Late Morning — Small Park, Near the Chae Residence
The swing creaked softly.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Not fast. Not slow.
Just enough movement to feel like time was passing.
Cami sat quietly, her hands wrapped loosely around the cold chains, her feet brushing lightly against the ground every now and then to keep herself moving.
She wasn't really playing.
She didn't remember the last time she had.
This was just… a pause?
Fourteen minutes.
That's all she had before her next job.
Fourteen minutes to exist without being told what to do.
Bessie floated lazily nearby, spinning once in the air before settling upside down.
"You're thinking again," she said.
Cami didn't answer immediately.
Her gaze stayed forward.
On nothing in particular.
"…I always think."
"That's not true," Bessie replied lightly. "Sometimes you just endure."
That earned the faintest smile.
The real kind.
The one only Bessie ever saw.
"…Maybe."
The swing slowed.
Cami dragged her feet slightly to stop it.
The silence around her wasn't heavy.
It was… familiar.
Her thoughts drifted naturally.
Her mother.
She didn't remember everything.
Just pieces.
A soft voice.
A hand brushing her hair.
Warmth that didn't demand anything in return.
"…She smiled a lot," Cami murmured.
Bessie softened.
"I know."
Then—
her siblings.
Three.
Always three.
Even now, her mind counted that way.
Laughter.
Noise.
Annoyance.
Life.
Then—
nothing.
Cami's grip on the chain tightened just slightly.
Not enough to hurt.
Just enough to anchor herself.
"…It was loud back then. Wasn't I?"
Bessie didn't interrupt.
She knew better.
And then—
her father.
A different kind of silence.
Not absence.
Not abandonment.
Just… distance stretched too far.
"He still cares," Cami said quietly.
It wasn't a question.
It wasn't even defensive.
Just… a statement she had chosen to believe.
Bessie tilted her head.
"He does."
"But he's not here."
Cami nodded once.
"That too."
The swing came to a complete stop.
Stillness.
For a moment—
just a moment—
Cami allowed herself to sit there without moving.
Without thinking about what came next.
Without preparing for the next command.
The next demand.
The next task.
Then—
she stood.
Just like that.
No hesitation.
No dragging it out.
Pause over.
Life resumed.
Bessie floated beside her.
"You don't have to rush."
"I do."
"You always say that."
Cami adjusted her sleeve.
Looked down the street.
The direction of her next job.
"…It's fine."
Same words.
Different weight.
She took a step forward.
Then another.
Calm.
Steady.
Like nothing inside her had shifted at all.
But as she walked—
Bessie glanced back at the empty swing.
Still moving slightly from where Cami had left it.
Barely noticeable.
But not completely still.
"…One day," Bessie whispered quietly.
Not to Cami.
Not expecting an answer.
Just… saying it.
Cami didn't look back.
She never did.