Faylinn

“You come here quite often, don’t you?” a voice close to me asks. I tear away my eyes from my sketchbook and look up. I have to squint my eyes a little bit to see a boy that must be about my age, standing right in front of me. “I’m Brendon,” he says and stretches his arm, holding his hand right in front of my face.

“Hi,” I reply shyly and shake his hand. I’m not used to being disturbed when I’m drawing. I can normally spend hours in a row sitting here with my back against this old tree, without a single human being talking to me. That’s how I like it the most because I’ve never been good with the entire socializing thing, it’s just nothing for me. I prefer to drown myself in art and the nature around me instead of talking to people.

“What are you drawing?” Brendon questions and sits down in front of me, as if he has known me for ages. Weird kid. I close my sketchbook when I catch the boy trying to look at my drawing because I really hate it when people see drawings that I haven’t finished yet.

“Stuff,” I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

“What kind of stuff?” Brendon asks, looking at my face now that I have closed the sketchbook.

I look straight back at him, blinking a few times. He’s got big chocolate brown eyes, full lips that are smiling brightly and I spot a few freckles on his nose. He’s quite handsome, I have to admit, but still, why should I trust him and let him see what I have drawn? Being handsome is not a guarantee for being reliable.

“Just stuff,” I tell him and look away from him. I focus on a tree behind him instead and a random bird that’s sitting on one of its branches. After a few seconds it spreads its wings and flies away, probably to the other side of the park. I sigh and look back at the unknown boy in front of me. Why is he talking to me anyway? It’s not that I look that interesting.

“Can I see?” Brendon wonders out loud and nods his head towards my sketchbook that’s resting against my legs.

“Why?” I ask him, feeling a little bit uncomfortable with this person intruding me on my school-free day. I put both my hands on my sketchbook, just in case this boy would try to take it away and would look in it.

“Because I’ve seen you here quite often and you’re always drawing in that book, so I figured you must be good at it,” Brendon answers with a small smile. “And I like pretty drawings,” he adds and when I look in his eyes I can see nothing but sincerity, so I guess it would be okay if I showed him something. But since when do I act on my intuition when it comes to people?

“I don’t know if I can show you my drawings,” I tell Brendon, picking at the nail of my thumb.

“Why not?”

“Because they’re mine and I don’t know you,” I reply, my cheeks heating up a little bit from embarrassment. Why do I always have to be such a social retard?

“Well… I told you that I’m Brendon. What more do you want to know?” Brendon says, still smiling. He seems like a really cheerful and open boy, the complete opposite of me. “I like singing and sometimes dancing too. And making walks in the park. Or just hang around with my dog, she’s really cool,” he continues, not waiting for my answer. “I also play a few music instruments, but at the moment I don’t really have a lot of time for that with school and all,” he adds with a small pout. “What’s your name?”

“Ryan,” I briefly answer and then things go silent again. Do I have to say stuff about me now? I really don’t know how to act in situations like this. If I say something, I’m afraid that he will laugh at me and go away again. But if I say nothing at all, he might leave as well. But then again, do I want him to stay? Or do I want him to leave me alone so I can go back to drawing?

“You’re not a big talker are you?” Brendon asks and chuckles softly. No shit, how did he come to that conclusion? I shrug my shoulders in response and shake my head.

“I just like drawing,” I tell him, looking at my hands instead of at him. “And music.” I really wish I could play a music instrument or sing, it would be so cool, but my parents don’t have the money to pay an instrument, let alone for lessons.

“That’s cool.” Brendon nods, absently tapping his index finger against his left shoe. “I wish I could draw too, I think it’s a really nice talent. But I really suck,” he says and sighs. “But hey, I should be glad with the talents I do have,” he adds with a wink. “So, I really can’t see what’s in that sketchbook? Not even one drawing?”

I sigh deeply and start biting my lower lip. I could show him one that I finished a couple of days ago. I don’t think it’s that bad and it would be sort of cool if someone besides me saw one of my drawings. My parents aren’t really interested in them and the people at school just laugh at my interest for arts and the things I draw.

“On one condition,” I tell him, slowly letting the tip of my index finger travel over the cover of my sketchbook. “Please don’t laugh at me.”

“If you haven’t drawn a funny cartoon, I won’t laugh, I promise,” Brendon says, nodding. “I wouldn’t know what would be so funny about a drawing anyway. They’re cool,” he adds, lightly rocking back and forth. He looks like someone who can’t sit still or be quiet for a long while which is sort of cute, if I have to be honest. A lot of people are really annoying when they’re like that, but he’s not.

