Of Broken Legs and Swing Sets
I peeked out from behind the wall trying to seem inconspicuous and probably failing miserably at it. I needed to use the washroom and it just happened to intersect the warpath my sister had chosen to trudge along. I wasn't really interested in eavesdropping on her conversation right in the epicenter of it.
I could very well hear her from the roof. To be honest, I believe our neighbors could probably hear her from their backyard.
"Yeah. Right. This isn't who you thought I was?" Her voice had dropped down to a deadly whisper before it rose to a crescendo. "Well, guess what, you son of a worm. This is who I am. Go suck monkey balls!"
I sighed. That had to be the end, I guessed. They'd been fighting for ages and this had to be it. With all the cussing, especially the throwing in of ape testicles, this had to be it. I didn't believe that a relationship could survive all that implied hairiness. But I was proven completely wrong because the conversation continued and for better or for worse, Ray started howling into the phone. It didn't even resemble human speech anymore.
Tired of waiting for her to end the conversation in one way or another, I just decided to risk it and climb out of my window instead. Because, honestly, no one in their right mind would interrupt Ray in 'howl' mode, unless they craved some form of imminent death.
I ducked back into the room and swung out of my window, grabbing the ledge as best as I could. I tried reaching for the tree that stood a few feet away from it, right in the middle of our measly looking front yard.
"Hey, Jude." A voice called from right across, startling me. I reached out with more force than I'd intended to, trying to support my startled self and despite the healthy look of the timber it snapped, throwing me out of the window and onto the swing set in the yard, that had been the remnants of a wild childhood, as my parents liked to believe.
The swing set had a long history considering how it had been bought by my father before he'd even met my mom because he'd had this gut feeling that he'd be starting a family soon. He believed and still believes that the swing set had been the key that had set his life plan into motion and thrust him towards his goals in a positive way.
Even now, after all the kids in the house had grown up and could no longer fit in the swings, it still stood proudly. And any unsolicited suggestions for getting rid of it elicited an outcry.
"How dare you? This is my swing set of dreams. This is the reason you are standing here today! How can you be so disrespectful to my most treasured companion? Is this how you repay for all the times it tolerated all your sorry butts?" Even mum hadn't been able to bring up the conversation without being doused by the soulmate talk.
Well, all that family history and tolerance was crushed as I fell onto the set as my body plummeted to its impending doom.
From what I heard in between sobs of disbelief, after I'd regained consciousness in the hospital, I realized that my sibling and I had just lost a family heirloom and the rest of our break.
And that is the story of how I nearly broke my back in the middle of the winter break and how that detroyed my plans of having a peaceful university experience. But that was just the start.
I woke up with a body that felt like it'd been torn apart and stuck back together with heavy-duty adhesive. Everything ached and it felt like my appendages were taking time to unsolidify from all the glue. I blinked up at the unfamiliar looking room, searching for the one familiar voice that had been talking in a whispered howl.
"Why do you think I'm mad at you? How can you not even know that?" Ray was sitting on the small chair at the foot of my bed, cradling her phone in her hand as she talked rapidly.
"Oh my god. What is wrong with you, Jason? How can you not know that I'm mad in the first place? How dumb can you get?" Shouting the last part, as she lost control of her rage, she peeked at me to check if she'd woken me up.
I met her eyes with a solemn stare of my own. And tried to beckon her nearer, by wiggling my eyebrows.
Her eyes widened with surprise and she burst into laughter, without meaning to. And got out of her chair and walked closer, hanging up on her boyfriend without bothering to warn him.
"Okay, Judy. You've got to stop. They look like caterpillars that can barely hold on. It's rather disturbing."
Her eyes clouded with worry, but her smile stayed as she touched my forehead gently and sat next to me.
"So, what's the report, Sarge? How grave is the situation? Will we make it?" I asked, my voice dry and raspy, like my larynx needed oiling to make it work smoothly.
She inhaled a breath, letting it out slowly.
"It looks rather prickly on the perimeter, Private Jude. But our reports have established that the recovery will be fast and efficient. Our most treasured agent, the swing met a sad yet honourable demise. Even in its last squeaks, it managed to save you from decapitation and grievous injury. The funeral will be arranged upon your release from incarceration."
The sincere look on her face hit me with nostalgia. It reminded me of all the times that we'd played pretend where I was the hardworking, righteous Private Jude, who walked the nights alone in dark alleys, fighting crime. She'd been the stern sergeant or as I called her Sarge Ray, who gave orders and followed rules down to the tee.
We'd horse around the house, hiding in corners with spatulas stolen from the kitchen stuck in our waistbands, pretending to be swashbuckling knights of justice. We'd spring out of corners and scare the hell out of unsuspecting individuals who'd be passing along.
It had driven our parents crazy, but they'd never quite managed to kick us out of the house.
Kicking us out of the house only led to a round of louder screaming and running around as we'd just increase in numbers, gathering the neighborhood kids before barging back in with force.
I couldn't remember the number of times where we'd end up in the front yard, pouting under the swing set, only to be joined by Aksel, who'd lived next door to us for quite a while. Aksel was someone who was always out, be rain or shine, playing and running around with kids from the neighborhood. Some of whom he knew, and a lot who didn't know him. But that had never deterred him from walking up to them and demanding to play with them.
He was here today, standing quietly in the doorway, trying to look innocent and small as he peered inside.
