That moment was a simple one.
"Would you like mummy to do your hair this time, Rosie?"
"Daddy could-"
"No." The little girl giggled as her mother cut her father off with a sharp glance at his hand reaching for the spary bottle and hair brush brought out for the toodler's hair.
"Please, mummy. Buns, please" The s was drawled out with enthusiam only found in small children.
A small laughed escaped her mother before she sat the little girl before her and began to do just that.
Her mother had been brushing her hair and had tugged a little too harshly, making the small girl yelp and then suddenly-
A yelp peirced the air as the blowdryer got too close to her scalp. "MA!" A sheepish laugh filled the air before a mumbled apology was covered by the loud blowing of the dryer filled the air.
Her sister's hands were always warm and she liked to settle them on her back when they hugged. Heads resting against each other forlong moments.
"I love you, Tea. Have a safe drive! Call me when you get here!"
Her mother's brown skin gleaming, white teeth shining in her wide open mouth. Laughter in the air as she spoon the two girls around the kitchen. "Are y'all too old to dance with your momma?"
Her parents hadn't been together for as long as she could remember, but what she would always remember is the laugh of her dad. It always started out loud and cracking, whipping through the air like someone was forcing it out of him. Everyone always said she inherited it from him.
She remebered laughing at her sister's worried tone on the phone, not maliciously...but maybe carelessly.
"I will, Ra! Yeah, yeah. I'll be there before you know it."
She came back to herself to the sound of wailing and darkness. A black world surrounded her as the peircing sound made her ears ring with pain that seemed to raidate throughout her entire body. She felt hands tugging her hands away from her hair? When had they got there?
Panicked voices surrouded her and she just wanted her mom. Her dad. But most of all she wanted her sister, Hera, who meant the world to her.
Her eyes were closed. She opened them and that made her realize that it was her. She was the one screaming.
There was woman was in front of her, holding her fighting hands. She was beautiful with a small but wide nose. Doe dark brown eyes, similar to her mother, and dreads that seem to dance around her shoulders. A man was standing behind her, his eyes wide, his form rigid. He was tall, much taller than her – when did she get so small?- with dark brown skin, contrasting the lighter shade of brown skin the woman had. He was bald, but his eyes were a green-gray that reminded her of the dirty lake near her father's house.
"Ash, what's wrong? Mummy is so so sorry. She didn't mean to tug your hair so hard. Shhh shhh" The woman (her mother?) held her close to her chest, a hand – the wrong hand- running over her back . She was being rocked back and forth and, for some reason, that made her cry harder.
"I'm lost….I'm lost. I'm lost." She garbled out between sobs, making the woman and the man hovering over them freeze.
"Why am I here?"
She remembered thinking that the rain had come out of nowhere, unable to see twenty feet in front of her car. She thought about pulling over and waiting it out but never got the chance.