“Some people just do that,” I mutter softly, shrugging my shoulders for what feels like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes. “They think I draw silly things and then they laugh at me,” I explain, slowly opening my sketchbook. “But you won’t, right?”

“I won’t,” Brendon answers and shakes his head. “Because I sort of know what you mean. A lot of people start laughing when I sing Disney songs. They think it’s for children and then they just laugh at me. But I don’t really care. I like singing and I like Disney songs, so why shouldn’t I sing them?”

“Yeah.” I nod, feeling a spark of happiness running through my veins because he understands. He understands what it’s like to be made fun of. But he’s strong enough to ignore all of that, I’m not. I hide myself from everyone to avoid that they will laugh at me which is weak.

I flip through the pages of my sketchbook, until I have found the drawing I think is good enough to show him. It’s one of a moon elf, sitting on a flower.

Moon elves are my favourite creatures to draw. They are very noble creatures that live in the forests and are guardians of the natural world. They’re slender, got a very pale skin, almost white, and a pair of pointy ears. Most people see elves as cute little creatures, but only few know that they can be pretty aggressive when it comes to protecting the forest they live in. But if you’re nice to them and don’t have any intentions to destroy the forest, they are really nice and helpful.

I take the sketchbook and turn it around so Brendon can properly see the drawing I’ve made.

“Wow, that is really, really good,” Brendon tells me with his eyes glued to the black-and-white drawing. “You’re really good and I like the subject too. I have a little thing for elves and other fantasy creatures,” he says and finally looks up. So I am not the only sixteen-year-old boy who thinks elves, goblins and fairies are the coolest thing on earth? They’re not fantasy creatures, though. They’re real just like humans are, it’s just that not everyone can see them. “Do you have more drawings? Because I really like this one.”

“Erm… yeah, but I’m not sure if they’re good enough to show you,” I answer, blushing at the compliments he’s giving me. He’s one of the first ones that told me they like what I draw. Someone else who always said he liked my drawings was my grandfather, but he died a year and a half ago.

“I’m pretty sure they are. You’re really good,” Brendon says, looking back down at my drawing. “Do you draw other fantasy creatures too? Or just elves?” he wonders and I got the feeling that this boy has got a very short attention span, because he jumps from one subject to another in only a matter of seconds. First he’s asking me to see more drawings and then he wonders what else I draw.

“I draw other creatures that live in the forests as well. Like nymphs, fairies and gnomes, but I like elves the most,” I explain to Brendon, happy that I seem to have found someone I can talk to about this that doesn’t have an intention to make fun of me. Or at least I hope so. I don’t trust him for 100 percent just yet. I don’t trust anyone for 100 percent.

“Do you like Peter Pan?” Brendon suddenly asks, completely out of the blue. “I really like Peter Pan,” he adds with a small smile. “But anyway, can I see another drawing?”

“I really don’t know,” I say and take my sketchbook from Brendon, hesitantly flipping through the pages, making sure that Brendon can’t see what I have drawn on them.

“I’ll sing you a song in return,” Brendon suggests, giving me a big smile. “Any song you want, I’ll sing it.”

“Any song?” I wonder out loud, a smirk creeping on my face. “Like, if I ask you to sing They’re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard, then you’ll do it?”

Brendon laughs, doubling over a little bit, but nods anyway.

“If that is what you want, then I’ll sing it for you. But only if you show me another drawing of yours,” Brendon replies, still smiling widely.

“Ok, deal,” I say, sending him a small smile. “But you really don’t have to sing They’re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard, though. I’m not mean,” I add, just in case he had gotten scared that he might have to sing that song for real. “You sing something first and then I’ll show you another drawing,” I tell him because I wouldn’t want him to flee and break his promise after I have shown him another one of my drawings. Plus, I’ve shown him a drawing already, so now it’s his turn to do something.

“That’s fair. Which song do you want me to sing?” Brendon asks me and starts tapping his finger against his shoe again. What do I want him to sing? There are hundreds of songs that I like, how am I supposed to pick one? Then I remember what Brendon said earlier. He likes Peter Pan, so maybe he should sing a Peter Pan song, right? And he told me he liked singing Disney songs, so it should be okay.

“Sing me a Peter Pan song,” I tell Brendon, my smile broadening a little bit. Brendon grins and nods in response, clearly happy with my choice of song.

