The Swing | Short Story

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"Lizzy, you're crazy. We can't go out there!" Tyler pulled his older sister back through the screen door & onto the cool kitchen tile. "Tyler stop it. I just want to go look."  She shook him off of her & walked out onto the back porch. "Momma is going to tear you a new one if she catches you out there." he stood in the safety of the doorframe. "She ain't gonna catch me, as long as you don't tell, and trust me. You ain't gonna tell." He knew his sister was right. He wouldn't rat her out to their mother. She was under enough as it was, he hated bothering her after one of her twelve-hour shifts. "Liz, don't go to the swing!" But it was too late. His sister was halfway across their fields & was headed for the opening trail that leads through the woods. Alone. Tyler looked back & forth from his sister's body getting smaller & smaller the farther she got, & the clock on the kitchen wall counting down the seconds until their mother returned. "Jeez Lizzy. You're gonna get yourself killed." He let the screen door slam shut behind him as he took off down the back steps. He felt the warm earth under his bare feet as he pounded the ground with every step. Almost there. When he got close enough to her he slowed down, she was getting closer & closer to the swing, then finally she stopped. "Tyler, I can hear you." He came out into the opening next to his sister & sighed. "Why can't you listen for once in your life? Momma is going to be home soon. We need to go." He pulled her arm but she fought back. "No! Just stop for a minute! Look." Lizzy grabbed her brother's hand & turned him toward the swing. "Tyler, have you ever wondered why this swing is here? At the very edge of the earth?" He nodded. She sat down in the swing & rocked back & forth. "Daddy used to tell me we lived in an amazing place. He told me that we lived at the end of the earth, & this is where time ends for all of us. It was such a beautiful sight to him, that he put a swing here. When he needed to be alone he would come here, to the end of the earth & swing in this very swing. He told me that there was just something about being held to the earth, but being able to go right off of its edge if you wanted." Tyler took in this information, then sat down next to the swing. After being quiet for a minute, he spoke. "Then why did daddy let go?"