"(F/n), who do you like more? Your mom or your dad?" (F/n)'s preschool classmate asked while gossiping at the picnic table during lunch.
(F/n) swung her feet, not being able to reach the ground, it was difficult getting up so the superviser had to help her and the rest of the girls (F/n) was friends with.
"(F/n)?" A tap on her shoulder caught her attention.
"Oh… um…" (F/n) tapped her chin, thinking, "I dunno, I love both my mum and dad."
This was true, she loved her happy little family with all her heart. Her mother was always there to comfort (F/n), her hugs very warm and filled with love. And (F/n)'s dad gave the most dazzling smiles and was always there to protect her.
"I like my dad most, he takes me out for ice cream all the time." (F/n) faintly heard from one of her friends, but she didn't acknowledge it. She was thinking deeper on the thought of her family.
She was happy with how her family was, her mom was the same as always, but her dad… there were sometimes she didn't like daddy.
Like the time when her mum went to the grocery store, he brought some scary people over. She hid behind her dad as he passed what looked to be bags of sugar to the scary people and she wondered if they just didn't know where the store was. Innocently she told them that if they wanted sugar the grocery store was just a few blocks away.
The scary people had looked down at her in confusion, then back at each other and laughed. She didn't think she said anything funny and shyly hid back behind her dad, who ruffled her hair.
She saw those scary people frequently when mom was out, they never stopped being scary but soon dad was allowing them to hold (F/n) whenever they had business to discuss. Which none of it was able to be understood by her. She was sworn to secrecy by her dad, she didn't dare disobey with the insane look in his eye.
Today had been the last (F/n) saw those scary people. It was early in the morning and only her dad and her were up, they were making her mom breakfast in bed only for it to be interrupted by a hard persistent knock on the door.
Without thinking (F/n) sped to the door, opening it to see those scary people, but it was different this time. Those looks in their eyes were not something she wanted to see again.
One of them grabbed her and she screamed, alerting her father who ran to the door. From the strangers arms she saw him pale and start frantically talking. (F/n), as always, couldn't understand it, but the atmosphere was enough to make large heavy tears drop from her eyes and she cried for her daddy.
That made the man who held her tighten his grip and move aside to let another scary man pass. She hadn't seen him before, considering how big he was, she would have recognized him.
In the unrelenting male's arms she screamed and cried as she watched the big scary man beat her dad to the pulp. This woke up her mom as she saw her coming down the stairs in a hurry, gasping, "honey!"
A hand flew over her mouth as (F/n) called out to her, "mommy!"
This was when she felt the man holding her turn her away and he made his way over to a sleek black car with tinted windows. "No! No! Please, let go of her! (F/N)!" She could hear her mother beg from behind them.
(F/n) pushed at the man whose arms she was in, but he remained unbothered. Her mom must have met up with the man's pace because she could see her mother's delicate hand grasp the man's shoulder.
In an instant, (F/n) was shifted to one side as the man's arm swung out. Back handing her shocked mother, falling to the ground on her knees. She screamed out to her mother and started pushing harder away from the man. "Mommy! No!"
Facing the house she watched as the big man came out, his hands bloodied from what she knew was her father's blood. As he came out another man popped into view at (F/n)'s side. He was much older but still well built. He said something that made the man holding (F/n) gently put her down.
She didn't hesitate, and ran to her mother who was sobbing into the ground close to the mens' feet.
She saw (F/n) running to her when she looked up and instantly took her into her arms. Tightly embracing her.
And then, they just left. Although (F/n) heard the scary men say something, but couldn't remember what it was and was too scared to care.
She was in her mother's arms at all times now, being embraced in a rocking position for a long moment before being picked up and carried into their house that was tainted with the previous events.
When they came in they both saw dad in the living room, sitting in the bloody broken arm chair with his head in his hands. Everything was trashed, a picture frame of (F/n) ripped and scattered at his feet.
(F/n) noticed that her mother was trying to be strong and speak calmly, but the arms that held her were shaking.
All she could hear was her dad's sudden fearful words. "No.. No honey don't take her away from me! Don't take my little girl way! Please, I'll fix this!"
Those words echoed in (F/n)'s ears as she was hurriedly dressed by her mother and a hasty lunch was packed. She had been numb to conversation as her mother took her to preschool with teary eyes and sniffing every now and then.
They were late, but with a hush conversation between her mother and her teacher, (F/n) was welcomed quietly and kindly into the preschool. Her mom had left to go do something and promised to be back, but (F/n) wondered when.
"Hey! Earth to (F/n)!?" (F/n) yelped when a flick to the forehead snapped her back to reality.
"Your mom's here." Her friend beside her said, pointing behind them.
"Oh…" (F/n) turns to see her mother in better shape than when she left and was talking to one of the supervisers.
She said her goodbyes to her friends and hopped off the seat of the picnic table and ran over to her mother, hugging her stomach.
Her mom said a few more things, patting (F/n)'s head before pulling her away and started walking over to an unknown car.
"Mommy, where are we going?" She asked, letting her mom help her into the back seat of the van.
"We're gonna go away for a while, like a vacation." She buckled (F/n) into her car seat, closing the door and coming around to the front seat and getting in. Starting the car.
"What about Daddy?"
(F/n) didn't seem to notice her mom's hands on the steering wheel clench hard. "No more questions now (F/n). Your leap ipad is there for you and Mr. Dolphin too."
