Sarie

Won't go back I won't go back..

"Chelly?"

The voice slipped over the rustling leaves, and the swerve of chain links on a swing that rocked slowly back and forth in dying motion. The answer bit the man on the way back. "Leave me alone."

Smallish fingers had strapped themselves to metal in awkward curves, pressed into chain-patterns as she gripped it tighter. Her feet were sandaled, bluish jelly sandals that he'd bought her at the flea market last week. But somehow the dirt still managed to wedge itself between her toes as they scraped against the soft, leathery surface beneath the swing.

"Chelle, I'm sorry." Brownish nose poked over the side of the swingset, hands clasping the cold metal bars in silent depression. "But it's the way it has to be."

"No. No it's not. You lied to me." The girl stared at her toes. The ratty brown curls of hair filtered around her face and kept it hidden, no matter how much he wanted to see it. Baby teeth bit into her bottom lip.

"I'm sorry, Chelle.. I didn't know.." He took to a knee, sinking half an inch through softer sand.

"Don't call me that. My name is Sarie!" She flung herself away from the swing, rubber and metal twisting behind her as she stormed over the playbox-ground. Thin digits slid into tiny fists as she clamped her mouth shut, waves of tears gluing hair strands to her face. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all.

"You can't make me go back!"

"Ch- Sarie." The man had followed reluctantly, hands stuffed in stiff coat pockets. It was blustery, and the sand blew up to spit in unprotected faces. "They're good people.."

She spun around and flailed. "They're not my mommy. I want my mommy!" Feet clomped against the sand, sprouting grain-clouds in her wake as she darted away.

For a moment, the man stood silent.

[Archiver's note: The rest of this story was either lost or never finished.]