“Does it matter which one?”

“Nah, you can choose,” I answer, shaking my head. I don’t know any of the songs anyway.

“Okidoki, then I’ll pick The Second Star To The Right,” Brendon says and stands up. “Here I go.”

“The second star to the right
Shines in the night for you
To tell you that the dreams you plan
Really can come true
The second star to the right
Shines with a light that's rare
And if it's Never Land you need
It's light will lead you there”

As Brendon is singing, he also dances a little bit, making me smile widely. He’s so amazing. If I were him, I would never dare to do such things and certainly not in a public place like the town’s park, where people can really see you and hear you. I’d be embarrassed to no end. Not that Brendon should be embarrassed, though. He sings really, really well.

“Twinkle, twinkle little star
So I'll know where you are
Gleaming in the skies above
Lead me to the one who loves me
And when you bring him my way
Each time we say "Goodnight"
We'll thank the little star that shines
The second from the right”

When Brendon’s done singing, he flops down next to me and nudges me with his elbow.
“Was that pretty enough?” he asks, sweetly looking at me. A soft giggle escapes from my lips and I nod. He’s such a sweetheart. “Good, then I guess I deserved another drawing!”

“You certainly did.” I nod and open my sketchbook again, at a page where I have drawn a nymph. Brendon sure as hell deserved to see another one of my drawings. Actually, he deserved more than that because my drawings are nothing compared to how good he can sing and how nice he is to me.

“That’s a nymph, right?” Brendon questions, taking the sketchbook off my lap to take a closer look at the drawing. Unlike my drawing of the elf, this one is coloured which took me ages to get it done perfectly.

“Yeah,” I answer, nodding. “They live in very peaceful places, mostly around springs and other places where they can find pure water. They’re a lot less aggressive than elves are, if they are challenged, they’ll rather flee than fight because they’re so peaceful. When they do have to fight, they use their magical power, it’s really cool. And yeah, they’re just beautiful and charming,” I explain while looking at the drawing. This is the only nymph I ever saw. They’re really rare because they only live at places where there is pure water.

“You’re really talented. Would you mind if I’d take a look at the other drawings? I’m really curious,” Brendon says, sending me a pleading look. He seems to be really nice and interested in me, so I guess it’s okay. So far he hasn’t even tried to make fun of me which is another plus.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead,” I reply and nervously start biting my lower lip. What if he hates all of my other drawings?

Brendon lets out a soft squeal when he turns the page and sees another drawing of an elf. You can find them in every forest, so it’s really easy to find one and draw it. Brendon stares at the drawing of the elf for a little while and then he turns the page again. Another elf.

“How come are you so good at always drawing the same creature but in a different way? And so detailed?” Brendon asks, letting his finger travel over the drawing of the male elf. “It’s like you can really see those creatures and every time you draw one, it really is another one. Do you get what I mean?” he says and tears his eyes away from the elf.

Yeah, duh, that’s probably because I do see them. I’m not planning on telling Brendon this, though, it’s way too personal and he’ll think that I’m a nutcase. When I first discovered this weird ability of seeing those creatures, I thought I was going insane. That was about two years ago, when my grandfather was still alive. He’s the only person I ever told that I could see elves and such whenever I went for a walk in the forest or through the park. He told me that it was a very rare talent, only granted to those who deserved it and would do something special with it. My grandfather himself could see them too. It was our little secret that until today no one knows about.

“That’s silly,” I tell Brendon, faking a smile to convince him. Normal human beings wouldn’t understand anyway. They don’t understand the importance of all those creatures living in the forests, protecting it against all evil.

“Mmm…” Brendon nods, but he doesn’t seem to be convinced. He turns the page of my sketchbook again, revealing a drawing of a fairy.

I clearly remember the day when I met that fairy. I went for a walk in a forest near my uncle’s house. It was the first time I went for a walk there and got completely lost. Luckily, a fairy found me and showed me the way back to my uncle’s house. The one I met was called Nissa. She was about twelve inches tall and had very fragile wings on her back.

“What does Nissa mean?” Brendon questions, pointing at the five letters underneath the drawing.

“It means friendly fairy,” I answer with a soft smile. Nissa told me about that when she led me through the forest. She also told me that she was one of the only fairies living in that forest, but that she didn’t mind because she got often company from elves.

