A Bond Beyond Blood

Going to the park was easy enough, navigating it is where the real struggle is. My memory regarding the place has only degraded as time passed. Still, with some perseverance and backtracking from time to time me and the little girl found our way through the park close enough to where I could remember something about the aforementioned bench being nearby.

The morning breeze felt cool through our skin as we took a little break and sat on the grass nearby a pond, a bit off the main path but not nearly as secluded as where we're headed.

We looked at the lilypads floating on the air in silence, as we rested our legs a little. Enjoying a peaceful moment of silence before we inevitably have to rush to school.

However, she doesn't seem like she's thinking about it much, her eyes are just absentmindedly tracing the small plants in the water up and down, as if she's roleplaying a human 3d printer.

I half expect her to blurt out "ANALYSIS COMPLETE." in a monotone robotic voice.

Instead she let out a deep sigh, before plopping down on the soft greenery, sticking her hand out to block off the sunlight away from her eyes. In a way, she looked a lot gloomier than usual.

"Anything wrong?" I asked her, trying to gauge her reaction. she slowly drifted her eyes towards me.

"Contemplating... not much to it." she says while letting out another say, fixing her gaze once more back to the sky, "I haven't had much time to do it yet... all so rushed."

Her voice sounded monotone and diminished, unlike her usual more energetic behavior.

"Oh, how so?" Curious as to what she meant I inquired of her.

"I don't know, honestly. I'm just wondering... things." She vaguely replied before staring off once more.

"Is it about your dad?" I asked on a hunch. "You seemed to be like this earlier as well."

"It's more complicated than that..." her voice trailed off into a silent murmur as her eyes shut and she took a deep breath. "There are a lot of people that hate me, and I can't blame them... We can just forget about the backpack, and I'll just skip school. You won't be late that way."

"No need for that," I replied while smiling, "I'll take a bit of the burden off of you. It's no big deal." 

"You'll regret helping me, you know?" she said to me, her voice wavering. It was clear she isn't used to this type of treatment. 

"Like I said, it's no big deal. I'll help you the best I can."

Having said so, I pulled myself upward, walked over and stretched out my hand to her.

"5 minute break is over, lets get moving before we're really late."