Beth Reborn

It has been over an hour, and she has only looked at her daughter once. The playground is crawling with children, each one more chaotic than the last. I pull my brown jacket tighter around me as the chill of winter nips at my fair skin even in the middle of the day.

Now is my best chance. My pace is normal as I walk towards the girl through the throngs of children. She is wearing her favorite fuzzy pink sweater like my daughter used to wear. And her hair is in pigtails that look like Beth’s the day I lost her. The little girl, Maggie, smiles at me widely as I walk up to her.

It has been months of me waiting for the perfect time to take my perfect girl. She happily takes my hand because we have grown to know each other well since I first spotted her.

I instruct her to put on the purple jacket that I brought, which belonged to my daughter, and to put the hood up on her head.

We walk away, and she asks about her mom, who hasn’t noticed her absence, but I easily lie to keep her calm.

Each step puts us closer to finally being together forever.

“Maggie!” A bloodcurdling scream erupts from the playground. My daughter turns towards it because she doesn’t understand that I’m now her mother.

I quickly scoop her up and walk faster. I won’t let anyone take my Beth from me again.