The lonely boy | Engels Short story

In the village Alfriston is not much to do today. It’s a rainy Friday. The children don’t have classes today, summer vacation has started. A lot of schoolchildren are packing for vacation. Except for one little 10-year-old boy. His hair is as white as snow and his eyes are as blue as a sunny sky. He has a few freckles on his cheeks. He’s small for his age. The boy is sitting on a swing in the only playground in the village. He has the hoodie of his red raincoat over his head. The black trousers he’s wearing are wet and covered in mud. His name is Connor. Connor is not like the other boys in Alfriston. He’s quiet, small and likes to be on his own. The other boys are scared to come close to him. Their parents talk behind his back. Everyone says that he’s weird, not normal or at the worst days, that he’s cursed. He has no friends, he has no parents. Connor is an orphan. His mother gave him to the orphanage when he was three years old. Since then he has always been alone. The rain is dripping in the tiny puddle of water that’s in front of him. Connor looks in the puddle to see his own reflection hoping that he was smiling. But it isn’t there. It never was there. A girl was standing in the opening of the fence from the playground. Connor looked up and stared at her. He never had seen her before. The girl has her long curly brown hair in a tail. Pink Hyacinth leaves were braided in her hair. Her big brown eyes are shining. Her lips are as pink as the Hyacinth in her hair. She’s wearing a pink raincoat. Connor saw that under her raincoat was a piece of her dress. It was white. Pink rain boots were protecting her tiny feet. In her right hand she had a transparent umbrella with ladybugs. Connor noticed that it stopped raining. The girl walked towards Connor. Connor stood up. He got scared. Nobody else ever come close to him so, why would she? They were just one meter apart from each other and looked each other in the eyes. The girl smiled. “Hi there. My name is Lexi, what is yours?” Connor stuttered his name. Lexi wondered why Connor was alone. “I have no one to play with.” Said Connor. Lexi tried to keep smiling but Connor could see in her eyes that she was feeling sad for him. “I’ve never seen you around here.” Said Connor. “We’ve moved here yesterday. I have no one to play with either.” answered Lexi. Connor looked at her. She was kind. She didn’t think he was weird or different. Yet. Lexi saw that Connor didn’t know what to say. “I think we could be good friends. Do you want to play with me?” Connor was a little bit shocked by that question. Why would she ask him to play with her? There are other children in village. Would she drop him after she met them? All kind of questions crossed his mind. He realized he was still for too long. Lexi turned around and walked away. “Yes, I’m sorry. I would love to play with you.” Lexi turned around and smiled. “Then come on. Hurry up. My parents won’t let me play all day.” They walked out of the playground. Connor made a friend who liked him. For once in a long time he wasn’t alone. And for the first time Connor had a smile on his face. He felt like a normal happy 10-year-old boy.