Chapter 2: Prologue II
Mai's eyes widened and a smile formed on her lips when she saw the downhill road unfolding before her. Young children always love to go downhill, like a big slide for them. Without thinking, Mai immediately galloped down the downhill road ignoring Karina's warning. Mai laughed and Karina just shook her head with her hands on her hips behind her. The little feet had just stopped running when the corners of their round eyes caught something more interesting, in a playground. She turned to her cousin, who was still walking with her friends, waiting for her sister to catch up with her.
"Ka... Ka... Let's play there," she said while pointing to the playground filled with various children's games. Mai likes to play in the park. Almost every day she plays there.
"We have to go home, Mai, it's already late," said Karina refusing.
"We play tomorrow, okay?" Karina said.
"Just a moment, Ka. I still want to play," Mai said sulkily. Karina was silent then turned to her friends.
"Let's just play first, Ka," said one of them, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the whining of the youngest little girl among them. Karina pursed her lips, her eyes rolled and she smiled and nodded.
Mai immediately ran again, this time into the playground, again ignoring her cousin's calls and warnings until Karina finally caught up and grabbed her hand.
"Don't run Mai, you'll fall," she said with a look of displeasure.
It seems Karina is angry because Mai has ignored her warning.
Mai looked down, feeling guilty.
"Okay, Ka," she said.
Mai knew that Karina didn't mean to be angry with her. Karina is just worried because sometimes Mai likes to be careless and ends up hurting herself.
"Can I play?" Mai asked while pointing at the swing in the garden.
"Yes, but be careful," said Karina.
Mai nodded, her sad face turned cheerful again. She immediately approached the swing she was pointing at earlier, leaving Karina and her friends who seemed to be busy themselves.
Mai's tiny footsteps stopped when she saw a boy sitting quietly on the swing she was interested in while enjoying ice cream. The child was the child she had seen in the big house earlier. Mai watched the child licking his ice cream voraciously, it seemed delicious. Mai so wanted ice cream, without realizing Mai was getting closer to the child and now standing in front of him, making the child aware that there was someone nearby, he lifted his head.
"What are you looking at?" he said, annoyed.
She watched the boy closely. His hair was dark brown and reddish from the afternoon sun. His skin was pure, too pure for a boy. His eyebrows are thick, his eyes are big round, and brown like his hair, his eyelashes are long and curly, his nose is sharp and his lips are pink. This child even looks beautiful as the dolls in Mai's room.
"Want?" he asked as he handed him his ice cream. Mai was just silent, remembering her mother's message that she was not allowed to accept gifts from strangers. The boy took something from the plastic bag he was carrying.
"I have two but this one is strawberry flavored," he said as he held up a pink ice-cream wrapper. Mai's eyes widened, she almost drooled.
"I like strawberries," Mai said innocently. More precisely, Mai likes strawberry ice cream.
The little boy smiled, handed the ice cream he was holding, Mai quickly took the ice cream. Without speaking she also sat on the swing that was next to the swing the boy was riding on and started eating her strawberry ice cream. For a moment the two children seemed to be competing to see who could finish the ice cream the fastest. The boy finished his ice cream first while Mai's ice cream was still half. The ice cream dripped onto Mai's clothes, her face was also smudged. The boy laughed seeing it.
"You little child, just eat smudged," he said mockingly.
Mai pouted, she didn't like being called a child even though she was still a child.
The boy is also a child even though he is taller than her and Maibe a little older than her but it seems that the boy is not older than Karina, her cousin. Mai hastily finished her ice cream so it wouldn't melt and dirty her clothes too, so the boy wouldn't make fun of her anymore.
"Wanna play with me?" the boy asked her after she finished eating the ice cream and threw the wrapper in the trash. Her mother always taught her cleanliness, trash should be thrown away.
Mai was silent hearing the child's words.
