~ Prologue ~

Having waited for twenty minutes at their usual meeting spot, the little girl of nine walked backed towards his house to find out why was he late. He always reached their spot before time and she was the one who used to be late, being late was very unlike him.

She reached his house and picked up a small pebble and threw it towards his open bedroom window and waited for a while.

No response.

She took another one and tried again.

He still didn't come out.

This time she took a slightly bigger stone. Fearing it might hurt him, she abandoned it and tried their secret signal. She whistled a tune, not too softly that he might not hear it and not too loudly that their parents might get to know.

Again, no response this time too.

She got fed up and headed for his back door. Their parents were best of friends, so she was used to walking in and out of their house any day - anytime.

She quietly opened the back door, hoping his parents wouldn't catch her. She loved them but if they caught her, they would sit her down and have a nice long chat about random things. They were sweet, chatty people but she'd rather have their son's company.

She reached his bedroom, slowly opened the door and peeked in.

He was lying on his bed, facing the ceiling and his forearm covering his eyes. One would think he was asleep, but she knew better, he won't miss their daily meeting to stay at home and sleep. There must have been a reason.

She quietly closed the door and slowly tip-toed to his bed. Something was seriously wrong, he never ignored her, which was exactly what he was doing. He could probably hear a pin drop in a football stadium full of shouting fans, there was no way he didn't hear her "tip-toe" to his bed.

The girl collapsed on the bed beside him with a bounce.

He still didn't stir.

She finally gave up in the attempt to make him notice her.

"Hey hero, what happened?"

The boy sighed heavily and turned to face her, holding his sides.

He had been crying. His face was red, eyes swollen and tear stains on his cheeks.

Her eyebrows furrowed with concern and she frowned. He had never been so quiet for so long, she was seriously getting worried.

She reached out and shook him.

"Hey, what happened? Tell me" she insisted.

He let out another long and heavy sigh before he spoke,

"We're moving to London"

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


"Bye honey, take care." the women told the girl, holding her tightly and kissing her head.

The girl didn't say anything.

The woman knew the little girl was not going to hug her back so she stepped back and let her husband hug the child. Her husband enveloped the girl in his arms to embrace her in his warmth but she still had the blank, distant look on her face.

He stepped back so that his son could say his good-bye. Their son hadn't spoken to them since he found out that they were moving. Actually talking was a long shot, he had not even cried in front of them. As soon as they told him, he turned around and walked into his room and hadn't really come out of there. They tried talking to him, get him to say something, even cry for that matter. But nothing, he did budge.

He slowly and reluctantly walked forward to hug the girl. Seeing his reluctance, his mom encouraged him by simply putting a hand on his back. He pulled the little girl in a hug and buried his face in her hair.

"I'm gonna miss you." he whispered into her hair but the girl still kept quiet, waiting for their parents to leave them alone.

After a few moments when they didn't broke apart, their parents moved towards the car to give them some privacy. As soon as their parents left them, the girl stopped holding her tears back. She didn't cry in front of anyone, but he was special, he was the reason for her tears.

He heard the sniffing sounds and shaky breaths and knew she was crying. He started rubbing her back in an attempt to sooth her.

"Hey, we are gonna talk everyday okay? You call me one day and I'll call you the next, what else are our parents phones for? Right?" he asked her and received a shaky nod in response.

After a few more minutes of holding each other the children let go of each other and wiped their faces as their parents approached them. They all said their final good byes and the boy reluctantly followed his parents to the car.

As they drove away, the boy rolled his window down to peek out and wave to the girl, his lips smiling but his eyes still as sad.

They both new this was a turning point in their lives, nothing was going to stay the same, even with the phone calls. Everything was going to change.