A leap of faith- Rose’s leap from the swing to touch the sky

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this Story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and unintentional.

Rose once more had that uncontrollable urge to let go of the chains and stretch out her hands as much as she could.

Especially when she was so near the sky.

She was sure that if she did stretch out her hands and leaped at the exact moment when she was just near the sky, he would instantly pick her up and she would feel safe once again.

In his protective embrace. In his protective arms.

Rose was on the swing, swinging.

Rose was just eight.

Rose hated the swings.

Rose hated being given a push on the swing.

By Adam, her step-father.

Who used to love to push Rose when she was on the swing so hard that she went higher and higher.

Initially, she had screamed when he had pushed the swing so hard and she had soared so high, but when she realized that her screaming was only making Adam happier, she had gulped down her screams. And of course, her fears. Or at least tried to. Though only she knew how fast her heart used to beat whenever Adam used to give her that huge push.

“Always see the positive side of every challenge, every fear” her father Larry had told her. So implementing his advice, she had decided to enjoy the thrill of the swing, the wind in her hair, the cool breeze on her dress, the sudden surge of emotions that she felt every time she rose higher and higher from the ground, her hands grasping the metal chains of the swing as strongly as they could.

As if her life depended on it. Which in a way, it sure did.

One loose grip and everything would be over for her, Rose knew or thought so for she was a timid, shy and pessimistic girl whom her mother had never bothered to make stronger and bolder. It had been only her father Larry who had taken interest in her and her upbringing. Encouraging her, tutoring her, mentoring her, guiding her. He always had a new motivational thought, an inspiring and uplifting idea to perk up her confidence.

Rose wished that he had lived longer to guide her in life. Or at least to protect her.

But he had gone too soon, leaving Rose with her mom, who always wanted a boy and had always hated the sight of her. Her mother had promptly married her ten years younger secret lover Adam. It was now up to Rose to adjust to the new circumstances or perish. Her mother had taken no special care to make Rose adjust or bond with Adam.

She had just thrust Adam on Rose. Two total strangers. Two unwilling companions. Thrown together by fate and bad luck.

When her mother left for work, her mother used to leave Rose alone at home with Adam. Rose just hated Adam, that wastrel of a guy who did nothing for a living but spent his time watching football matches and drinking free beer throughout the day, while her mother worked two shifts to put food on the table.

Why did she marry Adam in the first place, Rose always wondered, since he was nothing but only an extra mouth to feed?

But when her mother had snapped at her and had asked her roughly ‘to mind her own business’, Rose knew that she had to do just that. 

Mind her own business.

Which she did.

And the shy, lonely girl became lonelier and introverted with each passing day. Holed up in her small unkempt cramped room, watching cartoons or playing with dolls and Legos all afternoon. Evenings were the only delightful phase for her when Adam used to take his dog for a walk and had offered to accompany Rose to the garden to play and had even promised her mother that ‘he will keep an eye on Rose’.

Rose’s mother was more than pleased for she had herself never quite kept an eye on Rose. 

Rose had almost jumped at the idea of playing in the garden. So when Adam had put her on the swing, she had been thrilled!

The cool breeze on her face, the fluttering of her long wavy, blond hair, the ecstasy of the ride, all added excitement to Rose's dull life and routine.

Initially, she had even brushed off those touches as ‘accidental’ or 'mistakes'. But a few days later, when Adam became bolder and his intentions and touches clearer, Rose had started coiling in fear and shame. All of them could not be coincidences! The accidental patting on her naked legs, the lingering arm around her waist, the brush across her chest……….all these cannot be coincidental.

It would be worse on the swing!

Adam would push Rose from behind under the pretense of giving her a huge swing.

But instead of her back, he used to push her bottom. Really hard.

And Rose used to curl inwardly, closing her eyes, wishing the nearby wind would just sweep it away. That awkward moment. That embracing incident.

When it became unbearable for the little girl, she gathered the nerve to complain to her mother about Adam’s inappropriate touches and leering glances. And her mother, drunk on the cheap liquor and smelling awful, had remarked sarcastically “Molest you! Who would like to even touch you, Rose? You horribly ugly girl!” summing up in a single line, all that she thought about her daughter.

More out of humiliation, Rose had dared not breathe a word about it to anyone. And continued bearing everything in silence. His touches. His glares. His boldness. His impudence. His audacity.

Her only hope in life had been her father, but he was away………far, far away…………..up in the sky…….among the stars. That is the only thing that her mother had told Rose when she wanted to know where her dear dead father had gone.

“Up in the sky” her mother had told her that day, puffing a cigarette and pointing up with a beer bottle in hand.

So every evening, when she sat on the swing and Adam, the pest, pushed her bottom roughly, laughing loudly, Rose used to close her eyes and her mind to the happenings around her. To her.

There were times when she used to open her eyes and see that her swing had gone high………very high in the air……..so high that now she could even see that the blue sky was so near her……..that she could almost touch it…….touch the sky… and the tiny stars which would be appearing in the night sky……… and her eyes used to look………and look………and search……trying to find her father amongst the stars!

When Adam would push her swing her too hard, Rose’s swing would almost reach the clear, blue sky……….where her father now lived………. Rose once more had that uncontrollable urge to let go of the swing’s chains and stretch out her hands as much as she could …….. and reach out to her father……………for she was sure that if she did stretch out her hands and leaped at the exact moment when she as so near the sky, her father would be only too pleased to receive her. And he would pick her up instantly and she would feel safe once again! 

In his protective embrace. In his protective arms!