Brave the Storm and Embrace the Rain

When I stopped running I had no idea where I was. I continued to walk until I saw a park with a little play ground and swings. I smiled to myself and wandered over there, in no hurry at all. I dragged my feet to the top of the barren play set and I stood there, staring out over the lake that was to the south of the place I had come from. My eyes started to close and I lifted my hands into the air, feeling the wind blow through my fingertips.

I slid down to sit crossed legged at the top of the slid, leaning against the bars. After a few moments I slid down the slid and decided to take a walk around the bike path. When I began walking I could see a woman walking alongside a child on a big wheel bike, coming towards me. I kept my eyes focused on them as they grew closer and closer. I gasped when I realized that it was Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn?" I called out in a surprised voice.

She looked up from the little child next to her and to me. She put a grin on her face when she realized who I was. "Indiana!" She greeted as she hurried forward to hug me.

I wrapped my arms around her awkwardly but I kept my eyes on the brown haired little boy with the baby face. "Hey. Uh, who's he?"

Brooklyn glanced behind her, even though she already knew who I was referring to. "Oh, Indy, this is Lachlan," She said and then added in a quieter voice, "He's my friend Callie's son."

I smiled at her and then looked back to the little boy who was walking over to us now. His little blue shoes smacking down on the ground as if he was intentionally stomping around. I couldn't help but chuckle as he roughly pushed his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes.

"Brook?" he called when he stood next to her, "Can we go home now? Daddy said he'd play with me today." His voice was soft and his words were slightly scrambled, just because he's a child.

"Yeah Lachlan, in a minute. I want to introduce you to my friend first."

"Why?"

She rolled his eyes. "Just because." She grinned as he wandered over to her. She picked him up and he wrapped his little arms around her neck, holding on tight. "Lach, this is Indy. She's a friend of mine."

The boy, Lachlan, looked to me with a slightly bored complexion and waved in the same way, his fingers curling and uncurling.

I chuckled at the boy's attitude, knowing that I used to be the same way when I was real young. He wriggled out of Brooklyn's arms and stood in front on me, looking back at Brooklyn.

"Can we go now?" he persisted, his little voice coming out strong.

Brook glared at him, softly, kind of like a warning not to act rude. She ignored his questioned and motioned for him to get on his trike. He grinned and raced over to it. He sat on the red seat and but his feet on the pedals of the three wheeler. He pushed his feet so that it would go and within a minute he was right next to Brooklyn.

"Indiana, do you want to come hang out with us?" Brooklyn questioned as she began to walk along side of me with little Lachlan riding by her.

I shook my head. "Nahh," I murmured, ready to defend my reasoning but Brooklyn cut me off.

"Oh come on, Indy! I met you almost two weeks ago and you've not once hung out with me! I won't take 'no' for an answer. All you have to do is come back to my house and chill out with us!" She said in an outrage, motioning towards the general area of her house.

I laughed at her enthusiasm but shook my head once more. "I don't think Lachlan's mom would be too happy about you letting a strange person around her son."

"Oh," Brooklyn murmured, her voice drastically quieter and the tone darker as she spoke. "Lach's Mom actually passed away three years ago. I babysit for his Dad after school and on days were he's busy. Like now."

I didn't reply right away, letting the news sink in and make me feel like crap. "I'm sorry, Brooklyn."

She shook her head quickly and put a smile on her face, "Oh no, thanks but don't worry about it, I've learned to cope. Plus, we got that beautiful little boy out of it." She pointed to where Lachlan was riding his bike down the side walk, back into the neighborhood that I came from.

"He is gorgeous." I agreed, staring at the little boy in front of us. His hair was dark brown with a red tint to it. His bangs stopped right after his eyebrows and accented his green eyes. He had a little button nose and big cheeks. He was wearing a greenish brown shirt with some little cartoon character on it, in yellow. His little shorts were a khaki color and his little blue shoes were velcro. He was deep in focus as he tried to stay in a straight line on the side walk, staying off of the grass.

"Yeah," she said breathlessly.

We walked for a few minutes, until Little Lachlan turned into a paved driveway, in front of a pretty large house. He ditched his trike and hurried up the stairs that were built into the grass. They led up to the front door and outside porch area. The little boy was jumping around at the top of the stairs, yelling for Brooklyn to hurry up.

Lachlan, Brooklyn, and I played for awhile after I was told that her parents were both at work. At about 2 PM Brooklyn started packing up Lachlan's things in a backpack and telling him that it was time to go home. Lachlan grinned and ran over and pulled his shoes on.

"Is Daddy home?" he questioned as Brooklyn took his hand and pulled him up.

She nodded, "I just got a text from him asking if he needed to come get you."

Lachlan grinned up at Brooklyn and reached his arms into the air. Brook took it as a signal for her to pick him up so she did. She motioned for me to come over to her and she smiled when I did.

"Do you want to ride into Newark with us? I hate driving back by myself." She put a pout on her face and I groaned and looked away quickly, letting my hair fly out around me.

After a moment I gave in and nodded, not wanting to go home just yet. Brooklyn squealed and became the bouncy girl I remembered from the train station. I rolled my eyes but followed her out of the house anyways. We got into a little green car that was equipped with a car seat and various little boy toys. I got into the passenger's seat and buckled up as Brook did the same for Lachlan.

Once Brooklyn was strapped in we got on the road. Brooklyn played music loudly. But not too loud that it would hurt Lachlan's ears. The two of sang along as Lach giggled loudly from the backseat, throwing his head back against the padding of his car seat.

The ride seemed to go by quickly seeing as I was laughing and having a lot of fun. Brooklyn pulled up in front of an unfamiliar condominium.

"Do you want to come with?" Brooklyn questioned as she unbuckled and Lachlan screeched happily, pointing to the house and shouting for his Daddy.

"No thanks," I replied, "I can wait here."

Brooklyn nodded and got Lachlan out of the car.

"I'll miss you, Indy!" he screamed and he raced up towards the front door of his house. I smiled and yelled out the window.

"I'll miss you to, kiddo!"

Brooklyn was in the house for about 20 minutes and when she came back she looked frazzled. She huffed as she turned the car on and hurried out of the driveway.

"What bit you?" I joked as I turned the radio down.

She just huffed and shook her head. Then she seemed to change her mind and spoke. "It's Lachlan's father. He's such a jerk sometimes. He's never with his kid, ever. Ever since Callie died he's been acting different. In the last month he's changed a little bit though. I thought he was getting better, less sad, but somedays he's just the same..." She trailed off.

I didn't know how to reply so I just stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue her rant like I knew she needed to.

"It's not healthy for Lachlan. Kids need their fathers."

I shrugged, "Parent's aren't as necessary as some people think."

Brooklyn sent me a confused look and then she seemed to remember that when I first came here my dad picked me up, meaning that he hadn't been with me before. "I thought you and your Dad were okay now?"

I shrugged again. "He's a jackass sometimes."

Brooklyn laughed and nodded, understanding how parents could get that way.

"Well," I grinned, "Lets rock." I reached out and turned up the volume on the radio as Brooklyn drove me back to my Dad's place so I wouldn't have to walk.