The Peculiar Little Girl

A peculiar little girl of one and a half twirled circles in the middle of the living room.  She babbled away incoherently as she twirled.  The babble, though soft and slurred, seemed to have a purpose.  And, she laughed.

She twirled, babbled, and laughed as she had been doing for the past two hours.  It had been two hours since her scream had turned to a beautiful smile and a meaningful gaze. 

The center of the room was cleared except for a small pink ball.  All of the furniture was moved to the outside edges of the room.  The rest of her toys were in a basket next to the couch on the back wall.  She twirled directly in the center of the room. 

Her eyes were on the ball, but that was not her focus.  The subject of her fascination made her grin as wide as a girl could grin.  The subject was somewhere deep inside the farthest regions of her imagination.

Every so often, a tear would splash off the peculiar little girl’s face.  She would just wipe them off like she would wipe away one of her own tears.

Never looking anywhere but the center of the room, the peculiar girl continued her ritual for another two hours before tiring.

She sat down on her knees and reached at her hair.  She grabbed the red curls and pulled.  She screamed an ear piercing screech.  Then, the scream slowly turned to a laugh.  She  laughed for several minutes straight.  Then, the laughing stopped.

All was still. 

All was quiet.

The girl’s smile turned to a blank canvas.  Her face said nothing.  She stared at the pink ball.

The sun was setting, and it shown through the room’s windows.  The silhouette shadow of the girl moved several inches before the silence passed.  During this time she sat in absolute stillness.

Then. . .a movement.

The ball floated an inch off of the ground.  It suspended there for a moment, then it hovered by her face on its way up.

Her smile gradually returned, as the pink ball sat right in front of her nose. 

Then, it moved upwards.  It stuck on the ceiling in between her teddy bear and her blanket.  The peculiar girl’s three belongings were stuck right next to her mom and dad.

Their backs were pinned to the ceiling with their arms and legs dangling towards the carpet below.  They were immobilized and mute, but they could see, hear, and breathe. 

And, they could cry.

The peculiar girl wiped another tear that did not belong to her away from her cheek.

She started her twirling, and her beautiful laugh returned.