A fractured fairytale

24

"This isn't exactly what I was expecting our date to be," Rose yelled from the passenger seat of my car. I'd turned the radio on but there was no point as every sound was drowned out by the screams of the tiny baby waving her fists around in her car seat behind me.

I winced at the horrendous sound. Despite being warned, I wasn't prepared for the sheer volume of her screeches. The girl has some seriously strong lungs. She'd been going for over an hour at the house and we eventually decided to take her to the park so she could get some fresh air and maybe fall asleep in her stroller while we walk.

"Me neither!" I called back, hoping she could hear me, although I wasn't really sure. We didn't bother to say anything else since it would only give us sore throats so we remained quiet until I pulled into the car park.

"This place looks so nice," Rose commented, her eyes surveying the area. There was a cluster of picnic benches to our left, surrounding a small hut selling hot drinks in the winter and ice creams in the summer. Beyond that was a large lake and, even further back was a forest whilst to our right was a huge play area.

"This is where we used to come when we were kids. I started playing football with my dad over there," I gestured towards the goal posts in the distance and smiled at the memories. I still remembered the first time I played football with Alex and my dad and I fell face first into the mud when I tried to kick the ball. My dad got into trouble with my mum and she claimed then and there that sports weren't for me. I'm glad my dad didn't listen.

I glanced towards Rose, who stared in the direction of the goal posts and smiled. "Come on, hopefully a walk will rock her to sleep in her stroller and then we can actually have a conversation." I heard a slight wisp of her answering laugh through the noise as I turned to open the car door. When I slammed it closed behind me, I took a second to bask in the quiet. It was still loud outside, with car engines, squealing kids and barking dogs, but it was nothing compared to that little girl's screams.

With a deep breath in preparation, I opened the back door. The sound hit my ears like a physical blow and I had to fight not to stumble backwards. "Shhh," I attempted for the millionth time this morning. A part of me was regretting opening my mouth back in the hallway. I could be stopping off for breakfast right now on the way to the coast with Rose. That had been my original plan, to take her to see the ocean.

But as soon as I saw the desperate look in her neighbours' eyes, I couldn't not offer to help. Rose had looked so caught in the crossroads and I didn't want her to spend our day together feeling guilty when her friend needed her help. And then as soon as we stepped into the apartment and I saw how this girl was living, I knew I'd made the right decision.

The only response I got from Kelsey was her screaming even louder. Around us, people turned to stare as I unclipped her seatbelt and lifted her from the seat while Rose dragged her stroller out of the back of the car. I turned to her as she unfolded it and then placed Kelsey in the seat. "Come on Kels," Rose whined as she started down the path. I locked the car and followed behind her. "Just stop crying for a minute, please."

"Is it because she wants her mom?"

She shook her head. "She's always like it, even when she's at home with Sierra. Si thinks it might be because she misses her dad," she said with a shrug.

"And where is he?"

"He was a military man. He was sent overseas about a month before Sierra realised that she was pregnant. He never came back."

Her words hit me like a punch to the stomach. I didn't know these people in the slightest but my heart immediately broke for Sierra. I couldn't imagine losing someone I cared about like that and being left alone to raise a child.

"So, he never got to meet his daughter?"

She shook her head. "He didn't even know he had a daughter." I suddenly didn't blame the girl for her screaming. She'd been through enough already at her incredibly young age. She deserved to scream to her hearts content. "I think it's still possible to miss something though, even if you've never known any different."

I nodded in agreement but kept quiet as we walked. Kelsey's screaming didn't die down as we did a couple of laps of the lake, not even when Rose took her out of her stroller and carried her to the water's edge to look at the ducks. Instead, she just scared them all away with the noise. "Why don't we try the play area?" I suggested.

Rose shrugged and followed me over. "Does she like the swings?" I asked.

"I doubt she's ever been on them."

"What?" I twisted to face her; brows raised.

She only shrugged. "The park near us isn't the nicest place to take kids. It's basically a drug den."

I frowned at that, immediately wondering if Rose had ever played in parks when she was younger or had it always been like that in her neighbourhood. "Well let's find out if she likes them," I said with a grin, reaching down to take her from her stroller. She threw her little fists around in a tantrum as I lifted her into my arms but I persisted, taking a seat on one of the swings and folding her tightly in my arms so she was secure on my lap.

Ever so gently, I pushed my feet off the ground, causing the seat to lurch forward and then swing backwards. "Does she look like she's enjoying it?" I asked Rose over the screaming. She didn't answer and I glanced up to see her smiling at me, a look in her eyes I didn't recognise. "What?"

Her smile widened. "You're just... really cute," she muttered.

I scrunched my face up, making her laugh. "Cute?"

She laughed again. "Yeah. There's just something about you sat there, wedged in a kids swing, with a tiny little baby in your arms that's just... cute." She shrugged a shoulder and leant back against the fence behind her with a giddy kind of smile on her face.

I gasped, eyes wide and jaw slacked. "Wedged?" I questioned with a scoff. "What are you trying to say about me?"

She giggled and rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said with a grin before straightening. "I don't think she likes the swings."

Begrudgingly, I nodded. "Fine," I said with a groan, rising to my feet. I hated to accept defeat but all she'd done was kick her tiny legs at me in protest so I was willing to admit that she didn't seem too enamoured with the swings. "Let's try the slide instead."

Rose rolled her eyes as I crossed the park to a short slide on the opposite side. "Is this for you or her?" she teased, pushing the stroller after us. I ignored her and stepped up onto the climbing frame, still holding onto Kelsey as tightly as possible. I then positioned myself at the top of the slide, arranging her on my lap and hooking my arms around her little waist.

"Ready?" I asked her. She continued to shriek. I took that as a yes and pushed forwards over the edge of the slide. We slid about half way down before I felt my thighs wedge between the metal upstands either side of us, forcing us into an abrupt stop.

From the bottom of the slide, Rose snorted in the most ungraceful way and then quickly covered her face with her hand when I met her gaze. "Oh, shut up," I grumbled, rolling my eyes when she snickered, her grin hidden behind her hand. "Are you okay to catch her at the bottom?" I asked her, lifting Kelsey and positioning her onto the slide herself.

Rose nodded and stepped forwards, crouching at the bottom of the slide with her arms outstretched. I released Kelsey and she slid another few feet before being scooped up by Rose and spun around in her arms. The slightest giggle erupted from her that had the two of us grinning at each other in triumph. "The slide!" I exclaimed. "She likes the slide!"

She grinned back at me. "Does that mean you're going to do that again?"

I scowled back at her before wriggling to free myself from the metal slide. In the end, I had to just scramble to my feet and jump off the side – which Rose chastised me about, saying I was a bad influence on the kids that were around. "What choice did I have?" I defended. "I couldn't slide down like I was meant to!"

She only laughed as we repeated the process a few times, me pushing Kelsey from the top of the slide and Rose catching her at the bottom. She giggled a couple more time between her cries and in the end, we gave up and made our way back to the car.