Brendon carefully looks at every single one of my drawings in my sketchbook, often asking me questions about the creatures. He recognised almost every one of them, except for the dryad. I come across those quite often as well. They are the female spirits of nature that preside over the forests. Every dryad is with a certain tree which she will protect. When the tree gets destroyed, the dryad dies together with the tree. That’s one of the reasons why the punish humans or other creatures who try to damage their tree.

“Wow, I’m really amazed by all of this,” Brendon states when he has gone through all of my drawings. “You’re a really great artist,” he says, making me blush instantly.

“Thanks,” I mutter, playing with one of my shoelaces and trying to hide my red face as much as I can. “Erm… I should go home now. I promised my mom I would help her with preparing dinner,” I then say, feeling a bit sad that I have to go away because it felt really nice to talk to this boy.

“Oh… okay,” Brendon replies with a small nod. “Here,” he adds and gives me back my sketchbook. “We should hang out again. You’re really nice,” he tells me, sending me a smile. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Yeah, that would be nice.” I nod as I stand up and stretch all my limbs. I had been sitting on the ground for more than two hours, drawing the wood elf that’s sitting right in front of the bush next to me and Brendon. I glance over at the bush where he was sitting, but it seems he has disappeared while I was talking to Brendon.

“Can I have your mobile phone number? Then I’ll call you or text you.”

“I don’t really have that,” I answer sheepishly, feeling embarrassed about the fact that I don’t have one. Everyone in my class has one, but my parents don’t have a lot of money, so they can’t afford buying me one.

“Oh, okay. That’s fine too. Well, we can meet again here during the weekend. Are you free then?” Brendon asks, standing up as well. He dusts off his clothes, a few leaves falling down from his sweatshirt. I nod in response. “Great. Saturday, around two in the afternoon? Is that fine?”

“Yeah, that’s great,” I answer and smile. Did I just make a friend? A human friend? I haven’t had a real friend in three years. Before I had a really good friend called Spencer, but he moved out of town and I’ve only seen him four times since then.

“Awesome, I’ll see you then.” Brendon smiles and gives me a small wave. “Bye, Ryan.”

“Bye, Brendon,” I reply and with that, I start walking away to the exit of the park. When I’ve taken a few steps, I hear Brendon starting to sing again, I don’t recognise the song, but I’m quite sure it’s a Disney one.

***

“Do you want to go for a walk in the forest?” I ask Brendon after a short silence. We’ve been sitting here, on the grass, for almost an hour, just talking about all sorts of stuff, trying to get to know each other better. First it was mostly Brendon who was talking, but after a while I started to feel more and more comfortable with this boy and I opened up a bit. “I really like the woods.”

“Yeah, I think you’ve told me.” Brendon chuckles and gives me a playful shove in the side. “Like five hundred times.”

“That’s because I really like them,” I say, poking Brendon. “So, do you want to go with me?”

“Sure.” Brendon nods and stands up. He stretches his arm and holds his hand in front of my face. I smile and grab his hand, letting him help me get me up my feet.

“That way,” I speak, pointing at a small path that disappears between a few bushes. Normally I only go to the forest on my own, so I can draw a bit without being disturbed by humans and sometimes also to talk with the elves, to find out if there are any creatures around that I haven’t seen yet.

Brendon and I make the short walk towards the nearby forest in silence which I find a bit odd because since I have met Brendon, he hasn’t been able to keep his mouth shut for more than half a minute, unless I am talking.

“Watch out!” I squeak when Brendon almost steps on a moon elf that’s walking on the ground underneath us. I pull Brendon away, saving the elf’s life. The silver-haired elf looks up at Brendon with big scared eyes and then it quickly runs away. Poor little thing.

“Why did you do that?” Brendon asks confusedly and looks down at the ground, probably seeing nothing but shrivelled leaves and a few twigs from the trees around us.

“I.. you… I thought you were going to step into dog poop,” I lie, not wanting to tell him he was about to kill an elf. I can’t lose the friend I have just made by freaking him out. “But it’s nothing. I must have seen wrong,” I add, sending him a weak smile, hoping he would fall for it.

“O-kay…” Brendon mumbles, still looking down at his feet. “So, what do you like so much about forests?”

“They’re just… nice,” I answer, not wanting to tell him the true reason why I love it so much. A forest looks so much better when you can see all of its creatures in it; so much more alive. “To walk in and stuff. Or just sit against a tree and draw.”

