Chapter 3: Secrets and Monkey Bars
Erika Nigma held onto her father's hand as she walked beside him. Today, they were going to the park down the street from her house. At first, she'd tried to sneak out by herself when she thought that he was laying down for a nap. Unfortunately for her six year old self, he hadn't been able to fall asleep so he came back out to get a book to read. Edward caught her just as she was heading out the door and demanded to know what she was doing. She told the truth, but that didn't stop her from using her little kid charm.
She batted her eyelashes, looked up at him with big eyes, and told him how she only wanted to go play at the park because she was bored. He tried to resist at first, but as soon as she started pouting and hugged his leg, he instantly caved and now they were on their way just like she wanted.
As they neared, she could see that there were a few others there already, but she didn't know any of them. Some of the kids in the neighborhood she would see, but she didn't really know their names or talk to them. Her dad was a bit weird whenever she asked to go and play with the other kids. Sometimes he would say yes, but usually the play sessions were short-lived. There were a few times that they'd come across Matt and his dad in the neighborhood and she always begged her dad to play with him, which he eventually allowed, but he still seemed weird about it. Her dad was just weird.
"You go ahead and play. I'm going to sit down and read for a bit," Edward said, letting go of her hand and moving to the bench a few feet away.
"Okay daddy!" she exclaimed, heading right for the huge metal play structure.
The whole thing was a rainbow of colors that had worn over time. They were in one of the nicer parts of Gotham so there wasn't much graffiti and it was a pretty nice park overall. There were two slides; one was a large green spiral slide and the other was a small red slide. A large set of monkey bars jutted out from the main structure and there were all sorts of nooks and crannies and hiding places throughout. Her favorite place was a hidden little tunnel underneath the small red slide that not many people knew about. It had a little chalkboard and there was always a piece of chalk or two that she could write with.
So she made a beeline for it, looking left and right to make sure that no one was watching her before tucking underneath the slide and slipping into the little tunnel. Her sneaker tapped against a piece of chalk on the floor and she picked it up before sitting. The chalkboard had a few scribbles on it, but she easily wiped it away with the palm of her hand and bit her tongue as she tried to think of something to write. Her dad had been teaching her riddles and she wanted to leave one for someone else to figure out if they could even find the place.
Her little brain worked hard to come up with something and finally she thought up a riddle and began to scribble it down on the chalkboard.
What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
The answer was obviously lunch and dinner! But she didn't write the answer down, just the question, which she decided to surround with question marks of all different sizes. Once she was satisfied with her work, she put the chalk on the ground next to her and leaned back against the plastic wall of the tunnel. A noise caught her attention and she glanced back the way she came, listening carefully as she heard the loud laughter of some other kids.
"Hurry up, Matty! You're too slow!"
"You can go... I don't really want to go on the monkey bars, Jack..."
Erika sat up a bit straighter as she recognized who they were. Jack Quinzel and Matthew Crane. Jack was a bit too loud and obnoxious for her, but Matt she would call a friend. Sometimes they played together when her dad allowed it after she pleaded and pleaded.
She shifted slightly to get a better view and she noted that both of their backs were turned and Matt was at the swingset. Quickly, she slipped out while making sure no one noticed her and started to make her way over. She noticed her dad was sitting and chatting with Matt's dad on the bench across from the swingset and a little Hayley was running across the park to play with some of the other kids chasing each other through the obstacle course.
As she approached the two boys by the swings, she noticed something different about Matt's face, but she couldn't tell because he ducked his head away and turned his back to Jack as he sat down on the swing.
"You're no fun!" Jack said with a pout, turning and noticing her there. As soon as he did, he started speaking a mile a minute. "Hi! Wanna see how good I am at climbing on the monkey bars? I bet I could climb across faster than you! Matt's too scared he's gonna lose!"
Erika leaned against the metal pole helping support the swings and shook her head. "No. You go."
He looked disappointed, but as soon as he saw another kid leaping to the bars, his demeanor did a one-eighty and he was scrambling over. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Matt, whose back was still to her.
"Hi Matt," she greeted, tilting her head to the side as he seemed to duck away from her.
"Hey," he mumbled, shifting his body away again when she tried to come around to his front.
"What's wrong...?"
