Chapter 0.

He couldn't understand the interest in such a small annoyance of a person. What could be interesting about her? She was a simple and hateful intruder. She was a year younger than him, with big green and shining eyes, almost artificial and impossible to ignore, hypnotic-like the evening stars that his father always showed him through the telescope. Despite this, he frowned once again in her direction.

"When will she leave?" He murmured to himself. His traitor friends had left him to go after that little girl. Everyone marveled at the new girl who appeared a few weeks ago in their lives. He knew her, after all, they were neighbors, but they never crossed words, he never saw her leave his home even to go to school, she was like a ghost that inhabited the house next door, almost creepy.

Every afternoon he and his friends went out to play in Minuit Park, the soccer field was their meeting point. Their neighborhood was small and everyone knew each other since kindergarten, they were best friends.

One afternoon the girl appeared sitting alone on the bleachers with an empty look and an expressionless face, one of her cheeks bruised and shaking slightly at any sudden loud sound.

For days, the little girl just watched in silence as they played and then disappeared near the sunset. It was uncomfortable to see her silhouette sitting statically, so little by little they decided to get closer, a simple word was enough to make her smile.

"Do you want to play?" His best friend asked the girl. After that, every day it was the same, the girl would appear out of nowhere and wait for a member of the group to come along so she could join in their games. She had become one of the group, and he didn't like that.

"Why should we play with her?" He shouted angrily. "She's a girl!"

"Why does it matter? We are no longer five years old," they defended her. "She will continue to play with us. Grow up, Alex."

"Seriously, dude," said a little redhead. "It's fun. What's your problem?"

Alex felt his shirt being pulled lightly and delicately, yet furiously turned to see who it was.

"It's okay. I don't want to be a nuisance," she said with a forced smile. "Mom says I shouldn't be a nuisance."

Those words made him feel disgusted with himself, a damn fool. He hated her deeply, because of her his friends were watching him as if he were a monster, although he thought he was a beast for treating a child that way.

"Damn it! I hate you!" He shouted angrily.

And he ran out of the place, no one went after him. He was grateful that this huge park had a beautiful forest to hide in. He ran away where there were some old concrete tubes that only he knew about, hidden in the middle of a clearing where the night sky was beautiful and plenty of trees and bushes, his secret base. There he always found a refuge when his emotions exploded, he got into one of them to hide from everyone.

Hate, that was the only thing he felt in his heart. But it wasn't for the little girl, but for himself, Alex repeated over and over again that he was an idiot. He remembered it, he remembered everything with total clarity, his sister chatting with the mothers of his friends and other neighbors. A little girl who was cruelly mistreated by her mother, all because the woman poured her anger on the girl because her husband was constantly unfaithful and addicted to gambling, not to mention her multiple jobs for underworld rats. He didn't understand that latest rumor very well, but it must have been quite serious for the way people murmured about it.

That little girl was the one they were talking about, her neighbor, the same one he had angrily shouted at a few minutes ago. Alex never cried, but at that moment the tears were about to escape his eyes. His sister always told him that he should learn to treat people better, and not having listened to her words was something he regretted, he had probably hurt a girl who already had enough on her plate to receive his insults and gestures of displeasure.

"I finally found you!" said a high-pitched voice with joy, shyly peeking into the concrete pipe.

When she felt that Alex would not say anything, she dared to enter and take a seat in the narrow place in front of him.

"I'm really sorry," she looked at Alex. "I promise not to come back if that makes you happy."

"Why aren't you angry?" He asked bewildered.

"What?"

"Damn! Aren't you mad?" He raised his voice. "I shouted that I hated you!"

"Well... Alex is a very cool guy" she mumbled audibly enough "It's amazing to see you play, so I don't want you to be upset with me for trying to get close to you... I don't want you to hate me."

"W-What?" He stuttered. - "You're silly…"

He blushed, his young face burning because of what that girl told him.

Amid the silence, he took a minute to appreciate the face of his companion. He had to reluctantly admit that in his opinion the girl was really pretty and charming, her adorable appearance did not help him to calm down.

A strange sensation sprouted in his stomach, his cheeks were burning even more and his innocent heart was racing - he didn't remember being so agitated even when running - he was too nervous in that narrow place next to her. He didn't know what he was feeling, but he obviously didn't hate her like he thought he did.

"You can keep playing with us," he murmured.

"Oh?" She was surprised.

"You already heard!" He raised his voice again in shame. "You can keep playing with us!"

Alex started to come out of the tube and she followed him. Just as he tried to come down, a question made the situation worse "That means... Can I be by your side?" It was clearly something he didn't expect to hear. So much was his surprise that he fell when he lost his balance. He wanted to get away from her for a moment to calm down, but it was impossible.

"Don't talk nonsense!" He scolded her as she came out of the tube. "Come on, let's go."

He held her tiny hand. The little one also blushed accompanied by a smile.

"Don't get away from me," was Alex's answer.

"It's a promise"

"Shut up"

They both returned to the court together. Their friends were surprised to see them both return holding hands, from that moment on they were inseparable. Wherever Alex was, she was close by and he always looked after her and protected her. The girl always hid behind him, especially when Henry - a member of their group - insisted on being closer to her.

Their relationship was increasingly close and filled with innocent and confusing feelings for their young age. A little secret that both of them hid, but all of them could sense in their tender, dreamy looks. From time to time Alex behaved like an idiot, but it was unavoidable since the presence of this girl always made his nerves go crazy.

Every afternoon was the same, it was a pity that they always had to leave before sunset, they never asked why, but they could imagine the reason. There was one occasion when they were distracted playing so she arrived late to her house, the next day she returned with a huge bruise on her face. He was very angry about it, but he was only a child, he could not do anything for her. He didn't have the power to take care of her.

It was some Thursday when everything changed. The classes had ended and like every other afternoon, everyone went to the park, waited for her for hours and the night came, they had to go back home, Alex was the only one to stay there until his sister went for him.

Alex waited there every afternoon with the others. Bruno, his best friend tried to cheer him up, Henry waited patiently with a sad shadow in his eyes while Travis tried to make him smile a little, Scott and Isaac gathered information with their parents, but they got nothing. She had vanished.

"We are very sorry, Alex." Were the words dedicated to the most affected of all. He was still able to hear her voice saying his name, always following his steps, being by his side every day while he stole little smiles and blushes, bringing happiness to every second together. He called out to her in desperation, shouted her name and every night he kept thinking about her.

For years, her name was all he could say when he woke up.