It was just another hot, sunny day, like yesterday and the day before. I was watching TV when my mom appeared at the doorframe and said:
“Will you take your brother and Blacky to the park?” – It was the third time in that day that I’ve watched the same Grey’s Anatomy episode, so I answered:
“Sure”
I stood up and went to my room to my put my shoes on, then I headed downstairs, to the kitchen, where I found my mom, little brother and Blacky, my dog who had a white patch on his right eye, waiting for me; I took the leash of Blacky on my left hand and my little brother’s hand on my right hand. The three of us were walking towards the park when we passed a huge crowd on the sidewalk, everyone was wearing bright colors and cheering, most of the people was smiling and there were a lot of kids, so I grabbed my brother’s hand even harder, pushed our way through the people and finally, when I felt air come back fully to my lungs, remembered that there was a kindergarten summer parade.















When we got to the park I unleashed blacky and finally let go of my brother and let them enjoy the sun and the freedom, but not before shouting:
“Be careful! I’ll be right here”
There were a lot of people, so when I spotted an empty bench nearby, I instantly sat. There, on the calmness of sun and sweet voices of children, I drifted to my world and totally forgot about everything; I started admiring the recently-grown flowers, the lovely chirm of the birds and the hot, sticky breeze of summer, then in the midst of it all, I looked to my right, where I saw two little girls, one wearing a blue dress and the other wearing a pink dress, both had long black hair, I could only see their backs, one of the girls had her arm around the waist of the other one and the sun was shining between their bodies, then, I looked up to find this amazing picture of a little boy, who happened to be my brother, with long brown curly hair, slightly smiling, seated on top of a slide with a little black dog with a white patch on his right eye next to him, behind them I could see some branches of a tree and the top of a mountain, the moment made me sigh happily and satisfied; lastly, I looked to my left and saw a teenage boy with golden sparkling hair, wearing a white and purple soccer uniform, standing with his hands on his knees on the soccer field across the street, his mouth was a bit open, as if he needed even more air, and he was looking to the sky.
I guess he must have felt my admiring gaze because he turned to look at me, sheepishly I blinked, but somehow I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, his mouth turned into this crooked, halfway smile and his glittering eyes locked with mine. Something about this boy seemed familiar, recognized, but at the same time confusing and unknown. Suddenly, a scream of a boy brought me back to reality, my mind instantly shifted from peaceful to alarmed, and my nervous eyes searched impatiently for my little brother. My nervousness rapidly turned to fear as I couldn’t seem to find my little brother’s face, I looked to every angle, up, down, left, right, front, back…but there was no sign of him or of my dog, I ran all over the place, screaming:
“Adam! Where are you?” “Adam!”
But my voice only echoed back at me, there was no answer; panic invaded me, so I started to scream even louder, and as I did so, tears where starting to run down my cheeks:
“Adam! Come on, big boy, let’s go home! … Adam!” “Blacky, come here!”
Not knowing what to do, I walked back, in sobs, to the bench, “That’s where he last saw me, he knows I was there, maybe he’ll come looking for me there” I thought to myself. I hadn’t noticed before, but all the people were gone, all I heard was my own breath, heartbeat and the hot wind making everything on its way stir, the scene made me chill and my tears even more abundant. Out of my sobs, I heard footsteps approaching behind me; I turned around immediately but there was no one behind me, my body shivered for the second time and I started to feel more and more scared. I sat there, waiting and hoping, but after 20 minutes of doing nothing but cry and wait, I stood up and started to walk around again, this time my fear made me more determined and desperate, I shouted and shouted once again, walked and kept walking. “He has to be here somewhere!” I thought; scared, nervous, sad and clueless I started to walk to my house. With every step I took, the night felt darker and the silence deeper. My tears were still invading my view, I was walking with my arms around myself, trying to feel better. Unexpectedly and making my body shiver for the third time, I heard another breath that wasn’t mine, and I heard it very close, I turned around slowly, and leaving me without words, that boy from the soccer field was standing inches from me, holding out his hand for me to grab it, I looked up at him, scanning him, until I met his eyes; I don’t know if it was my tears or his closeness, but his eyes looked different. And after a moment, I understood that I had seen him before, that made me take his hand, when I did, I saw behind him a too-familiar little black dog, I turned a little more to the right and saw that that little black dog had a white patch on his right eye, a gasp escaped from me and my eyes opened wide in shock, I opened my mouth to say something but before I could say anything, the boy took my head between his hands and said:
“Sh, don’t worry, everything will be alright” – I couldn’t speak, my tears were now falling like rain falls angrily on a storm, and he smiled, took my right hand in his, and despite my effort of not walking along with him, started walking, pulling me along, with my little black dog with a white patch on his right eye behind us, towards an endless trail.