fragile

16

10 years later:

"Can you push me?"

"What do you say, Kelsey?"

She sheepishly smiled up at Mira. "Can you please push me, Miss?"

Satisfied with her answer, Mira replaced the frown on her face with a gentle smile.

"Of course I will," the raven-haired woman replied. She went to stand behind the swing she was seated on and pulled the seat back up to her chest before letting it go.

Kelsey squealed with delight as she began to soar through the air. "Higher, Miss!"

"If I push you any higher then you might fall off."

"Please?"

"No honey, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay, fine." She sulked but then smiled a second later. "But please keep pushing me!"

As soon as those words left her mouth, a few other kids from the sandpit nearby ran over. There was one other swing that a little boy took, and so the others stood by watching instead.

"Miss," one kid with a finger in his mouth spoke timidly, "can I have a go now?"

"But I just got on!" Kelsey whined in protest. Mira smiled calmly at the boy that now yanked at the bottom of her shirt.

"Max, you'll get your turn in a second. Just wait, honey."

And wait he did. She let out an internal sigh of relief; she was lucky that they were being patient and obedient that day.

It was always a good day when she didn't have to gently scold a child from doing things they weren't supposed to. Seeing their sad faces always brought her mood down and made her feel as if she was the wicked witch of the west.

The kids could be unpredictable as they were children after all, but that's one thing she loved about her job.

Her life had been horrible. Unstable jobs and loneliness always plagued her life but she was glad she made the decision to go back to college to study specifically to become a kindergarten teacher.

It was tough but took her mind off of things that really didn't need to be thought of.

The events from high school always haunted her: she was never left alone. The video on Facebook may have been years ago but it was never forgotten. Every year there would be new comments and bullying remarks.

Everything that had happened in her high school years found new ways to taunt her. At one point she even began to believe people when she was called a slut.

She wasn't on any social media anymore but a part of her wanted to know if she was still a target.

And she was.

She never stopped being one.

Her profile had been deleted but it didn't stop the physical bullying. Her house wasn't egged like in the movies, but people went so far as to throw rocks in the window to taunt her.

They wrote slut and other vulgarities on the front door and on the windows. She couldn't go out of her house without fearing that she would be assaulted.

After her mum passed away, Mira left school a few weeks later. She couldn't pay the fees herself, even with the two jobs she had ended up taking.

She settled in the country for a couple of years to start afresh and then moved back to the city so she could start working where she currently was.

Though it had been years, high school and the people in it had made her into the person she was.

Vulnerable, broken, scared of life.

It affected her in ways she never thought was possible.

It always found ways to haunt her. And she had learnt long ago that what most people said were right: the things people put on the internet would always be permanent and it could never be erased; it wasn't as simple as pressing a delete button or even saying sorry.

She always tortured herself by going back to the things kids did and said when they were younger.

But she couldn't stop what had become a habit.

A tug from down below caused her to blink rapidly. Mira looked around; she was still at the kindergarten, but she had stopped pushing Kelsey. The kids were looking up at her with wide, innocent eyes.

"Miss, can I have a turn now?"

With a sigh and a forced smile, she nodded. "Of course, Max."

One thing was for sure: Mira was broken.