She looked beside her in surprise. Mom was right as she saw her pale blue dolphin in a tux on top of the green electronic tablet.
(F/n) obediently started entertaining herself, not asking anymore questions as her mother drove. They were in the strange car for a long time, making a few pit stops along the way. Only when they arrived at the port, driving onto a large ferry did (F/n) wonder when she would see her daddy again.
They spent the night in the car on the ferry. (F/n) used her mother's soft body as a pillow during her sleep. Despite being in deep slumber she could feel the tears fall from her mother's eyes onto her own head.
The travelling continued, getting off the ferry lead to more driving and sleeping either in the car or in unclean cheap motels.
It had been so long, (F/n) guessed it couldn't have been longer than a month since they went 'travelling' and it was the first time, they visited a park.
Her mother sat on a bench with some other ladies and urged (F/n) to go play on the playground.
She nodded before running over to the playground, climbing up the platforms and going down the slide a few times before moving on to other things that quickly lost interest. She didn't approach the kids there, they reminded her of her friends and that made her missing them.
She wanted to go home, but it came to the realization a week ago when talking to her mother about her name, that they would not be going back home.
"Honey, I need you to listen carefully. Your name is going to be (M/n) now."
"(M/n)?"
"It was your middle name I had picked for you. I want you to forget the name (F/n). Can you do that sweetie?"
"Okay, mommy…"
Now suddenly not in the mood to run around, she trudged over to the sandbox where a boy who looked to be a few years older sat in the sand.
She took a step into the sand box and distinctly heard a cold voice say. "Go Away."
This made her jump back in fright only to relax when the boy in the sand box turned to her. His dark grey eyes were squinted in a menacing glare. Any child would be scared. But the strangers that used to come to her house were scarier. "I'm allowed to play here too!"
She stepped back into the sandbox once more.
She heard the boy growl before standing up, facing her. He was a few inches taller and glared harder. "I said go away."
"No!" She stomped her foot, sand flying a little.
Next thing she knew, she was harshly slammed onto her bottom. She shockingly looked up to see that the boy in front of her had pushed her, making her trip over the wooden edge of the sandbox.
The pain at the back of her ankle felt wet as the scrape started to bleed and she couldn't help but feel the tears well in her eyes. "Owwieee…"
The boy looked satisfied until she started wailing. He thought she would have gotten up by now and left. He watched as she clutched her ankle and he realized he messed up, but still, she asked for it.
With that, he turned back to his spot and plopped back down.
(M/n) had attracted attention to other parents who managed to get her mother to come over. "Oh honey, what happened?!"
She hiccupped, "That boy pushed me!" She pointed at the boys back, who wasn't caring about the situation at all.
"Oh did He?" Another woman, dressed in plain clothes asked. (M/n) was mesmerized by the darker skinned woman's beauty. Smooth skin and carefully pinned up hair. She was almost glowing in confidence too.
The beautiful woman moved over to the boy and crossed her arms. "Did you hurt this young lady?"
The boy shrugged, not looking up from the sand he was digging.
"Young man, if you don't answer me I will tell your father about your behavior and you won't be able to come back to the park."
Due to this, the boy scoffed and looked up at her. "Whatever, I can just have him fire you. You're just a measly maid."
Both the woman and (M/n)'s mother gasped. The beautiful woman speaking, "Excuse me?!"
The boy didn't say anything and turned back to the sand. He didn't notice when (M/n) stood up and came over to him. Lunging onto the boy's back and crushing him into a hug.
"Ack! What the heck! What are you doing?!" He shouted, trying to twist around to see her but couldn't from his sitting position.
"I'm trying to give you a hug. Stop struggling!" She yelled. Her hands clasped together with her arms around the boy's torso.
The boy stopped, his arms going slack. He couldn't remember what a hug felt like. Him thinking made it easier for (M/n) to sneak around and properly hug the boy for a long moment.
When the boy came to his senses and gently but still pushed her away. "W-Why?"
(M/n) met the boy's cooler grey eyes. He didn't look so menacing now. It made her smile. "Because you needed it. Mommy says when someone is being mean, it means haven't felt very happy in a long time. And everyone deserves to be happy."
The boy was dumbfounded. It was such wisdom coming from a stupid little girl who tried to fight with him over the sandbox.
"Now, say sorry to the pretty lady." She commanded.
The boy listened and turned toward his caregiver. "S-sorry Mai…"
The beautiful lady, who (M/n) learned was named Mai, was more shocked that he apologized. As long as she worked for this boy's father, he never apologised for anything he did. This was truly one special lady beside him. "It's alright, and you also ought to apologise to her too."
The boy did as she said. Looking back at (M/n). "I'm sorry too."
She nodded, "it's okay, but that did really hurt." Her face suddenly turning whiny as she lifted her foot and nudged it in her direction for him to look at.
"Oh…" he didn't really know what to say at the lightly bleeding scrape she was showing him.
"Let's go clean that off and we'll have an early lunch, do you want to invite your friend?" (M/n)'s mother had come over and crouched down to the kids level asking (M/n) what she wanted to do.
She thought for a minute, nodding to herself, she asked the boy. "Would you like to eat with us?"
"It seems like a wonderful idea." Mai said as the boy looked up at her for guidance.
He nodded, "What's your name?"
"(F/--... (M/n)." She corrected asking, "what's yours?"
"Itsuki."