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Her little hands. Blort, she was so tiny. That’s all Nick could really think about from his seat beside the hospital bed as he gently held his little girl.
She was born too early. Her mom had come down with something long before she was due. Nick didn’t know what, neither of them knew what, but it worsened terribly fast. The hospital bed he sat beside was empty. The nurses had turned off the flatlining heart monitor hours ago, but it still rang in his ears like a terrible, never-ending tornado alarm.
It was empty. The love of his life was taken away with not a single breath left to her name. He wanted to give up right then and there, but that tiny hand wrapped around his finger made that notion impossible.
They’d never even picked out a name for her. He could barely think, he didn’t want to think. Elizabeth? Madeline? Amber? Audrey? Blort, nothing sounded right. He wanted it to be right.
Nancy?
That… seemed pretty fitting, actually. Elizabeth wasn’t too bad either, he supposed.
Nancy Elizabeth Mulligan.
Yeah, he could work with that.
—
Nancy cracked her eyes open as the morning light hit her face. The 11-year-old would’ve complained about the sun waking her up had her dad not been sound asleep beside her on their shared double bed. Although they shared it, it worked just fine for the both of them right now.
It had to, considering it was all they had to sleep on aside from the couch barely 5 feet away, but Nick didn’t fit on it with how tall he was and Nancy hated how hard it felt to sleep on. Eh, it didn’t really matter. At least sleeping on the same bed meant they could keep each other warm during the cooler months. Though it absolutely sucked in the warmer months.
Speaking of warmer months, maybe that’s why she felt so hot laying next to her dad, as the temperature had just seemed to register to Nancy herself.
“Ugh, nooooooo,” Nancy whined as she kicked off the blanket, trying to cool herself down as she splayed out. When in the world had it gotten so hot?! It was only 77 degrees yesterday, and this didn’t feel like no 77 degrees she ever felt.
Nancy sat up beside her dad, who had that too-warm blanket wrapped tightly over his shoulders. She tried to be as careful as possible crawling over him and off the bed, so as to not wake him. Neither of them were morning people by any means, but she’d rather not deal with the wrath that was her dad’s attitude. Thankfully, the jostling of the bed didn’t wake him, but he did sleepily curl up in his hoodie as he continued snoring. Nancy knew he was a cold sleeper, but she had no clue how he could stand sleeping with that thing on.
They didn’t have anywhere to go that day, Nancy remembered, so she figured she’d get all her late homework done before he woke and she had to help with whatever bike he was working on.
—
Nick shrugged on his green flannel before sliding on his work boots, “Hey Nance, sug’, I gotta work on a bike that’s gonna be picked up today and I need ya to hand me tools while workin’. Gotta get it done pretty quickly ‘fore the guy comes by and havin’ you help out would make things go a lot faster.”
Nancy, who lay on her stomach across the couch, stayed completely glued to her notebook. Entirely zoned out.
“Hey, kiddd,” Nick called from the other side of the room, before walking up beside her and snapping his fingers in front of her face, “Kid. Work, c’mon.”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, let me get my shoes on.”
“Get 'em on quick,” Nick said as Nancy hopped off the couch to grab her shoes. He picked up the notebook and took a good look at it before snapping it shut with an eye roll, “Still can’t believe they’re making you do all this complicated math swip.”
Apparently, Nancy didn’t hear him, as she’d already opened the door and nearly walked out before looking back at him to make sure he was following.
Nick huffed as he set the book down on the counter and headed over, “So, I got another plan for ya today, hear me?” Nick said as he held the door open for his daughter.
“Yeah?”
“So I got a buddy of mine to forge some fake arcade coins. I want you to head to Big City and sell ‘em for change at that arcade I told you about. 25¢ a coin. Sound good?”
“Mhm!” Nancy nodded with a smile before the two sat down on the grass by the bike.
“Good, ‘cause whatever money you make’s going to our bills.”
—
“Nick Mulligan, sir, we’ve caught your daughter and another kid rousin’ up trouble at the arcade downtown. Not sure how she acts at home, but she had a fair bit of an attitude when we picked her up. Regardless, we need you to come and pick her up before nightfall.”
“Blort,” Nick huffed into his hand. He was thinking she should’ve been home by now, “Yeah, yeah I’ll… I’ll be there in about 10 minutes.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Yeah, yeah. Not a problem,” Nick said as he hung up. He threw on his leather jacket and grabbed his helmet before walking out the door. He stuffed his hand in his pocket as his temper began to build.
“Those kids’ll have me in an early grave.”
—
Nick leaned against his bike, arms crossed, as he stared at the brick building that was Big City’s police station. The usual soft light from the streetlamps was far too harsh against the nearly pitch-black night. Turns out nightfall came a lot quicker than he thought it would, and he got there just on the cusp of it. Still, though, the cool night didn’t at all cool down his anger, but he kept silent nonetheless as he waited for his daughter to walk out.
It didn’t take long at all, and before long, the door was opened, and out she walked. She would’ve kept her head down had it not been so dark, and she hadn’t been taught to be wary of the streets at that hour. Nancy’s eyes landed on her dad and they widened just slightly in recognition as she walked over. She was handed her sticker-littered helmet before a short silence fell among them.
“I’m sorry,” Nancy said quietly as she looked up at her dad's faceless figure. She hated how eerie he looked with the visor down.
“Sorry for what? You ,” Nick pointed at her, “Did as you were told. That kid, ” he paused before his voice became a bite, “Got you caught.”
