Chapter 1
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Bennett Apollo liked to visit this one meadow full of wheat, near a park, near a road. But it was closed off from everything else, and most likely full of ticks. His mother warned him about that, but he didn’t listen. He hadn’t seen any yet. He sat in that field every day, doing the rare amounts of homework that he had (usually one page of drawing - after all, it was the second grade), singing songs that he liked, and just thinking about things in general. He would go there daily. Right after school. His school was a beaten up old building, its walls full of stories, made out of red bricks. It was a rather small place. In a small town, there aren’t a lot of children, and therefore not a lot of need for a big school. The meadow was six minutes away from it. Bennett would go there every day from three thirty to five fifteen, then he would rush home for dinner, which was at five thirty. He was never late, because he knew that his mother would never let him go to the meadow anymore if he was.
Bennett’s mother, Luna, was a woman who worried way too much for her own good. Every second that Bennett wasn’t home or doing everything that she asked of him to the tee, she’d have a panic attack. It made her nervous to have her little boy out in the world, especially considering that he was her only child. Bennett’s father, on the other hand, Artemis, was a man who cared very little, and who never seemed to be bothered by anything. Once, Bennett broke his arm at the park, and Artemis told him to walk it off. He was a cold man. That was the complete extent of Bennett’s family. No siblings, he didn’t know anything about his grandparents, no registered aunts or uncles… That was it. It was just the three of them. Bennett rarely spoke longingly to his parents. They were constantly busy with work. And the poor child didn’t have any friends either. He was pretty much completely alone. His teacher, Miss Cordelia, was worried about him, just like his mother was worried about him, just not for the same reasons. Miss Cordelia was worried that Bennett would never make any friends, and that he was too much in his own mind. She would often have long talks with Bennett, just to try and get to the bottom of what was going on in that tiny brain of his. Their conversations would always start with Miss Cordelia making some unnecessary comment about the weather, wow, the sun is looking lovely today, isn’t it, Ben? she’d say. And Bennett would reply with, Bennett, please. And yes, I suppose. And their chats never even scraped beneath surface level, which really did make Miss Cordelia twitch.
What nobody realized was that Bennett liked being alone, and he liked being in his own head. On top of it, his grades were very good, so he didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. After all, Bennett’s well-being was solely based on Bennett himself, and if he was really so sad, he would tell someone. It was obvious in his head, but the outside world didn’t really catch on.
It was the fourteenth of September, who knows what year (in Bennett’s brain, they had all been melding together recently), and he was sitting in class, waiting for the teacher to return a math exam. Miss Cordelia passed Bennett back his copy. The grade was A+, yet there was still a note written in red sharpie on top of the page that read ‘come see me after class’. Bennett didn’t want to. He had a meadow to attend. But he had no choice. The teacher was an adult, and he could do nothing but listen to said adult. After long and painful hours, the school day was finally over. Bennett packed his backpack and prepared to go, when he remembered the note on his exam. He waited until everyone left, after the bell had rung, hanging behind. Miss Cordelia looked up from her desk toward Bennett and smiled. She pointed at the desk in front of hers. That’s where the young boy sat. In truth, he didn’t want to be there, and he wasn’t a fan of his teacher, or speaking. So, this wasn’t a winner’s situation. In fact, quite the contrary.
“Hello, Ben. It looks like it’s going to rain, doesn’t it?” she said, peeking her head toward the window and looking at the grey clouds that covered up the whole sky.
“Um…Bennett please. And…I suppose.”
“You don’t know why I kept you here, do you?”
“Because of the exam?”
“Well, no… But you did wonderfully on that, so congratulations.”
“Thank you, Miss Cordelia.”
“I called you in here because… I have a special task for you.”
Bennett stayed quiet. He liked academic tasks. Miss Cordelia reached into a drawer in her desk and pulled out sheets of paper that were stapled together. It had writing on the front page, and the others were empty. He saw this thanks to the teacher’s sloppy way of picking up the document (she only grabbed the first page, so the others swung beneath it). She placed it on her desk and slid it over to him. Bennett picked up and read the title of the project, written in bold on the first page, above all the text and everything else. It said ‘The Buddy Project’.
“We used to do the Buddy Project, before this year, and many years before it… It’s an old project from three years ago. I’m not bringing it back for everyone, just you. I think you can handle it, you’re very smart.”
“Thank you, Miss Cordelia,” answered Bennett, but he paused. “What is it?”
“I want you to write about a friend. Anyone, it doesn’t even have to be someone in the class.”
Bennett thought for a moment. It was a setup. He scowled as Miss Cordelia smiled.
“But I don’t have any friends, Miss,” said the boy.
“That’s…sort of the point. Look, Bennett, I hope you’re not upset at me for assigning you this, I just thought it would help you a little… And maybe put my mind at ease. What do you think?”
“Is it mandatory?” muttered Bennett, his eyes glued onto the ground.
Miss Cordelia sighed.
“Yes. You have a week.”
Bennett shot his eyes up at her, a certain anger in him. One that he didn’t expect would be so…intense. He wasn’t one for disliking teachers. He didn’t dislike Miss Cordelia at all, he was just upset at her at that moment.
“Can I be excused?” he said with vigour.
