The Day We Met

In Jay's viewpoint......ten years before

In the beginning, I saw darkness. There was darkness everywhere, beyond darkness, was darkness again. I felt like I was walking in darkness, searching for something, something important, but I didn't know what it is. But all of a sudden, there was light. The spark of light lit up all the darkness, wiping them away in white.

At the next moment, I was in an unfamiliar room. The room had many toys lying on the floor, building blocks, puzzles, toy cars, picture books....lots and lots. In the middle of the toys, there was a little brown-haired boy with brown eyes sitting on the floor. The boy felt surprised when he saw me and stared at me in a puzzled look. He opened his mouth and asked softly, "Brother, who are you?"

"I'm......." I tried to reply but nothing came out of my mouth. I didn't know who I was, where I came from and why I was here. I knew nothing. Nothing except a name. Not mine but the cute little boy who was sitting on the floor. I didn't know why but I knew the boy's name.

His name was Alfie, Alfie Rivas.

"Brother, who are you? Can I know your name?" the boy asked, his voice was soft, gentle and polite, he seemed more mature and older than he looked, rather opposite from his young age.

"I don't know. I don't have one." I responded. Same as the boy, I was very confused about my existence. There were so many questions in my mind, I didn't even know what to ask. The boy's eyes went wide when he heard my words.

"Huh? You don't know your name?" He felt strange but there was not any fear in his eyes. Instead, he made a broad smile. The smile was sugar sweet like honey. I felt I was slurping a cup of hot tea in an early summer morning. The boy broke the silence and spoke.

"If you don't know your name, how about I'll give you one?"

"Err...?" Without noticing, a word had already slipped out from my tongue. I was surprised why I was so defend less to the little boy ahead.

"Hmm.....how about Jay? Your eyes are green, like a green jade crystal. This name matches your eye color." he suggested.

"Jay?" I repeated, the sound of the name rung through my heart like endless echoes, it was a harmony of energetic, cool and refreshing. I had to admit I loved it.

"Yes. Starting from now on, your name is Jay."

This was how I met Alfie. Recalling back, it was an unexpected and sudden arrival, more like destiny or fate. At that time, I didn't know who I was, where I came from and why I was in this room. I knew nothing, all except a name of a young boy. When I saw him, a strong thought appeared in my mind.

I knew I must protect Alfie.

No matter what cost.

∞∞

Days past, since the day I met Alfie, I spent most of the time with Alfie and understood a lot of things. The more time I spent with him, the more I got to know about his family. To put it simple, Alfie had a bad family. His parents were not always at home. His dad and mom often went out to work and didn't care much about Alfie. Because of this, Alfie was always alone at home.

"Jay?" Alfie called me suddenly, bringing me back to reality. I searched around and found myself sitting on the floor inside Alfie's bedroom.

"Sorry. What were you saying again?"

"I was saying my parents brought me a board game called 'Snake and Ladder' on my last birthday. They promised me that they would play with me but until now I haven't play the game.....they were always busy......so can you play with me?" Alfie's voice got softer as he spoke as if he was afraid that I would reject him.

"Sure! Let's play!" I said loudly. Hearing me, Alfie seemed relieved and grew a board smile. He stood up and took a large board game box from one of the bookshelves nearby and placed it on the floor. Alfie opened up the box and started explaining the rules.

"Err....first you need to roll this dice and move your token according to the number of dots you rolled. For example, if I rolled 'three', I will need to move the token three steps. Also......" Alfie kept on explaining the rules to me, he looked much happier than the first time I met him.

"Jay. It's your turn." Alfie said.

"Ah.....sorry. I need to roll the dice, right?" I said as I reached my hand towards the dice.

But before I could touch the dice, my hand went past through it.

I couldn't touch it.

"Huh? It's strange. Why can't I touch the dice?" I cried out in surprise.

"Oh, yeah. You are a ghost. Ghosts can't touch people or things."

"Well, if you can't touch the dice, then we can't play."

"How about you roll the dice for me?"

"Err....no, I can't. It will be no difference than playing with myself....."

"So, I guess I can't play with you." I said.

"Yeah......it's a shame...." said Alfie with eyes darken. As I heard him, Alfie sounded very lonely. His face looked sorrowful, as if he was crying. When I first met him, he was playing by himself. Surrounding him, there were so many toys but he didn't look happy. I guess Alfie has waited for someone to play with him for a long time. But no one ever showed up. And that despair turned to endless echoes of loneliness.

Looking at him, I heard something shattered in my heart.

I feel I can't leave him alone.

I don't know why but I hate this feeling.

I hate seeing him looks like this.

I must do something.

Unexpectedly, an idea shown in my mind.

Blocking my thoughts, Alfie lightened himself up and put back the board game. "Err....if we can't play. I'll tidy this back up. Let's read some books instead...."

"Alfie, do you have a piece of paper?" I stopped him and asked.

"Huh? Paper? I do have some blank papers. Why do you ask?" Alfie wondered.

"Come on. Just get one." Feeling strange, Alfie did as I said and held a piece of white paper in his hand, I told him to fold the paper and tore it into six equal pieces. Alfie didn't know why I was asking him to do that but he remained silent. Then, I told him to draw some dots on one side of each piece of paper, shuffled them and placed the papers in a horizontal line randomly faced down.

While Alfie was doing it, I started to explain to him.

"You see. There are six pieces of paper here, each paper will represent the numbers of one to six. When it is my turn to roll the dice, I can choose one of these cards and you flip it face up. The dots on the paper represent how many steps I need to walk. We can use these papers to replace the dice. All you have to do is to shuffle the papers and place them in a line when it is my turn."

"Wow! I never thought there was a method to replace the dice."

"Ha-ha! I'm smart, right?"

"I know you have wanted to play this game for a long time. It will be a pity for you to give up so easily. So, do you want to play?"

"Yes!" Alfie exclaimed joyfully and dashed to get back the board game, all his gloomy atmosphere disappeared as if it wasn't there in the first place. I didn't know what was like before Alfie met me, but at least, I hope he could forget all about it.

Alfie and I played the game again and again. Surprisingly, no matter how many times we played, we were never bored. The game was not hard to play, there weren't any gaming techniques or strategies. I was surprised to be fascinated by such a simple game. It was just a game of luck. As time passed by, our lovely conversations continued and we kept on playing for hours and hours, this was a time when I didn't need to think about anything, a time that only belonged to us and no one else. I have to say I love this feeling.