Okay, so I am rewriting Swing Life Away. I had trouble with the other one, and I just felt that they should be kids a lot longer than I had originally mapped out. I'll save my original draft, but I think I just want to start anew.
(The VERY beginning is the same as the original, but it changes less than a quarter of the way through it!)
ENJOY!
They wheeled her slowly out of the small hospital in Amelia. Her small arm was wrapped in a white cast, and she had a small bruise under her eye. In her good hand she held a bucket—for the incessant nausea.
"Wait here kiddo, I'm going to go and pull the car around." Adam, her oldest brother ordered, patting her shoulder gently before disappearing into the dark parking lot. She clung to the white teddy bear her father had bought for her. She didn't name the toy like she had done with all of her others. In fact she didn't speak much at all since being admitted into the hospital.
"Alexander!" She heard her father shout. "What did I tell you about leaving her alone?" She turned to look at the tall man. Her round eyes were glazed over, empty.
"How's my honey?" Dennis Pillsbury asked, leaning down and kissing her clammy forehead. "Sleepy?"
She nodded and closed her eyes to emphasize her point. When her brother pulled up, she could faintly hear her father scolding him through her foggy mind. She could hardly remember being lifted into the family van and buckled in. She barely even remembered the ride home.
/
'Welcome Home Emma!' Vincent, the second youngest Pillsbury, made the banner. The twins, Toby and Freddie, helped their mother prepare her favorite meal: macaroni & cheese and cut up hotdogs. They were playing the soundtrack to 'Annie' in the background as they tidied up the living room the best they could. The doctors had warned them about her newly found phobia.
Holly sat on the front porch her knees pulled to her chest. Her long—freshly washed—red hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail. She had been on edge for two weeks. Ever since her baby was put into a hospital two hours away.
She closed her eyes to keep the horrible flashbacks at bay. But she failed.
Dennis jumping into the disgusting runoff lagoon and dragging the screaming eight year old uphill, into her terrified mother's arms.
Watching on as paramedics forced her to vomit all of the waste she had accidentally consumed. And then later, watching the doctors pump her stomach.
Listening to at least thirty different specialists as they informed the couple about what shock was, and later, about what mysophobia was.
She was snapped out of her reverie when she heard the gravel on the driveway crackling under the wheels of their van. She jumped up and practically ran down the porch steps. By the time she was ground level, the car stopped.
"Emmie bear!" She exclaimed throwing open the back door and unbuckling her daughter. She had to refrain from throwing her arms around the girl. It would have only caused her to panic. "Did you miss me baby?" She played with her daughter's long red hair as Dennis helped her out of the car.
Emma nodded and crossed her arms over her bear as she walked slowly into the house.
/
They sat her on her favorite chair at the dinner table. It was the tallest one. It faced the back yard so she could watch the sunset if they ate early enough.
Dennis scooped a large helping of mac'n'cheese into her Snow White bowl and placed it in front of her. "Eat up goober!" He said with a large smile, happy to have his family reunited.
Emma was about to lift her spoon when she got a whiff of what was in the bowl. Without warning or thought, she vomited.
/
"I just don't know how we'll do this." She heard her mother whispering in the hallway as she lay awake that night. "She won't touch us. She won't eat. She made me wash her sheets twice before going to bed…honey…I'm scared!" Dennis shushed and embraced her as she began to cry. Her tears matched her daughter's.
Only, Emma couldn't be comforted.
Not for a long time.
/
It was a fourteen-hour drive to their new home. She stared out the window and ignored her brothers as they incessantly complained about the move, and how much they were going to miss their friends.
Secretly, she was kind of happy.
She had been labeled as 'The troubled child' or 'Holly and Dennis's sick girl' or the neighborhood children's loving moniker, 'Nutcase'. In a small town, it was hard to conceal hardships like theirs. People talked, unabashed, about how her parents should get her proper help. They had told Holly to her face that Emma belonged in an institution. It was becoming painful for everyone.
