One Last Time

'I still don't see why we've come all the way here,' moaned ten year old Mia, as she fiddled absentmindedly with her iPod.

'I told you,' Emma replied, annoyed by her daughter's reluctance. 'I thought I'd show you where I came on holiday with your nan and grandad and Uncle Scott back in the day.'

'Well I don't really want to see it,' Mia replied. 'I just want to go to Dad's. It's his weekend to have me.'

'Of course you want to go to your dad's; he lets you go on your iPad all the livelong day,' Emma replied bitterly. 'But as it happens me and your dad arranged to swap weekends so tough luck.'

Mia sighed and they drove in silence for a while. They weren't far from their destination now. Barry Island. Emma didn't know why she'd bothered bringing Mia now. She should have just stuck to the usual arrangements and dropped her off at her dad's and come here to explore on her own. She loved Mia. She adored Mia. But Mia never really was the exploring type, preferring to stay home drawing or playing. Trouble was, these days it was drawing or playing on her iPad and Emma had been desperate to get her away from the screen and into the outdoors, which was why she'd thought it a good idea to ask her ex if they could alter things slightly.

'How much further, Mum? I need the loo,' Mia said after a while.

Emma smiled. 'Just about to pull up in a minute, babe.' Emma checked her mirror and then pulled over just steps from where she needed to be. Just beyond them were the gates that used to put a smile on her face as a child.

They got out and there was a toilet block just a few steps away, where they made a stop with Mia and then it was time for Emma to revisit her past.

As if on cue Mia asked, 'So is this it, what you wanted to show me? It looks like a car park to me.'

'Now it's a car park,' Emma told her daughter. 'But it used to be the entrance to the Butlins holiday camp. It's where we came on holiday every year when me and Scott were kids.'

'It looks really dull to me,' Mia said. 'Are you sure you're in the right place?'

'Of course I'm sure, I've been here enough times,' Emma said. 'Believe me, back in the day it was magical. We went through those gates and our holiday began. Come on I'll show you.'

They walked towards the gates and Emma pointed out where the pool and the shopping arcade, later known as the Boulevard, had been.

They walked through the gates and up the path. But then stopped. A huge fog came out of nowhere, blocking their vision. Emma and Mia couldn't even see each other; the fog was so dense. But then it began to disperse.

Emma could hardly believe what she was seeing. Right there before her, stood the blue and white building that housed the shopping arcade, just as it had stood all those years ago. Then, as the fog dispersed some more, she heard the buzz of the shoppers inside. She heard the splashes from the pool, just the other side of the fence, and the shouts and screams of delight of excited children. It was all as it had been back in the day.

But how? The holiday camp had been demolished years ago. There was just a car park left. A car park and new housing; standing where the magic of a Butlins holiday camp once was. So why was it all suddenly back to the way it was years ago? Neither Mia or Emma could explain what was going on. Mia was agog, looking around at the scene before her.

'But I thought you told me it wasn't here anymore?' Mia said. 'You said they demolished it.'

'They did, sweetie,' Emma said, still in disbelief herself.

'But what now?' Mia asked. 'Is it....back? How can demolished buildings come back?'

'They can't,' Emma said. 'We must be dreaming. Pinch me.' Mia pinched her mum. 'Ow! Not that hard, thank you, Madam.' Emma laughed.