Their Playground

Chapter 2

After her conversation with her mother, Kim could not get Thomas off her mind. He had left when she was thirteen, and she was nearly eighteen now. She had not seen him in five years.

Kim felt horrible. She used to think of him all the time, longing to visit him and see him once more. They had even made plans to meet up once, though Kim had been forced to cancel at the last minute due to a high fever. But he had gradually slipped from her memory. This was the first time in at least a year, possibly even two or three, that she had thought of him at all.

Did he ever think of her? Kim guessed that he did. He was always thoughtful; he wasn't the type to forget about one of his best friends. Kim, on the other hand, was terribly forgetful. It had proved to be a problem at school, especially with homework and tests, though she still managed to get everything done without too much trouble. But forgetting about schoolwork was nothing at all compared to forgetting her best friend. That made her feel even worse about it.

After fifteen minutes had gone by, Kim accepted that she would not get any studying done that night and shut her notebook. She still had a little while before her exams; there would be other times to study. Instead, she decided to go help her mother with her cooking.

On the way to the kitchen, Kim noticed several photo albums scattered across the dining room table, presumably where her mother had been looking through them. As if drawn by an invisible string, she slowly walked over to them and flipped open the first one.

At the sight of the familiar smiling face, Kim felt another tug at her heart. This was the first time she had seen Thomas's face in years, though she was sure he had changed quite a bit in the years since this photograph had been taken.

He was in a disproportionate number of pictures, for somebody who wasn't technically part of the family. And she was right next to him in every single one of them.

Kim and Thomas pushing each other on the swings. Kim and Thomas making castles in the sandbox. Kim and Thomas racing each other on the slides. Kim and Thomas running around their playground, laughing.

Their playground. That was the backdrop of most of their pictures, actually. They had spent a lot of time playing there as children. Their playground had been so important to them back then. Maybe their playground had lost some of its meaning for him, since he lived so far away now, but she realized now that it hadn't for her. It still symbolized all of the memories they had formed together, in both the good and the bad times.

Of course, there were also many pictures that weren't taken at their playground.

There was the one of their school play in kindergarten. They had put on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She had been Mama Bear, and he'd been Papa Bear. To be honest, Kim, always the animal lover, had only wanted the part because she loved bears. And he had only wanted his part because he thought he would get to play with Kim during the play since they were in all the same scenes. Imagine his surprise when he learned that he wasn't allowed to talk when he wasn't delivering his lines! And his face when he learned that Mama Bear and Papa Bear were married? Kim would never forget it. It was absolutely priceless.

Another picture was from the time they went to the state fair together. They must have been around 10 years old then. Kim was holding a stick of bright blue cotton candy, and Thomas was holding an empty ice cream cone. He had strawberry ice cream smeared all around his mouth. Kim couldn't help but laugh, remembering what a messy eater he used to be. Why, he could even eat some M'n'Ms and end up with chocolate smeared around his lips! He had tried several times to explain to Kim what incredible talent that required, but she never bought it.

Then there was a picture from Kim's first spelling bee in which Thomas was holding her hand. She had been awfully nervous before the competition had started, and in an attempt to calm her nerves, he had reached out and grabbed her hand. It had worked; she had begun to feel more confident than before. And neither of them had thought anything of holding hands, until one of Thomas's older brothers gave him a hard time about it after the bee.

Kim closed the album with a slam. She had seen enough. These photographs had convinced her that there was something she needed to do.

Returning to her room, she quickly found a small envelope, a purple pen, and her address book. She opened the address book and flipped to the correct entry. Then she began filling out the envelope. With a shaking hand, she wrote two words: Thomas Grey.