A Series of Chance Encounters | Short Story

chapter six

[Published on June 5th, 2016]

- Year One, Mid June, The First Encounter -

"But Mom!" Eight year old Eliza groaned, following her mother down the hall and towards the kitchen at the back of the house. "Kendall and William are expecting me! Please let me go to the park! Please!" She practically begged, her short form trailing behind her mother closely. 

"Your grandmother is coming over for dinner, Eliza May." Susanne said, turning and crouching down to see eye-to-eye with her young daughter.

"But Mom" She wined, fighting the urge to stomp her feet. "I'll be back for dinner. I promise. It will only be for a few minutes!" Her mother sighed in defeat, and the young girl knew that she had won this battle. "Thank you!" She said happily, turning and running out the front door before she could protest. She hopped on her bike and then she was off, her hair flying behind her wildly.

When she got to the park, neither of her friends were there. It was too late. They had left already. She sighed, tossing her bike down onto the grass before stomping over to the swings. She couldn't go home yet. Not when her mother expected her to be having fun at the park.

There was only one other child, digging a large hole in the sandbox across the playground.

"What are you doing?" She yelled over out of curiosity.

"Digging." A young boy's voice came back, not even looking up from the hole that he was creating.

"Digging what?"

"A tunnel!"

His vague responses lit a flame inside of Eliza. She hopped off of the swing, stomping over to him. "Tell me to where!"

He finally looked up at her, and Eliza's jaw dropped a little bit. She almost wished boys weren't so gross, because he was like a movie star that she would see on Disney Channel. He had curly brown hair, bright brown eyes, and when their eyes met his annoyed expression faded away and turned into a crooked grin, one side of his mouth pulling up more than the other.

"If you really need to know, I'm going to China." He said, holding out an extra shovel towards her. "Want to come?"

Eliza grabbed it and climbed into the raised sand pit, joining the strange child in digging a hole. "Why China?" She eventually questioned after a considerable amount of digging had passed.

"Mulan is my favorite movie." He answered, not looking up at her as he continued to dig. "And my dad came home today. I want to leave. I don't want to have to see him ever again." 

"Why?" She asked him, pausing. She loved when her dad came home from work, why wouldn't this boy. 

"Christopher is like a movie villain." He asked, referring to his dad by his first name. "When he comes home, life isn't good anymore." His smile was gone, and the shovel lay next to his legs instead of within his grip. "Mom cries, and we all aren't happy." Eliza frowned. Weren't all families happy? "He..." He cut himself off then, forcing himself to smile once again. "It is fine, I just like when he's away better." Eliza could tell that the smile was fake, but she didn't know how to get him to talk to her.

She didn't even know this boy's name, but she felt sad that he was sad.

"I should go, my grandmother is coming over." Eliza said, slowly standing up and brushing the sand off of her new blue dress. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. "You should just come with me!" She said, excited to share her new idea with him, but the boy only shook his head. 

Instead, he stood up and hugged her. It wasn't a brief hug. He engulfed her small body with his thin arms, tightly pulling her into him. Her shoulder felt wet, but she wasn't sure why. 

Was it raining, or was he crying.

"Bye, China Boy." She giggled as he finally let her go.

Suddenly his lips were on hers, and they were gone as soon as they appeared. 

"Thank you." He said quickly before running, his fleeting form disappearing into the trees that led to the neighboring neighborhood.

Eliza didn't know what to do, so she just got on her bike and rode home. She had been gone a hour past the time she was supposed to come back and her new dress was disgusting, covered in dirt and the tears of a sad boy who covered his emotions with a fake smile.

She wasn't allowed to go to the park for the rest of the summer.

A.n.

THREE UPDATES HAVE BEEN POSTED TODAY.

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I hope you enjoyed the little glimpse  into the lives of young Eliza and young Chase, including the small bits about their lives at home.

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