Once upon time...

Quietly sitting on a swing in the shade of a mango tree,the woman drawing and the man reading, these two beings looked at each other smiling. With this complicit look that only deeply linked beings can share. With that tender smile that warms the heart. From this silent exchange seemed to emanate a cohesion of such intensity. In their bubble, their own little world, they seemed to be floating out of time and space. The man finally broke the silence.

-Tiana, my sweet, why don't we play a little game ?

-Why not. The usual one ?

- Of course. Can you start ?

- With great pleasure. Hum...blood.

- Doctor.

- No. Dracula.

-I know, vampire.

-Yeah, you are right. It was quite an easy one. Your turn.

-Airplane.

- Cloud ?

- No...employee.

-Stewardess.

-Bingo. You made it. We play this game so often that it has become a bit difficult to find a word to be guessed.

The woman laughed, and said:

-Absolutely. What is the book you are reading about?

-To tell you the truth, I don't know too much about it.Actually, I'm not very focused in my reading.

- So, what are you thinking about then ?

-I'm thinking about our first meeting. Tiana, my sweet,do you remember that day? That day when, according to your story, you found me drunk in that alley, with scratches all over my body. At first you were afraid of the frightening sight and took a step back. Then, humanity winning over fear and disgust, you knelt down next to my almost inert body, checking if my heart was still beating, or if it had stopped its usual drumming. Relieved that I was still alive, that my gun was still on the right, you called an ambulance, which rushed me to the emergency room. According to the medical staff in charge of me, you never left my side, watching for me to wake up every second. It was a mystery to me why you wanted to stay by my side, but how happy I was to see your beautiful smile when I woke up.

The woman, moved as at each evocation of this moment put down her pencil. And, leaning against the swing, she began to sway while looking into the void, as if she was observing something that only she could see. Her voice became dreamy and distant as she spoke in turn.

-How can I forget? I have a rather paradoxical feeling about this day. On the one hand, it evokes an intense anguish, because that day you almost flew away to other skies; and on the other hand, its memory gives me a feeling of unparalleled joy, because it allowed us to meet. I remember that day as clearly as the sun shines brightly in the firmament. I can see clearly and distinctly my movements, my actions, and all the emotions and feelings I had then.

-Tell me again.

The woman passed a caressing hand over the cheek of the man, in the grip of a deep emotion.

-Our meeting was most fortuitous. The games of chance and fate must have projected their clever designs on it. It was a sunny day, like today, with a light breeze bringing a little freshness. A very banal day, with an equally banal course of events. In short, nothing out of the ordinary. There were no warning signs. There was nothing in the air and the jovial atmosphere that predestined me for this macabre, shattering discovery... Why are you rolling your eyes?

-You always had a strong taste for melodrama, my dear.

She laughed softly and with a deep sense of joy.

- Now we can joke about it, of course, but at the time, it was particularly upsetting, simply confusing. I was wandering quietly through the streets, aimlessly, turning my head every which way, responding to greetings. As strange as it may seem, I felt in my heart, in my soul and in my mind a certain uneasiness. Despite the smiles and laughter here and there, I felt deep inside that something was wrong. And my bad feeling was about to be confirmed. The afternoon was coming to an end, the shining star was about to give way to the glittering stars. I was admiring the beauty of the projected purple and gold reflections, when all of a sudden I stumbled because of my own shoelaces.

The man laughed.

-Do people really still trip over their own shoelaces? Even today it seems quite unbelievable to me.

-Would it be too much to ask you to let me tell quietly? You are disturbing my inspiration.

He raised both hands in the air as a sign of peace.

-Forgive me my sweet, you know that I cannot resist to tease you.

At the wink, the woman rolled her eyes but couldn't help but give a slight smile.

-May I continue now?

-I'm hanging on your every word, my dear.

-Good. I'll continue. As I was saying, before being interrupted in a brutal and impromptu way...

-You're exaggerating...

If she had lasers for eyes, he would have been reduced to ashes in a flash. Laughing, the man apologized and told his sweetheart to continue.

-So, as I said, I had fallen. When I got up, I could see a dark, misshapen mass at the end of an alley. Pusillanimous at heart, my first instinct was to run away.But without me explaining why, I could not turn away from the mysterious form. I still wonder today in what part of my being I could draw the courage and the necessary audacity to venture into this dark and doubtful alley, me who was running away from everything that was risky and uncertain. Normally, I would have run for my life, preferring to erase this vision from my memory; at best, as if it had been a bad dream, at worst, something that had never existed. However, I was hypnotized, I was not really in control of my movements anymore. I felt that I had a role to play and that I should not shirk it. So, as if pushed by a metaphysical force, I stepped forward. One step still hesitant. Followed by two steps a little more assured. And I had finally closed the distance with a final step. The decisive step. A small step for me, a big step for our destiny.