Aplomb

She watched as children ran around. She heard them yelling in excitement and felt them when they would run into her. She watched as they pushed each other, screamed in each other’s faces, and continues playing their games. She reminisced about the times when she was one of them and she had a genuine smile on her face all the time. She remembered the days of her innocence. She must have been six when her life shattered before her. Fifteen years later, the pieces weren’t back together and instead there were more cracks now.

Her baby blue eyes scanned the area the represented her innocence. There was nothing like the park here. She used to come here all the time with Kate, Tim, and Pat. Eventually, it was just her and Pat because Tim and Kate were too mature for it. Still, this was where her best summers would happen. This place held everything Delilah had before her mother became addicted to alcohol, before her sister got into drugs, before she had to face the fact that her mother will always choose her sister over her, before she felt like everyone else would too. This was where her life was left untainted.

Her feet brought her to the swings. She sat down and pushed herself of the ground. Soon, the park was slipping away and the sky was merely inches away. Bad thoughts slipped away too and were replaced with the simple feeling of flying. She was going higher and higher. She couldn’t control the happiness that was so foreign to her. A huge smile graced her features and soon she was giggling. It was uncontrollable. She eventually had to stop swinging in order to regain her breath.

She got off the swings as she saw that a line had formed while she was swinging. She made her way to a nearby bench and sat down. She watched as the kids attacked the swing and began fighting over it. She watched as a memory flashed before her eyes of days when she and Pat would do exactly what the kids are doing now. Her smile faded as she remembered the reason why she was here but then ignored the pain because nothing could touch her in the park.

“Tim!” Mrs. Kirch yelled from the kitchen.

“Yes, Mom?” Tim replied, pulling away his eyes from the movie they began watching ever since the pizza arrived.

“Can you please hand Delilah the phone? Her father is on the line.” Mrs. Kirch said.

“Where is she ma?” Tim replied as his eyes scanned the room for the blond hair girl.

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Kirch asked, appearing through the doorway after telling her brother-in-law that she’ll call him back.

“She’s not in the room with us.” Tim told her.

“Then where is she?” Mrs. Kirch asked her son. “I told her to hang out with you guys.”

“She never came out here.” Tim replied and realized that the movie was already done.

“Then where is she? I was in the kitchen the whole time and I would have noticed if she went upstairs.” Mrs. Kirch asked, worry starting to set in.

“I don’t know.” Tim said. “When did you tell her to come here?”

“Right after I told her to ask if you guys wanted to eat.” Mrs. Kirch said.

The boys looked at each other as they realized what the topic of their conversation had been.

“What did you boys do?” Mrs. Kirch asked, a hint of anger present in her tone.

“They didn’t do anything, Aunt Isabelle.” Delilah cut in.

Everyone’s attention turned to the blond who had dirt smeared on her face and a few holes in her sweats. Her hair was fixed in a sloppy bun and her breathing was irregular, however, a bright smile was on her face.

“What happened to you, Delilah?” Mrs. Kirch asked.

“Oh, I was just in the park.” Delilah replied.

“Okay, then.” Mrs. Kirch said, not bothering to ask more questions. “Your dad called.”

“Oh, thanks, Aunt Isabelle.” Delilah replied, her smile fading. “I’ll call him back.”

“Okay,” Mrs. Kirch replied before walking out of the room.

“Delilah,” Tim said, knowing that she must have heard what they said. “About what we said earlier,”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Delilah said, cutting him off. “It’s nothing I am not used to.”

“What?” Pat asked, completely confused.

“Nothing,” Delilah said, her voice soft after realizing what she just said. Everybody around in the room looked at her, causing her to fidget under the attention. “Um, a-a-anyway, I should ca-all my dad back.”

After, she rushed out of the room, leaving behind confused faces.