Lilly was born into the dark side society. She grew up in a world of cheap alcohol, drugs, sex, and death. By the time she was seven, nothing was left of her but a wasted pile of bones and skin that desperately wanted a way out. Though she was enrolled in a good school, attending was a rare treat. She not so much lived with her mother as she hid in a broken down house in the presence of an addict. As for her father she didn’t have the slightest idea who he was; as far as she knew, neither did her mother. Lilly’s mother was a twisted woman who only kept a small helpless girl around as an outlet for her violent rage. She never even tried to hide her terrible habits; she was never sober enough to care.



Regardless of the bruises and painful life that Lilly lived, she was still a bouncy blond haired, blue eyed, free spirited, little girl. Lilly desperately wanted to find a way to help the mother, she still strangely loved. However, she was always too terrified of what her mother would beat her with next if she were to try to try to get away.



The size and number of her bruises grew along with her age, and she was being pushed further and further over the edge. One sunny afternoon, after a more painful beating than usual, Lilly made her first attempt to get away for at least a little while. While her mother was passed out on the kitchen floor of their drafty house, Lilly made a run for the park across the street where, her favorite set of swings stood. For some reason when Lilly was on the swings all her troubles melted away. All her focus shifted from the terror of her life to the to and fro of the squeaky swings. It was here that Lilly met the only friend she ever had, Josh.



Josh was a little seven-year-old boy who lived just down the street from the park in a beautiful house with a wonderful family. Even though he lived a luxurious life Josh did not have that many friends, however he also had an unexplainable love for the swings. When he first saw Lilly on n his swing set he became nervous. There had never been another person on his swings while he was there. Josh stood and watched Lilly swing, her eyes were closed and a sweet smile drew across her face. She was lost in her own world inside her head. Josh took a seat on the empty swing next to Lilly and began to swing. As he swung the world around him blurred and all he could think about way the steady rise and fall of the swing. The only sound he heard was the rhythmic squeak of both his and Lilly’s swing.

Josh’s dazed trance was broken by a small sweet voice, “hi, my name is Lilly. What’s yours?” Josh drug his feet across the sandy ground, slowing his swing and pulling himself back into reality. Lilly stood next to him smiling brightly, with true joy in her eyes. Josh simply stared at her. Fresh bruises loosely covered by Lilly’s ragged, and dirty clothes caught Josh’s attention. He had never seen a girl in so much obvious pain smile with such delight. After several quiet, confused moments Josh finally introduced himself. The two of them talked and played on the swings for what seemed like hours. Josh gladly fallowed Lilly into imaginary worlds where pain didn’t exist and all their dreams would come true.



From then on every afternoon Lilly had the chance to she escaped the hell on Earth she lived in to go to the park in hopes that her one and only friend would be there waiting for her. She told Josh every detail of her life, ever secret, every horror story she lived through, in complete confidence that Josh would never reveal her secrets. Together, Lilly and Josh created grand, beautiful kingdoms that they ruled over together. The swings at the park were their portal to the glorious lives they dreamed of.


Almost every day Josh and Lilly met at the swings and dove into their make-believe worlds until the sun began to set when they would return to their separate lives. Until one afternoon Lilly never came to the swings. Josh waited there every afternoon for several days and Lilly still never showed up. After dinner one evening Josh’s family was watching the news while he played on the floor, when a report came on talking about an abusive mother being tried for the horrible murder of a blond haired, blue eyed, free spirited little girl, down the street.



Josh’s parents were appalled by the dark news, but once the report was over they no longer cared, it was far enough from home that it didn’t matter to them. They never realized that the brave little girl was their son’s very best friend.



Poor Josh was would not believe that his best friend was gone. Every afternoon Josh waited by the swings for Lilly, so that together they could travel to far off imaginary lands, but she never came. Josh grew from a confused child to a depressed teenager. As he had promised, Josh never told a sole the secrets Lilly shared with him, making it impossible for his worried parents to ever understand what was wrong with their son.



Psychologically, Josh never understood why Lilly never came back. Josh’s depression grew worse and worse each day, he was alone and friendless. By the time Josh turned 18 he was admitted into a metal institution, where a series of grueling tests revealed no answer to his depleting mental state. Josh’s mind spiraled beyond the point of recovery. On November 30, exactly ten years after Lilly’s disappearance, Josh broke out of the institution and escaped to his and Lilly’s swings on last time. By the fallowing morning Josh, too passed on to forever live in the perfect world he and Lilly so vividly created.