++++ It's...Gravity [V2] ++++

I STOLE HER

Her skin was like radiant soft peaches, dewy with freshness. Her cheeks a beautiful flush pink that brightened into a light red when she laughed. Her euphoric smiles as she giggled made me smile and giggle too. She reached out a small hand to mine; tiny, pudgy fingers wiggling aimlessly as she searched the air to grip my hand. As she reached I caught her eyes; two large, ever-shining emeralds that glistened furiously when flooded with tears. That small pudgy hand gripping the side of my right hand, in comparison I was such a giant! But she wasn’t intimidated. Instead she centered her weight, determination flushing her face, and stood, facing up to my height defiantly.

My voice was caught in the back of my throat, my heart stopping momentarily. Suddenly she let go; her eyes had caught something at the back of the living room. I looked with her, to see her stuffed pink rabbit. She made a gurgle, and wobbled. Snapping into action, I went to catch her – but she didn’t fall. Cooing with interest, she moved away from my hands and…she began to take one step; and then another…and then another. Her movements were shaky and unbalanced, but she was walking. I shook, not sure how to react. My amethyst eyes swelled up in tears. The little one giggled as she neared her toy, and plopped her by it on the polished floorboards of the apartment’s livingroom.

“Of my God.”

I turned to the kitchen doorframe to see Yuki leaning against it. His flabbergasted amber eyes were fixed on the giggling baby girl.

“Has…she ever done that before?”

I blinked, overwhelmed with a panicked joy that had caught me off guard. Dazed, I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

Yuki slowly made his way into the living, eyes never leaving her. A warm smile, a smile he openly began to display more often, creased his perfect skin. “Then we just witnessed Ryuko’s first steps.”

“Yeah, I guess we did, huh,” I let a nervous laugh slip through my lips. Grasping what had just happened I began to pull at the thick of my bright pink locks and weep louder than a baby at their crankiest. “OH NOOOOOO! I DIDN’T HAVE THE VIDEO CAMERA REEEEAADDDDYYY! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Through my anguished cries I could hear Yuki talking kindly to the baby, “You’re such a smart baby, you’re nothing like Daddy, are you?”

My ears twitched. The baby even giggled loudly at his implication that I wasn’t smart. Yuki had picked Ryuko and her pink bunny, Kumagorou, from the floor and was hugging her tightly for a reason she wasn’t aware of, but enjoyed all the same. Sniffling, I joined them and gave her soft pink cheeks a kiss.

Yuki sighed, “She’s mastered walking, it’s only a matter of time before she’ll be running…and talking…and using a toilet…and going to school…” He looked both depressed and proud at the same time, a feeling I know too well.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Three months ago he hadn’t wanted to keep her, and a month and a half before that the thought of ever raising a child together hadn’t seeped into our minds. And then there we were, in adoration for something most humans do every day without thought. We were sharing it, this special moment, as parents to this beautiful miracle named Ryuko Sakuma.

She looked around the room, rather confused at our fuss. She then frowned in frustration, a frown that resembled Yuki’s. She made an angry gurgle. I kissed her cheek again, and she smiled.

I clapped my hands in delight. “Because you’re such a smart baby I’m getting you some chocolate milk!”

Yuki scowled at me, “NO! I’m not having a repeat of last time. She’s going nowhere near any sugar.”

“Aww,” I pouted. While it was true she hyped up on sugar and found it hard to sleep, she sure did enjoy the stuff. “Strawberry then?”

“NO!” Yuki’s stern face softened, he nuzzled the baby’s tiny nose with his large, adult one. He then kissed her and set her down. “We’ll take her to the park, it’s a nice enough day.”

That made me happy, I loved playing on the swing set! “Great! I’ll get her things ready!” I madly raced through the hall, zipping into her room. Yuki and I had decorated her room together. It was a fun, yet stressful, activity. It was nice to do something in a bedroom together that didn’t involve, well, you know. The walls were painted a pale pink. She loved pink. I wanted to make it brighter, but Yuki wouldn’t let me. We bought colourful fantasy paintings of unicorns; mermaids; wizards and fairies, and hung them to fill the empty walls. I even drew on cardboard a big bunny and paint, and cut it to stick on the wall space that was above her antique toy chest. It was safe to say her room was ultra-cute! I wanted to redecorate our room, but he said there’s no way in hell he’s having a pink bedroom.

I opened the chest of draws holding spare nappies and safety pins. Humming to myself I began to fill the carry bag we always kept by the draws incase we were called to go somewhere on short notice. As I hummed my jubilant kept speaking. It was so amazing to see my Ryuko walking. She was ten months old; I didn’t think it’d be so soon. My baby was walking. Mine and Yuki’s. She wasn’t his anymore, was she?

He wasn’t the one who taught her how to walk, it was us. He wasn’t the one who encouraged her to try baby food, it was us. He isn’t the one who holds her as she wails in pain as she teethes. He’s not around to explain and share the world around her. He isn’t her father anymore. You aren’t, Ryuichi Sakuma!

Initially when he perished that fateful Christmas night, my heart shredded into nothing; I was lost in my own anguish, longing to see my idol, my friend. He inspired me to shine. Taking care of his baby daughter brought me back into reality. However…little by little my vision began to change. That wee little girl with her mother’s engrossing emerald eyes, and father’s shiny chestnut hair had a spirit of her own. And it was that spirit she chose to share with Yuki and I. In the end we adopted her. Even without papers we knew she was ours and we her’s. Blood does not matter. Sure, Ryuichi and Hanako made her, but we…we make her live everyday. And that’s what being a parent is.

I hated myself at times. I hated in my confused despair that I wasn’t guilty for making his child my own. To be guilty for not feeling guilty – perhaps I really was an idiot. It was perplexing…I wasn’t happy he was dead, I missed him every day, but this girl…this girl that came together with Yuki and I to form a family…means more.

I am a thief, I stole the life you should have been leading with her. To this day I know I am, and to this day I do not regret my crime. She carries your name, but she carries my smile. She carries your blood, but she calls me “Daddy”.

“Shuichi!” Yuki called out, breaking my dark thoughts. “Moron, hurry up!”

I nodded, throwing a few more things into the bag. “Cooooming!”

I stole her. And I am not giving her back.

By Sammy Hill