“I like climbing in trees,” Brendon states, his smile widening and his dark brown eyes sparkling with excitement. “Look, that tree over there is a really good one to climb in,” he adds, nodding his head towards a large oak tree. I want to stop him, because I can see a dryad that’s currently climbing up the tree, glaring and hissing at Brendon to tell him to go away and leave her tree alone. Brendon can’t see or hear that, though, so I grab him by his collar to prevent him from even touching the tree. Most dryads are really nice and won’t mind that you climb their tree, as long as you don’t harm the tree, but some aren’t and will do whatever it takes to keep other creatures, especially human beings away from their tree.

“Don’t do that,” I warn Brendon, not letting go of him. “The dryad will get mad at you and do something,” I explain, as of it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Ryan, a dryad is just a mythical creature.” Brendon chuckles and tries to wriggle free from my grasp, but I won’t let him because I really don’t want to see Brendon get hurt.

“They’re not,” I tell Brendon, shaking my head. “They’re real and they’ll do anything to protect their tree and I just know that there’s a pretty aggressive dryad living in that tree, okay?” I explain, hoping that he won’t ask more questions.

“How do you know that?” Brendon questions and stops struggling. He crosses his arms in front of his chest and looks at me. “Well?”

“I just know,” I mutter, not looking at Brendon as I speak. I’ve become too good friends with him already that I can’t lie when I look at him.

“Yeah, but how do you know that? There must be a reason,” Brendon says, and puts his index finger underneath my chin, forcing me to lift my head and look at him. “You can tell me, even if it’s something weird,” he adds, sending me a reassuring smile. “I’m not particularly the most normal kid around either.”

“Because the dryad is hissing at you,” I mutter, trying to look away from Brendon, but he’s holding my chin in a firm grip so I can’t. “I can see her,” I whisper, hoping from the bottom of my heart that Brendon won’t think I’m a complete freak that lives in a fantasy world.

“I thought so.” Brendon nods and lets go of my face. He smiles and starts walking again, saying nothing more. Wow, that’s a reaction I hadn’t expected; at all He doesn’t even doubt the fact that I can really see all these creatures?

“Wait,” I start, not following Brendon as he walks. “How did you figure that out?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow. This boy knows more about these things than I had expected and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. “Can you see them too?”

“No, I just know that some people can see them,” Brendon answers and reaches out for my hand and grabs it with his own. “Come on.” He smiles, tugging at my hand. “You wanted to go for a walk, so we should be walking.”

“Yeah… right.” I nod and follow him, still slightly confused about how Brendon just reacted. So now I have a friend, who doesn’t think it’s weird that I draw so called ‘fantasy’ creatures, who likes to sing Disney songs while dancing to them and who thinks it’s normal that I can see all the creatures of the woods. That’s… weird, but I’m not going to deny that I like it.

Brendon and I walk through the forest in an almost silence. The only sound, apart from the sounds coming for the forest, is Brendon humming some song every once in a while.

“I’m tired. Can we rest for a little while?” Brendon asks me after we’ve walked for about twenty minutes. He stops walking and lets go of my hand that he was still holding. An involuntary pout appears on my face at the lack of contact. It felt really nice when he was holding my hand, but now the little contact is gone. “Can I sit against that tree?” he then wonders, pointing at an acorn tree next to us. There isn’t a dryad living in this tree, so it should be okay.

“Yeah, that tree’s fine.” I nod and sit down myself, my back leaning against the thick stem. Brendon quickly follows suite, his shoulder lightly touching mine as we just sit there and stare out in front of us.

“Are their any other creatures around now, except for some dryads in some trees?” Brendon asks, looking around him as if he’s expecting to see some odd creature jumping right at his face. I look around me too, and spot a moon elf nearby a fungus across the path Brendon and I were following.

“There’s a moon elf over there,” I answer, pointing at the spot where the elf is. “It’s a female and she’s really pretty. Would you mind if I’d start drawing her.? I have a good visual memory, so I can remember pretty well what they look like when I want to draw them later, but it’s still better if I can draw them while I can see them.” Now that Brendon knows I can see all the creatures of the forest and isn’t freaked out by this gift, I don’t feel so scared anymore about talking to him about them.

“Yeah, sure. I want to see how you do it.” Brendon nods and then he rests his head on my shoulder. I take my sketchbook out of my shoulder bag plus my favourite pencil to draw with. I focus on the elf for a short minute and then I start drawing. The elf itself just stands there, as if she’s guarding something which actually may be possible.

