted to do the happy family act like everyone else. She wanted to tell her mother about her new friends, about her teacher, about the work she had done, and how much she had missed her. She wanted her mum to be there, and the expression she had seen on everyone else’s face to be on hers too.

She began swaying her legs beneath the swing; they didn’t quite reach the ground unless she stretched. She was short, even for her age. But her mum had taught her how to swing, she remembered that day clearly. They had been having an actual bonding time, until her mum had been called off on duty. But that was what happened when you were a cop.

Every time her Mother left on an assignment. She had always made her promise that she’d be home in time for dinner. Her Mother always used to respond with the same words. ‘I wouldn’t take any job if I thought it meant I wouldn’t be here to have dinner with you my darling.’

  The swing stopped moving and she didn’t do a thing to start it again. She heard the ambulance sirens as loudly as she had heard the police sirens just before the bell rang. She couldn’t help but think that her Mother had gone out on a mission again. Her Mum had forgotten about picking her up, forgotten about her again.

She kicked the ground again, starting the chair swinging again. She waited patiently for her Mum to get there. She always had to wait for her Mum.

The sun started to go down and she sighed, jumping off the swing. She slung her bag that had laid discarded on the wood chips beside the sing set over one shoulder. She picked up her art work that she had wanted to show her Mum and started to walk home. She had memorised the way when they had been driving to school that morning, she had already guessed that her Mother wouldn’t come on time.

She made her way quickly down the street, no matter how young she was, she had done this kind of thing enough times to be quick. But she’d never wondered around this late, or this far away from home. She finally turned into her street, adjusting the strap over her shoulder for the hundredth time. She glanced further down the street to her house and smiled when she saw the car in the driveway.

She sprinted down the road, she wanted to see her Mother again, she really had missed her, and had so much to say, as every child did after their first day. She ran straight past the car and through the front door, grinning like mad. Her face as red as a tomato, her breathing far too heavy. But she was still happy. She looked around the room, looking for her Mother. But the only person there was her Mother’s commander. So she turned her attention to him.

“ ‘scuse me sir, but where’s my mummy?” He kneeled down in front of her, a look of pure sympathy on his face.

“I’m sorry...” He held out her mother’s badge and gently laid it to rest in the palm of her up turned hand.

“I’m sure your Mother would have wanted you to have this...” She paused for a moment, staring him in the eye until what he was saying made sense to her. Suddenly the badge in her hand seemed to weight a ton. The art work from under her arm slipped to the ground, it didn’t matter anymore. Her bag slid off her shoulder crashing to the ground. Nothing mattered anymore. She turned away from his face, trying to look somewhere that didn’t remind her of her Mother, trying not to let the tears in her eyes show.

“I unner stand.” She muttered, trying to hold her voice steady, but not succeeding. He held her hand tighter in his.

“I’m so sorry.” She pulled her hand back, her Mother’s badge still clenched tightly in her fist.

“Go way!” He looked a little taken back, than shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just leave you here. You’re going to have to come with me.” She screamed and ran to the couch, sitting there, making it clear that she wouldn’t budge.

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere!”  He just looked at her with those huge sympathetic eyes again. He didn’t say another word, pitying the small girl. Then he just picked her up from the couch as she started kicking and throwing a temper tantrum in his arms. He sat her in the car and fastened her seat belt as she silently sulked.

She didn’t get a say in anything. She choked back tears. She didn’t even get a moment to mourn her Mother alone. She just got dragged off to wherever they wanted to take her.  Oh how quickly things could change.