The Bench At Night

Boy's POV:

I remember when I was tiny, I used to be afraid of the dark, the way I used to be afraid that there were supposedly monsters under my bed. However, now that I am fourteen years of age, I like to believe that the darkness is my escape place, my saviour. Crazy, I know. You want to know why it's my escape? Because under the cover of darkness, I can easily run without anyone following me. Get away without detection. What am I trying to run from, you ask? Answer:

My broken family.

I will selflessly spare you the miserable as anything backstory. But I will tell you just one thing-I am worth nothing. That is what I've been told by my broken family, countless times. However, at least in the pitch-black night, I can feel my way over to and eventually sit on my usual bench, on my own and forget about my problems. Well, for a few hours at the most.

Girl's POV:

I will now allow my walls to come down and admit that the great outdoors is currently swallowed up by the night's velvet blanket of darkness. Some people might say it is "practically pitch black" out here, despite the bright lighting of the lamps. Plus, the trees look like they are leaning down a little, as if they are settling down to sleep somehow, after a long day of waving their branches about in the breeze. To be honest, I can't really blame them. If I were a tree, in some mad universe, I'd probably be knackered too. But I am not a tree.

I am a human girl, with a human life full of sadness and disappointments. The one thing I long for most of all? Love and compassion. However, as far as my so-called guardian's constant mistreatment of me goes, I dare say both of those qualities are in short supply.

Within minutes, I find my regular bench and plonk myself down, anticipating that I will only be sitting here by myself as usual, when a new voice speaks up:

"Are you waiting for anyone?"

I almost jump out of my own skin, shocked that there is someone already sitting here.

"No, I'm not waiting for anyone. Not really." I said, trying to keep my tone as disinterested and removed as possible. (I didn't trust easily.) I took a quick breath and finished my response.

"I guess I'm just waiting for something good to happen in this miserable, dark world."

The boy, who looked about my age, nodded in understanding, before a cocky smirk crossed over his features.

"Well, as much as I'd like to just sit here in silence whilst staring at the same night time view over and over, I would very much like to be entertained right now. So, what do you say we play twenty questions?"

I raised an eyebrow, sceptical. "I will go for five at the most."

We played for a short while, before he asked me a serious question:

"If, say I came back to this bench to sit down in the dark, would you be here?"