Once upon a time there was a lonely boy who was gifted with a big imagination. He was able to make up stories and come up with new games and ideas that would bring joy into his lonely life. One day the boy opened up his eyes in the early morning and there was a mysterious boy sitting next to his bed, smiling at him and saying: "Rise and shine, sport!" The lonely boy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and asked: "Who are you?" - "I'm your new friend. How did you sleep?" Our lonely boy didn't know what to say. Every night he would pray that someone would come into his life who would play with him and share his dreams and kids adventures. But as hard as he tried to make friends on the playground, no one would want to commit and become our lonely boy's friend. And if someone would smile back at our little boy's smile, his Mom would call him back and tell him: "It's time to go. Time to explore a new city and a new life. Isn't it exciting?" Every new city would make him feel like being an alien in the middle of 1 million humans, judging our boy by every move he makes and every word he says. It was just their names that changed from town to town. They would see the weird in him, they would judge his accent and make fun of his traditions and things that made him happy in life. A new city was confusing for our little boy. But there was no way around it. A new city meant a new man that would make our lonely boy call him Dad, even tough it always felt like that was not the way other kids would look up to their Dads. "I will be your best friend. It will so so much fun!" Said the mysterious boy on the bedside. The sun was about to come up behind the neighbors house and shone into the boy's bedroom. The lonely boy knew it was about time to get up and get ready for School. "Will you be there when I come back from school to play with me?" he asked. "Not just that, I will tag along to school. We will do everything together from now on" The lonely boy started to fade out every doubt that he initially had and a big grin spread across his freckled face. "I would love that", he said. "Well, so let's get ready. We have a lot to explore." "What's your name?", the lonely boy asked. "My name is Elijah." The time flew by and in the coming weeks our lonely boy had the time of his life. The time he spent with Elijah was amazing, they built blocks as high as the living room walls and they drove the bicycle around the subdivision as fast as no one ever before, they talked about all the things that crossed their minds and they laughed about stupid things just to express their happiness. They even composed a new secret language to communicate in the treehouse which they declared sole territory of Elijah and the lonely boy only. The free land of brothers, they called it. The man that they moved in with didn't want the lonely boy to call him Dad, he said: "My name is Charlie, uncle Charlie." "Just like my stuffed animal rabbit", the lonely boy thought in his mind and nodded to the tall man standing in front of him. His dusty cowboy had blocked the sun from shining down on the little boy and threw a big shade all over him. Charlie seemed to be nice, even Elijah liked him. He spent time outside with the lonely boy pushed him on the swing and showed him how to make a bonfire. While our lonely boy and Elijah would explore the woods nearby, his Mom was fixing the dinner inside the house but having the window opened to have one eye on the boy playing outside. “What does your Mom say, when you stay over at our house so late?” The lonely boy asked, but at the same time he was happy that Elijah would spend so much time with him. “My Mom is fine. She works long hours.” Elijah a answered. The lonely boy just nodded and didn’t want to go deeper into the conversation even tough he had some more questions. He was afraid to hear something that might have hurt him or that would have broken the strong bond they have built. Everything was perfect the way it was and so he decided to accept that not everything always had to make perfect sense. After a while the boys heard a loud tire screech noise in the driveway, a door that got slammed and, right after, Charlie's loud voice yelling in the kitchen. A situation that our little boy was familiar with no matter what the subject would be that Charlie was so upset about. He knew what this would mean. His mood dropped and he all of a sudden became very sad. "What's going on with you? Are you ok?" Asked Elijah and put an arm around his shoulders. "I guess", answered the lonely boy with a sad and breaking voice, "this means I will have to move away again soon and I will not see you anymore." "Why not?" asked Elijah. "Because I will move to another city, with another school and a new home and I’ll have learn another dialect." "Don't worry, sport, I will come with you, wherever you go." "How?" Asked the lonely boy. "Just as I appear in the morning; just as I appear when you are sad or happy; just as I appear when you need friend, I will be there." Our lonely boy didn't have much options and decided to believe Elijah. And when he arrived in the new city, as Elijah promised, he would still be by his side and it felt like a brother that shares his sorrows and feels and understands his pain. The lonely boy was very happy about that. He knew he could rely on Elijah and trust him as a friend but as a brother too. They swore to never let each other down and always do everything together. As the years went by, the cities changed frequently but Elijah always stayed. The two best friends became so close that they didn't had to speak out the words and sentences to talk to each other anymore, but only think them and the other would clearly receive the message and silently answer back. The lonely boy shared a table in school only with Elijah, shared a room with Elijah and shared his meals with him. The bond was as strong is could be and they both knew that whatever may come, together they are ready for it. On a cold winter evening the lonely boy and Elijah were decorating the Christmas tree and ate the oversized cookie from their neighbor, the old Misses Shizzles. As they were almost ready to put the treetop on, the doorbell rang and our lonely boy, as usual, run to the door and yelled: "I take it!” As he opened the door he saw a crying lady stand in the door frame. "I know he is here", she said. "Who is here?" asked our lonely boy. The lady looked up right into our boy's eyes, whipped the tears out of her eyes and said: "HE!" Our lonely boy turned around and looked right at Elijah who was standing in the living room listening and shaking his head. Somehow our lonely boy knew that the day would come. He was picturing it many times at night before he fell asleep and a tear would run down is cheeks. But on this day he wasn't ready. It took him by surprise and he instantly asked himself if he will have the time to properly say goodbye. He opened the door for the lady and pointed at Elijah. "Yes, he is here." The woman stormed into the house, run by the Christmas tree and went upstairs. She grabbed into her furry coat and took a long black metal thing out. After a few seconds two loud gunshots would quiver the studs of the old rural house, followed by the lady who run back outside, jumped into a car and rapidly drove off. At the funeral our lonely boy wore a black suit that his Mom bought him for a Christmas recital in school the year before. It still fit, just the black shoes were a bit tight. The priest asked our lonely boy if he wants to say a few words, but our boy knew that whatever he would say in that moment, Elijah would already know every single word and feeling, and since they were the only people standing on that dug out hole on a snowy Saturday afternoon, he just said: "Where are all of my Dads? And why the hell did FC Barcelona make such ridiculous summer transfers in '23?" An original short story by Christian Beat Hirt aka Passenger 10 http://www.facebook.com/EnormousTunes http://soundcloud.com/EnormousTunes http://instagram.com/christianhirt https://www.facebook.com/RealPassenger10 https://soundcloud.com/passenger10