Forged in the Flames

NALANI

Mum dropped me off at school early because she says she has to travel out of town for a meeting. She's an um... What does she call it again? A...a realtor! Yes, she's a realtor. I think that means she sells houses and that's why she's out of town because she has to sell a house. So I'm here at my new school, Central City Elementary School. I like it, it's a lot bigger than my last school and a lot prettier too. Since I'm super early, I decide to take a proper walk around before other kids arrive. I honestly don't want to run into them. I mean those mean girls from yesterday, the ones who were mean to the girl with dark hair. I'm not scared of them but the person in my head tells me it's better to not have anything to do with them at all. As I walk through the hallway leading to the pool room, I wonder how eight year olds could be so mean.

I walk around for almost an hour and by the time I get back to class lots of people are in school. Dark hair girl is there. She's dressed in a pretty off the shoulder top and I have no idea what she paired it with. Her pretty dark hair is fully and flowing about her shoulders. I want to be friends so I walk up to her. 'Hello, my name is Nalani. Can I sit next to you?'

She looks up at me with wide hazel eyes that sit beautifully in her face, her lips form a small full and pink shape as she says 'Oh, um. I guess her voice is pretty too. It doesn't sound too shrill. It's just the right sound, at least right now.

'What's your name?' I ask her and yet again. She looks surprised to have asked.

'Amber' I laugh and she sits there and stares at me. I move closer to her and tuck my brown hair behind my ears and look closely at her. It takes her a minute to see it then her pretty hazel eyes widen in realisation then she takes my hands and squeals 'You have amber eyes!'

'And your name is Amber,'

'OMG! That's so weird. Nala, let's be friends. We're both Ambers'

'Sure, I came here to be friends with you. I saw what those mean girls did and I didn't like it. I think you're pretty and your hair too. It smells like strawberries. Those girls aren't very smart or they'd have seen how pretty you are.

She gasps 'My Dad said the same thing.'

Just then the first bell goes off so I quickly add 'Your daddy is smart.'

At recess, Amber and I sit together which is cool because now I don't feel so much like the new kid and Amber doesn't need to worry about not being accepted at the mean girls' table. That feeling sucks, everybody keeps staring and whispering "who is she?" "Is she the new kid?" like I can't hear them. Right on cue, a redheaded boy whispers 'Hey Tom, the new kid' and at this point, I feel I have to say something so I turn around and let him know he can speak loudly cos I heard him anyway and watch him blush in mortification.

AMBER

I'm having a lot of fun and it's because Nalani decided to sit with me today. She's very nice and bold and I like her a lot. I'm a tiny bit afraid though. Okay, very afraid that she only came to sit with me today because Tanya and her friends were mean to me yesterday and that I'll be alone again after today or that she'll not like me as much as I like her. She's a princess. She's very nice and smart, I know that because we sat through classes together. I want to have a sleepover with her but I need to be sure she wants to be friends first.

'Nala?' We're clearing up after P.E. She hums her response without looking at me and I feel my heart skip. Is she tired of me already? Why did she respond like that? 'Nala, I just wanted to ask if we could be friends. We met just today but I think you're nice and fun and I want to be friends if you want to be.' Nothing, she's just staring at me with a weird look on her face. Oh no. 'I can have sleepovers at my house' I add softly with a nonchalant shrug.

'I thought we were friends already, Amber.' Oh. I had no idea. I'm so happy, I throw my arms around her neck and hug her. 'Thank you so much Nala. I'm so happy.' She hugs me back 'I think you're cool to Amby...' I smile at the nickname '...and you didn't cry when those girls were mean to you yesterday. I liked that and you really smell like strawberries.' I have found my best friend whose eyes are the same colour as my name. We're both Ambers.

'Okay, Amber let go. I can't breathe.' I release her when I feel her start to squirm but I take her hand instead. 'Let's go. I'm not sure I'm going to let go of you ever again. We're best friends for life.'

'You got it. BFFs forever!' She links her hand through mine and we leave the gymnasium.

GWEN

'Finally, the balcony is this way please Sir, Ma'am.' I say leading them out to the balcony. These clients are particularly tiring. If they weren't so cute, I'd probably be very upset but as much I don't have much faith in love and romance, they're cute so I can ignore the time wasted in giggles and smooches. 'The view from here is very nice, especially at night.' I have to raise my voice to get their attention. 'And since the premises itself is beautiful and well-kept, it's even more beautiful. You can have a romantic candle lit dinner here, it's wide enough to even have an outdoor movie night if you decide not to use the cinema downstairs or you really just and enjoy nature while reading a book or something. It's ideal for newlyweds who'd want to spend a lot of time together.' I smile brightly, genuinely even. I see that they're entirely smitten with each other and I saw the ring on her finger. It's beautiful and it's a strong selling point. When the lady smiles and looks at her soon-to-be husband, I know I've made a great sale.

