The Daffodil Orchard

The sky began to darken, and the streetlights lit up.  He groaned, wishing Cindy walked beside him right now.  Without thinking, he spun around and ran toward the park, forcibly drawn to the last place they'd played together.  The dust billowed in clouds along the curbing as his shoes stomped through it.

At the pool, he sat on the grass, shaking.  He heard children's voices come from the other end of the park.  He wished he had something to laugh about.  Then suddenly at the center of the pool, a bright light appeared, ballooning until the radiant glow arched high above the water.  Rainbow colors mingled and blended, dispersing and returning over and over in a continual circular movement.  Brice sat in awe.

From somewhere came a child's laugh, a laugh much like Cindy's.  Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a shadowy apparition rose up from the water into the brilliant rainbow's arc. 

Brice gasped.  Just a few feet from him, Cindy kicked about, splashing excitedly in the pool.  Brice felt every hair on his body stand straight up as he looked at the most wonderful sight he'd ever seen.  He laughed nervously at the trick she'd pulled on him.  Fooled everyone.  Now he'd take her home and make everyone happy again.

But before he could move, the fast rising moon sent shadows like grasping fingers across the pool, confusing his vision and silencing his laughter.  Then a child's scream cut the silence, and Brice bolted upright.  The bright lights collapsed into the water.  In the center a child floated.