Knowing full well that Bennett was angry with her, she nodded her head and threw him an apologetic look. Bennett got up and left. Great. This was just great. Bennett liked extra projects, but this was ridiculous. Tears in his eyes, his fists clenched, and visibly upset, Bennett went right away to his meadow.
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Chapter 2
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Bennett scratched his leg. Sometimes, thanks to the long yellow weeds, he would get little rashes from the meadow. He refused to believe that he might be slightly allergic. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was this paper that Miss Cordelia gave him. If there was one thing that he didn’t want to do… He looked up at the sky, maybe to draw inspiration. In order to carry out this project successfully, he had to make a friend. That just didn’t seem likely at all. It wasn’t because people didn’t like Bennett, it’s just that Bennett preferred to be alone, so why would he even try to make any friends? Now that was coming back to bite him, and he was less than happy about it. Why did everyone think they knew what was good for him? It was ridiculous. He looked down at the paper and sighed, tapping the chewed eraser of his pencil onto it.
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THEBUDDYPROJECT
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What is your friend’s full name? : ________
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What is your friend’s mother’s name? : ________
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What is your friend’s hair coulour? : ______
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What is your friend’s eye colour? : ________
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What is your friend’s favourite season? : ________
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What is your friend’s favourite colour? : ________
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What is your friend’s favourite school subject? : ________
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Bennett rolled his eyes. He didn’t get the point, not by a longshot. It was generally useless. How was this supposed to help him in the future? And that’s the whole point of school : helping you in the future. Regardless, Bennett was stuck with this burden, and he figured that he might as well start writing now, since he only had a week, and he liked to finish projects early. Bennett understood that he didn’t have a friend (which was the most important bit), but he still knew what to do. He jotted down blond on the third line (the one that asked about the friend’s hair colour). It was a lie, which Bennett knew was bad. Lies are bad. But he just knew that it was out of the question to make the perfect friend on such short notice. Suddenly, a bird flew down and landed on a tree, near where Bennett was sitting. It seemed like he was staring at him. The bird chirped. It was quite large, bigger than his head, even, and its feathers were black. Dark black. Like a void. It was a raven. Bennett had never seen a raven in the wild before, he thought it was very interesting that one would just be sitting in a meadow, in the middle of nowhere. He stood up, leaving his papers and pencil case on the ground and he approached the bird. He looked at it with intensity. What was it doing there? Why was it there? Bennett shrugged and determined that it was none of his business, so he walked away from the tree and sat back down in front of his paper. The bird flew off the branch and landed right next to Bennett. The boy smiled. He then got an idea. He erased blond off of the paper and wrote black. The teacher would never know that he was talking about a bird. She’d just think that he was talking about a boy with black hair. But he wasn’t sure if it was a boy or a girl. He observed the bird and then blinked a few times.
“Say something if you’re a girl, stay quiet if you’re a boy,” said Bennett.
The bird sort of waddled around, but he stayed completely quiet.
“So you’re a boy. What’s your name?”
The bird didn’t answer. It stayed motionless for a significant amount of time, and then it opened its wings, just to close them up directly after. Bennett considered this, but he raised an eyebrow.
“I, uh… don’t know what that means… Sorry.”
The bird turned around. He started to peck at the ground. She did say it could be anyone. She didn’t say anything about being human. He observed the bird and began writing with a smile on his face. After a while, he suddenly heard a whistle sound. It was continuous. Bennett looked up, confused. The bird perked up and threw a glance to Bennett before flying away toward where the whistle sound looked like it was coming from. Bennett was at the same time disappointed and confused. Disappointed because the bird left, and that was his project muse, but confused, because he was always the only person that ever went to the meadow. Not only was there someone else there, but that person stole his bird. Upset, he got up and decided to follow the whistling noise, facing the person. Walking through the weeds, he kicked a couple of bugs off of his knees on the way. At some point, he stopped, worrying that it would slow him down. He finally arrived at a very, very large tree in the middle of the meadow. He hadn’t ever seen it before, but it was massive. The bird was on the first branch. He walked over toward the tree with caution. Every step crushed the leaves, just quiet enough not to be heard. Suddenly, he stepped on a branch and it made a loud noise. The bird flapped its wings without flying away and began croaking loudly. Bennett then saw a shadow run behind the tree. The bird followed the shadow right after. Both of them disappeared. Bennett was still trying to process what was going on. Just as he was about to follow them, he heard a voice coming from behind him.
“Bennett! It’s five-thirty-five! What on earth are you still doing out?!”
His mother worried way too much.
“Sorry. I was just… Looking for something.”
She grabbed him by the hand gently and they went back home. Bennett’s house was very small, fifteen minutes away from the school and the meadow. There were only two stories, no basement, and five rooms. Kitchen, living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms. Bennett and his mother walked in and immediately saw Artemis on the couch chair. He was reading a newspaper, flipping a page and shaking his head. The father looked up upon their arrival. He had no reaction and went back to reading. They both ignored him and went to the kitchen after they both muttered a word of greeting to him. He didn’t say anything back. There was a pot that was already on the stove, but it wasn’t on. She pointed at Bennett for him to sit down at the small table they had in the kitchen. Bennett did so. She sighed.
“I let you go to that meadow, I let you stay out late, and I let you give a home to all of those ticks on the simple condition that you come home at five-thirty. I just don’t understand.”