'It's beautiful, all of it. And the lady loves it a lot. I do too. It's so easy to imagine starting a family here.' I nod in agreement as he looks round him. It's true, it's a beautiful place to raise a family and from the looks of them; the man is tall and has an amazing build, blonde hair and blue eyes. Very nice facial features and bone structure too, the type that would make women swoon. The woman is an equal match in beauty to the man. She's tall, maybe 5 '8, a lean, curvy body, brown eyes and dark hair. She's beautiful in every sense of the word. With these genes and very evident love, hoping it lasts, they'll be sure to have an amazingly beautiful family.

'So' I clap my hands together, 'if you'll be taking the house Mr McQueen, we should begin the sales process.'

'Of course.'

'This way please.' I say as I lead them back downstairs to complete this awesome sales.

Hours later, I can still feel the excitement humming in my blood as I drive up to Nala's school to pick her up. She doesn't use the bus yet because her student's bus pass hasn't fully been processed. It's about 3p.m. Now I'm certain she'll be hungry and because I'm especially happy, I should treat her to something nice. As I turn into the drive of the school, I see her and my excitement doubles. It always does when I see my baby girl. Well I'm feeling excitement until I see that she's talking to somebody... a man. My blood instantly ran cold. Who is she talking to? I hear Carmel is safe but that doesn't mean that everybody around here is a good person. I screech to a stop and hop down from my car. I'm about to run over when another child, about the same age as Nala joins them. She goes straight into the man's embrace and after saying something to both the man and then to Nala, she takes his hand, waves at Nala and pulls the man away. It's only at this point that my brain processes the fact that that was probably a new friend of Nala's and her father. I look in the direction of the man and girl. She's dark headed and I immediately remember the girl Nala told me about last night. That must be them and by the look of things; her dad's tailored suit and his car, a 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE, they're rich. It doesn't change the implication of what just happened. I need to have a talk with Nalani about safety and strangers. I cannot believe we moved to a new town and I didn't do that. That was reckless. 'Momma!' my baby's voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I see her running towards me. I go down on a knee to hug her. When she gets to me, I hold her tight and take in her scent.

'Hey baby, how are you? Was your day good?' she bobs her head in affirmation. 'Um, Nala, who were you talking to?' I glance towards them just in time to see the father look our way too. Our eyes meet and I see his brows crease into a slight frown before I look away.

'That's Amber and her dad. Amber is my new friend.'

I take her hand and we walk towards my own car, 'The one you told me about yesterday?'

'Mhm.' she gets in and when I try to fasten her seatbelt, she gently pushes my hand away and fastens it herself, 'I'm not a baby anymore and I can fasten my own seatbelt.'

'Alright' I raise my hands in surrender. As I turn into the driveway, I ask 'Are you going to tell me about Amber?'

'Of course. She's so pretty Momma and cool. She's nice and says her daddy has a lot of money. She smells like strawberries and has really dark hair. She likes purple and doll babies. Oh, she's eight years old like me too. I like her a lot, Momma. You should meet her sometime.

'Of course, baby. I would love to meet your friend.' I've never seen her this excited when talking about a friend. It makes me glad to know she's not all alone. 'I was wondering what it'll be like to have ice-cream today. Would you want to find out?'

'Are we going to get ice-cream? Yay!' I laugh as she does a small dance in her seat.

'I had a good day so I thought we could celebrate together and since we moved, we haven't visited any of the nice places around. I hear Handel's is nice. Let's try it,'

'Let's have different flavours and try each other's.'

'I bet I'll pick a better one' I tease as I park the car.

'Not possible. I have the best taste in ice cream in the whole wide world.'

'Let's see then, the person with the better ice cream flavour gets to pick our next movie. Deal?'

'Deal.'

ETHAN

I managed to get Amber to settle in early. I have tons of work which for the last two hours have been untouched. That woman from earlier, she keeps coming to my mind. There's something about her that is very familiar yet I'm certain that I haven't met her before. So why is she hovering in my head and causing me to be distracted. Distraction causes me to be unproductive and unproductivity causes me to be irritable which causes even more unproductivity. It's a stupid cycle of not getting anything done. I step out to the balcony with a glass of wine, hoping the fresh air outside will help clear my mind. Just then Ty calls.

'Hey man. What's up? How did the house thing go?' Ty, my best friend is about to be married and much as I think marriage is a ridiculous waste of time and money, I like his fiancée Tori and I'm genuinely happy to see him happy and he's always happy when he's with or talking about Tori.