I softly press my pencil against the piece of paper of my sketchbook and start drawing a rough outline of the elf her body. Brendon keeps his head rested on my shoulder and just stares at my hand and sketchbook as I keep on drawing. Like this he will know what the elf in front of us looks like.

“Where did you learn to draw like this?” Brendon questions, his head still not moving. I kind of like this position we’re in now. I don’t really know why, but I just like it.

“My grandfather taught me,” I answer as I keep on drawing. I can’t stop now or I’ll lose my concentration.

“Cool. I wish I could do that too.”

“I could try to teach you,” I tell Brendon and stop drawing to look at him, but then I see something close to us that makes me laugh out loud. An alan.

“What? What’s so funny?” Brendon asks, lifting his head from my shoulder to look at me.

“There, an alan just landed in that tree,” I explain, nodding at a nearby tree where the alan is hanging upside down from. “They’re so funny,” I add, giggling softly.

“What’s an alan? I never heard of that kind of creature,” Brendon replies, looking at the tree I just pointed at.

“It’s half human, half bird. They look really weird because they’ve got fingers on their feet and toes on their hands,” I tell Brendon, still very amused by the alan. “That’s why they always hang upside-down from tree branches. They’re really nice.”

“Oh, that’s really cool. Can you quickly draw one? Because you made me really curious with the whole toe-hand thing. It seems funny,” Brendon says, still looking at the tree. “I wish I could see them too.”

I normally hate drawing something on demand, but Brendon is looking so cute when he’s pouting that I really don’t have a choice. He seems to be genuinely sad about the fact that he can’t see these creatures and I wish I could help him more than just drawing them for him, but I don’t think I can do such a thing.

“Sure. I’ll quickly sketch one so you can get an idea,” I answer, nodding and flip the page in my sketchbook. I can always finish the drawing of the elf later. “And then I’ll teach you some basics of drawing if you want. It’s not that hard.”

“Really?” Brendon exclaims, his smile widening. “That would be so cool! Thanks!” he says and hugs me tightly, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. What is this boy doing to me?

“It’s no problem.” I grin, probably holding on to Brendon for a tad too long than necessary, but Brendon doesn’t object, so I suppose it’s okay. Then I make a quick sketch of the alan that’s still hanging and swinging on the tree branch. It’s just a rough sketch and done in less than ten minutes. “There. That’s an alan. I got a few more drawings of that kind of bird, but I keep them at home. If you want I can show them to you later.”

“Wow, that’s such a cool bird,” Brendon states, looking at the sketch I made. “What does it do, besides hanging from tree branches?”

“Erm… that’s actually quite gross and weird,” I answer, scrunching my nose at the thought of what those birds are supposed to do. I never saw them do it, but I think that it’s true. “I once read that they take menstrual blood, miscarried foetuses or afterbirth and then create a human child from it which they will raise themselves.”

“Ew, that’s… odd…” Brendon chuckles, still looking at the sketch of the alan. “But that doesn’t take away that they look really cool.”

“True,” I agree, nodding.

“Can you teach me how to draw now?” Brendon asks, sweetly looking at me. “It would be so cool if I’d be able to draw only half as good as you do,” he adds, excitedly clapping his hands. “Pleeease?”

I smile at Brendon’s excitement and nod, fishing another pencil out of my bag. No one else but me can draw with my favourite pencil. It’s something I just don’t want. Then I take an empty page in my sketchbook and lay it down on the ground.

“I don’t really know how to explain this well, so I’m just going to tell you how I draw.”

“Okay,” Brendon replies, taking the pencil from me. He puts it behind his ear and looks down at the empty sheet of paper, waiting until I make a move.

“I always begin with a rough outline. Nothing too fancy, just… I don’t know… the outline, I suppose,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “I’ll draw a leaf, it’s something easy to begin with,” I tell Brendon and half a minute later, I have already drawn the outline. It’s just a leaf, so it’s not that hard. “You try to draw the outline now.”

Brendon nods and takes the pencil from behind his ear. He leans down over my sketchbook and puts the pencil down against it. Instead of looking at Brendon’s hand and what he is drawing, I look at his face which shows nothing but pure concentration at the moment. His tongue is peeking through his lips and his eyes are slightly squinted. When I manage to tear my eyes away from his pretty face and look at his hand instead, I notice that his hand is lightly shaking which makes it harder for him to draw a good outline of the leaf. I lay my hand over Brendon’s and help him draw the line.

