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First Meetings

Elise's life wasn't easy by any means and it never had been. Judged for the colour of her skin as she grew up in the streets of England, Elise had to grow a thick skin but when she became a mother, the judging became worse. The stares her daughter received could make even the most hardened criminal squirm but her daughter committed no crime to be stared at like that.

Every night she stared at her daughter as she slept and wept. She wept for the hard life she would have, the judgmental stares and rude words from ignorant people who refused to become open-minded. It was just the two of them, in a dingy one-bedroom flat that sat above a shop in London, she barely managed to afford it from the money from her job but it was better than nothing.

The girl had taken after her biological father the most, with her light brown hair and her tan skin tone but she had her mother's eyes, warm and dark brown.

Elise pressed one last kiss on her daughter's cheek before she shifted to become more comfortable on the bed so that she could go to sleep. She had a long day at work the next day but it was thankfully Friday and hopefully, the weather was nice enough on the weekend so that she could take Maeve to the park.

Work that day was hell for Elise. Her boss was in a fouler mood than usual and decided to take out his frustrations on her. His shouts and glares made her want to curl into a ball and cry but she stayed strong and powered through the day, hoping that he returned to his usual self by Monday but her day at work was now over and she could push it from her mind and focus on getting back to her daughter.

Finding a school that would accept her daughter was tough. She got rejected as soon as they saw her, some of them didn't even bother to even glance at Maeve and it was only after she received rejection after rejection, did she find a place for her daughter. It wasn't a formal school or anything but she found an older black woman who taught children out of her own home and as long as her daughter was taught how to read and write, she couldn't ask for much more.

Saturday had clear skies and the temperature was warm, it was the perfect weather to go to the park. Elise decided to go a couple of hours into the afternoon, hoping that the lunch crowd had died down enough so that her Maeve could run around a play without any fuss.

It was quite astounding to see how children had no problems playing with Maeve until their parents dragged them away, muttering about race and status. The children didn't see her as different or beneath them, simply because she was a different race, to them she was just another child that could play with them but unfortunately, their innocent and open-minded view was tarnished by the ignorant thoughts and opinions of their parents.

Instead of taking them to their usual local park, Elise decided to take Maeve to one in a richer neighbourhood where things were better and she was surprised to find it practically empty, there were two or three other children running around but that was it.

After letting Maeve run off to play, Elise sat herself down on one of the benches and pulled out the book she had slowly been making her way through, making sure to keep an eye out for her daughter.

One moment Maeve was peacefully playing with a little boy and the next, she was calling out for her mother, waving her over to where she was with the little boy and Elise was instantly off the bench and running towards the children.

The little boy fell over and scraped his knee and elbow, obviously a very minor injury but to a five-year-old, it was a big deal. Elise had just finished cleaning his scrapes to the best of her ability when a hand suddenly grabbed the boy and pulled him away from the mother and daughter.

"What do you think you're doing?!" A man, the boy's father, rounded on Elise.

Elise stared at the man in shock and fear, frozen in place. His bright blue eyes bore into her and Elise found herself unable to speak and defend herself.

"Go on then, explain yourself..." The man's voice was low but the threatening tone was loud and clear.

"Hey! Don't be mean to my mummy!"

Elise turned to Maeve in shock, caught off guard by her interruption and a quick glance at the man, showed he was too. The man looked at Maeve in surprise, he had completely missed her presence beforehand when he came storming over.

"She was helping Charlie because he fell!" Maeve explained, pointing to the boy's scrapes.

Charlie -that was the boy's name.

Elise felt utterly embarrassed at the fact that her five-year-old daughter was coming to her defence but it did seem like the man was fully taking in the situation for the first time. His eyes flickered to his son and the scrapes on his knees and to Elise and Maeve.

"Is that true, Charlie?" The man crouched in front of his son and asked him.

Charlie frantically nodded, "Yes dad!"

The man slowly nodded and turned back to Elise, "I apologise, I jumped to the wrong conclusion too quickly."

Elise shook her head, "You don't have to apologise, I understand."

"Dad" Charlie tugged on his father's sleeve, "Can I go back to playing?"

The man nodded causing Charlie to grin and Maeve turned to her mother to ask the same question and Elise quickly nodded, allowing the two children to run off happily.

The man stood up and then offered his hand to Elise but she didn't accept it. She stood up on her own and kept her head lowered and eyes averted, not wanting to cause any more issues with the man. She quickly apologised before she ran off back to her seat on the bench and pointedly kept her eyes away from the man. She was surprised that the man apologised as most people refused to acknowledge their wrong actions but this man did.

When Maeve came running over to her thirty minutes later, Elise felt a sense of relief since she no longer had to be around the frightening man for any longer.

"Did you have a nice time?" she asked her daughter on the walk home.

"Uh-huh!" Maeve exclaimed "Charlie was really fun to play with unlike the other kids"

Elise hummed at her daughter's words, "That's nice"

Judging by Maeve's description of the little boy and her experience with his father, she guessed that the little boy took after his mother instead of his father.