"Corporal Aksel, reporting for duty, Sarge." He announced walking in holding a single sunflower, timid.
I narrowed my eyes at him, holding up a finger and sliding it against my neck in the universal 'I'll-kill-you' gesture. He gulped, shrinking further into his coat as he placed the flower on my lap.
"I'm so sorry, I was just surprised and was trying to say hi to you. " He started, looking guilty.
"Please. You should've thought before acknowledging me so loudly right when I was hanging on for dear life." I grunted, pretending to be enraged. "How can you do this to a dear friend, Corporal? Even if I'm a lowly officer, how can you hurt me like this?"
He looked like he was about to have an aneurysm out of all the guilt. His face had paled, and he'd started to blend in with the light of his coat. I had a strong feeling that if I kept this up, he'd be on his knees begging for forgiveness or a vein in his forehead would pop and he'd faint. Whichever happened first, it didn't look like it was going to be a pretty scene.
Ray burst into a fit of giggles, making Aksel finally realize that we were just yanking his chain.
Groaning, he settled himself on my right, taking my hand in his palm. "Why do you have to be such a pain? You sisters are going to be the end of me." He proclaimed, awkwardly patting it.
"Oh. Please. You should've looked at your face." Ray snorted, shaking her head for emphasis as I nodded along.
"You looked so guilty already. You wouldn't have lasted even a few seconds even if we hadn't opened our mouths."
"Of course, I feel terrible. Stupid Jude wouldn't have fallen if it weren't for me." He sighed, still patting my hand turning them blue, the idiot had forgotten to wash off the paint from his hands. I tried to pull away but he kept a strong grip. "What were you doing though? Why were you on the tree in the first place? None of us knew what actually happened when the doctor asked. "
Ray nodded. "Mum and Dad were so worried. They thought you were trying to die at first. They thought you'd been secretly depressed and it was somehow their fault. You'll probably end up in therapy considering how terrified they were."
I realized how stupid the situation had actually become. One simple trip to the toilet had turned into a back-breaking incident. My face and ears started to heat, thinking of how awkward this was going to be.
"Ah. I was trying to climb down the window so I could use the washroom on the ground floor because you were having a fight in the hallway." I admitted, their expressions changing from amused to utter disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding." Aksel exclaimed, wide eyed.
"Nope. Ray was in howl-mode. I didn't want to run into her." I affirmed, shooting Ray a sheepish smile. She flicked my head, annoyed. I could tell she wanted to do more than that but my injuries were holding her back. I had to be prepared for after I'd heal, she was definitely going to come after me with a pitchfork. Her devious smiled only added to my vivid imagination in horrible ways.
My injuries weren't extreme enough to have killed me or left me immobile permanently, which had been a relief. But the fall had left me with a broken leg, a sprained wrist and the inability to walk without support for nearly two months. Considering how my break was ending in the next two weeks and I had to go back to college soon, it made me wonder if I should've just picked the hard way out and let Ray butcher me.
It wasn't just the classes that would be a problem. I was more worried about being kicked off of the table tennis club. It had been one of the reasons for which I'd been looking forward to going back.
Our university had strict rules regarding first years joining clubs in the first semester. Which was that we weren't allowed to, unless we were extremely exceptional and were key to winning inter-university events, which obviously was very rare.
We were allowed to audition for clubs and sports teams in the second semester and often, we wouldn't be considered official members until after the year had ended.
Second year was our year. The year we were finally allowed to go all out when it came to the college experience. And it was something every first year had been looking forward to.
I stared at the cast around my leg as I was wheeled out of the hospital. Mum was chatting away with Ray explaining why the funeral for our beloved swing set had been put off until sometime in the future since they needed to take care of me first. And Dad was busy shuffling towards the car carrying my clothes in one hand and wiping at his face with the other, shooting me glances filled with worry. He wasn't great at being discreet. He'd never been.
Being dad and being inconspicuous was something that he'd never managed. No matter how hard he'd tried. That was one of the reasons that Ray and I had never believed in fairy tales of Christmas and Tooth Fairies.
I had fuzzy memories of being a six year old and baking cookies for Christmas and leaving them in the kitchen in exchange for presents. Or of hiding the first tooth that I'd lost under my pillow. Those memories were followed by stark memories of laughter and incredulity on catching dad sneaking around the house trying to place our presents in the right places. Of him knocking on my door out of habit when he'd come to retrieve my tooth in exchange for a chocolate.
He'd ended up caught and it'd caused chaos. Chaos of mirth. Happiness that had built the memories of our childhood. Of realizing that it didn't matter if miracles didn't exist. Because our dad did. And he'd given us everything that mythical creatures were supposed to have brought instead. It made us look up to him since in our minds he'd beat them to reach us first. To have made us content without using magic that fairytales spoke of. He was our fairy godmother.
And having him sad and despondent, while sneaking worried glances at me made all of us stop talking for a moment to look at him with concern.
"Okay. Stop staring at me. I was just making sure that you hadn't dropped my kid somewhere amidst your engaging gossip." He blushed before stalking away, leaving us gaping in amusement after him. He was one of a kind, my father.
(Yes, it reads like I didn't know where to end my chapter which is exactly what happened. I'mma leave the sexy cliffhangers to the experts. Also on a random note, I'm having the time of my life reading this webtoon called unOrdinary by Uru-chan. And damn, I dig characters going crazy and wrecking vengeance!!!!!)
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