Lonely Boy(by dyjonn)

Part 2 Self doubt

Sawyer hurried home and as soon as he got indoors his mum and dad were all over him.  "Where have you been boy?" his dad said laughing. "the one day we do you a special meal and a birthday cake you choose to turn up late.  Don't worry we haven't really eaten without you on your birthday, we waited for you".   His mum chuckled and told his dad to leave him be as it was his birthday.   "Did you have a nice morning love?" she said breezily.  Sawyer assured her that  he had enjoyed himself, and he said how glad he was that they had waited for  him.   Actually he felt ravenously hungry and surprised himself and everyone else at how much food he tucked away.   They all sat round the table after and played Cluedo, always one of his favourite games, although  now he felt he had a real life mystery to solve as well.

Laying in bed now but not really sleepy he was running over the mornings events in his mind.  He had kept his word and not mentioned a thing to any of the others about meeting Biro.  But there were a lot of things that didn't add up.  Why hadn't his mums calls been picked up by his mobile.  How was it when he told Biro his name was Sawyer and his brothers name was Finn,  that the boy hadn't remarked on the fact that he and his brother were named after charactors in a book that every boy his age had read.   And how was it that Biro professed to have seen him on many occasions and yet in this small village Sawyer had never seen him before in his life.   They had chatted for ages and at Biro's insistence they had played a game where they had to see who could throw pebbbles at a strangely coloured water lily and hit it the most times.   A few times during the game Biro had asked him if he could see it clearly.   Another odd fact to add to his list.  Somehow the chats they had didn't touch on personal stuff or even on whereabouts they each lived.   In retrospecct he realised now that Biro had been carefully steering their conversation in the directions he had wanted it to go in.   He didn't mind that, it was enough that someone could like him enough to even care enough to do that.    One other mystery had come to light as well.  During dinner His mum had asked him where he had been all that time, and why had he been so late home.   He aswered fairly truthfully that he had been by the pond the whole time.    He massaged the truth slightly and said he must have fallen asleep because  her ringing his mobile woke him up.    For some reason, he told her, the  previous calls she had made  hadn't been received.   Finn,  who was a totally truthful boy at all times,  butted in and said that he had gone down to the pond with his friend at 11  30 and there had been no sign of Sawyer.  His mum had given him a bit of a look but let it pass without comment.   Still weirdly,  he believed his brother had been there and  failed to see him.   Which was impossible, it wasn't a large pond,  that thought did scare him a little.   Eventually he drifted off to sleep.

Now the pond had become his favourite place,  and he spent as much time there as he could.  However there was no sign of Biro.   He would go there with a book to read or some music to listen to,  but really if he were to be honest with himself he was just waiting.   The days turned into a week and still no sign of his new friend.   He had been people watching lately and it felt to him as though he had seen every single person that lived in the village.   Yet another week had nearly passed and now he was beginning to seriously have doubts that the whole thing had actually happened.   Maybe because it had been his birthday and because he had so badly wanted a friend he had indeed fallen asleep and everything that he remembered had in fact been just a really vivid dream.  It was the only answer  and it also made sense of all of the unexplainable bits that he remembered.   He was at home now,  and not feeling very happy with the world.  He realised that must be the true explanation,  and that left him feeling even lonlier than he had before his birthday.    Sawyer resolved that in the morning he would get up early,  grab a drink and a little breakfaast,  and then he would go immediately to the pond.   He would take up his usual position,  where he had thought he had met a freind at last,  and he would spend the day there .   One last time,  just to bring some closure in his mind, and  to the whole strange experience.    Nothing would happen of course,  and he knew he would feel upset.   He would go back to his old sane life and accept it all for what it could only have been.  A dream,  a wonderful dream,  but a dream.