For years you had seen the boy fishing, sitting by himself. You pitied him for his solitude, though you understood it. You had never had anyone who needed you. You'd sat on the roof of you're foster house for years looking and watching him. He had never done anything but look at his line, all through out the night. He sat on the moon, fishing pole in hand. He never caught anything but every crescent moon he came back to his spot, and fished. Since the day you got to your foster home you'd been watching him. Always curious as to what he fished for. Surely there weren't fish. So what did he fish for? Only now has that answer come to you, in the form of a silver hook.

One crystal clear night with a clear crescent moon, you went onto the roof and noticed a little hook suspended in the air. You couldn't find anywhere it could have come from. It was a sparkling silver and it seemed to glow, bright as the moon. You looked up at the boy, he'd turned. No longer facing to the side, but directly at you. The same placid expression on his face. Your hand took hold of the hook as you looked at the boy. His placid expression changed to one of excitement and he hurried to pull in his catch.

Up you soared on the end of his fishing line. Until, finally, he brought you in. The boy had a kind smile on his face but his eyes showed excitement beyond description. He took your hand and you stepped onto the moon.

“Hello,” he said. His voice the warm, sweet voice of a child.

“Hi,” you replied.

“You wanna play?” he asked in an innocent voice that melted your heart instantly.

“Of course,” you instantly replied, and with a huge grin on his face, he grabbed your hand and began to walk away with you following behind him.

You turned a corner and a huge field was before your eyes. A field of tall shining silver grass was spread before you. Everything was the same shade of shining silver as the boy and his fishing pole. The boy turned around to face you and his face alight with joy.

He lightly tapped your arm and said, “Tag, you're it!” And took off running.

Caught by surprise you froze for a second at his warm touch. Then you took off running after him. You could see his head amongst the grass because of your distinct height difference. You saw him break out from the grass to a slightly elevated tree with a tire swing. You broke through the grass a few seconds after him and saw his head duck behind the tree trunk. You crept to the other side of the tree and grabbed him around the waist and leaned back so you were lifting him off the ground. You both fell backwards and landed on your backs.

“You're it,” you whispered after his giggle fit finally ended.

You both continued to lie on you're backs and looked up at the night sky. You had never seen anything like it ever and never would. The night sky without the lights of cities. The utter blackness of the sky where the stars don't pierce it with their radiating beauty. After a while you turned to see that the boy was looking at you gazing at the stars. When you looked at him his silver skin glowed at his cheeks, which you took to be a blush.

You asked him, “So, how did you get here? On the moon, I mean.”

The boy sat up and looked at his lap before saying, “My mommy sent me here.”

Shocked, you replied, “Oh, and why did she send you here?”

He looked up at you, and you two locked eyes. You noticed his eyes have become the slightest bit blue in the middle. And that the color was spreading. All of a sudden your vision blurred and you were in a warehouse on Earth. The boy stood beside you, holding your hand as you gazed at the scene before you.

A woman kneels in front of two men. Both men dressed in sharp black suits. One man has his arms behind his back and gazes down at the woman with a cool disgust in his eyes. The other stands with a young blond boy under one arm and tucked into his body. The other hand holds a pistol to the boy's head. The boy's cheeks are tear stained and his eyes full of fear and confusion as he looks at the woman.

“Mommy?” The blond boy cries to his mother. The cry full of fear, confusion and yearning to be with his mother. “Mommy, help me.” he says.

The woman lifts her head from her hands. Face red and tears streaming down her face she looks at the boy.

“I'm sorry, baby, I really am.” Her voice thick with the emotion and dread of what she knows will happen next. She turns to the man in charge. “Please, I'll do anything. Just don't hurt him. He's all I have.”

The man scoffs at her, “I've given you more than enough chances, don't you think? You've said you would repay me, over and over. Where, may I ask is my payment?” The man has knelt down next to the woman and has pulled her hair back so her head is turn up towards him. Her sobs only greaten at this man's question. His anger flares and he thrusts the woman's head down. She collapses and breaks into great raking sobs.

“STOP IT!” The boy screams tears flooding out of his eyes as he struggles to break free of the man's grasp.

“Let the brat go,” the man says. The other man releases the child and the boy dashes to his mother. But as he reaches his mother's arms, the man in charge pulls out a pistol and shoots the boy in the back, where his little heart beats.

“NO!” His mother screams as she dashes to her dying child's side. “No. Please, don't go.” She gasps out between choked gasps.

“Mommy,” the boys whispers “I love you.”

Wiping tears from the boy's eyes, she says “I love you too, baby, and I promise, you'll go to a place where you can be happy. And no pain will ever befall you again. You'll rise to the moon and fish whenever you want. You'll play in the fields and swing on your tire swing to your hearts content. You'll never be forced into a world like this. Only the pure will notice you. Only those who stop and appreciate beauty will be able to see you, and they'll be the only ones who will be able play with you, my angel. I couldn't protect you in this world, but I can promise you, you will never need protection in the next one.”

The blond boy's face lights up and he nods, “I love you, Mommy,” he whispers one last time before his eyes dull and and his breathe stops.

The woman heaves over her sons lifeless body, then turns up to face the monsters in front of her. She sets her son's body down and and screams at the men to kill her. But heartless as they are, they didn't. They simply beat her and sent her back to her house. Later that night, she took her life.



The blue receded back to the shining silver they were before and the silver world appeared once more. Tears filled you're eyes and threatened to spill over onto your cheeks. You stared blankly at the space between you and the silver boy.

His face crinkled into an expression of concern.

You looked at him and pulled him in for a hug. Hot tears slid down your face as you embraced this beautiful child in your arms. When you pulled away, you wiped the tears from your eyes.

“How many people have come up here?” you asked him.

“Only you,” he said. “You're the only one whose noticed my hook before. I've waited and waited, but no-one ever looks up from what they're doing long enough to see it in front of them.”

“Oh, it must be lonely for you.” you paused and added, “You know, It's kind of the same for me. Not many people talk to me. Let alone want to be friends with me.” You sighed and looked up at the night sky.

“Will you stay with me?” he asked meekly.

“Oh,” you said before you could think, “I-I I can't.” you stated. But when you saw the boy's face fall you added, “But I'll visit as much as I can.”

With this he looked up at you, extraordinary hope filled his silver eyes.

You looked to the horizon and noticed something.

The Sun.

“Oh, I think I have to go home now. But I'll be back, don't worry,” you said.

You and the boy got up and went back to his fishing spot. You grabbed the hook and he lowered you down to the roof once more.

And every crescent moon since, you have gone to visit him. By yourself, then with your boyfriend, who eventually became your husband, then your children, and grandchildren. Eventually, when your time had finally came, you stayed with him, the only friend you've ever had.