The world was spinning around and around so much that Tina thought she was going to be sick. She held onto the handles of the roundabout as tight as she could as her friend continued to push it around at an alarming speed. It was a burning hot summers day, the hottest Tina had ever known. Her mother had insisted she go out and play with her friends in the park, to get out of the house, and to let her mother and father have some quiet time alone to talk. "Be sure to come back before dinner dear. I don't want you to get hungry", Lily said, kissing her daughters head as she eagerly rushed towards the front door. Tina rushed out of the house, running down the pavement along the road in the direction of the park. When she got to the street corner, she turned around and saw her mother standing in the doorway, waving at her, before blowing her a kiss. Tina waved back, before continuing to run down the street, her home disappearing from view.

The park was only around the corner, but it didn't stop Tina from running all the way there. She pulled open the gate and called to her friends who were busy playing on the climbing equipment. Tina had never been one for heights, and she had never been able to pluck up the courage to climb the scary looking wooden tower as it reached to the heavens. She gingerly tried to climb up the steep slope, grasping the rope tightly as she placed her feet into the footholds. One step, two step, three steps high Tina was able to climb before she accidentally glanced beneath her and saw the ground very far below. Her breathing quickened, her hands became slippery as she held onto the rope, freezing on the spot as she looked down. "Tina, come on", her friends chuckled to her, laughing as they popped their head over the edge to look down at her, reaching out their hand to her. She looked up, panic in her eyes at her friend as she struggled to stay calm. "Just let go and take my hand", they said, reaching down to her. She took a massive deep breath, and let go of the rope, trying to grasp onto her friends hand. Tina managed to grab hold, but her fingers were struggling to get a secure grip, slipping with the sweat of fear. "I'm slipping!", Tina cried alarmed, trying to reach onto something to hold, anything, as the rope had now moved out of her reach. Her friend tried to pull her up, but her hand slipped through, and Tina screamed as she fell.

Landing on her back on the sandy ground, Tina burst into tears in both shock and pain. She never liked heights, and now she never would as she looked up into the surprised eyes of her betrayed friend. "You let me fall!", Tina screamed at her, before getting up and running away to the far side of the park, taking refuge inside the shade of the roundabout. Crying uncontrollably, she tried to calm herself down after the panic and shock she had experienced. Tina suffered from vertigo, so struggled when up high, but being young she never fully understood what it was; she thought she had something wrong with her that doctors couldn't fix. Even when she was younger, she had tried to climb up on top of the furniture in the house, with gentle encouragement and support from her mother to try and help her overcome it. It had taken a while, but she had finally managed to conquer climbing to the highest point in the house, on top of her parent's bed, but now, she couldn't even bring herself to climb up the small 3 meter climbing frame in the park.

"Tina?", her friend whispered coming to sit down beside her. "Go away", Tina muttered, burying her face into her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let you fall. I couldn't hold onto you any longer", she said honestly, putting a friendly arm around her. Tina wiped the tears away and looked into the face of her friend who smiled back. "Hey, lets play on the roundabout", her friend squealed seeing that she had managed to bring a smile back to Tina's face, leaping to her feet. "Okay", Tina chuckled, sitting up and grasping onto the handles beside her, already forgetting the accident like it had never happened. Her friend then ran around and around with her, pushing the metal roundabout as fast as it would go, leaving Tina screaming and laughing at the immense speed and thrill of it.

By now the sun was beginning to turn the sky crimson, as several hours had passed without the girls even paying full attention to the time. "Oh, I need to get back home", Tina suddenly realised, noticing the time on her small watch. She quickly said goodbye to her friend and rushed out of the park, running back home; she didn't want to be late for tea. Tina noticed as she approached the house that all the lights were on, and that several cars were parked outside the house, one being the local doctors car. We must be having visitors around for tea, Tina thought as she approached, the smell of burnt cooking wafting down the road. She was a little puzzled as to why the front door of the house was left wide open, but a strongly build gentleman in a black suit stood near the doorway, and stopped his phone conversation as Tina approached. He nodded his head towards her, and she thought that he must be someone who worked for her father, as he always had men like him coming around the house, much like the young man and the other two guys who were around the other night.

She slipped off her shoes in the hallway and ran through to the kitchen. "Mum?", Tina said walking in, glancing around the units and over by the cooker to see an pan boiling over. She frowned, thinking her mother must have accidentally let it do that. She ran over to the cooker and turned off the stove, before glancing at the half prepared dinner still on the worktop. Tina was about to be greedy and pick up one of the little cocktail sausages left on the side when she noticed the smashed bowl on the floor, and the knocked over bottle of wine leaving a red puddle on the floor. Being curious, she followed the footsteps and drag marks left on the white tiled floor of the wine back out into the hallway.

"Tina", a familiar mans voice said sharply from the front room as she passed by the doorway, snapping her out of her detective trail. She stood in the doorway, looking at her father as he sat in his same armchair near the window, another glass of whisky in his hand. The two men were also in the room, stood either side of the fireplace in their thick leather jackets and boots, looking as if they hadn't moved from being there the other night. "Where's mum?", Tina asked innocently, looking back to her father. His expression was grave; his eyes hollow as he took another drink from his glass. "She's sleeping", the familiar voice said, almost starling Tina. She hadn't noticed the young, well dressed young man who had been sat on the sofa in the shade next to her father, but he turned and smiled at her. It looked like he had almost made himself at home, smoking his cigarette and dropping the ashes onto the clean carpet, letting it burn. "Perhaps you should go follow the little trail again Tina. But be careful, we wouldn't want you to get into any trouble now would we", the man chuckled, giving a cold hard stare at her father, who's expression didn't change.

