One Shots 'The nursery nurse'

A fine line

"This is ridiculous!"

Autumn dropped her bag on the grass next to Marjorie. "Well, you wanted to do team building in nature. Maybe you shouldn't have told my father."

Marjorie binged her nose bridge.

They were somewhere in the middle of nowhere. When she had come to Roger to ask for a bonding session between her and Autumn so they could be better managers. She hadn't meant to be abandoned by a forest.

Well, at least there was a firepit and a toilet block.

Autumn started to set up the tent.
"It's going to be a nice night, Marjorie. we'll be best friends afterwards," she said sarcastically.

Marjorie, on the other hand, started collecting wood for the fire. After the two of them had completed their tasks. They began to settle down.

The flint cracked again and again. Sparks flew.

The flames grew larger, and Autumn sat back on a log by the fire. Marjorie sat opposite her, also on a log.

"We're supposed to evaluate each other on this paper," she murmured and handed it to Autumn.

"We don't have to do that, Marjorie."

" What else are we supposed to do? We don't have any service here, so let's do what we're here for. Team building! Just write what you think and we'll just burn it afterwards."

After a while, the two of them had written their paper and handed it back to the other.

"Aloof and cold, how original," Autumn said sarcastically.

Marjorie was done. She was cold. It was dark and damn scary, and she prepared herself for the backache she would have tomorrow after a night in the tent.
" You know what, Autumn! I don't understand it! You come from a rich family and have a father who shoved everything up your arse! And yet you're.... a bitch!"

The dark-haired just raised her eyebrow. "Is that supposed to hurt me?" She was now staring directly into the flames." Yes, I was a rich girl who got everything from her daddy. When I was quiet. And only spoke when spoken to. When I lived the perfect image."

Now Marjorie immediately felt bad. " Autumn I... I'm sorry... "

" It's okay. I've put all that behind me."

Marjorie now decided to look at her note, which Autumn had written.

Everything was normal except the last word. Which was there without explanation.

Suicidal

" Are you kidding me! I'm not suicidal!"

But Autumn crossed her arms. " Really?. What happened last year when you threw yourself in front of the guy who tried to rob us? Or when you provoked an alcoholic, aggressive father until he hit you? And who can forget the time you ran back into the burning nursery because you forgot something?"

" That was recklessness!"

" Recklessness? Marjorie, I know what suicidal behaviour looks like. Maybe you're not actively hurting yourself. But you're being reckless with your life. Every normal person runs away from danger. You, on the other hand, look for it."

Marjorie just stared at her.

"You're standing on a thin line between life and death, just waiting for fate to steer you in one direction. And I can see why you're like this. Our parents aren't as different as you think."

Useless
Worthless
Waste of space

Those were her mum's words. Which still buzzed around in Marjorie's head today.

Was Autumn right? Was she being so careless with her life?

"My father always told me and my brother that we were worth nothing. Those words didn't hurt me as much as they did Reece... He was like that too. Always looking for danger."

"Got it better?"

Autumn nodded. "We've cut our father out of our lives... Well, as best we could."

Marjorie looked at the paper and threw it into the flames.

"I was a thorn in my mum's side my whole life. My father died early. She remarried. But I was a reminder of her old life. A walking image of my father."

Autumn looked at her sympathetically. " I know what that feels like. I look like my mum. My father took every opportunity to remind me of that. Marjorie, we mustn't hold on to the past and ruin the present. Please always remember that you are needed. So stop putting yourself in danger."

The two of them spent the rest of the night around the fire, sharing stories.

Marjorie always believed that she and Autumn were two completely different people. But in many ways they shared the same suffering.

The team-building exercise was a success after all.