It All Began With A Song [Editing]

Chapter 20: The Truth Behind The Past

-Chase-

"Let's go play hide-and-go-seek."

For most people, the answer to the suggestion will be yes; however, for me, it's an automatic no. This seemingly innocent childhood game brings back several memories of the past -- the past that I've been trying to forget all about for a little over a decade -- because last time I have played that game, it has resulted with me sobbing in the rain, pleading for her to come back.

I can still clearly remember that day.

It was a cloudy day, the kind that you knew it was going to rain any minute, but the six year old me didn't notice that; all I cared about was what she had just suggested for us two to play, you guessed it right -- hide-and-go-seek. I was the seeker, and she was one that's hiding. If I'd been smarter and more observant, I would've noticed that there was something wrong. She had cried before I started counting and even hugged me. The last sentence she spoke to me before she permanently left me, "I'm so sorry, Chase." was still stuck inside my mind; it was as if the thing was a duct tape, and no matter how much I wanted to forget about it, it remained to be glued in my mind.

I remembered quickly turning around to face the park bench and proceeding to count to ten, and with each number I hollered out loud, I was wondering about all the possibilities of where she could be hiding. So when I turned around to face the trees and bushes, I had a gigantic grin pasted on my face. I didn't even realize how long I was actually searching for her until I heard thunder roll from a distance away, and soon after, rain began pouring down on me. And then something caught my attention as I squinted in the down pouring rain -- her red umbrella that was hung on one of the lower branches of a tree, low enough for the six year old me to retrieve it and announce, "I found your umbrella! I win!" But only thing that answered back was the gushing rain.

Still believing that she was secretly hiding somewhere near me, I opened the umbrella to temporarily avoid the rain. Thunders continued to sound, but I knew I had to remain tough and not cry. After all, people said that big boys must not cry.

I remembered running back to the bench where I had began counting in hopes of seeing her there, but to my dismay, she wasn't there. I remembered letting the umbrella fall to the now muddy grass and shouting, "I lose! You can come out now!" I remembered waiting in the rain in what seemed like hours and then finally sitting down on the wet bench and still holding the umbrella in my hand. I remembered thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was waiting for the rain to end before reappearing in front of me, but with every second that passed, my hopes slowly dissolved little by little. It was only when the tears began to roll down that the harsh reality sank in.

My mother had just abandoned me.

+ + +

While I wait for Katelyn, I gaze at the group of kids that are playing hide-and-go-seek and can't help but feel envious at the children; at least their game is going to end happily (or maybe in disagreement about who and who was cheating). The little girl in the blue dress is standing in front of the double slides, eyes blindfolded to further assure that she isn't going to cheat, but I can already see that she has taken off the blindfold as soon as she starts counting her Mississippi's. A few feet away, a boy who is wearing a maroon baseball cap scrambles to the blue slide and crawls inside the "cave." As I sit down on the swings nearby, observing at the playful children, a thought crosses my mind.

Maybe it's time to visit the children again.

"Remember that one time when we were playing tag and then you found a puppy?"

Flabbergasted, I turn around to see Katelyn grinning at the children; the girl has already discovered two of the six children that are hiding, and now she's making a beeline to the double slides where the maroon cap boy is currently obscured at. Looks like the boy's about to be found.