“It’s because I was working on a project. For school,” replied the boy.
Luna turned the stove on and put her ladle inside, stirring whatever was inside around.
“Which project?”
“Something my teacher gave me.”
“Gave you? Just you?”
“Yeah, just me.”
“Is she out of her mind?! You’re just a little boy! All of that work she gives you for yourself, and the real school projects that she gives everyone?! How do you have time to breathe?! You poor thing…”
“No, it’s fine, I can handle it, I’m smart for my age. Miss Cordelia said so. On top of it, we’re not working on anything in class right now, so I’m not working on two things.”
“What is this project anyway?”
“It’s called the Buddy Project. I have to write about a friend.”
“Which friend? You don’t have any.”
Bennett paused for a moment, looked up and then looked back down again.
“Oh, I see, it’s a setup,” said his mother.
“Yeah. It is.”
“Well, I think it’s a wonderful idea. You do need to make more friends, you know. I actually think that it’s the best idea that spoiled little teacher of yours has ever had…excuse my language.”
“I don’t…” muttered Bennett under his breath. His mother didn’t hear.
“Have you found someone to write about yet?”
“Sort of…”
“Oh, Bennett! Good job! What’s their name?”
Bennett sighed and rolled his eyes.
“I’ll get back to you tomorrow,” he said, getting up and leaving his mother confused.
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Chapter 3
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The project was all Bennett could think about. Not because it was the best thing to think about, quite the opposite, actually, he hated the project. What were the chances that Mr. Raven was going to come back to him, after flying away. Either he was going to have to actually make a friend, or continue making stuff up until Miss Cordelia praises him and gives him an A+, as usual. He hoped that he could make a friend on such short notice, but it really was impossible. It’s not right to use the I word, but it truly was impossible. On a good day, Bennett would only speak to three people (that was his mother, his father—maybe—, and Miss Cordelia). That was it. On a fantastic day, maybe a classmate. But on a normal day, he’d only speak to his mother. Which was sad, but it was the reality that poor Bennett was facing. He had no choice, it was like an evil curse that a witch cast upon him. Permanent and horrible. That’s when Benentt realized. He could very well just sit there and complain all he wanted, but that was going to help him at all. What he had to do now was focus. He had to get this done, and he had no other choice than to try. In class, he stared ahead, sort of scanning the other students to see if any of them were friend material. No one. Bennett wasn’t the type of person to have hatred in his heart. And he didn’t. He thought everyone was nice and he didn’t dislike anyone or hold any grudges. He was just scared of having to speak to others, and he also felt like the others didn’t really get him. And a friend is someone who should get you. And so, it was voluntary. Until this point. Someone sat next to him. Another young boy, the one who usually sat there. Bennett thought about maybe talking to him. He thought about it for a long while. And just as he finally worked up the courage and opened his mouth to ask him something, the other young boy waved at his friend, got up and left. Of course.
The end of the school day was approaching and Bennett was quite slow when it came to picking up his stuff and getting ready to leave. He was often the last person out of the class. But that day, he tried not to be, since he knew that if he was, Miss. Cordelia would see it as an opportunity to talk to him. So he didn’t want to be in that situation. He tried to pack his bag as quickly as he possibly could. but it was no use. Everyone had left, and it was just him and Miss Cordelia. She walked up to him with a smile on her face. Holding a couple of loose pencils. Bennett didn’t smile back.
“Hi, Ben. Sun is shining today, isn’t it?” she said.
“Bennett please, and yes. I suppose it is.”
“Have you found someone to write about yet?”
“Um….Sort of.”
Bennett shrugged.
“Sort of?”
“Yeah, it’s complicated, but I’ll be done in a week, I promise.”
Bennett picked up his things and left as Miss Cordelia smiled. She thought she had won.
It was windy that day, the yellow wheats were shaking back and forth. It was like something out of a movie. But Bennett sadly couldn’t concentrate on that, he had to focus on this work. The Buddy Project. He re-read the first line over and over. ‘What is your friend's full name?’. None of your business, Miss Cordelia, muttered Bennett to himself. He realized how rude it was and immediately took it back. He waited for a while wondering if he should lie or tell the truth, or maybe even make a real friend. He had a book with a bunch of types of birds in it, just to make sure that if the raven came back, he could confirm that it was a raven. It was not a smart idea, birds don’t usually just come back for no reason, but just as he thought that, the raven reappeared. It landed gently next to Bennett and he smiled at it.
“You again!” he said. His smile went away. “You abandoned me.”
The bird whipped its head around and then back to Bennett.
“Yes, you. You abandoned me yesterday. Without even saying goodbye.”
The bird lifted up one feather and put his head inside his armpit.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
The animal approached Bennett more.
“You know, I-”
He was interrupted by the same whistling sound that he heard the day before. Someone else was there, and they were calling Bennett’s bird. Just as the raven opened its wings, Bennett grabbed onto its torso so it couldn’t fly away. It wiggled and tried to make it out of Bennett’s grasp, but the young boy was desperate. He held on so tight, that no matter how much the raven flapped, moved, twisted, he couldn’t free himself. The whistling got closer and closer. That’s when Bennett realized how much of a bad idea this was. Clearly this bird had a human owner, one that was looking for him. And whoever it was, was probably going to be very upset with Bennett after finding out what happened. But before Bennett had the time to let the raven go, a couple of weeds in front of him shook with human presence. Bennett shut his eyes to avoid the person. Then he heard footsteps and a voice.