"Emmie, that's your new school!" Dennis exclaimed pointing at the large red brick building with the green tin roof. "Grandma Lily went out and spoke to your teacher, Ms. Rice. She sounds like a very nice lady!"
Her father's mother had lived there for years and she just loved it. It still held the small town appeal, but it was large enough for the Pillsbury family to remain under the radar while they settled in. Any kind of excess attention at this point was a stress for all of them.
When they passed the large sign in the Center of Town Square, Adam scoffed as he read it out loud. "Welcome to Lima? What, are we bean farmers now?" His brothers laughed, his parents rolled their eyes, and his sister looked around for bean fields.
/
"Emmie! Sit on your swing!" Dennis called from the oak tree he had just rigged her favorite sitting spot onto. Emma walked outside in a light yellow dress and a white cardigan. "I'll bet the branch on this tree is twice as strong as the one back in Virginia!" Her father said proudly, picking her up and placing her on the wooden swing.
"Thank you father." She murmured toeing the patch of fresh, green sod he had just placed around the area for her. Dennis nodded, his smile faltering, before heading back to work on the lawn.
"Let me know if you need anything baby."
She sat in silence. She watched her neighbors across the street as they tried to wrangle two toddlers into their minivan. She cringed at the slobber on the little boys' red shirts. She hated kids.
/
"I washed your sheets three times since unpacking them. I guarantee that there are no germs on them. I'm pretty sure there used to be flowers on them too." Holly teased as she tucked her daughter in, smoothing out the faded sheets around her. "It's pretty warm outside, but if you want it, Grammy's quilt is at the foot of the bed. I washed it a few times too." She leaned down and kissed her forehead a couple of times before leaving.
Emma stared after her for a moment, before sitting up to retrieve the quilt that her late great-grandmother had so lovingly made for her when she was a baby. She had turned it away when her father had brought it to her in the hospital. She didn't want it to get contaminated.
Instead of lying back down, she huddled up into a thick cocoon with only her face exposed and peered out into the night sky. She couldn't see as many stars here. There were too many streetlights in their new neighborhood. Sighing, she went to lay back down when something caught her eye.
In the window across from her own, she spotted a boy with curly hair and blue button down pajamas. His bed was positioned underneath the window just like hers. He was alone, but still had a huge grin on his face as he strummed away on a small blue guitar. He looked so happy.
For the first time in months, Emma smiled.
/
It was a rainy day. There were puddles covering every surface of the lawn that her brothers and father had yet to lay new sod upon.
She sat on the front porch, covered head to toe in rubber—from the yellow bucket hat on her head, down to the matching raincoat, and all the way down to the bright pink wellies on her feet. But she didn't leave the protection of the veranda. She just sat on the porch swing, head rested back, gazing at the dark gray sky above.
"Do you want to go to the grocery store with me?" Holly asked her daughter, handing her a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. Emma shook her head and set the beverage aside. "Well honey, you have to leave the house at some point."
"It's raining." Emma pointed out.
"You're dressed for the rain. And your umbrella is just inside."
"It's muddy."
"You have your boots on." Holly said desperately, "And I'll carry you to and from the car." She didn't know if it was her daughter having mercy on her, or whatever else, but Emma relented.
"Okay."
/
Her rubber soled shoes squeaked audibly as she trudged down aisle after endless aisle with her mother. Holly seemed nervous—as though any sudden movement would scare the child off.
"Do you want some grapes Emmie?" She asked hopefully, holding up a bag. At first she didn't think she'd get a response, but after a moment, Emma nodded.
"Green ones, please." She requested, before going back to examine the oddly shaped gourds and squash.
Holly's face lit up, it was the first time her daughter and shown any remote interest in food. Her meals since the night she came home from the hospital had consisted of chicken broth, toast, and whatever juice they could get her to keep down. "Green grapes. Green grapes." She whispered to herself as she grabbed as many bags as she could and put them in the cart.
