Lila was excited.
Today was show-and-tell day at school, and she was eager to show her classmates her new Barbie doll.
"Remember, Lila, I'm going to be a little late picking you up today," Laura reminded her daughter as they drove to school.
Lila nodded. "I know. You have to go to the dentist." She made a face at the mention of that dreaded place. "Do you want me to bake you some cookies?" she asked sympathetically.
Laura laughed. "I should probably avoid cookies so I wouldn't have to go to the dentist."
Lila wondered how someone could avoid cookies and deemed it impossible.
The school day passed as usual. Show-and-tell was fun, except that Lila's friends kept asking to see her doll. She didn't want to share, but Mommy had always told her that sharing was the nice and polite thing to do, so Lila shared.
After show-and-tell was over, Lila put her doll into her backpack, which she stashed safely in her cubby.
When the bell rang signaling the end of the day, Lila got up along with the rest of the others and went to retrieve her things.
It was then that she saw her best friend, Catia, slip something that looked suspiciously like Lila's doll into her backpack. Then she walked out of the classroom.
Lila frowned. Did she just take my doll?
She nudged her way through the students crowding the cubbies to try to reach her own. Just then, she heard the teacher call her name. Lila had forgotten her homework on her table, and had to push back through the crowd to retrieve it.
Finally, Lila was able to get to her cubby. When she pulled out her backpack and unzipped it, she found to her horror that her doll was gone.
I knew she took it!
Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Lila raced out the door. She couldn't see Catia in the packed hallway, but she knew she had to find her before she left. Lila jostled her way through the hall, completely ignoring the rules of no pushing and no running. Thankfully, no teacher noticed.
Once she was outside in the courtyard where all the car-riders were picked up by their parents, Lila saw Catia walking towards the gate. She lived just across the street from the school.
"Catia!" Lila called angrily, running toward her friend. Catia looked over her shoulder, saw Lila, and took off at a run.
Oh, no, you don't!
Lila was a fast runner, but Catia had a head start. By the time Lila caught up to her, Catia was already crossing the street. Lila had been told never to cross the street by herself, but right now she didn't care. She just wanted her doll back, and had barely hesitated before following Catia onto the road.
"Give it back!" Lila exclaimed angrily, grabbing Catia by the shoulder and forcing her to stop.
"I didn't take anything. Let me go!" Catia cried indignantly, jerking out of Lila's grasp.
"You're lying. I saw you take it out of my cubby and put it in your backpack," Lila shot back. "Now give it back or I'm telling." She grabbed hold of Catia's backpack and gave a hard yank.
"Let go!" Catia yelled, shoving Lila.
Furious, Lila wasted no time in returning the deed with twice the force. The push knocked Catia off balance. She stumbled backwards into the middle of the road, throwing out her arms to keep from falling.
BEEEEEP!
The sound of a blaring horn cut through the air, making both girls jump. Before Lila could process what was happening, she was staring into the glaring yellow headlights of an oncoming car.
The girls screamed. Thinking fast like Auntie Nat and Daddy had taught her to do, Lila threw herself sideways and out of the way. She felt the hard impact of the pavement against her body as she hit the ground. The screech of brakes in her ears was deafening.
Lila pushed herself up and looked around, eyes wide.
Barely a foot away from her, a red car had stopped in the middle of the road. The driver hopped out, covered his mouth in horror, and dropped down to the pavement to examine the girl lying sprawled across the ground. Catia's eyes were closed. She wasn't moving.
Lila felt her insides turn to ice. She couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Couldn't believe what she was seeing.
All around, people were screaming.
"Oh my God, oh my God," the man was saying in dismay. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a phone, dialing the buttons with shaky fingers.
By then, the passerby had started crowding around. Lila was jerked back to reality when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
"Sweetheart, are you okay? Are you hurt?" asked a frantic voice.
Lila looked up to find herself staring into the very worried face of a middle-aged woman who had knelt beside her.
Lila opened her mouth to answer, saw the horrified expressions of the grown-ups standing around her, and began to cry. The woman wrapped her arms around Lila, shushing and whispering comforting words just like Mommy.
"Shhh. It's going to be alright, sweetheart. Help is coming," the woman said soothingly as Lila cried into her shoulder.
Lila knew she shouldn't trust strangers, but she just couldn't help it. She felt so scared and confused.
"Can you stand?"
Lila nodded, and the woman helped her to her feet.
"Catia…" Lila tried to look over her shoulder to see her friend, but the bystanders had blocked her from sight.
"It's alright. Don't worry. Let's just get you out of the road," the woman said, leading Lila onto the sidewalk.
Ambulances and an array of cop cars soon flooded the scene. The flashing lights and the drone of urgent voices were like something out of those scary movies that Daddy liked to watch sometimes.
Two policemen asked Lila some questions. They asked her name, who and where her parents were, and if she knew the girl who'd been hit. Lila answered them because she knew that it was safe to trust the police.
She panicked when the ambulance people told her that they were taking her to the hospital, but one of them reassured her that it was just going to be a little check-up, and that her mommy would meet her there.
The nice woman rode in the ambulance with Lila, holding her hand. It made Lila feel better.
Laura appeared at the hospital not long after the doctors had determined that Lila was uninjured, other than the minor scrapes she'd sustained in the fall.
"Mommy!" Lila cried as Laura burst through the door, her face fraught with worry.
Lila jumped off the examination bed and straight into Laura's arms.
"Are you alright? Are you alright?" Laura kept asking.
"I'm fine. What happened to Catia? Is she okay?" Lila asked, staring up at her mother with wide, worried eyes.
Lila saw her mother hesitate.
"Is she dead?" she cried hysterically.
Catia couldn't be dead. She had to be okay. She just had to be.
"No, honey," Laura said quickly. "She's just been hurt. But don't worry, the doctors are taking good care of her."
Lila relaxed. But the knowledge of what she had done gnawed at her with razor-sharp teeth.
I pushed her in front of that car. It was all my fault.
Terrified that she would get in trouble, Lila didn't dare say a word.