I actually wasn't planning on putting this drabble up tonight. But seeing as last chapter was very short, and I had this completed ahead of time, I figured why not. Thanks goes to Iwait4theRain; I hope the universe is kind to you.

We'll have a bit of fun, watching everyone pass us by

You'll ask your reason why what once was yours is mine, my baby's gone

~"Hideaway" by Karen O

~.~

Maria drags her foot across the pavement and squeezes her hands around the rusty chains of the swing. She doesn't have the same fluid movements that the children on the swings around her do. She is pushed by the breeze, which makes her resemble a corpse left hanging on the gallows. Maria can feel the chain cutting into her still-raw wounds from her previous visits. She scans the playground, looks through the hoards of children playing make believe, and finds what she's been waiting for.

He smiles at her as he pushes his way through the crowds who take no notice of his presence.

"Hey," he says while he takes a seat on the swing next to Maria. "I missed you."

"Me too. Why did you not come yesterday?"

He sort of laughs. "It was raining yesterday; we wouldn't of been able to do anything."

"Oh," Maria says. It is still hard for her to remember all the restrictions that are between the two of them. He sees the hurt in her eyes and brings a hand to her cheek; his touch is like a lofty summer breeze.

"We'll just make the most of today, yeah?"

"Yes. We will."

So he takes her hand, and they swing in sync like nothing is wrong. As he holds her hand in his, he is reminded of the warmth he once knew.

"I wish I knew why this happened," he says. "It all happened so fast, I didn't even have time to think about how I ended up like this."

"It will happen to me too someday. Someday I will be just like you; everyone will." Maria doesn't look at him as she speaks; it would be too painful to do so.

"Yeah; but when it does happen to you, there will be a reason for it."

Maria looks ahead, knowing he is right. As she swings back and forth, her hand intertwined with his as he swings in the opposite direction, Maria takes no notice of the confused parents around the perimeter. The girl on the swing is too old for imaginary friends, so she must be crazy, they think. The parents begin to pluck their children from the playground; the children see nothing wrong—they think the lonely girl on the swing is playing pretend and creating her own friends because the other kids won't play with her; that's what usually happens on the playground when you can't make real friends. So the children don't point and whisper at the girl talking to herself and holding hands with no one; the children know what it's like to be forced to play alone.

When she can finally look at him again, Maria says, "I wish things were not this way; I hate not being able to touch you. Or kiss you," she adds almost as an afterthought. He cracks a smile at her; he misses those things too and wishes that things could have been different. But they are not, and for now, all he can be to Maria is an imaginary friend.