Swing High

1. playtime is over

The sun was shining so brightly as it set that Holly-ann could barely keep her eyes open. Squinting, she scanned the yard looking for her younger sister, wondering where she could be hiding in the quarter acre yard. Holding her left hand over her face to shield her eyes, she yelled her sisters name several times, each time with a little more irritation in her voice. 

"Hazel!" she screamed, "Come out and help me clean up!"

There was no response and Holly-ann turned to the back door of the house behind her, wondering if her mother inside had heard her. She wasn't supposed to yell, but at the moment she need some action from her younger sibling. Judging by the position of the sun, it was nearly time to go back inside, and the table needed set for dinner. Holly-ann sighed, looking around the yard as miscellaneous toys and sticks lay spread out randomly, thrown with abandon as the children had ended playtime with a hide and seek game.  Giving up on Hazel, the 10 year old tucked blonde strands that escaped her ponytail behind her ear and began picking up the toys around her. 

"Holly, Rhi won't help me clean up my toys." A small voice from behind Holly-ann made her turn around and readjust the toys she had picked up in her arms so she could look at the younger child. The 3 year old had darker hair that suggested the soon to be onset of blonde, and had tears beginning to smart at the edges of her eyes. Holly-ann sighed and walked to a small shed-like building in the center of yard, kicking open the old wooden door with her foot since her hands were full. The smaller girl followed closely behind her, her floral print dress caked with mud and her bare feet dyed a little green from the fresh cut grass. 

"Rosa, don't cry. Start cleaning them up yourself, and I'll help you when I'm done, ok?" Holly-ann sorted the toys into their correct places in the shed and turned to look at her sister. She brushed her hands on her dress and looked down at her self, annoyed with the amount of dirt she had collected at the hem. If she could wear pants like a boy, this wouldn't have been a problem. And her bare legs wouldn't be covered in who knows what. Rosa glared at her sister, the solution offered not one that she was satisfied with. Stomping, she exited the shed, slamming the door behind her. 

As Holly-ann put her hands on her hips and looked towards the door with a frown, she heard a clattering noise in the back corner of the shed and slightly jumped. As her eyes readjusted to the light, she saw another one of her siblings crouched in the dark behind a couple of small bikes. The five year old gasped and tried to duck lower, hoping her older sister hadn't seen her. 

Holly crossed her arms and stared in the direction of the deserter. "Macy," she growled angrily, "Get out here and clean up your mess!" Macy quietly got up and then looked at her sister, tears falling and her pale blonde hair going a million different directions. 

"You don't have to yell at me! You are always yelling!" Macy ran for the door, throwing it open and not bothering to close it. Holly-ann rolled her eyes and walked out after her running sister, looking over the yard again, wondering where Hazel and Rei had gone. As she bent down to pick up some of the sticks near the shed entrance, she heard running steps behind her. 

Looking up, she saw Hazel, her reddish-brown hair in messy pigtails on either sides of her head. Holly-ann straightened her back, blue eyes glinting, getting ready to scold her 8 year old sibling for her lack of involvement in Clean Up Time. But she stopped when she saw the look in her sisters blue eyes, identical to her own. 

"Holly", the younger girl whispered with fear, her eyes wide. "Daddy is home early."