Midnight

The Boy In The Park

I wake up to the smell of morning breakfast and the aroma my house normally smells of 'green apples.' I raise up out of bed and smiling at the fact that it's summer vacation,  I have all the time in the world. I throw on my slippers and head into the kitchen "morning Jessie" my mom says greeting me with a plate of pancakes. "Morning mom" I say groggily. "So any plans for today, since it's officially summer?" I laugh to myself "maybe, I might run over to Julie's." I quickly finish my breakfast and run upstairs to get dressed. I throw on my gray t-shirt and favorite tight jeans, and run downstairs. "Bye mom" I yell as I open the door.
Summer, the air calmly hits my face, flowers are blooming, it's truly a beautiful sight. It's one of the many reasons summer is my favorite time of year. I smile as I walk around the neighborhood, admiring all the beautiful flowers. Noticing I arrived at Julie's I skip on the brick path and knock on the door "Oh Jessica how lovely to see you"  "Hi Mrs. Anderson. Is Julie home?" She looks at me and shakes her head "I'm afraid not dear, she went on a retreat for the summer" I felt tears gather in my eyes.

Me and Julie always spent summer together. I managed to choke out an okay, I turn around and walk home "Oh Jessica, I'll be sure to Julian you said hello" I nod and continue waking. I open the door and flop on the couch "well this is great" I say to myself as I flip on the T.V,  moments later my mom came through and seen me sitting "Jessica honey, why don't you go to the park or something."  "Mom I have no one to go with" I say as I flip through the channels, she looks at me and sighs "You know you don't have to do everything with Julie, go out make some friends, explore, be a teenager for crying out loud" deciding that getting out of the house gets me out of moms lecture I slide on my shoes and head to the park.

I slowly make my way there, watching the neighborhood kids play and smile at how me and Julie were that young, good times. I arrive at the park and sit on a lonely bench watching the skaters try so hard to break their necks. I always wanted to skate but I always thought I would get hurt so I never did.
   I look at all the kids and smiling at how hard they were trying, all except one. A strange boy that stood by the tree, he was listening to music and kept his eyes focused on the ground.

He was Midnight Grey he was the one everyone called 'The freak' he was kinda intimidating, he always stood alone and you never seen him with any friends.   No one knew his name, well maybe except his parents and that's what made him interesting to me.

I must have been staring too long because I seen his eyes lock with mine before he turns away. I see him walking this way and I quickly get up and run.     
Once safe at my house I ran to my room and collapsed on my bed, Midnight was the kind I need to stay away from but just out of temptation I laid on my bed and thought about the mysterious boy in the park. No one knew this but I actually had a crush on Midnight. He's the type of crazy that I'm attracted to. I could never tell Julie because  I couldn't bare to listen to her bitter range of disgust of him.

*flashback*

"I wonder what his real name is?" "Don't bother Jess, he's a freak" I roll my eyes "he's not a freak Julie, he just does his own thing" she waves her hand and continues reading her stupid teen magazine "he's kinda cute" "what?, do you like that guy? I mean c'mon Jess he plays with fire" I shake my head "No, I don't" but deep down I knew I did.
*Flashback ends*
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to at least to talk to him, He must have so many interesting stories, then again he could be the most boring person I know and just does a good job at masking it.
  I laid in bed that night letting my mind wonder, just imaging how exciting it would be just to get close to him. I just wonder why everyone is so afraid of him.
  The next morning I decided Id go back to the park. I got dressed and grabbed a couple of things so it didn't look like I was stalking the poor boy. I practically ran there and sat on the bench I sat on yesterday. Once again the boys were trying to see who could get to the E.R first, I scan around and feel a sudden wash of sadness come over me as I noticed he wasn't there.  I began to pack my things and headed home.
"Don't go" a deep voice from behind me said. I turned, it was Midnight and my heart just dropped. "I didn't mean to scare you" he says slowly approaching me "it's-it's okay" I say nervously, he flashes a smile "what's your name?" "Jessica" he laughs "that's beautiful, mind if I sit?" I nod "no no go ahead" he walks over and nervously sit on the bench. "So um I seen you staring at me" he says "oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to creep you out" he smiles "creep me out? I'm sure your aware of who I am" I nod and watch as he inches closer "so how come everyone's afraid of you" I ask, he just shrugs his shoulders "I don't know, and  it makes me feel bad. They think that if they get near me I'm gonna turn into some kind of monster" I felt my heart sing "that's just wrong" he stare at his hands "well believe it or not your the fort person who's actually talked I me for over ten minutes"

I had so many question about him an they were burning inside me to have them answered. "Why do they call you Midnight?" He sighs "Well, when I was fifteen I use to stay out until midnight and my mom would always call me that as a joke. But now that she's gone I use it as a memory" I nod in response "I'm sorry" "don't be you didn't kill her" I laugh nervously and sway my legs on the bench. "Midnight your not a bad person" he looks at the ground thank you but you don't know me" I move a little closer "I would like to know you" he smiles, getting off the bench and extending his hand to pull me up.  "Mind if I walk you home?" I shake my head and let him take the lead.

A few days have passed and I've been hanging out with Midnight, every so often I'd get strange looks and he'd get called a freak "don't listen to them, what there saying isn't true" "but Jess you've only known me for a couple of days". "But it's long enough to know your not a terrible person, not like everyone makes you out to be" I grab his face "your only as bad as you let yourself be" he smiles "Thank you Jessica, I'm glad we met" I whisper a thank you and lay my head on his shoulder. "Jess does this mean were friends?" I giggle "how about best friends"
Midnight looked scary but to me he was a stuffed animal....completely harmless