TARGET [Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction]

Prologue Part 2 : Every story must have an ending

The world was spinning around and around so much that Tina thought she was going to be sick. She held onto the handles of the roundabout as tight as she could as her friend continued to push it around at an alarming speed. It was a burning hot summers day, the hottest Tina had ever known. Her mother had insisted she go out and play with her friends in the park, to get out of the house, and to let her mother and father have some quiet time alone to talk. "Be sure to come back before dinner dear. I don't want you to get hungry", Lily said, kissing her daughters head as she eagerly rushed towards the front door. Tina rushed out of the house, running down the pavement along the road in the direction of the park. When she got to the street corner, she turned around and saw her mother standing in the doorway, waving at her, before blowing her a kiss. Tina waved back, before continuing to run down the street, her home disappearing from view.

The park was only around the corner, but it didn't stop Tina from running all the way there. She pulled open the gate and called to her friends who were busy playing on the climbing equipment. Tina had never been one for heights, and she had never been able to pluck up the courage to climb the scary looking wooden tower as it reached to the heavens. She gingerly tried to climb up the steep slope, grasping the rope tightly as she placed her feet into the footholds. One step, two step, three steps high Tina was able to climb before she accidentally glanced beneath her and saw the ground very far below. Her breathing quickened, her hands became slippery as she held onto the rope, freezing on the spot as she looked down. "Tina, come on", her friends chuckled to her, laughing as they popped their head over the edge to look down at her, reaching out their hand to her. She looked up, panic in her eyes at her friend as she struggled to stay calm. "Just let go and take my hand", they said, reaching down to her. She took a massive deep breath, and let go of the rope, trying to grasp onto her friends hand. Tina managed to grab hold, but her fingers were struggling to get a secure grip, slipping with the sweat of fear. "I'm slipping!", Tina cried alarmed, trying to reach onto something to hold, anything, as the rope had now moved out of her reach. Her friend tried to pull her up, but her hand slipped through, and Tina screamed as she fell.

Landing on her back on the sandy ground, Tina burst into tears in both shock and pain. She never liked heights, and now she never would as she looked up into the surprised eyes of her betrayed friend. "You let me fall!", Tina screamed at her, before getting up and running away to the far side of the park, taking refuge inside the shade of the roundabout. Crying uncontrollably, she tried to calm herself down after the panic and shock she had experienced. Tina suffered from vertigo, so struggled when up high, but being young she never fully understood what it was; she thought she had something wrong with her that doctors couldn't fix. Even when she was younger, she had tried to climb up on top of the furniture in the house, with gentle encouragement and support from her mother to try and help her overcome it. It had taken a while, but she had finally managed to conquer climbing to the highest point in the house, on top of her parent's bed, but now, she couldn't even bring herself to climb up the small 3 meter climbing frame in the park.

"Tina?", her friend whispered coming to sit down beside her. "Go away", Tina muttered, burying her face into her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you fall. I couldn't hold onto you any longer", she said honestly, putting a friendly arm around her. Tina wiped the tears away and looked into the face of her friend who smiled back. "Hey, lets play on the roundabout", her friend squealed seeing that she had managed to bring a smile back to Tina's face, leaping to her feet. "Okay", Tina chuckled, sitting up and grasping onto the handles beside her, already forgetting the accident like it had never happened. Her friend then ran around and around with her, pushing the metal roundabout as fast as it would go, leaving Tina screaming and laughing at the immense speed and thrill of it.

By now the sun was beginning to turn the sky crimson, as several hours had passed without the girls even paying full attention to the time. "Oh, I need to get back home", Tina suddenly realised, noticing the time on her small watch. She quickly said goodbye to her friend and rushed out of the park, running back home; she didn't want to be late for tea. Tina noticed as she approached the house that all the lights were on, and that several cars were parked outside the house, one being the local doctors car. We must be having visitors around for tea, Tina thought as she approached, the smell of burnt cooking wafting down the road. She was a little puzzled as to why the front door of the house was left wide open, but a strongly build gentleman in a black suit stood near the doorway, and stopped his phone conversation as Tina approached. He nodded his head towards her, and she thought that he must be someone who worked for her father, as he always had men like him coming around the house, much like the young man and the other two guys who were around the other night.