I woke up, everything a bright white.
Am I dead?
I blinked a little, my vision clearing up. I was at the park.
All the events of last night came rushing to me when I looked down to see the newspaper with dried blood next to it.
"C'mon. C'mon." I tried to get out of the cuffs, to no avail. "S***! D***it!"
"Jackson?"
I looked behind me to see Nathan. "Man, am I glad to see you."
He walked in front of me, squatting down. Unexpectedly, Nathan slapped my face hard.
"What the h*** was that for?!" "Melissa told me what you did. I can't believe you."
"Nathan, I can explain."
"Save it, Jackson. I can't believe you lied to me." With that, he got up and walked away.
"Nathan, wait!"
But he was already gone.
"D***it!" I rested my head on the pole, my eyes closed.
All of a sudden, there was a rustle in the bushes.
"Nathan?"
The bushes stopped moving.
I tensed
A girl of six years stepped out, hair pinned on the top of her head.
I relaxed. "Hey?"
She looked up, surprised, then turned to run.
"Wait! Wait! Don't run."
She looked back at me, her eyes wet, a tear dropping to her pink pirate shirt.
So she likes pirates. Hmm...
"What's wrong?" I said.
"I can't find my dad."
"I wish I could help, but I'm kind of stuck." I showed her the cuffs behind my back, shaking them.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing." I said, "I was walking alone last night and...these pirates came out of no where. They took my money and cuffed me to this pole."
She gasped. "You were out here all night?!"
"Yeah. Um, listen. Can you help me out, here?"
"What do you need?"
I looked around, then at her, searching for something that could get me out of here. "Your hair pin."
She took it out of her hair, walking toward me.
"Okay, I need you to unlock the cuffs. Can you do that?"
"I'll try." She stepped on the newspaper article. "What's that?"
"Uh, nothing" I hoped she didn't know how to read.
She just shrugged. "Okay, so, what do I do?" She was on her knees behind me.
"Just stick the pin in the keyhole and turn it."
She did. "Got it." She dropped the pin to the ground.
I sighed, relieved, slipping my hands out of the cuffs. "Thanks." I rubbed my wrists. They were red.
"So can we go find my dad now."
"Uh, well actually…"
Another tear dripped down her face.
I sighed. "...Yeah. Sure." I looked down as she grabbed my hand, smiling up at me.
I smiled back. I didn't pull away because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
We were about to start walking when we heard a voice.
"Samantha! I've been looking all over for you!" It was her father.
The girl ran to him.
He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. He looked at me, then at the ground, around my feet.
I looked down toward where he was looking.
S***!
He saw the newspaper article and the handcuffs. He then set his daughter down slowly, walking toward me.
Realizing what he thought, I spoke up. "It's not what it looks like."
Ignoring me, he punched me in the face.
I woke up, still sitting in the park.
I tried to stand up, but the cuffs pulled me back down. "S***!"
One cuff was on my wrist, almost as tight as before. The other end was connected to the pole.
I tried to shake free, but couldn't. "D***it!" I leaned my head against the pole, giving up, then hammered the ground with my fist.
My knuckles began to bleed. I turned a bit, repositioning myself, putting my back against the pole, my head still leaning against it. My left hand was behind my back, cuffed to the pole. My other hand lay on top of my bent knees, knuckles still bleeding.
I sighed, then remembered something. "The pin. Where's the pin?" I looked around, finding it behind me. I couldn't reach it from my position, so I moved to it, picking it up. I stuck it into the lock and twisted.
"Yes! S***!" I removed the cuffs and stood, relieved.
I stared at the newspaper, then picked it up, crumbling it. I walked out of the park, throwing the paper in the first garbage can I could find.
No matter where I went, I couldn't seem to run from my past.