“Your hand needs to relax a bit more,” I state, still holding his hand. I squeeze his hand a bit in an attempt to give it some sort of weird massage. When I’m done, I don’t let go of it, though, because I really like his hand and it fits perfectly in mine. “Good, now that we have the outline, you can start to add things. A leaf is really easy. First you have the midrib of the leaf,” I explain, lifting Brendon’s hand a little bit and then putting it back down where I want to draw the midrib in one swift movement. “And then the other ribs,” I whisper, as I keep on drawing with Brendon’s hand. “And a few little finishing touches.”

“Wow, you make it look so easy,” Brendon says, looking at the drawing we just made. It’s a really simple one without too many details, so to me it really is easy. “But I don’t think I’d be good at it. I’ll better stick to just singing and dancing,” he tells me with a grin and winks at me. “You’re really nice,” he then states and nods.

“Erm… thanks… I guess,” I reply, not really knowing why he said that and why he said that now. “You’re… nice too,” I add, my cheeks turning bright red.

“Thanks.” Brendon smiles and I really need to know how he can say all these things without blushing too. It’s like he’s immune for blushing or so. “Come on, let’s go back. I think my mom will be worried. She doesn’t know where I am.”

“Yeah. I should go back home as well because my dad was going to work in the garden a bit and I should be helping him a bit,” I reply and close my sketchbook. Brendon gives me my pencil back as I put everything back in my bag and stand up, picking some leaves off of my clothes. What comes from the forest, stays in the forest, my grandfather always told me. I think it has something to do with the natural balance, but I don’t know a lot about that, yet.

“Do you want to… maybe… go camping with me one day?” I ask Brendon when we’re back at the park, hoping from the bottom from my heart that his answer will be ‘yes’. Up until now, I always had to go camping on my own. Well, not entirely on my own because I would always have company from a friendly creature in the forest. But Brendon’s different. I love being around him more than I love being around those creatures. I can’t be really good friends with elves or nymphs or whatever, but I can with Brendon. “Like in the f-forest… if you want t-to?” I add, my cheeks reddening because of my stuttering.

“That would be cool.” Brendon nods, bouncing up and down a little bit. He really has too much energy, I think. “When do you want to go?”

“What about Friday night?”

“It’s a date.” Brendon smiles and lightly brushes his hand against mine. A date? That’s an interesting term for camping. “Meet me here at five in the afternoon?”

“Yeah, that’s awesome. I’ll bring a tent, but I don’t have an extra sleeping bag, you’ll have to bring one of your own,” I tell him and I just can’t help but smile. I’m going camping with another human being. One that seems to like me as well which is beyond awesome.

“No problem. I’m sure I can borrow one from my brother,” Brendon replies. “See you then,” he adds, then he leans forward and quickly pecks my cheek. Before I can say something about it, Brendon is already walking away.

***

“I think this is a safe place to camp,” I tell Brendon after a twenty minute walk through the forest. “But please don’t do anything that could do harm to nature. Elves really don’t like that and I know that they’re only two inches tall, but they can be pretty aggressive and they have magical powers. You don’t want to mess with them.”

“Okay,” Brendon replies and it really amazes me that he still finds all of this normal. He crouches down and carefully puts his sleeping bag on the ground. How cute is that?

“You don’t have to be that careful.” I chuckle and drop my bag next to his and then the tent I have been carrying as well. “Do you know how to put up a tent?” I ask Brendon, turning to him. Not that I would need any help, I can do it perfectly fine on my own, but I think it’ll be more fun if we can do this together.

“Not really, but if you tell me what to do, then I’ll help,” Brendon answers and rolls up the sleeves of his bright red hoodie. “Where do we start?”

“Unpacking the tent,” I say, laughing softly. He really doesn’t know a thing about camping, does he? I’ll be glad to teach him everything about it.

“Oh, I can do that,” Brendon cheerfully states and bends down to pick up the tent. He opens the zipper of the orange bag and takes everything out of it. “What now?”

“Now, we have to put the frame together,” I explain, crouching down and reaching out to start doing so as Brendon does the same, looking a bit helpless at first, but after a little while he gets the knack of it. It’s not that hard anyway. The hardest part is to get the tent standing properly. But we can easily do that if we work together. It doesn’t take long until we’ve put the frame of the tent together and eventually the entire tent. It’s not a very large one, but we’ll both fit in it, for sure. And I certainly won’t mind being close to Brendon at all.

