The Storyteller

There he was again. The raven-haired boy with the little girl. They came here every day and sat on the same park bench. It was like a strange ritual. The boy would sit there and talk, the girl would listen. They never did anything else. They never fed the ducks or played on the swing set like other kids would. They just sat there, talking and listening. After an hour they would disappear again. Every day.
Alex came to this park every day, too. Always at the same time. At the break of dawn, just when the park was the emptiest. When the people who came there after work were gone and before the teenagers who wanted to party showed up.
At the beginning, Alex had come to the park to think. He had a lot to think about. His miserable family-life, the people at school who either bullied him or ignored him. But after a while he caught himself thinking about this strange boy with the little girl more often. He started wondering what they talked about, why they came on a daily basis, even when it rained. And most importantly: would they be there tonight , too?
But even though Alex thought about them a lot he could never bring himself to talk to them.
Well, at least till today. After a fight with his Mom he came to the park again, like he always did. But today, something was different. Of course, the teenage boy sat there again, with the little girl, but still... something was different.
When Alex entered the park and went to his usual place, an old bridge, nearly overgrown by creepers, the tall, lanky boy suddenly looked up. It was like he could see directly into Alex' soul. Past the fake smile he had built up over the last few years and past the seemingly happy expression. He could see how broken the boy was, how is soul was smashed to pieces. And suddenly Alex found himself walking over to him.
"H-hey... would you mind if I sat down with you?", he asked, surprised by himself. If anyone asked him right now... he wouldn't be able to tell them why he did that. "No, of course not. I'm Jack, and this is May, my sister.", the boy smiled. "My name is Alex."
And then, Jack began to talk. No, he didn't just talk. He carried his listeners off, into a new world. He performed magic with his words.
The minutes passed on but when Jack stopped talking, Alex had to admit that he couldn't tell how long he just sat there, listening to Jack and let himself drift away into a world where dreams could become true and where miracles could happen.
It was incredible how Jack could paint a whole new world, a whole new life, a whole new universe with his words.
Alex was amazed. He had never heard someone talk like Jack did, no one had ever been able to catch him just like that, just by using those simple, yet indescribable words.
But of course it couldn't last forever. After what seemed like just a few minutes, even though hours passed, Jack stopped. Finished his tale and brought his listeners back to reality.
"Wow", was all Alex was able to say. But it was enough. Words would just have destroyed the wonderful atmosphere that lay over the park.
A peaceful, untouchable atmosphere.
Jack smiled at him, again looking him into the eyes and straight into his soul. He handed him a little piece of paper. "I'll bring May home, please wait for me at the bridge.", was all it said. When Alex looked up again Jack was gone and with him the little girl.
If he wouldn't have been still cought up in the mysterious atmosphere he would have laughed. He didn't even know that guy and now he was standing there, at an old bridge, eager to see him again.
And just like Jack had promised he came back after a few minutes, crystalizing out of the fog that had formed over the pond, soundless and mysterious. They just stood together in silence for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to break through the peaceful atmosphere.
"You come here every night, right? You're always alone... just standing here and thinking.", Jack suddenly said. It wasn't exactly a question, just a statement to let Alex know he cared. "Yes. It's a nice place to think, isn't it? Everything is lighter when you're standing here. You can just let your thoughts carry you away, just like you carried me, May and yourself away with your story.", Alex said, almost hesitantly. This was new to him, to just open up to someone. He never opened up, just like a shell.
Jack nodded. "Yes, in a certain way we do the same by coming here. We escape from reality. We let us carry ourselves away. I can see it in your eyes... you're hurt. You're broken. I don't know what happened to you, but I can see that we're somehow alike. We need to get away from everything and we both found our ways to do that. I tell stories and you stand here thinking."
"My- my brother killed himself about a year ago. I just shut down after that, I guess. I let nobody near me. I changed. After a while my friends left. The people at school started to hate me. Suddenly I was the new punching bag. And home is much the same. My parents changed too, after Daniel's dead. They need to get the pain out, and they do it by giving me pain.", Alex said. He didn't know why... somehow he felt that he could trust Jack. He wanted to trust Jack.
"My parents never cared for me. They would either ignore me or vent their anger at me.
When I first saw you here, at the park, I could see you were hurting. And you came here again and again. Every evening, just like I did.", Jack whispered, more to himself than to Alex. "After a while I started to wait for you. I wanted to find out what had happend to the wonderful boy with the golden hair that made him want to escape the world just like me."
Alex' heart skipped a beat. He would never have thought that the boy ever noticed him, or ever saw the pain that was hidden behind the facade.
Suddenly he felt a warm touch at his arm. Jack had softly put his hand on it, making Alex turn around to face him. Suddenly, Alex was nervous. He could feel something was about to happen. But it was a good kind of nervous. It made his heart flutter and his knees weak. It felt right. And then, just like that, he had closed his eyes and leaned in to a kiss that was different from everything he had experienced before. Sweet and innocent, careful and passionate at the same time.

That was when Alex woke up. He just stayed still for a while, still captured by the dream that had felt so real. Then he turned around to look at the figure lying next to him. “Good morning sleeping beauty!”, the person said, smiling lovingly and placing a kiss on his forehead. “Mornin’ Jack.”, Alex smiled.
Yes, it had been nothing but a dream, but the man of his dreams was lying right next to him which was better than anything he could ever ask for.