Nancy’s face went slightly red as she scrunched in on herself. Her brows furrowed as her own voice became a defensive bite as well, “But Dad! It’s not like he tried to get us caught! He’s a good kid, I promise!”
“‘Good kid’? ‘Good kid ’?! Nancy— what the blort are you talking about?! He landed you in jail , and we have nothing for the week because of him !”
Nancy crossed her arms with a huff, “It wouldn’t be the first time one of my friends landed me in jail! How come when it’s someone like Skids you never say anything?!“
“Kid, that doesn’t blorting matter! What matters is that—“, Nick flicked his visor up, revealing his face. He pinched the space between his brows, “Ugh, y’know what? Forget it! But I better not see you around that kid again. Do. You. Hear. Me ?”
“And what if I want to be around him?! What the blort am I supposed to do then?!”
Nick paused and then let out a grumble before shutting the visor once more, “I’m not having this conversation with you. Get on the bike, now.”
Nancy cut her eyes at him before putting her own helmet on, climbing on the bike, and sitting in front of him. He placed his chin on the top of her helmet before driving off.
—
Obviously, she shouldn’t have been walking there, if the conversation she and her dad had last week was anything to go by, but here she was. Nancy held tightly onto her backpack straps as she walked up the steep hill. Bill had told her to meet him up there, by the stand-alone tree that rested atop said hill.
Huh, it really was as pretty as he said it was, and the view was amazing. Nancy had to admit, though, that the sight of the gravestone sitting just behind the tree trunk did put her off a tad. She could only see the back of it, and she honestly didn’t want to see the front. Epitaphs just made her upset anyway.
Nancy stood there and looked around for a second, realizing no one else was there, “Um… hm…”
She continued to look around, hoping she hadn’t been stood up only to hear a faint voice from the other side of the hill. Nancy looked out and saw Bill finally making his way up.
“Hey, hey! Oh gosh, I’m so sorry I was late! Ma needed me to help with somethin’ last minute and I didn’t think it would take as long as it did!”
Nancy chuckled a bit, “No worries, I got here late anyways,” she confessed as she rubbed the back of her neck.
“Well, that’s okay!” Bill smiled awkwardly, “Honestly, us both being late makes things look a lot better. At least neither of us had to wait too long.”
“Yeah,” Nancy smiled, “Sooo uh, what exactly did you want us to meet here for?”
“Oh, um, nothing in particular, really. If I’m honest, I thought it’d be nice if we got to know each other outside of, y’know, whatever that was last week.”
Nancy blushed, not from the flattering reason for meeting up, but from embarrassment, “Oh. Y-Yeah um, about that, I didn’t mean to–”
“No, no!” Bill began before he muttered something to himself about accidentally interrupting, “No, it’s… it’s alright. I know you didn’t try to get us in trouble or anythin’. In fact, I think if anyone should apologize for us gettin’ in trouble, it should be me.”
“Bill, no, you really shouldn’t,” Nancy began before she saw the look in his eye. She knew if they continued blaming themselves, they’d be at this all day, “You really shouldn’t, but let’s talk about it later. Okay?”
Bill paused, almost defiantly before he recognized the same issue Nancy did, and nodded, “Okay.”
They both stood in awkward silence before Nancy decided to break it, “Well, you said you wanted us to get to know each other, yeah? I brought my backpack ‘cause I really wasn’t sure what we were gonna be doin’, but I’ve got some notebook paper we can draw with and just… I don’t know. Talk?”
“Oh, yeah! Sure! That’d be fine,” Bill smiled before they both sat in the grass, “That sounds great.”
—
The afternoon had gone pretty well all things considered, and by the time the sun was halfway in the sky, they’d learned enough about one another to be considered friends. Nancy was 11, and Bill was 12. Nancy was in public school, and Bill wasn’t, as he lived on a farm in Big City and had to help his mom on their farm. Nancy didn’t know all too much about Big City, as she only ever went to school there since it was the closest to her home just on the outside of the city, but what she did know was that it was filled with farmland from the road to the horizon. She couldn’t imagine having to help out on that much land. Helping her dad work on vehicles was confusing enough.
Speaking of her dad, she may have gotten onto a bit of a rant about him sometime during the afternoon. She knew she shouldn’t have dumped it all onto Bill at a time like this, but it all just came out, and she didn’t exactly know how to stop it.
“It just bugs me sometimes, y’know? I wish he wouldn’t brush off my interests so much.”
Bill spun his pencil in his hand nervously.
“I mean, you know what I’m talking about. You’ve got a dad too, right?”
“Uh, no,“ Bill smiled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. He didn’t seem all too upset about the assumption, “I don’t have a dad.”
“Oh, I’m— I’m sorry, I didn’t—“
“It’s alright! Don’t worry!” Bill waved his hands, “I promise! It’s okay.”
Bill lowered his hands as he continued, “I didn’t get to know him much, so it doesn’t hurt so bad to talk about him. I mean, it does hurt a little, but not as much as it probably would’ve.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I don’t have a mom,” Nancy smiled kind of sadly at him. Not in a depressing way, but in an empathetic way, “So I guess neither of us are alone.”
Bill thought for a moment, but couldn’t help but smile back at her. He supposed it did help him feel a bit better.
Actually, it made him feel a lot better.
—
“Don’t get attached to him,” Nick said as he leaned against the doorframe, watching Nancy pick up a toad off the ground.
“Hm?”
“That kid you keep hanging out with, whatshisface or whatever.”
“Why?”
“He’s gotten you caught,” there was more to it than that, “He’ll make you soft. Neither of us can afford to be soft with the reality we live in.”