“Give me back my bird!” said a young boy’s voice.
But he pronounced back as beck. Bennett opened his eyes and saw a boy, his age, with short blond hair, light, light hazel eyes, and an angry look on his face.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t realize it belonged to someone,” Bennett lied.
“Well it does,” said the boy, ripping the raven out of Bennett’s hands.
He thought for a moment. This boy didn’t seem so bad.
“What’s your name?” asked Bennett.
“What does it matter to you?”
“Well, I thought I was the only one who came here… Maybe it would be nice to know your name. Maybe we could be friends…or something.”
The blond boy thought for a moment.
“Maybe so. I don’t have many friends. Or any at all. Just Sun, anyway.”
“Sun?” asked Bennett.
“Yeah, Sun. My crow,” said the blond boy, putting his arm out and the raven landed right on it.
Bennett laughed a little. The other boy furrowed his eyebrows.
“What’s so funny?”
“That’s no crow…” answered Bennett.
“What do you mean?”
“That’s a raven.”
“No, that’s a crow.”
Bennett pulled out his book and opened it to the page about ravens. He pointed to a picture.
“See? Ravens are big…Almost purple, but not quite. Like…Sun.”
“Wow, you sure are smart. What’s your name?”
“Bennett.”
“Moon,” the blond boy shook his hand
“What about it?” asked Bennett
“What about what?”
“The moon?”
“Huh?”
They both looked at each other, confused.
“That’s my name,” said the other boy. “It’s Moon.”
“Oh…” Bennett had never heard that name before. He wasn’t judgemental, though, so he just smiled and nodded his head. “That’s a very nice name.”
“Thanks, I picked it myself!” he said, pointing at himself with his thumb, seeming quite proud.
“What do you mean you picked yourself?”
“I mean I picked my own name.”
“You should really go by the name that your parents gave you…”
“I would, but they didn’t give me a name.”
Bennett’s eyes went wide in surprise. He didn’t understand anything that ‘Moon’ was saying. He couldn’t even tell if he was lying or not. But he listened anyway.
“They didn’t give you a name?” said Bennett.
“Nope.”
“Then what do they call you?”
“Nothing. They aren’t here.”
Bennett started to feel bad.
“You don’t…have any parents…?”
“No, but I don’t care. I’ve got Sun and myself. I’ve never needed them before.”
“Where are they?”
“My parents? Nowhere. They don’t existe.”
“Exist,” Benentt corrected quickly. “They don’t exist?”
“I never had any.”
Bennett shook his head. He knew that he was lying at that point.
“You need parents… You can’t be born without them. Were you just born out of thin air?”
“Yep! I just woke up one day, I was a baby, Sun was flying over me and I started living.”
“That’s all?”
Moon nodded his head and smiled. Bennett thought he might be lying, but he didn’t care. Moon seemed like a nice guy, no matter what he was saying, so he decided that either way, he was a good friend candidate. Bennett finally put it together. Moon could be his muse in the Buddy Project.
“Sit down, Moon,” he patted the spot next to him.
Moon complied and sat down next to him. Bennett glanced back at the project paper, the first question. He then looked back up at Moon, twirling his pencil in between his fingers.
“May I write about you, Moon?” said Bennett, saying his name for the second time, just to test it out and make sure he didn’t skip a level and that he was misunderstanding something.
“Yeah, that’d be great!” said Moon with a large smile on his face.
“What’s your full name?” asked Bennett.
“Moon.”
“No, like, what’s your last name?”
“Don’t have one,” Moon shrugged.
“Middle name?”
“Don’t have one.”
Bennett thought for a moment.
“Moon it is,” Bennett wrote his new friend’s name on the first line of the paper. He had one question down. More importantly, he finally had a real life friend.
Bennett looked down at the second question. What is your friend’s mother’s name? He jotted down ‘my friend doesn’t have one’. And he looked down to the next question. Moon was looking intently over his shoulder. Bennett looked up to look him in the eye, to see why he was looking so intently.
“Is it okay?” asked Bennett to see if what he was writing was correct.
“Oh, I can’t read,” Moon smiled ear-to-ear.
“Ah. That’s too bad. I like reading.”
It wasn’t unusual. Most kids his age couldn’t read.
“I bet I would if I could,” Moon never quit smiling.
Bennett nodded and looked down at the third question. What’s your friend’s hair colour? Bennett looked at Moon. He jotted down ‘yellow’. He then heard footsteps and a voice.
“Bennett! Bennett! It’s five-thirty-five! What on earth are you doing?!”
Bennett looked back over at Moon.
“That’s my mother, Moon, don’t worry. She’s nice.”
Moon nodded, but his eyes were a little wide and his brow was sweaty. Bennett turned his head and saw his mother running up to him.
“You were supposed to be home five minutes ago, and you haven’t even left here!”
“Sorry, mom, I was busy talking to my new friend, Moon, he-” Bennett looked over at Moon, but he was gone. Disappeared completely. Him and Sun too. Bennett’s mother squinted.
“I don’t see anyone…” said Bennett’s mother.
