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She's seven.
She may be young, but she's not dumb. She knows they don't care about her. She can see it in their eyes and the way they ignore her. She's tried to get their attention by being good in school, cleaning up her room, being a good daughter... But it wasn't enough.
She's not enough.
So they don't need her. Fine. Perfect. She doesn't need them either.
Who needs a family anyways? Especially one that doesn't care about them, or even acknowledge their existence. She can be on her own just fine. She's smart. She wouldn't get all those gold stars in school if she wasn't. So she can figure something out.
But the fact that it's been nearly half a day and they still haven't gone looking for her hurts. She's sitting underneath the large junglegym at the park, her favourite spot, right under the slide. It's nice because there are these metal walls that kids have drawn pictures on throughout the years. She's drawn one herself. A small owl placed in the right hand corner. She frowns when she remembers who helped her draw it in the first place.
It's starting to rain. Parents are yelling for their children to come quickly before they get soaked. She doesn't mind. The slide and walls protect her from the cold wind and water. Besides, she kinda likes the rain. It reminds her of better times. Of when her father would read to her on the porch and they'd sip hot chocolate together while they'd watch the droplets fall from the sky.
The thought makes her lips tremble.
Before she knows it, she's crying. She never cries. Not even when she fell off her bike and scraped her knee. Or when that mean girl Clarisse pushed her into the mud.
Stop crying. Just stop.
She can't. And as the rain falls harder, so do her tears.
"Are you okay?"
She jumps at the sound of a new voice. She turns to find a boy. He's kneeling beside her with a worried look on his face.
He looks around her age. He's shorter than her with black hair sticking to his forehead from the rain. Some of the strands fall into his eyes which makes her think he needs a haircut. His cheeks are a little chubby and his eyes are big and wide. It looks like he's impersonating a baby seal. Except his eyes are some sort of green colour that she can't quite place.
She likes his eyes.
But she doesn't like the fact that he found her crying. She also doesn't like to look weak in front of people, especially boys. The boys at her school would never let her play any sports with them because she was a girl, which made her angry. She's not a fan of the male gender.
