CHILDHOOD GAMES
The warm breeze rustles through the air and I can feel the warmth of the coming summer. I was sitting on the grass on our lawn, weaving little daisies into flower crowns.
The breeze carries with itself laughter of kids but I pay no attention to them because my gaze is fixed on the boy sitting next to me.
Issac, my eighteen-year-old neighbor.
Lilian Winslet
Look! I made it!
With great excitement I show him my flower crown of daisies.
Issac Reed
That's my girl.
Issac Reed
It's so sweet. And beautiful. Just like you.
He gives me a smile as he softly runs his hand through my hair.
Tall and lean with his dark eyes, Issac was not like the other boys in my neighborhood.
He never teased me like my cousins did, never made me cry like the neighborhood boys did, never put me away just because I was a little girl.
He would sit patiently with me, helping me find the best flowers, listening to me with such intensifying gaze as I was his most important thing in the world.
I weave another flower crown and place it carefully and with great gentleness on his head. Then I gaze at his face, admiring my work.
Lilian Winslet
It looks perfect.
Lilian Winslet
Actually...
Lilian Winslet
You look like a king.
Lilian Winslet
Yes! You have a crown, that makes you a king.
Issac Reed
Then, what would that make you?
Lilian Winslet
A princess!! I am a princess.
Issac Reed
That's right, my princess.
Issac Reed
Then, I will have to protect my little princess forever, right?
Lilian Winslet
Of course. You are staying with me forever.
I emphasize on the word so that he knows clearly he's stuck with me for all eternity.
He lets out a chuckle reaching his hand out to touch my nose.
Lilian Winslet
Hey! It tickles.
His hands spread out to my neck, my stomach, my feet, everywhere that tickles.
We roll over on the grass, me attempting to shove his hand off and him holding on to me more tightly.
Lilian Winslet
I have to go home.
Lilian Winslet
I am going to go shopping with my mummy.
Lilian Winslet
Do you want to bring me something for you?
Issac Reed
You will bring me something?
Lilian Winslet
Yes, I can. I am a big girl now.
Issac Reed
Then, can you bring me lilies?
Lilian Winslet
The flowers?
Issac Reed
Yes, my princess.
Lilian Winslet
Okay, I can!
I clasp him into a tight hug before I go running off into my house.
I spent a good time selecting the lilies, promising only to have the best ones. Now, very carefully and with delicate touch I place them into their vase.
Lilian Winslet
Mommy, I am going to Issac's.
I gave a shout to my mom who was in the kitchen tending to her chores.
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
Sweetie-
Her voice echoed through the house but I had already rushed off, locking the door behind me as I did so.
And I stumbled on my way. A whole lot. The vase with the heaviness of the water was dragging down all my weight. I am pretty sure by the time I reached Issac's house the vase had gone dry.
With great efforts and swinging steps, I found myself standing on their doorstep.
There was a big lock chained on their door.
Lilian Winslet
It's me, Lilian.
I kept shouting hoping he would open up the door and sweep this away as a prank.
My eyes went blurry with swelling tears. The vase loosened from my hand and I ran away without having a glance back.
Lilian Winslet
Mommy! Mommy!! Mommy, where are you?
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
Sweetie, what's wrong?
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
What happened?
She clasps me in her tightly as my tears wet her soft cotton top.
Lilian Winslet
I-Is-Issac i-is...
My words come out muffled as I try to speak through my tears.
Lilian Winslet
Issac is gone. He is gone. Why?
The words stick in my throat, unwilling to come out, unwilling to believe it.
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
What do you mean he's gone?
Lilian Winslet
There's a big lock on their house with chains around it.
Lilian Winslet
And when I called, nobody answered.
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
Sweetheart, they must have gone somewhere for a few hours.
Mrs Winslet (FL mom)
They will be back.
She rubbed off my tears, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. I wanted to believe my mom's words.
But again at night when the stars shined bright in the dark drape I went to their house, the big locks and the right chains had not vanished.
With a downtrodden face, I was about to walk away when a sweet smell lingered through the air, draping itself in the air like a blanket.
I turn around to see a bouquet of lilies on the doorstep, a bouquet that was not there earlier. With shaky hands, I pick it up.
A note attached to it says: I will always be with you, my little princess.
My gaze lands again on their doorstep searching for the vase I had dropped in the morning. But I found no traces of it. It felt like they were never there. But the thing is, I knew they were.
And Issac's words linger in my mind, "Then, I will have to protect my little princess forever, right?"
His dark hair, his smiling face forms in my mind like an injected tattoo.
I stand there with only one thought flowing endlessly in my thoughts, an inescapable thought.
WHAT DOES FOREVER MEAN TO HIM?
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