“He was just…he was just here, he…”
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Chapter 4
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Bennett was thinking about Moon all for the rest of the day, and the school day after. He was anxious to get to the meadow and see him again, so he could ask him why he ran away so soon, and finish his project. It was recess time, but it was raining so they were all inside. Bennett looked down at his paper. He stared at the letters of Moon’s name until they morphed around. He sat alone. Miss Cordelia noticed him and started walking toward him. Great. Just what he needed. Another useless conversation with Miss Cordelia. She sat down in the empty chair next to him. He didn’t look at her.
“Good morning, Ben! Horrible rain, isn’t it?”
“Bennett, please. And yes, I suppose it’s horrible.”
“How’s the project going?”
“Good… I found someone.”
“Oh yeah? Good! I was beginning to think that the project was too tall of an order.”
“I’m alright.”
“Someone in the class?” Miss Cordelia eyed the other students.
“No, he doesn’t go to this school.”
“Where does he go to school then?”
This was the only school in the entirety of where they lived. Bennett got nervous.
“He’s homeschooled.”
Miss Cordelia nodded with compassion. She gave a sad face that just very minorly enraged Bennett.
“What’s his name?” she asked him.
“...Moon,” muttered Bennett, knowing that she wouldn’t believe him if she heard his name.
And just as he suspected, Miss Cordelia threw him the same sad face. She did not believe him.
“He’s real, Miss Cordelia! He’s real! I saw him in the meadow, he exists!” Bennett yelled, getting up from his chair and exiting the classroom.
Later that day, Bennett headed over to the meadow. He hadn’t spoken a word to anyone for the whole school day. He was too upset. No one believed that Moon was real. He sauntered into his usual spot and sat down, laying his pencil case and his project paper in front of him. Cross-legged and angry, he awaited Sun and Moon. He knew that they were coming. Surely enough, he heard the squawking of a loud bird. Sun landed right next to him. They made eye contact, but Bennett looked away.
“I’m upset at you,” he said. “You and Moon. I’ll wait until he gets here to explain.”
He finally heard the pitter-patter of feet. Moon moved a couple of weeds to reveal himself; he smiled, but Bennett didn’t smile back. Moon knew that something was wrong. He sat next to him.
“What is it?” he asked Bennett.
“Why would you run away when my mother arrived?!”
“I didn’t run away…”
“Now she doesn’t think you’re real! Her or my teacher! At least, if my mother knew you were real, she could talk to my teacher and smack some sense into her!” Bennett was being a little rude, but he was very upset at that moment.
His task was to make a friend. He did. He tired himself out to the last bone to make a friend, and they don’t even believe that he’s real. Obviously he was upset. And being kind to others wasn’t the top priority on his mind. He just wanted people to believe him. To see the truth.
“I’m sorry… It’s just that…I’ve never been seen by a human being before…. That is, another human being than…myself. And you. Other than that, nobody has never seen me.”
“Nobody has ever seen me. And that’s a real shame, but you need to start somewhere. And why not be for a good cause? This isn’t just for school, it’s for me. Do it for me, Moon, please.”
Moon thought for a while.
“Gee, I don’t know… I don’t even know you all that well.”
Moon was quite the interesting character. Bennett noticed that he was very dirty. Like his skin was a canvas full of mistakes. Like the painter just dropped a punch of paint on it by accident and left. Or like he hadn’t taken a shower in two years. But he didn’t smell bad. The only thing on him untouched by dirt was his blond hair. And that was something else that raised a question in Bennett. Why was Sun named Sun when his feathers were black like the night, and why was Moon named Moon, when his hair was yellow like the daytime. He guessed, they gave themselves their own names, but nonetheless. Bennett didn’t know where Moon found clothes if he lived alone. He wore a pair of overalls with a shirt underneath that was striped blue and yellow. It was all full of dirt too. Bennett could never come home with dirt on his clothes. His parents would be too upset. He always wore polos and jeans. They wanted him to ‘dress for the part’ as his father would say, but he wasn’t quite sure what it meant. Just as he realized he was spacing out, he noticed Moon waving his hand in front of Bennett’s face. The other boy was smiling ear-to-ear, that never ever left his face, he was always smiling, showing his missing front tooth and his dimple. Moon stopped waving once he noticed that Bennett stopped daydreaming.
“I’m sorry,” said Bennett.
“Don’t be. I was just saying that no other human’s neve- uh, ever seen me.”
“Please, Moon, it would help me a great deal.”
“A great..wha…?” Moon said, confused by the expression that Bennett used.
“A great deal. It means, like, a whole lot.”
“A whole lot of what?”
Bennett came to the conclusion that Moon might not be the brightest.
“It would really help me.”
Moon thought for a moment, He looked down.
“I’ll…have to think about it.”
“Okay,” said Bennett, clearly disappointed.
Moon observed Bennett’s project paper. He squinted and tried to understand the meaningless squiggles on it. Well, they weren’t meaningless to Bennett, just to himself. He pointed at the first question on the paper. They both drew their attention over to it.
“What’s that say?” asked Moon.
“Oh, that? It just says ‘what is your friend’s full name’.”
Moon was amazed. He’d never met someone who could read. Or…someone at all.
“Wow! You sure are smart, Bennett!”