She didn't like the way this man talked, nor the silent that her father was giving her, so she left the front room, giving a final fleeting glance as she left, watching the young man lean in closer to her father, almost seeing a tear roll down her fathers cheek. Outside in the hallway, Tina continued to follow the little trail of red footprints to her parents bedroom door that was left ajar. Peering inside, she saw two strong men, similar to the one stood outside the front door, only they had earpieces in their ears. Pushing the door a little further open so Tina could see, she saw the doctor leaning over the bed, with something on top of the white sheets. The door creaked and Tina froze as the two strong men who had their backs to her now turned and looked straight down at her. One of them opened the door, and stepped out past her, leaving the room whilst the other gestured for her to come into the room. The doctor now stood up and made his way towards Tina kneeling down in front of her, his old eyes and grey hair almost shining in the sunlight that came through the windows. "Tina. I'm sorry, but your mother is sleeping", he said calmly, placing his hand on her shoulder. Tina strained her eyes to see, but now she saw the shape of a figure on the bed, their hand hanging down the side. "Oh, will she be awake soon? I'm hungry and its tea time". The doctor nearly cried as he shook his head. "I'm sorry Tina, but she will not wake". Tina frowned confused; what did he mean? Her mother never missed a meal. "Well can I give her a goodnight kiss?", she asked innocently. The doctor nodded and stood up, stepping out of the room. The other man, who Tina figured was one of her fathers bodyguard employees stood beside the door and didn't move, his eyes watching Tina as she edged around to the side of the bed.

Her mothers hand was cold and limp to touch when she held in as she stood beside the bed, looking at her mothers sleeping figure. Her dark black hair was scattered across the pillow, her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open. The white bed sheets were stained with red marks and footprints, as her figure lay diagonally across the bed, the white blouse she was wearing a little ripped at the collar and her jeans also marked in red. "Mum?", Tina said quietly, shaking her mothers shoulder, causing her head to fall to one side. Then she saw the red, almost purple line across her neck, the dark black mark forming on her pale skin near her eye. Tina's hand traced the line, fascinated by it, reminding her of the time she had gotten her arm tangled in the washing line and her mother had to cut it off her it had become that tight. "Mum", Tina said more loudly this time, shaking her again, but getting no response back. She felt her heart grow cold, a lump growing in her throat as she squeezed her mums hand tighter. "Mum", she cried as her eyes erupted into floods of tears as she collapsed onto her mothers still chest, tightly holding her hand.

She didn't feel the strong, comforting arms around her as they lifted her up, holding her in their arms. She buried her head into their chest, crying her heart out as she realised the truth; her mother was dead. "Take her to her room Gareth. I need time alone", she heard her waving fathers voice say as she felt herself being carried from the room. Tina opened her eyes, and through blinking tears she saw her father sit down on the bed beside her bother, gently brushing back her hair, his shoulders shaking slightly as he leant down and gently kissed her forehead. "My sweet Lily", he whispered, kissing her forehead again as Tina was carried out of the bedroom.

Tina looked up and saw that she was in the strong arms of the man who had been in the room with her, and even he had a small tear running down his cheek. He opened her bedroom door and carried her inside, sitting down onto her bed, relaxing his arms around her. Tina lifted her small hand up and wiped away the tear, causing him to flinch slightly, not realising what she was doing. "Who are you?", Tina asked, forcing herself to hold back tears as she feared she would cry again. "I'm Gareth. Don't worry Tina, I'm here to look after you", he said calmly, stroking her head. Tina smiled but burst into tears again, throwing herself into his chest as he put an arm reassuringly around her. "I want my mum", Tina cried through broken sobs, thinking this was all some terrible nightmare. Only the nightmare didn't end.

A few days later, stood beside her father Jonathan and her own bodyguard Gareth, she watched the wooden box containing her mother be lowered into the damp, wet earth. She cried for the whole thing, tightly holding on her fathers arm as he stood there still, not speaking, not even crying, his face as hollow as the day Tina had come home. Once it was done, and the guests had departed and said their goodbyes, Tina sat down on the grass near the headstone, her mothers blanket wrapped around her, slowly rocking herself back and forth as her father looked on. "I'm so sorry for your loss", a familiar voice rang out across the cemetery, as a young man in a sharp suit walked briskly towards the grave, a single red rose in his hand which he tossed onto the fresh earth. "I never want to see you again, Damien Stone", her fathers cold voice said in a deadly whisper as his eyes never left the rose as it fell. The young man chuckled, brushing back his scruffy brown hair as his cold grey eyes fell onto Tina's as she watched him. "She was beautiful. Such a shame", he whispered into my fathers ear, almost smiling as he winked at Tina, before bowing, and leaving as swiftly as he arrived. Her father didn't react; it was almost as if he himself had resided to the grave. He learnt down and picked up the rose, and crushed it in his hands, the thorns digging into him, dropping blood and broken petals down onto the earth. His cold eyes met Tina's before he turned and left towards a waiting vehicle. "Come on Tina. It's time to go", Gareth calmly said as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, helping her to stand. He began to escort her back to the car, Tina too much in a trance of shock and mourning to even notice. Everything had changed, lines had been crossed, and nothing in Tina's life would be normal every again.

[ A / N : Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments below. Again, thank you to everyone who is reading this. I deeply appricate it. Don't worry, imagine this story as a stream, that become a river, that becomes a rapids, to then become a waterfall ... ;) ]