Emma scrunched up her nose at a particularly lumpy squash and backed away from it, afraid that whatever gave it warts, wasn't an airborne virus.
Suddenly, her back collided with another body, not much bigger than her own.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" A gentle voice exclaimed.
She turned to see a startled pair of soft blue eyes. "I-It's okay…" She murmured, eyeing the boy warily. His hair was wet with rain and sticking to his forehead, but she could tell it was curly. He had long black eyelashes and dimples even though there wasn't a smile on his face, but a look of concern.
"Emmie!" She heard her mother's voice from somewhere around the tomatoes. She gave to boy on more long stare, before turning in the direction Holly's voice had come from.
She was about halfway there, when she heard his sneakers squeaking up beside her. "You just moved here, huh?"
She faltered her steps a moment before eyeing him again. He had a small lollipop sticking out of his mouth; it was turning his lips blue. "How do you know?" She asked suspiciously.
"I live next door to you!" He replied as though it should have been completely obvious. "We're in the blue house, with the ugly yellow door.
She thought for a moment before she suddenly remembered. "Blue guitar…" She whispered to herself, a small grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
The boy's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What?" He cocked his head to the side, a dopey smile on his face. Emma snapped out of it, and stumbled to reply.
Fortunately her mother came to her rescue. "There you are!" Holly exclaimed. "I found some of those peanut butter cookies you love…Oh, hello!" She greeted the boy with a surprised smile.
"Emma, who's your friend?" She nudged the girl gently.
"Actually, we just met ourselves." The boy responded for her. "I'm William Schuester. I live next door to you." He held out a surprisingly clean hand for Holly to shake. Emma shook her head when he extended his hand to her next.
"Oh, you're in the blue house?" Holly recalled. "I thought you looked familiar! You were riding your bike out front the other day."
"Yes ma'am."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you William! I'm Holly. We'll have to come over sometime to meet your parents too."
"My mom's here if you want to meet her!" William perked up like a puppy.
"That would be lovely." Holly replied enthusiastically. Emma rolled her eyes as the boy ran off to get his mom.
"Mother, can't we go?" Emma pleaded. "His face was sticky!"
"Emmie, his face is fine!" Holly tried to reason. "Besides, you need a friend here. It would help you a lot when school starts back up."
Emma was about to continue the argument, when Will approached them again, this time with a woman who no one could deny was his mother. "Mom, this is Ms. Holly and Emma." He said, a proud smile on his face when he gestured the timid redheaded child.
"So you're our new neighbors!" Mrs. Schuester said with a smile and tone more bubbly than her son's. "It's so nice to meet you!"
"It's nice to meet you too! We've been here for nearly a week and—"
As the two struck up a conversation, Emma rolled her eyes and wandered over to inspect some apples. Will followed her, hands shoved in his pocket nervously. Not knowing what to say to peak her interest, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I have a dog."
"Dogs are messy."
"Oh no, not Maestro! My mom makes me bathe him every week!" He laughed a bit, but stopped when all he received from her was a blank stare. "So, do you have any pets?"
"My brother has a rabbit." She scrunched up her nose in disgust. "He sits in his own poop all day, and eats hay."
"I bet he's cute."
"He isn't. He's revolting."
Will sighed and picked up a couple of apples. "I guess you don't really want a friend huh?" He asked, his nose wrinkled a bit. Emma looked up from the oranges she had been memorizing, trying to think of something to say. At her silence, Will gave a small nod and turned to walk back towards the moms.
"W-William…" She called after him. When he turned and looked at her with such sad blue eyes, that she couldn't deny him even if she wanted to. "I have a great swing...In my front yard…If you ever want to use it." She said with a small smile.
That trivial sentiment alone lit the boy's face up as though it were Christmas morning. "I think I would like that a lot." He said with a nod. "Thank you Emma."
And that's when Emma Pillsbury remembered what happiness felt like.