Bennett shrugged.
“Not really. Everyone learns that stuff.”
“I didn’t.”
“I guess almost everyone learns that stuff, then.”
What Bennett didn’t know was that Moon was very interested in reading and writing. He pointed at one of the ‘squiggles’ on the page with his index finger.
“What lettrey is that?” he said.
“Letter. It’s the letter L.”
“That’s so cool… You really are a lot smarter than me, Bennett. Must be the hair.”
Bennett took a few seconds to replay that in his head. He got confused.
“What?” he asked.
“The hair. You’ve got black curly hair, and I’ve got blond hair. Hair’s above the brian, right? So it must have something to do with how intelligent someone is. And we’ve got different hair.”
“Brain, not brian. And hair has nothing to do with it.”
“Then how come you’re so smart and I’m so dumb?”
Bennett felt bad for his friend.
“You’re not dumb, Moon. You just think that because you can’t read. But everyone can learn, and on top of it, it’s very normal at this age. I just know how because my dad forced me to learn.”
Moon smiled that trademark smile again and took the paper in his hands, passing it to Bennett.
“Alright, then teach me.”
“Teach you?”
“Yeah! Teach me! I want to read and write and stuff,” he picked up a stick from the ground and started drawing lines in the dirt with it. “And I want to be good. Like one of those book guys that smart people’re always talking ‘bout. Like… Bram Stroker…”
“Stoker,” corrected Bennett very quickly, under his breath.
“...and Steevee King…”
“Stephen King.”
“Doesn’t matter. I just wanna be like ‘em. Writing…” Moon looked up. “I’ve got so much to write about too. I bet half the people who can read and write take it for granted. I wouldn’t. I’d write every day and read every hour, until my eyes pop out of my head. I would, honest.”
“If you’ve got something to write about, then you can write,” said Bennett.
“Yeah, but I can’t spell or nothing…” Moon’s smile went away and he looked discouraged.
“You will once I teach you.”
Moon’s smile came back, lighting up the whole meadow.
“You will?! You’ll do it?!”
“Yes, I will,” said Bennett, smiling too.
“Gee, Bennett you’re the bestest friend ever!” exclaimed Moon pulling his friend in for a hug.
“Best…” said Bennett, but it came out muffled, since Moon was squeezing him so tight.
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Chapter 5
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Bennett went home. By then, Moon already knew half of the alphabet by heart (Moon said he liked the song, in fact, his exact words were it’s catchy and just fantastic! Half the time, Bennett didn’t know what Moon was saying, but it was alright). Bennett was very proud of himself. He had started the week with a project, and now he was nearing the end of it with a friend and a second project. He walked into his house and saw both of his parents sitting on the couch with serious faces on. That meant that Bennett was in trouble. He glanced up at the clock that hung on the upper end of the wall. Six-thirty. Bennett’s heart dropped all the way down to the ground. He’d never been this late before. Neither of his parents looked happy about it. Without saying a single word, Bennett’s father pointed at the couch that was facing the one that they were sitting on. There were two couches, facing each other with a coffee table in the middle. Bennett sat down on the one that his parents weren’t on. He knew that he was going to get lectured about coming home late, and doing this and that, and the last straw or whatever. He knew this rodeo very well and it seemed to have no effect on him anymore.
“Bennett… You’ve done bad things in your life before…But this is really bad,” said his mom.
Bennett just stayed quiet. Maybe it was better that way.
“Miss Cordelia called. She says that you made up some kid named Moon and then yelled at her when she tried to talk to you about it. I don’t understand what goes through your head,” said Bennett’s father, speaking for the first time in a while. He usually just grumbled on the sofa chair.
“He is real! That’s who I was with, in the meadow! Moon is real!”
Bennett’s father stood up with anger.
“You’re a terrible liar, boy! Go to your room, you’re punished for a very long time! No more outside, no more meadow, and certainly no more ‘Moon’!” He did air quotes when he said Moon’s name. That really ticked Bennett off.
“You guys hate me! You don’t think I can make any friends, but I can! And I did! And I don’t need to listen to you!” said Bennett, shouting at the top of his lungs.
He stormed off to his rooms, tears filling his eyes. As he laid in bed, staring at the wall, he heard the murmur of his parents' voices from downstairs. He didn’t hear much, but he knew his father said he didn’t make no friend, and he never will.
Bennett sat in class, avoiding eye contact with his teacher completely. He had once said that he didn’t dislike her. He had changed his mind since. The bell rang, signalling the beginning of the school day. Everyone gathered up at their seats. Miss Cordelia smiled at the students, but she didn’t say anything. She went over to the chalkboard, picked up a piece of chalk and sketched the word ‘poem’ onto it. Some of the kids whispered to each other, asking their friends what it meant, some kids leaned forward to find out… Bennett knew what a poem was. He loved poems. His favourite poem was by a man called Graham Foust. He liked it because it was original, and only one sentence long. The sentence was : they own everything. It was a little complicated for the second grade, but Bennett even liked writing some poems. Ever since he found out that poems don’t need to rhyme, he had been writing them left and right. Miss Cordelia stopped writing and looked over at the students. She pointed at the word and eyed everyone in the class, most likely trying to see if they knew what it was.