"Want to play with me?" Said the boy by repeating the question. Mai glanced briefly at Karina who was still engrossed in playing and didn't care about her. Mai nodded.
Moments later, Mai and her new friend were seen playing on the swing together, joking, laughing, competing quickly who could swing higher. Of course, the boy won. Mai was too afraid to swing her swing high, she was afraid of falling.
Her new friend suddenly stopped his swing. Mai thought the boy was tired of playing but it turned out that the boy was standing on the swing. A mischievous smile formed on his face. Mai immediately shook her head in disapproval.
"Don't... My father said you shouldn't be like that. Later, you can fall," said Mai with a warning
"It's okay, I want to fly," said the boy.
"Help me push," he asked.
Mai shook her head, feeling scared.
"I'll give you more ice cream, later," coaxed her new friend.
Mai's eyes immediately lit up and she nodded, Mai would never refuse strawberry ice cream. Mai hesitantly pushed the swing that her new friend was riding on, the swing was heavy at first but when she had swung it felt light. The boy laughed happily, not at all scared while Mai was tense but what can she do, this is for strawberry ice cream.
"Faster....!" Said the boy.
"What?" Mai said.
"Faster....!" He says it back.
"You'll fall," Mai said.
"I won't." Said the boy.
Mai rolled her eyes, half-heartedly obeying the orders of the boy she had only just met a few minutes ago. The little girl ignored her inner voice, her father's rules, her cousin's message. But later she regretted that her uncomfortable feelings had turned real, her new friend suddenly slipped and fell. Mai shrieked in fear, she closed her eyes, unable to see.
Oh, God... He fell... He fell...
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Mai faintly heard the noise of the people around her. What happened? me why?
Mai slowly opened her eyes, her head was a little dizzy, her body ached, her hands and feet felt stiff... No, not stiff but shaking. She felt like she wanted to cry.
Why? She found herself lying on the ground. Why am I lying here?
If mom finds out, she'll be mad. Earlier, Mai had soiled her clothes with ice cream, now with dirt. She's in trouble.
"Mai, are you all right?" Karina said, her voice sounded worried.
Mai immediately woke up and looked confused at Karina and her friends who looked back at her with worried faces. She looked around her in a daze and found the boy who had been playing with her was now lying on her left side. The boy's eyes were closed, his body was motionless and blood was pouring out of his injured head. Mai had never seen that much blood, the red liquid made Mai's head dizzy, her stomach was queasy and cold sweat dripped down her body, followed by a hysterical scream from her little lips.
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In a bedroom, in a simple house not far from the playground, a woman in her thirties crouched down in front of a little girl, her shoulders shaking, her trembling hands tightly gripping the shoulders of the little girl in front of her. Her eyes glazed over at the little girl. The little girl in front of her just looked down while crying.
"Tell me, Mai ..." She said for the umpteenth time.
"Is it true that you pushed the child? Was it you who did it?" Mai's mother said.
Mai shook her head, her face terrified, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Don't lie to me! Tell me the truth, Mai... You pushed her... You pushed her, didn't you..! What are you doing, Mai? What have you done?!" Her mother's voice rose as if to yell at her.
Mai didn't answer, she didn't shake her head anymore, she just cried. Her head was lowered, even more, not daring to look at the face of the woman in front of her. Her mother kept shaking her tiny body until Mai felt sick. The woman screamed, almost being rude but stopped when another woman suddenly appeared and pulled her away. The little girl curled up again, hugging her tiny body tightly. Sobs and cries are still don't stop.
While outside there was a commotion, people were shouting at each other, cursing at each other. Mai covered her ears, her body trembled, her cries grew louder.
Afraid... She was afraid, those people were looking for her, they would take her away. They blamed her, Mai had made a mistake, an unforgivable mistake.
"I'm sorry, mother ...," She said softly then everything was suddenly quiet, dark.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
awisantoni
awisantoni Another chapter. Let me know on anything you guys feel like I can do better. Also, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day :)
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