Randomish Story # 1: Ruining Childhoods
By: Kara Windof

Based on a true story...

The perpetually spinning wheels of both bicycles came to a halt as Keelah Gelliams and Kara Windof rode their bikes into the grassy stretch of the five-block park.
Next to them, a massive, plastic playground structure stood, enclosed in woodchips with a wooden boundary. The tan and pine hued set was built only several weeks earlier, having replaced a rickety old wooden one.
The two fourteen year olds found themselves here on this early Friday afternoon, one of many in the endless summer of 2001. They'd had nil to do to occupy themselves, so they'd decided to meet for lunch and ride around on their bikes for a while. It was a sunny and radiant day with a blistering heat and scarcely any breeze whatsoever. The scenery, on all aspects, was beautiful; the weather was not.
Kara got off her bike, taking a sip of the soda pop she held in one hand.
"I spilled this shit all over me on the way over here!" the brunette complained examining the red pop stains all over her hands and arms. "I'm never riding with a can of pop again!"
Keelah laughed at her friend's demise. "Sounds like a decent plan to me." The blonde parked her bike on the dirt under the shade of a vast oak tree. Kara, too, hit the kickstand of her own bike, but it sank into the dirt a second later and consequentially toppled over.
Both girls gawked at the fallen bike silently for a moment before Kara shrugged half-heartedly.
"Meh." she retorted, walking away.
The brunette wandered over to the swingset aimlessly and lazily plopped into one of the two swings there that wasn't broken. The playground might be brand new, but the swingset had been there since the 80's.
Keelah, who was lagging considerably behind her friend, made as if to head for the other swing which was two swings away from Kara's. However, when the blonde was no more than five feet away, a small girl, possibly six years old- at the most- ran up to the swing and snatched it away.
Keelah paused, stunned, and shot a reproachful glare at the young child who pretended not to notice. As the child swung higher, Keelah glanced at Kara, giving her that 'what-the-Hell-is-she-thinking?!' look. No one- NO ONE- fucked with Keelah like that, especially not some pansy-ass pint-sized person.
A smirk crawled it's way onto Kara's face and the only thing that stopped Keelah from screaming at the girl and pushing her off the swing was Kara's presence. The ticked off blonde was ready to go off, but she held herself back after seeing Kara's pleading eyes.
A moment later, the swing came to a halt and the child hopped off, skipping over to the playset to find something new and interesting to do, though she'd only been on the swing about two minutes. But, apparently, two minutes out of Keelah Gelliam's life were two minutes too many... With barely a second thought, the blonde stalked over to the slide where the six year old already was.
Kara's smirk vanished and she jumped off the swing, rushing after the always-unpredictable Keelah.
"No, no, no, Keelah. Keelah, stop." Kara waved her arms back and forth frantically. "Keelah, the little girl's mom is sitting on that bench right over there. Uhh... She's just a little kid... She didn't mean it like that!"
"Chill out K-Bear. I won't do anything I'll regret tomorrow morning." The blonde seated herself not six feet from where the small girl was playing. Kara followed her friend onto the grated, plastic platform, her face already buried in her hands. Was she actually letting Keelah do this?
"Hey Bear-" Keelah began, speaking loudly so the child could hear her. "Don't you remember how bad you felt when you found out Santa Claus didn't exist?"
Out of the corner of her eyes, Kara saw the young girl freeze in her steps.
"And when you found out that the Easter bunny, and the Tooth Fairy were fake too? That they were all just made up and your parents were lying to you all along? I mean, didn't you feel really shitty? Like everyone was lying to you?"
'She just won't stop!' Kara thought, but still, she was forced to use all she had to keep from laughing out loud.
"Oh yeah..." Kara answered reluctantly. "I remember... I was... devastated."
"Ohh, yes." the blonde agreed. "I know I was. In fact, I'm still not quite over it-"
"Oh God..." Kara shook her head. 'How long was Keelah going to let this go on?'
The duo of teens stared at each other silently, anticipating the girl's reaction. Then it came... She whimpered. Actually whimpered, and dashed over to the lady on the bench, sobbing quietly.
Kara stifled a laugh then cut it, glaring at Keelah. "What did you do that for?!"
"Meh. That bitch had it coming."
"Keelah!" The mother was trying her best to reassure and comfort her daughter but she didn't steal any glances at either teenage girl... yet.
"Keelah, I think it's time we make our hasty exit." Kara suggested.
"What? Why? She stole *my* swing!" Kara grabbed Keelah's arm and dragged the blonde towards their bikes while she squirmed in protest. "Come on Bear! We did a good thing today! I'll bet she never steals anyone's swing again!"
"I'll bet she never believes a word her mother tells her anymore!"
"Bonus!" Keelah cheered.
Kara shook her head again as the two climbed on their bikes and cut across the grass to get to the sidewalk.
The blonde teenager sat up higher in her seat after that, somewhat proud of her non-eloquent behavior in some twisted way.
"You know, you probably ruined a child's life today?" The brunette called back to her friend.
Keelah rode up next to her friend, winked, and smiled keenly. "Wasn't that the point?"

Fin.

*~* You like? Nein? Eh, whatever. Yes that actually happened, though I exaggerated it a bit. Read and review pweeze. *~* Karebear *~*