When the Cat Met the Wolf

31. Origins Part 2: The Beginning of the Masked Duo

Thiago Reyes was always a very lonely boy. Mostly because of the accident his father was involved in: a drunk driving accident. He had run over a teenage girl of barely fourteen years old, and he died because of the impact he made with another car.

The other kids saw him as a weirdo because of that, and didn't get close to him because they feared that he would do something to them, that he would turn out to be just like his father.

But he wasn't just lonely at school, he was lonely at his house, too, the one place in which you should feel accompanied. This was because his mother, while she did care about him, she didn't pay much attention to him and let him do whatever he wanted. Thiago was sure that if he ran away one day, his mother wouldn't notice until at least three days had passed.

So he was very surprised when a young girl, about his age, with brown hair and brown eyes approached him at the park, which he was at in an attempt to spend some time playing with his gameboy, away from curious looks. The park seemed the perfect place, because it was practically empty at 10:00 AM. His only company was a couple of birds, and some colourful butterflies.

And now, this mysterious girl.

"Bonjour!" she greeted, and sounded quite happy as she sat beside him in the bench. Thiago frowned, trying to understand what she was saying.

"Are you talking to me?" he questioned, pointing to himself.

"Oui!" she replied, speaking again in a language Thiago didn't understand "There isn't anyone else sitting here" she added in English, and he did understand that, but her voice sounded weird. She didn't sound like the rest of the kids at his school, much less like his mother "You are looking at me weird" added the girl, upon seeing his frown.

"Sorry" he apologised "It's just...no one really talks to me"

"Why's that?" questioned the girl, gazing at him with curiosity in her eyes. He looked nice, and friendly. Why would anyone not want to talk with him?

"I think it's something related to my father" replied the boy, narrowing his eyes.

"What happened to him?" 

"He...had an accident" replied the boy, a bit sadly "He's not coming back" both kids were old enough to understand that Thiago's father had died "The other kids think I'm weird because of that"

"I don't think you're weird" replied the girl, shaking her little head "I'm Arianne, it's nice to meet you" she stuck her hand out for him to shake, and he did, kind of shyly "I don't bite" chuckled Arianne "What's your name?"

"Oh! Thiago" replied the boy, who had forgotten that he was supposed to introduce himself as well. As no one had ever talked to him, he didn't really know what to say or do.

"Nice to meet you!" she replied with a smile, and the boy thought that maybe he could now ask her about her strange way of speaking.

"You speak weird" he admitted, to which she couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's because I'm from France" replied the girl "You speak weird, too"

"Well, I'm from Spain" replied the boy the same way she had "If you are from France, what are you doing here?"

"I'm on holidays with my family" replied the girl "Have you ever been to France?"

"No" replied the boy "What is it like?"

"Well, we have this very famous building" started the girl, the image of Paris in her head "I think it's called...the Eiffel Tower, I think? It's quite tall!" Thiago frowned. He had heard that name before, maybe in one of the lessons at school. The only ones he had ever payed attention to "Ooh, ooh! And there's this bridge, which has...padlocks?" she frowned, trying to think if that was the name of the object "Yeah, I think so. Padlocks. It's so pretty!"

"Why would you have padlocks in a bridge?" questioned Thiago confused.

"I don't know" replied Arianne. She was too young to know what the purpose of the padlocks was, so her parents hadn't told her "Do you have anything like that here?"

"No, I don't think so" replied Thiago, looking at his gameboy, and Arianne then noticed that he had it.

"Oh, what is that?" she questioned curiously.

"A gameboy" replied Thiago, making her look at him confused.

"What is a game... boy?" she had never heard of that before.

"It's like a computer" replied Thiago "You can play games with it"

"Oh, really?!" asked the girl excited "Can I try? Please!" she had never seen anything like it before, and was curious as to what it was like.

"Uhm...Sure" replied Thiago, handing her the artefact.

"What do I do?" asked the girl as the game started.

"You have to jump the obstacles" indicated Thiago. The game was a Mario game.

"Like this?" questioned the girl, giving her new friend a glance.

"Sí" replied Thiago with a nod "But you have to avoid the—" the sound that indicated that the player had lost was heard, and Arianne frowned.

"What happened? What did I do?" she questioned confused.

"You lost" replied Thiago with a chuckle.

"Don't laugh at me!" said the girl, giving him a scolding look "Can I try again?"

"Yeah, sure" Thiago nodded, but a woman's voice prevented him from doing anything.

"Oh, Arianne, there you are!" Thiago looked up to see a woman that looked quite similar to Arianne staring at them with a smile "And who is this?" she asked sweetly, looking at Thiago.

"Thiago, he's my new friend!" replied Arianne, leaving Thiago thinking deeply.

She had called him her friend. It was the first time that someone did that, and he couldn't help but feel happy.

"Yeah, I'm her friend!" added Thiago happily, making Layla laugh joyfully.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Thiago" replied the woman, leaning down to be at his height "What were you two doing?"

"I was teaching her how to play Mario!" 

"Well, that sounds fun!" replied Layla, the smile still on her face. She was glad that Arianne had made a new friend "Are you here with your parents, Thiago?" she added, looking around.

"No, I'm on my own" 

"Do you want us to take you home?" asked Layla kindly.

"Yes!" replied Arianne happily. She wanted to spend some more time with Thiago "C'mon, Thiago! Please!"

"Uhm..." he doubted. He didn't feel like going home yet "I think I will stay here a bit longer"

"Then can I stay, too?" asked Arianne, looking at Layla with hopeful eyes "Please, mom!"

"Sorry, honey" replied Layla, shaking her head "But we have to go home. You can come back tomorrow, though. Will you be here, Thiago?" she added, looking at the boy, who nodded "You can see each other again tomorrow, then!"

"That sounds great!" said Arianne excitedly, before turning to look at Thiago "I'll see you tomorrow, friend! It was nice playing with you!"

"You too" replied Thiago, before watching the girl leave, hand-in-hand with her mother.

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, which would last for years.