“A poem,” she said, “is a piece of writing that is sort of like talking and singing at the same time. It’s supposed to be beautiful, cute, it’s supposed to make you feel happy, or sad sometimes… We’re going to be learning about some poems for the next couple of weeks, so I thought I should introduce you to one poem by a famous poet. It’s called, Nature’s Nightlight.”
She read the poem out loud, but it was written on the board too. It went like this :
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Stars are often the topic
of children’s bedtime songs.
But they’re much more present,
than something so, so silly.
They’re sort of like nature’s nightlight,
keeping a bright light on the world,
even when it’s dark.
But you could say that the moon does that too,
and so does the sun.
So,
why does the world have so many nightlights?
Does it matter so much?
The sun might go away someday,
sooner than you think,
and so will the moon,
but that never means that they’re gone.
It just means that they’re shining
somewhere else.
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Bennett liked that poem a lot. He knew that Moon would like it too, so he took out a piece of paper and jotted all the words down quickly so he could show it to him later.
Moon waited patiently for Bennett to come back with Sun on his shoulder. He was so close to being able to write his first sentence. Then he could become some sort of writer. He waited in their usual spot, he sat cross-legged on the ground, his left leg bouncing in anticipation for his friend to arrive. Finally, he heard footsteps and weeds shaking. Bennett emerged. Moon smiled ear-to-ear, as he always did, and patted the space right next to him for Bennett to sit. He did so. The dark-haired boy brought out a stack of papers. The two papers from the Buddy Project, and the poem that he had copied from the chalkboard at school. Moon watched the papers flap open like a starving person looking at their food after not having eaten in three weeks. Bennett laid out the papers side by side.
“My teacher read a poem to us in class today… I thought of you.”
Moon grinned again and put his face up close to the page with the poem on it.
“That’s so cool that you did that!” he paused. “What’s a poem?”
Bennett laughed a little.
“It’s a piece of writing… that is sort of like talking and singing at the same time. It’s supposed to be beautiful, cute, it’s supposed to make you feel happy, or sad sometimes…” he used his teacher’s description, because he couldn’t find a better one.
“Nice! What’s it say?”
“It’s called Nature's Nightlight.”
Moon settled down and sat quietly as Bennett read the whole thing. He hung onto Bennett’s every word, every hand motion, every sentence, every voice movement. He loved every second. What he didn’t know would happen was that he would start to cry. Moon began crying as Bennett recited that poem. He didn’t know what came over him, Moon couldn’t stop himself. When Bennett was finished reading, he finally saw Moon crying his eyes out. Confused, he put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” asked Bennett.
Moon sniffled and started wiping his eyes, still smiling.
“Yeah, I’m alright… I just wish I could write something that good one day.”
Bennett smiled and squeezed his friend’s shoulder.
“You will,” he said. “In due time.”
Still crying a little bit and wiping his eyes, Moon chuckled.
“In two…what?”
“In due time. It means soon.”
“You say some weird things sometimes, Bennett.”
They both laughed. Bennett remembered something.
“Oh right! The project.”
Bennett brought his paper for the Buddy Project.
“Can I ask you a few questions?”
Moon smiled and nodded his head.
“Shoot,” he said.
“Perfect, so, question number one, what’s your favourite season?”
“Nighttime.”
“That’s not a season,” said Bennett.
“Sure it is.”
“No, it’s not. The seasons are; spring, winter, fall and summer.”
“Fine then, summer,” said Moon.
“Perfect,” said Bennett, scribbling down the answer. “Second, what’s your favourite colour?”
“Black.”
“Black isn’t a colour, it’s a shade,” corrected Bennett.
“Is everything I say going to be the wrong answer?” said Moon.
“There’s no wrong answer, Moon. Just name a colour.”
“I don’t know what they are.”
“Well, there’s red, orange, and yellow… Green, blue, indigo, violet-”
“Alright then, violet.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
Bennett looked at the last question. What is your friend’s favourite school subject? Bennett wrote down English on his paper (since Moon liked reading and writing). Moon sighed.
“You know, Bennett, I’ve never met anyone before. You’re the first person. And I think you’re great. You’re really nice to me, and I wish that you could hear my voice for a long time… I wish that I could stay your friend forever. I just feel like I have to tell you this, okay? You’re my best friend. It’s only been a week, that much I know… But I feel like we’ve known each other forever. I wish everything in your life works out, and the stars align so we meet in the future. When we’re adults and we both have jobs or families or whatever adults got… We still remember each other, and we can still be best friends. You mean…a great lot to me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.”
Bennett was speechless. He wasn’t sure why Moon was telling him all of that, but it was beautiful. Bennett knew that Moon had it in him to become a writer.
“Um…” he paused. “A great deal. It’s a great deal.”
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Chapter 6
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The next day at school, Bennett was beyond himself. He had spent almost the whole night talking with Moon. Until ten o’clock, anyway. They had promised to meet again the next day, same time as usual. On top of it he had finished The Buddy Project. He was so relieved that he never had to think about it ever again. He could finally hand it in, get an A+ and he could move on with his life. He was in such a good mood that he was convinced that nothing could upset him. The morning bell rang at eight oh five, so Bennett was in class at seven-fifty five, just for the extra ten minutes to hand in his project. He went over to Miss Cordelia’s desk, smiling at her for the first time in what felt like ages.