"Nothin'..."
"You keep hiding," she pointed out, settling down on the swing next to him.
Slowly, he peeked out from under his arm and she saw the glint of glass encased in black rims. He had glasses now?
"You're wearing glasses!" she exclaimed, which only caused him to hide his face further.
She pursed her lips and started to swing lightly, every so often glancing over at him as he looked down at the ground, cheeks flaming red. Maybe she said something wrong?
"My daddy wears glasses too. I think they make people look smarter. Sometimes I wear his glasses for fun," she said, pushing herself forward a bit.
At this, he poked his head out from its hiding spot and looked at her with big blue eyes. "I don't like them..."
"Well you should. They're cool." She gave him a lopsided smile, which caused him to blush, but she swore she saw a smile.
Feeling a bit satisfied, she started to swing a little higher. She noticed a few minutes later that Matt had also started to swing higher and he was trying to match her pace. With a grin, she continued to push herself higher and higher until the chain began to buckle every time she swished back down. She looked over at him and let out a laugh, putting her feet down to slow herself and causing dust and wood chips to go flying everywhere.
Hastily, she got off the swing and moved in front of him. "Come on, let's go to the monkey bars and show Jack that we're just as good as he is."
The young boy seemed to hesitate, so she insisted that he come along and tried to convince him it would be fun. After a moment, he slid off the swing and agreed to follow her. The two of them headed over to the monkey bars, where Jack was showing off by walking on top of the whole set. She rolled her eyes at the sight and leaped up to the first bar, twisting herself so that she had curled her legs underneath her and through her arms, doing a little mini flip and landing back down on her feet.
When she landed, she noticed that Matt had already climbed up to the other side and was hanging upside down. She grinned a little and so did he, but the movement in his face caused his glasses to go sliding off his face and onto the ground.
"Uh oh...," he mumbled, face flushing. "Can you get them for me please?"
Erika ducked down and scooped the glasses up. She pursed her lips and looked over them before slipping them onto her face. The whole world turned completely blurry and she let out a noise of displeasure.
"Everything's so blurry! Do I look smart?" She looked up at him.
"Give them baaaackkk...," he drawled with a small laugh.
"Fineeee."
Slipping them off her face, she held them up to Matt's outstretched hand and he put them back on his face before climbing off the monkey bars. As he did so, he bumped into Jack, who'd just leaped off the top of the bars.
"Tag, you're 'it', Matt!" he exclaimed before racing off.
"Who said we were playing tag?" Matt called after the blond, but it was no use because the game had already started.
Erika quickly jumped onto the bottom of the slide and began to climb up it before Matt could even think of getting her. By the time she looked back, he was already gone. Squealing caught her attention and she peeked out from behind one of the posts to see Matt chasing after Hayley. The little girl was much too slow and she ended up getting tagged. She immediately went for one of the other kids and it became a vicious cycle. A few times, Erika got tagged, but she always passed it on quickly to some of the younger and slower kids.
After about ten minutes, Jack was back to being 'it' and most of them were now hiding from him as much as possible. She got an idea while he was distracted chasing after one of the others and she reached out to take Matt's hand since he was currently crouching behind the slide a few feet away from her.
"Wha...what are you doing?" he questioned, digging his heels into the ground.
"Just come on! Before Jack sees!"
She didn't give him another chance to speak before she was dragging him toward her secret hiding place. When they got to the entrance, she let go of his hand and clambered inside. It was a bit tight for the both of them, but here she was sure that Jack wouldn't find them.
"What is this?" he asked quietly, looking around.
"My secret hiding place. You can't tell anyone. Not even Jack. Only you and me know it's here," she explained, watching him pick up a piece of chalk and sketching lightly on the chalkboard.
"It's so cool."
"I know!"
Her eyes widened when she saw a flash of color come from the entrance and she looked over to see Jack running by, but he didn't seem to notice them. She put her fingers to her lips to indicate for Matt to be quiet and he obliged, putting the chalk down and watching as Jack's legs walked back and forth. He was calling out for them, trying to figure out where they were, but he was never going to find them. She and Matt exchanged glances and fought back laughter at Jack's cluelessness. It was kind of nice having a friend like Matt...a friend she could tell her secrets to...
