As you walked around the park, you found the swings. You run your hand along the worn out plastic seat and admired it. It was a dark green and dirty. It had scratch marks all over, from kids messing around by carving their names and random lines into it.
You sat down in the seat and gripped the plastic covered chains. The plastic was torn so much, it was almost entirely off the chain. You looked ahead of you and saw you were facing the forest. You always thought it was beautiful, and the stories didn't make a difference about it. You started to swing your legs so you use what the set was made for.
As you used the swings, you stared at the forest, wondering what kind of plants and animals resided inside. You swung yourself higher and higher, you close your eyes and start going through your childhood in your mind. Every birthday, every present, every holiday. As you remember every happy face you saw everyday, you start to tear up at the thought of them loosing their smiles because of you.
You had always loved laughter and fun. You remember your unhealthy diet of candy and sweets and sigh. You'll have to give that up during chemo, you thought for sure. You knew one place you'd definitely want to go before everything ended. The carnival. You'd eat every fattening food imaginable and go on every ride, even the little kid ones. You laughed at yourself, imagining a 17-year-old on a ride meant for someone 10 years younger.
You felt like you were suddenly being watched and opened your eyes. You slowed down the swing to a stop and scanned the park. You couldn't find anyone but as you looked forward again, towards the forest, you saw sudden movement.
You got scared for a moment, thinking it could be someone bad. You shook that thought away. There's no way, because you would've heard their footsteps come, you thought to yourself. Then you start to think that it could've been an animal, curious at what you were doing.
Getting up from the swing, you slowly walked over to the forest, unsure of what it could be. You haven't gotten anything to lose so why not go for it? You thought to yourself. As you got closer to the forest line, you see something staring at you. Trying to see better, you lean forward. It didn't help much but it did give you the shape of it. It was pretty big, with long arms. It looked like a bear except skinnier. You never remember hearing about bears in here so you wondered what it was doing here.
Right when you touched the line going from man to nature, the beast sprints away towards the center of the woods. You were startled at first, but you calmed down. Thinking it was time to go, you walked back to your car and got into the driver's seat. You turned the key, bringing the machine to life. Looking at the time, you saw it was around dinnertime. You sighed. Your parents are probably wondering where you are right now, so you pulled away from the park and drove home.