“Good morning, Miss Cordelia!” said Bennett with a smile. “Pretty clouds out today.”
Miss Cordelia was surprised, but delighted at Bennett’s newfound attitude.
“Good morning, Bennett… And yes, I suppose the clouds are quite pretty today. Have you finished the Buddy Project?” she asked.
Bennett handed the papers over. Miss Cordelia read them, and as she did, her smile gradually went away. She sighed and put the paper back down on her desk, looking very serious.
“Bennett, I assigned you this project so you’d make a friend.”
“That’s what I did…”
“Stop lying, please. ‘Moon’ is not real,” said Miss Cordelia, doing air quotes when she said Moon’s name, just like his father had done.
“Moon is real! I-” Bennett interrupted himself to think for a moment.
He could argue with Miss Cordelia and his parents, just for them to not believe him…or he could give them solid proof. He knew that Moon had told him that he didn’t want to, but maybe it was time that he and Sun received some surprise visitors. And it’s not like he’d have to talk to them anyway. No harm no foul, everything would go back to the way it was… Or, at least, that’s what Bennett assumed.
“Meet me at the meadow next to the park, on Libra Road, at three-thirty.”
Miss Cordelia, Artemis Apollo and Luna Apollo all stood right in front of the meadow next to the park, on Libra Road. It was exactly three-thirty. Bennett gathered them all because he said he had something important to show them. Finally, he arrived, and stood in front of the three adults. He cleared his throat before speaking, his posture perfectly straight, one hand behind his back.
“Parents, teacher,” he said it the way an announcer would say ladies and gentlemen. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here. Well, I know you’ve all been iffy about Moon. You’ve all been asking yourselves if he’s real or if he isn’t… The question will be answered right here, right now. Follow me, folks, if you’ll please,” Bennett began walking in the meadow.
All the others followed him, but nobody was sure. Bennett was nervous, since he was betraying his best friend’s trust, but he was blinded by the fact that he wanted everyone to believe him. Bennett walked to their normal spot, but stopped just before it came into view and put his finger over his mouth to tell them to be quiet. He then took a big, deep breath and gently placed his hand on a packet of weeds. He pushed them aside to reveal the spot. There, at the spot, there was a big surprise. The big surprise was that it was empty. Neither Sun or Moon was present. It was just a big open patch. The adults looked at each other. Bennett was on the verge of tears. This couldn’t be happening. He led the adults to stand on the patch of dirt that they usually sit on. They all stood there, wondering what was happening.
“What am I supposed to be seeing?” said Mr. Apollo.
“Dad, please, just hold on a minute,” said Bennett, choking back tears.
“I just know there are ticks everywhere!” said Mrs. Apollo.
“Mom, just-”
“Should I really be here?” said Miss Cordelia, interrupting Bennett.
“Miss-”
“Looks like your best friend Mood’s a no-show,” said Mr. Apollo, cutting Bennett off.
“Moon, his name is Moon, and just give him a second! He’ll…he’ll come,” said Bennett.
Miss Cordelia looked over to Bennett’s mother apologetically. They both thought that he was making this all up. Bennett knew that they thought that and he was very frustrated. He prayed in his mind that Moon would just appear, or at least Sun. At least. But they waited. And they waited. And they waited and waited and waited. Soon, it went from three-thirty to six o’clock. Moon and Sun hadn’t shown.
“Well, um, this was lovely, but I think I’m going to head home,” said Miss Cordelia.
“Yeah, me too. I don’t even know why I stayed here this long,” said Mr. Apollo.
“I should definitely start on dinner,” said Mrs. Apollo.
“No, no! Please, just wait! He’s coming, I know it! He’s…” Bennett’s words were all mushed together because of all the crying. It was hopeless.
Even Mr. Apollo, who never felt any empathy, got down on one knee in front of his son and put his hand on his shoulder.
“It’s over, boy.”
The three of them started walking away, but Mrs. Apollo turned around.
“Are you coming sweetie?” she asked.
Bennett shook his head. Mr and Mrs Apollo shared a look. They didn’t need words to understand that maybe they should leave him behind a bit to deal with his emotions. They all left. Bennett began crying once again. He didn’t know why Moon wouldn’t show up like that. He took a step forward and something crunched under his foot. He looked down and saw the paper with the poem written on it. Nature’s nightlight. He picked it up and began reading it. But they’re much more present, than something so, so silly. He looked up at the blue-pink afternoon sky. Some stars were already appearing. But you could say that the moon does that too, and so does the sun. There were two stars side by side, one large and one small. Bennett looked at those two for a very long time. So long that he had to sit down on the ground while he did so. So, why does the world have so many nightlights? Does it matter so much? At that moment, it all made sense. Why Moon and Sun were named the way they were, why Moon had no parents, everything they said to each other. It just clicked. Just then.
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After that day, Bennett never saw Moon or Sun ever again. But it didn’t matter. Because although no one would believe him, and even though everyone would forget about everything in a short amount of time, Bennett knew Sun and Moon were both watching.. No matter how tough it got, they would always be there for him. And Bennett could always count on the fact that he had at least one friend in this world.
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The sun might go away someday,
sooner than you think,
and so will the moon,
but that never means that they’re gone.
It just means that they’re shining
somewhere else.
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END.
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