Lydia Unmasked

Nuala sat in the back of the bus, doing her best to ignore the stench of body odour and sweaty socks. It was a long ride to the border. Her friend, Davinia, had arranged for her to visit a family in California, with the hope that one of them might be Lydia.

The last few months had been an emotional roller coaster for Nuala. She had spent years wandering from place to place, trying to piece together clues about Lydia's location and well-being. But it seemed like it would all be for nothing. Since moving in to New York, Nuala hadn't seen any signs at all of her presence. She decided that maybe she'd have better luck going out of state.

She looked down at the picture she had in her hand. That was Lydia. At least, that was how she looked when they were both just kids. If Nuala was right, then she wouldn't look like that anymore. She would be a grown woman now. Would they even get along?

"I can't believe you're doing this." Davinia scowled. "What if she doesn't want to meet you?"

"Then I'll just go back home," said Nuala with a sigh. "This is something I have to do."

Davinia put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You know I'm here for you if things don't go well."

"Thanks," said Nuala, smiling up at her friend before looking away again out the window at the passing scenery outside. The bus made its way through town after town, past endless rows of houses and strip malls, until finally they reached their stop on the outskirts of town, where they would need to change buses yet again. They got off the bus and emerged into bright sunlight, blinking as they waited at the stop for their next bus to arrive. A traffic jam caused them to wait longer than expected, so Nuala decided to stretch her legs out by walking around for a bit until their bus arrived. She passed several people who stared at her curiously, but she ignored them as best she could and kept walking until she stumbled upon a park down the street from where they were waiting for their bus.

Nuala sat down in a swing set next to a little boy who couldn't have been more than six or seven years old. He smiled up at her as he pushed himself back and forth on his swing set. He swung high enough that he nearly fell off his seat each time he swung forward again, but he seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. He giggled happily as he swung higher and higher into the air above him while Nuala watched him with a smile on her face as she pushed herself gently back and forth herself on another swing set nearby.

"You're new here aren't you?" asked the boy suddenly after awhile, glancing over at Nuala as he continued to push himself back and forth on his swing set above him until he managed to almost fall off once again before swinging forward once more into the air above him with another giggle of delight escaping his lips in response to his own daringness while ignoring gravity altogether as if it didn't exist at all in favour of pushing himself farther than anyone else ever could into this vast void of open space before him without fearing what might happen if he fell or worrying about surviving long enough in order for someone else to find him should he fall either way because no one really cares about anyone else anyway so why bother wasting one's breath on something so trivial when it's not like anyone is going to care anyway?

"Yes," said Nuala with a nod of her head as she pushed herself back and forth gently on her swing set beside the little boy's own while watching him smile up at her with his eyes closed tightly shut as if forcing himself not to think about anything at all because thinking about things is boring anyways so why waste your time thinking about dumb stuff like why are we here or where are we going or even what are we doing here in this place called earth anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways