Part 3
Tara sat on a park bench, soaking in the warm sun. Birds were chirping and a soft breeze brushed by her intermittently, caressing her hair shyly before moving on. She took a deep breath, inhaling the mixture of flowers that lightly perfumed the air. Tara opened her eyes, and looked across to the play area. A little girl sat on a swing, staring at the ground. No other children were there. Tara wondered briefly why the little girl was there by herself.
The young woman felt drawn to the child, and without a thought, found herself walking towards the child. She sat down in one of the swings, smiling at the girl who looked up as she did so. The little girl smiled back shyly then looked back down at the ground, making a little hole in the sand with her tennis shoe.
The two sat quietly for sometime. Tara kept watching the girl; she figured she must be about six years old. "She seems so familiar." Tara thought to herself. The little girl looked up at her then, "It's better here."
"H-here?" Tara wasn't sure what the girl meant.
The little girl nodded then looked around at the park. "I like it here. It's not…like…" The child looked frightened suddenly. "What's wrong? It's ok…I wont let anything bad happen to you." Tara tried to reassure her, suddenly feeling a little terrified herself, but not wanting the mysterious child to disappear.
Little blue eyes looked back at her again, somewhat relieved. "Thank you. But they are mean. Maybe you should just run away. Its better that way. " Tara nodded. She understood that, but she knew you really couldn't just keep running away…and sometimes, 'they' found you anyway. "You can't always run. Someday you have to stop running."
"Today?" The little girl asked.
"Maybe. I….I could help you." Tara offered.
The girl looked down at her feet and sighed, giving a slight shrug. "Maybe." She looked at Tara again, "It is nice here. There are scary things here too…but it's much better than….them."
"Why aren't you at school?" Tara asked softly. The little girl pushed her feet off the ground, causing the swing to move, she lifted her feet and let her self float slowly back and forth. When the momentum ceased, she put her feet back down. "Can't go to school."
"Why not? There are other kids there..you'd have fun playing with them."
The little girl stared at her shoes, then sadly told her, "I can't go to school. I'm bad." Tara frowned. "I can't believe that…I can see you aren't a bad person. Don't you want to go to school?" The child nodded. "More than anything." Tara's mind tried to nag at her, she pushed back the thoughts and focused on the child. "Wont…your parents let you go?"
"They can't, I'm bad. It's….." the little girls' voice trembled, "It's not safe for the other kids. I cant go. He says so."
Tara's hands began trembling as she felt a great wait settle on her chest. She continued staring at the child. It wasn't possible…it just wasn't. "H-he…says…..you're…b-bad?" The little girl nodded then stood up, wiping at her eyes and walked over to the merry-go-round. Tara got up quickly and followed her. "Why? Why does he say…. Are you..? You're not bad."
She kneeled in front of the little child, and slowly reached her hand out to lay gently on the child's. The little girl looked up with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to be bad." Tara brushed a stray hair from the girl's eyes. "Oh sweetie, you're not bad. I know you're not." The little girl insisted, "I am. It's all my fault. Mommies sick cause of me. She can't…make him…."
Tara took the little girl into her arms, holding and rocking her. The little girl cried, burying her head against Tara's shoulder; Tara held her tight, her own tears cascading down her cheeks. "I don't wanna go back." The little girl sobbed. "No…never. You're safe now." Tara swore.
"Am I good now?"
"Yes, sweetie, you're good. You've always been good."
"We have friends now." The little girl whispered.
Tara sniffled, still hugging the child. "Yes. Yes, we are safe and we have friends. We have Willow."
"I'm not bad." The little girl repeated to herself, as though she were trying to understand the concept. The little girl looked into Tara's tear stained eyes and smiled. "We're good!" Tara nodded, smiling back. "And they can't hurt us now." "No, they can't."
"I love you." The little girl whispered shyly. Tara's smile broadened, and the tightness in her chest loosened. "I love you too." The girl wrapped her arms around her and Tara closed her eyes, hugging her back.
When Tara opened her eyes, she was sitting beside the merry-go-round, her arms around her drawn knees, the little girl no where in sight. She sighed deeply, then smiled as she brushed away the tears. She looked around but the few people walking down the paths paid no attention to her. Tara stood up, and dusted the sand off her slacks, then headed home.
TBC….