Glades and Playgrounds

That playground soon became my very own place. No one seemed to visit it, so I always got to be alone, which had it's pro's and con's. I had a lot to think about, and I missed my old friends so much. Our telephone didn’t work just yet, but I couldn’t call them even if the phone would’ve worked, they were all on their stupid vacations with their families. I felt more and more isolated, the only one I talked to was my mom, but she was really busy all the time with trying to find a job, so the moments I spent with her became rarer for every day.

As I returned to the playground a week later, for the first time, I saw that someone already was there. I don’t know if it was a girl or a boy, because the person was sitting bent down, looking on something on its knees as it swung slowly back and forth on the swing. The person had something on its lap, but I couldn’t see what. Suddenly, as if it had sensed my presence, it's head snapped up, staring at me for two seconds, and then disappeared into the shadows of the bushes behind the playground. It had been a girl; I was almost sure about that, mostly because of the length of her hair and the skinny legs.

The leaves of the bushes stopped rustling and I allowed myself to go up and sit down on the swing. It was still warm and it felt good, like I for once wasn’t completely alone even if nobody was here.

I looked down in the sand, noticing some letters in it, but the girl, who probably was the one who wrote the letters in the first place, had stepped on them as she ran away, making them unreadable.

“Frankie honey?” mom asked as soon as I stepped inside as I got back home.

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna go and meet our neighbors tonight? A woman asked us over.”

“No thanks,” I said, pulling off my black hoodie and threw it on the floor, seeing as we didn’t have anything to hang it on.

“Come on, it’ll be fun!” she prompted, “What are you gonna do here all night anyway?”

“I’m gonna sit on the couch and not do anything at all.”

“Aw, please honey, I don’t wanna be all alone with all the weird strangers,” she pleaded. “Just come over and say hello, then you can do whatever you want.”

“Do they have any kids?”

“Two boys”

“I’m not coming.”

“Fine. Lock the door after me,” she said, mocking a deeply hurt tone as she walked up to me in the hall, slipping on her flip-flops. “Oh, and by the way; Sasha called my cell phone before.”

“She did?!” I exclaimed, “Where’s your phone?!”

“Who said you’re allowed to borrow it?” she asked, raising her perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Please Linda; I haven’t talked to any of my friends for two weeks now!”

“You can call her…” she said and I jumped up, clapping my hands, “If you come with me and meet our neighbors.”

I stopped jumping and glared at her, “But I don’t want to!”

She stuck out her bottom lip, cocking her head to the side and looked at me with innocent eyes.

“Alright then, I’ll see you later. Enjoy the couch.”

“But mom…” I whined and she turned around immediately. I never called her mom.

“Arh… Take the god damn phone then!” she said, hauling up her cellphone from her pocket and thrust it into my hand. “But you’re paying for the phone call.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, giving her a one-armed hug before she walked out. I dialed Sasha's number on the phone as fast as possible.

“Hello?” a familiar voice said and my lips unconsciously curled up into a smile.

“Sasha!” I almost yelled as I jumped into the living room, flopping down on the white leather couch.

“Frankie!” she yelled just as loud. Sasha and I had been friends since we first met each other when I came to Belleville. She was by far my best friend and it was her I missed the most. Our parents always predicted that since we were a boy and girl, we’d either start dating as we hit our teen years or we’d just simply slip away from each other, but they were wrong. We were best friends, no more or less.

“How’re ya?”

“I’m fine, but I miss you so much! Have you met any new friends?”

“No. Here are only junkies and hobos.”

“But you’ve been there for two weeks now, haven’t you met anyone that seems alright?”

“Nope. I saw this girl once at a playground once but she ran away when she saw me.”

“Aw, are you that hideous?”

“Shut up” I laughed. “How are the guys?”

“Have no idea. I’m the only one home, they’re all on vacation. Linda’s taking everything pretty well, huh? I talked to her for a few minutes when you were out and she sounded really happy.”

“I guess, or she’s just hiding her feelings from me. She’s across the street right now to meet the neighbors or something and she wanted me to come… I mean, come on, since when did I socialize with suburban kids?”

“God, you haven’t changed at all.”

“Of course not. It takes a lot more than a few murderers outside my bedroom window to change me.”

“Damn, I have to go. Mom’s wild again. See you, Frankie!”

“Bye” I said and we hung up. ‘Mom’s wild again’. That was our code, which meant that her mom was about to start fighting with her dad about some shitty thing that’d turn out to something huge. I’m surprised her parents haven’t gotten a divorce, they fight all the time.

*

I spent the rest of the night sitting in the couch and watching some shit on tv. Mom came home around 11, smiling and she sat down next to me.

“What did Sasha say?” she asked, playing with a lock of her long, curly, brown hair.

“The usual” I said, not tearing my eyes of the tv. “How are the neighbors?”

“They’re so cool! I haven’t laughed that much since Stephen-“ she laughed, but stopped immediately as she mentioned his name. “Since he… since he died.”

“Good,” I said. The only thing I just couldn’t talk to my mother about was Stephen. I could even talk sex with her, but I just couldn’t say his name in front of her. My real father and mom got a divorce when I was four and I haven’t really seen him since, and then she met Stephen who was the perfect dad for me. He loved us so much and he treated mom like a princess. I guess I just missed him so much… It hurt to even think about him.

“Too bad you’re not a girl,” mom piped up after we’d been sitting in silence, just watching the flickering tv screen.

“Uhm…”

“Yeah, I mean, you should’ve seen Donna’s son. He was so cute”

“Who’s Donna?”

“Oh, she’s the woman that invited us over. She and her husband are like… the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

“Whatever… I’m going to bed.”

“Good night, honey,” she said, pulling me into a hug.

“Good night. Love you.”

“Love you too. I won’t be home when you wake up tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” she said slowly, “I have to go to work!” she shrieked.

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“Wow! Congratulations!” I beamed, giving her one more hug. “What is it this time?”

“It’s the perfect job for me, it’s at a beauty saloon, you know ‘Fucking Fabulous’ or whatever the name is!”

“It’s ‘Free and Fabulous’. You’re gonna blow their minds, especially since you can’t even remember the name of the place” I laughed, and got a pillow in my face. “That’s child abuse!”

“Shut up and go to bed, or else it will be murder.”

“I’m going, I’m going… Good night.”