Mollie + Chester

Prologue

There is a girl with long, Rapunzel-like hair. Her eyes are round like saucers and are a mix of colours such as green, blue and brown, and they sit just above her soft round baby fat cheeks flushed with red.
She rides a pink bike with butterflies and silver streamers coming from the handle bars, the wheel spins quickly as she rides across the perfect black road that seems to have no bumps or lumps as she rides so fast.
The wind pushes her hair back off her face and she can see the perfect houses fly past, all evenly spaced, and made with red bricks. All structurally sound. Each house has a little white picket fence and perfectly cut grass.
Fast, heavy footsteps sound behind her from her brother as he runs after her, headphones protruding from his ears, hair flopping up and down.
A woman with greying hair like wire sits in a rocking chair on her front porch watches her son mow her perfect lawns. She waves at the little girl and her brother and the girl brings her hand off the handle bars for a second. The pink handle bars wobble viciously and she grins and readjusts her grip once again.
The pair come to the town park that sits right in the middle of Tamwood and the girl turns off from the road onto the dirt path that has a rocky border on both sides that is parallel all the way down the lake.
The sun flashes over the girl's smiling face as she rides under the blossom tree and a bird sings his song.
In the brilliant crystal blue water of the pond, five fluffy yellow ducks swim after their mother while trying to eat the bread thrown in by laughing kids and their parents.
The bike speeds past the park and the girl hears glimpses of conversations from noisy kids: "You're it!", "Come on the slide Alyssa!", "Muuuum, Kia pushed me off the monkey bars!"
The girl waves to an old lady that sits on the little park bench under a huge blossom tree, this time the handle bars barely wobble. She pumps her legs harder and harder as she rides up the hill and out of the perfect little park.
Along Main Street, the girl smells hot chips and coffees that were being served to ladies in big hats and poofy dresses. Her mouth waters and her stomach growls so she rides a bit faster, imagining the delicious food her mummy would have for her at home.
Her tires screech as she turns around a corner of Main Street and she sees the perfect houses fly past again.
The sun shines brightly and dances across the shining rooves of the houses. The girl's fingers feel frozen due to the wind the embraces her and she smells her mother's fresh cupcakes, cookies and sweet hot chocolate as she approaches home. Behind her, her brother calls out her name but she doesn't slow down. She can hear his footsteps as they gain speed.
Neighbours wave from their lawns at the girl and smile.
Everything is perfect.
Everything was perfect.
The girl feels a sharp pain like a thousand nails sticking into her chest and she lets go of the handle bar with shock. She cries out with pain and her bike topples over.
Her world comes crashing down.
That little girl was me. The sharp pain that felt like a thousand nails stabbing me had a name I hadn't heard before; Cancer.
I was the imperfection in the perfect little town.