Singing Robin (Part 2)

Chapter Ten Snuggles

    'She looked so familiar to me... so innocent, so defenseless, and I did not think about it—a rage built in my mind. I was offended... insulted that they would pick on someone so little. I did not think I reacted to her, but to the timid cry she made... like she was used to it. And I shoved him back. Hard. As hard as I could, but I did not mean to.' I look down at her and then draw her closer and into my embrace.

    "Thank you." She whispers, and I shake my head.

    "You do not have to thank me, Little one," I tell the little kindergartener, and she nods.

    "You just reminded me of someone," I whisper, tracking the conversation between our parents, and she smiles.

    "You too." She agrees, beams at me, and then her smile slowly fades.

    "What is wrong, Diana?" I ask her, and she shakes her head and smiles again.

    "Queenie. I'm Queenie." She proudly tells me, and I smile.

    "Okay, my Queen," I say and then bow, she giggles, then pats my outstretched hand, and I stand up straight.

    "It was nice to meet you," she says earnestly, and I frown. 'That sounds like a goodbye,' she says.

    "What do you mean?" I ask, but our parents are detaching with passing pleasantries. I try to grab her hand again, but she obediently moves toward her now happy-looking mother. I look at my Dad and watch his jaw clench and posterior adjust to show his anger at the interaction, and I look away, not wanting to see his shame at my actions. Diana looks back and waves at me, and my heart speeds up, and I try to shake off the urge to race over and protect the little girl. Instead, I call after her.

    "It was nice to meet you, too!" I tell her, standing by it. My Dad's hand rests on my shoulder, and I lift it, not knowing how he will react.

    "Come along, son," Dad says, and I tense as he leads me further into the school. 'To the angry parents and the smells of blood and pain. Pain I caused.'

                                                                                                           ~

    "Wash up and then meet me at the car," Dad instructs me, and I whisper a 'yes'. He does not get out of the car. He just watches me walk up the steps from the driver's seat. After I have showered and changed, I see he has hardly moved. He is just quietly watching me approach the car. Then he unlocks the doors, and I get in the backseat.

    "I did not mean to." I repeat. 'not knowing what to do. But knowing he is ashamed of me. I broke his rules. I have never broken a rule. Never hurt someone that was not hurting me. I shoved the boy off the platform, and he fell and hit his head... then he did not move. For a moment, I was proud of that, but then I was sick with worry that I had killed him. Seeing him unmoving clicked into my mind that he was just as little as Diana was, not the big evil monster I built him into in my head. He was not innocent in the verbal way he assaulted her, but he was little...small... not moving.' Dad does not say anything. He drives us for a while, then he gets out of the car and comes over to open my door.

    "Come along, Ruwin." Dad instructs, and I look up at the massive building in confusion. 'Is it a prison? I did a bad thing. Is this my punishment?' I look up at Dad, accepting it. He frowns and then motions for me to follow him, and we enter a sterile room with barely any other scents but one of cleanliness. I frown, 'I do not understand.' We keep walking until we reach a counter, and my Dad converses with the health administrator, and she smiles at me and then at him. I watch her, and she motions for us to follow him, making my Dad give her a grateful look and then tell her something that makes her blush and nod. My ears pop, and I touch them, not even having noticed the world was quiet for a spell. Was Dad speaking to me? Did I ignore him? I look up at him expecting to see shame still on his face, but he rests his hand on my shoulder and leads me down the hall, the attendant motioned to. And we walk until we stop in front of a big window. And I blink... deeply confused.