I remember the day Harmony and her father put me together. Well, I shouldn’t say she put me together, but she was there, alright. She was almost 2 years old when the stars in her eyes shone as her father took my two chains, and hung me by a thick branch. I wish I could stop time right there, when she first saw me and thought I was the most amazing thing ever.
For a long time after that day, I was with Harmony all of the time. She would come out in the afternoon, and sprint to me, and sit down, incredibly eager for her father to push her. She would grab on to me as tight as she can, and her father would push her, and she would soar into the sky. But I didn’t let her down. I kept her safe. She was scared for her life her first couple of rides, but then she got used to me, and she would laugh, and have fun, because she trusted me.
Then, one day, when Harmony was about five years old, she ran out the backdoor, sat upon me, and waited for her father. She waited and she waited, for about three or four minutes, and then she slowly walked inside.
“Daddy, come push me!” she yelled and she slid the screen door open. Then her mother came to the hall that the door lead to, right inside, got down to eye level with Harmony, and started to talk in a very soft voice. I couldn’t exactly hear what her mother said, and I guess I’ll never exactly know. The only words I could make out were “daddy” and “accident”.
“What do you mean?!” Harmony shrieked when her mother stopped talking. Her mother went to put an arm around her, but Harmony pulled away. She was already blubbering in tears, as she ran back outside and sat on me. That day, Harmony sat on me and cried for hours. She tried to push herself, but she could barely do it. She swayed back and forth, but she couldn’t pump properly. She was like this for a year, swinging pathetically with no help.
But eventually, Harmony learned how to push, from practice every day. Although practice usually ended in tears, Harmony was now able to push herself. She also learned how to count to one hundred, and do long division, and write an essay about World War 2, and do a proper experiment on the effect of sunlight on plant growth. But she still came outside with me, even if it was to just sit on me and do her homework. She didn’t cry much anymore, but once in a while she would. I don’t think those times were about her father though, because she would talk to herself with random boys’ names in her words, and scream things to the sky, like, “I can’t believe Ed would do that to me!”
But when she turned about 14, our time together decreased tremendously. She started playing sports, and hanging out with friends, and even doing her homework inside. One day, she brought someone home though. It was a boy. They ran into the backyard, laughing, but then, he grabbed her. Then, he kissed her. What did he think he was doing?! She didn’t belong to him. She was mine. She was my best and only friend. But the worst part was that she kissed him back. I was completely furious.
Then, that idiot had the nerve to sit on me. He can’t sit on me! Only Harmony can! He motioned for her to sit on his lap, and she was a little iffy about it. She then decided to go for it, which I could not let happen. As she walked over, slowly, to sit down, I just snapped. Literally, one of my chain links snapped in half, sending the boy on the swing plummeting to the ground. Now, I know I hurt myself by doing this, but I can be fixed by someone, somehow. It was worth it to show Harmony how much she meant to me.
The boy shouted a cuss, got up, and wiped the mud off his pants. He stormed over to the gate, screaming at Harmony for having an unstable swing, and exited the yard, slamming the door behind him. That’s right, stupid boy. From over the fence he yelled to Harmony, “Were done!”
Harmony was in tears once again, kneeling over me as I hung from the tree with a single chain. She was so upset that I had broken, she even said, “That damned boy! I practically loved him!” There was an ending to that sentence that she accidently left out though. She should have said “Until he broke my best friend!” at the end, but I know she meant to, because she upset for my breaking, it had nothing to do with the boy. Well, except that now she hates him just as much as I do.
Because the chain link that broke was towards the top, Harmony was able to just shorten the good side and tie the bad side on the tree so that the swing was just higher. Which, worked out perfectly, she was getting taller anyway.
About five years later, Harmony had another boy over. But this boy was nice to her and he didn’t kiss or touch her. And best of all, he asked if he could sit on me, to which Harmony said, “No, I’m sorry, it’s a little fragile, don’t want you to hurt yourself.” That’s what she lied to him. What she meant was, “I don’t want you to hurt my best friend.” Harmony simply cares too much about me to let anyone come between us. So they stayed in the yard for a while, and he made her laugh, which is something I haven’t really been able to do since she was 5. But, that’s beside the fact.

This boy came over a ton of times, and about a year later, they got married. I had never seen a wedding before. I was so excited to see Harmony walk down the aisle, looking beautiful, as usual. And surprisingly, I didn’t mind the man she was marrying. He was a lot more genuine and kind to Harmony than the other boy. A day before the wedding, everything was getting set up. The flowers were hung on the white picket fence, and an arc covered in more flowers was right in front of me. I had the best seat in the house.
Harmony’s mother had been setting this all up, with the help of a lady with a clipboard, when suddenly, the clipboard lady pointed at me. I thought they were going to do something extravagant with me, maybe hang me from the arc so Harmony can swing at her wedding. But sadly, that was not the case.
“This needs to be moved. The scuffed blue seat and the rusty chains ruin the whole scene. We don’t want this in the wedding shots, do we?” Harmony’s mother shook her head to this, like a scared puppy. “Is there anywhere we can put this… this… monstrosity?”
“We have a shed on the side of the house where we ca-”
“Perfect!” The clipboard lady interrupted. “We’re going to need to take this down, let’s go get the ladder.” They can’t put me in that black hole of darkness! That is not going to happen! The two women went across the yard, carried the ladder over to me, set it up, and then just stared at each other. They knew they couldn’t take me down! It was completely unfair, I knew Harmony better than anyone! I had to see her wedding.
“Harmony, come here!” They both yelled in unison.

Harmony came outside, and asked, “What?”

“We are going to need you to take it down.” The clipboard lady said. She motioned towards the ladder for Harmony to climb up it to take me down. I thought she wouldn’t, but then, she did. But I trust her judgment. She probably did it so that I don’t get broken again by someone at the wedding. Yeah, that has to be it. She took me down, and then handed me to her mother, who brought me to the shed. I heard the music playing during the wedding, but I never got to see Harmony in her dress. But it’s okay, because I know Harmony was just looking out for me.

I remained in that shed for about 3 years, but I didn’t mind. There was probably just something really bad going on outside, like she explained in her essay about World War 2. Yeah, there were probably Nuclear Bombs outside, so she was just trying to keep me safe, because she cares about me. I heard her voice outside a couple of times, so I knew she was okay. I didn’t even see sunlight until one day I heard a man’s voice, and the voice of a baby girl. The voices got closer, and closer, until the shed was opened. My eyes were practically blinded when I saw the light come in, but it was good. It was light. It was one step closer to Harmony. When my eyes came back into focus, I saw Harmony’s husband and a little girl. Where did she come from?

“We better hang this up, huh baby?” Said Harmony’s husband.

“We should, Daddy!” She said. Why did she call him Daddy? This must be Harmony’s daughter. I would have known about this, if Harmony wasn’t trying to protect me so much. But as her husband picked me up, I was grateful that she protected me, and now, everything looked like it went back to normal in the yard, except there was now a square pile of sand in the corner. A bomb must have hit there, and left that sand behind.

The two then walked over to the tree with me, and the father tied my chains to the branches, and let me hang just as I had before. I couldn’t help but see the sparkle in the girl’s eyes as her father hung me to the tree. My God, did she look like her mother.