“We’re good at this,” Brendon states, looking at the tent with a satisfied smile. “What are we going to do now?”

“Put our stuff in the tent and then prepare our dinner,” I reply, taking my bag from the ground. I sit down on my knees in front of the tent and open the zipper of it so I can crawl into it. Brendon quickly follows suite and starts unpacking his sleeping bag.

“This will be cosy during the night.” Brendon grins when he straightens his sleeping bag barely an inch away from mine. “Not that I’m complaining,” he quickly adds with a sly grin.

“Me neither,” I say, a blush creeping on my face. “Come on, let’s make some dinner.”

***

After Brendon and I have eaten, we quickly clean up and then we sit down in the opening of the tent, our thighs pressed against one another. I turn my head towards Brendon at the same time he looks at me and smile, not really knowing what I should do or say now. Brendon slowly but surely leans closer to me, until our lips are only half an inch away from one another.

“Would you… would you mind if… I’d kiss you?” Brendon asks, his breath tickling my lips.

My mind goes completely blank at this and all I can do is shake my head. The corners of Brendon’s mouth lift a little bit, but a split second later, I can’t see his mouth anymore because it’s pressed against my own. I’ve never kissed anyone before so I just keep still, hoping that Brendon knows what he should do. Apparently he does because he softly sucks on my lower lip and brings one of his hands to my cheek, gently caressing it. Then he pulls back again and looks straight into my eyes.

“That was nice.” Brendon smiles, his hand still resting on my cheek. “Can we do that again?”

“Sure.” I grin, keeping my head still the entire time.

Brendon leans closer to me and kisses my lips again. It only lasts a few seconds, but it sends thousands sparks of happiness up my spine.

“I feel weird,” Brendon states after breaking the kiss. “Not in a bad way… just weird as if something inside me has changed,” he says, his eyes still not leaving mine. “But I kind of like the feeling,” he adds and smiles widely.

I respond to his smile with one of his own and then I turn my head, looking at the forest that’s surrounding us. Two seconds later, Brendon shrieks loudly, nearly making me deaf.
“There’s some beast sitting on your shoe!” he says, pointing at my shoe.

“It’s just a fairy,” I chuckle as I look at the little creature. “Nothing to be afraid of. They’re really nice,” I add and then I realise what I just said. Wait, he can see the fairy? How is that possible?

“H-how… I can see it, Ryan,” Brendon whispers, bending over my shoe and the fairy. “How is that possible?”

“He shared his gift with you,” the fairy says and then he starts flying. The fairy flies in front of mine and Brendon’s face, his wings flapping up and down at top-speed. “I’m Faylinn, nice to meet you,” he then tells us, smiling.

I quickly glance at Brendon whose eyes have widened and is now staring at the fairy.

“Nice to meet you too, Faylinn,” I reply and nod once with my head. I’m already used to be talked to by these creatures. They know exactly who can and can’t see them. “I’m Ryan and this is Brendon.”

“Brendon is a newcomer. You gave him the gift by kissing him. He is blessed now,” Faylinn explains and without another word, he flies away, leaving both me and Brendon completely shocked. I gave him my gift? But how on earth is that possible?

Brendon looks around him, probably trying to find other creatures.
“Oh my God,” he whispers, his eyes glued to the tree in front of us. “Is that a dryad?” he asks, pointing at the dryad that’s living in that tree. He really can see them.

“Yeah… it is. I… wow, this is amazing,” I whisper, barely grasping what just happened. Brendon kissed me and now he can see them too?

“Wow… Everything around us is so different now,” Brendon states matter-of-factly, his eyes wide with amazement as he tries to take in all of these new things. “And they’re exactly like you draw them. So beautiful,” he murmurs. “Ryan! Look at that,” he exclaims, looking up in the air. “That bird is luminous! What kind of bird is it?”

“That was a firebird,” I tell Brendon, the bird already gone again. “My grandfather once told me that when a firebird is singing, pearls fall from its beak.”

“Wow, this is so incredible. And you’ve been able to see them all the time?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” I nod and smile. I just want to kiss Brendon again, but he’s too busy taking in what has just happened to him. To me it’s not that special anymore, I’ve been able to see all those creatures for such a long time already that I’ve gotten used to them.

“Thank you,” Brendon whispers after a few more minutes. “Thank you so much for sharing this gift with me, it’s so beautiful,” he says, linking his hand with mine. “Thank you,” he repeats and then I finally get what I want: another sweet kiss.