'It was amazing. We got this amazing deal. I'm so excited' he laughs and I can't help but smile. 'Our agent was good. She was patient with us, you know how Tory can be.' Yes. I know exactly how Torii can be. It's a wonder Ty still takes her anywhere but home with him. When Tori is around Ty, charges go off and it's super hard for her to get herself under control. She's besotted and everyone can see how hard it is for her to keep her hands to herself. The memories make me chuckle as I raise my glass to my lips. 'So, the realtor was really nice and polite and her marketing skills were top notch. She literally had us walk straight into buying the house.'

'It's a good investment?'

'Yeah, it's in a quiet enough area. Not too far from people though. The design is beautiful. Land mass is great and surrounding estates have a good chance at appreciating massively in the near future. Her credentials are valid and there's no chance of anything that could possibly avoid the purchase. Most of all, Tori loves it'

'Hmmm. Sounds like a good purchase. That's a great man.' I take another sip. Where exactly have I seen you? Who are you?

'You okay Ethan? You seem distracted.'

'I'm fine, bro. Just...distracted. Yeah.' I take a deep breath then continue. 'I saw somebody today. She seemed so familiar but I can't place how I could possibly know her.'

'Hmm, a woman.'

'Don't do that Ty, that's certainly not it. I just have this odd feeling and I can't seem to concentrate. I need to remember where I've met her. Not knowing is pissing me off real good.

'Hey dude, have a drink and try to relax. You'll find out soon enough if that's what's to happen. Until then, have a drink and relax. Do some work, maybe you'll meet again at the Parent/teacher conference? You can clear all your doubts then.'

'You're right. Thanks man.'

'Of course! That's why I'm your fucking lawyer.'

'Get the fuck out of my phone man. Hell, I have a child in the house. Don't make me use bad words.' This makes him laugh even harder. Some friends are crazy fucks. I hang up, down the rest of my wine and go to work. Force? Yes, because the one thing I didn't tell Ty is that since I saw that woman and her daughter, images of a certain woman have been flashing before my eyes; images of Gwendolyn.

For the next one week, I live and work with this feeling that I won't like to be at the Parents/Teachers Conference next week.

One Week Later

I look up to see my secretary Lowen poke her head through the door.

'You need to be at your girl's school by 12 p.m. Sir. It's past 11.'

Shit, I had completely forgotten. 'Thank you Lowen.'

'Would you need a driver?'

'Uh, I'd rather drive so I can take her home.' With a nod, she leaves.

One week later and that dreadful feeling has not left my bones. I shake the feeling off and head out to be a father.

GWEN

'I'll stop here Gwen. Just there. Yeah.' I pull over in front of a...

'Tattoo clinic? Shannon?' I look at her with amused surprise. 'Are you getting a tattoo?'

'No.' she laughs 'there's somebody I'm meeting.' She unfastens her seatbelt and starts to touch up her makeup.

'At a tattoo shop.' She hums her response. 'You're seeing a tattoo artist.' She snaps her compact powder shut and turns to face me.

'Don't question me, Momma. Save it for your kid, she'll be liking boys soon. I'll tell you all about it later, okay?' she leans over to kiss my cheek and hug me and I take a deep breath so I can inhale her warm smell. My nerves are all over the place. 'You'll do fine. Just...talk.' I nod.

'Have fun. Be safe.'

'Yes Momma. Bye.' She shuts the door and I watch her walk into the tattoo shop and shut it behind her before I drive off.

Yes, yes. I'm such a mum. Even to my best friend. I sigh.

As I take the turn leading up to Central City Elementary School, I feel my anxiety spike and I have to take deep breaths to avoid a full on panic attack. Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breaths Gwen. I continue this mental chant until I park my car and walk into the school building. By the time I find Nala's grade 3 teacher, my nerves are under control.

I don't spend more than half an hour with Nala's classroom teacher, partly because Nala is still very new and most of what we talked about was how much progress she was making with adapting to the new environment and making friends and what extracurricular activities she may be interested in; and partly because there were other parents waiting outside. I'm told that I can find Nala at the playground so I head over there and even before I see them I know. He's here. That man is here. The playground is crowded, there are kids and parents at every corner so I do a small scan to find my daughter and that's when my eyes land on his back. He's standing supporting Nala who's hanging upside down on a climber. I can hear her squeal as he carries her down and places her safely on the ground. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. He has his sleeves rolled up and his tie undone, hanging on the climber is his jacket. He looks totally harmless but for some reason I feel dread pool in my stomach and at that very moment he turns around. All the breath in my lungs is knocked out and I take an involuntary step back when he faces me and I see just who it is holding my daughter's hand. I don't even react when Nala runs and wraps her hand around my waist in a hug.