Prologue: The First Meeting

Raina meets a strange person, and gets her new found confidence . . . for now.

Ten-year-old Raina was crouched down by a nearby pond. Tears were streaming down her face as she looked at her reflection in the water. Her eyes red and puffy, but hair still as neat as earlier. Her dark hair was let down, her bangs nearly covering her eyes and the rest partially covering the sides of her face. She knew it was a stupid thing to cry over, but she couldn't help it. Raina continued sobbing, hugging her now dirty knewws.

Suddenly she heard a noise from behind her. She ignored it at first but as the rustling became more distinct, she cowered in fear of an older kid coming to hurt her. The tall patches of grass behind her moved with what was behind it, until moments later, the grass parted to reveal a figure. It walked toward Raina and when it came near enough, said, "Hey, are you okay?"

Raina whipped her head around to come face with the figure. It was a boy. He looked looked a bit older than her, probably thirteen years of age. His silver eyes were staring straight into her light brown ones. Although his eyes were oddly coloured and a bit intimidating, Raina found them comforting and stopped her crying.

"Umm . . ." the boy seemed to await a response. Raina snapped out of her trance and replied, "Uh, yeah I'm fine." She was looking down slightly when she responded.

"That's good," the boy said. A smiled was now on his face instead of his previous look of concern. He then added, "My name's Xavier, what''s yours?"

His face was now completely friendly, not a trace of intimidation she once saw. Somehow this made her feel better. She smiled weakly and said, "Raina. My name is Raina."

"Cute name," he remarked causing a light shade of pink to tint her cheeks. Raina mumbled, "Thanks."

The two were enveloped by silence for a short while until Xavier decided to ask, "Do you want to go somewhere else?" Raina nodded shyly as Xavier took her hand and they both walked out of the  the pond area, into the tall, thick grass to make their way out.

Finally, they exited the grass and were now strolling along the sidewalk of a street that wasn't very busy. Barely any cars passed by and Xavier and Raina felt like the only ones walking there. Another wave of silence came upon them. Since they just met, they found it awkward to start a conversation. As usual, Xaview was the one to break the silence.

"Raina," he began. She looked his way, listening attentively as they walked. "Why were you crying earlier?"

She looked down out of embarrassment. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me. I mean, it's not any of my business . . . " he tried to assure.

"No, it's fine. But it was about something stupid," she replied.

"I don't believe that," Xavier commented, making Raina blush slightly.

She took a deep breath and started, "Okay, well I really like magic. It's one of the most important things in my life. I believe in everything about it, and that it exists somewhere, maybe even right here!" Although Raina smiled as she said this, it faded when she continued. "But . . . everyone at school makes fun of me for it. They think that magic is a fake thing made up for little kids. I couldn't handle it when the seventh graders made fun of me after school so I ran to the pond and cried . . . stupid, right?"

Xavier still had his smile in place. "No, it's not stupid. The only ones who are stupid are the people that hurt you."

"Really?" her eyes lit up in surprise.

"Yup," he confirmed. "Even I believe in magic. Just like you do."

That single comment made Raina feel a whole lot better. If someone like Xavier believed in magic that firmly, she could do the same, even as proudly as him.

Ever since their first day meeting that day, Raina and Xavier had become quite close. They'd meet eachother at the pond everyday just to talk without Raina wondering if any bullies would come. But one thing changed, two months after they met.

Xavier told Raina to meet him at their usual place, saying that he had something important to tell her. She agreed and when they got there, Raina was the first to speak.

"So . . . what did you wanna tell me?"

Xavier smiled weakly, but you could see the sorrow in his silver eyes. "Well . . . actually, I'm leaving."

Raina felt like a part of her world shattered. They'd only been friends for two months and he was already going away? She held back her urge to cry and asked, "Why?"

Her voice was shaky and she could barely get the single word out. "I . . . I can't tell you. I'm sorry." Raina couldn't hold back anymore and cried, trying to cover her eyes with her arms. Suddenly she felt herself being pulled forward. Xavier was hugging her.

"Don't worry, I have a feeling we'll meet again," he said. The tears kept flowing but Raina's sobbing stopped as she buried her face in his chest. They stayed like that for a while, but after they pulled away, they said their last goodbyes.

"Bye Xavier."

"Bye Raina."

And then, he was gone.

Author's Note

I thought this was kinda short.
Longer than my other prologue though.
Help with grammar & any redundancy.
I think I had some... somewhere.