21st Century
It was a sunny day at Saint James Park, London. Some families were taking a walk, while others enjoyed a picnic. There were laughs and children playing all around. Not very far, a curious boy and his grandfather were going through a passage in the middle of the garden. After a few steps, they sat on a bench to talk and have some ice cream. This was already part of their Sunday ritual.
The little light brown-haired one, whose name was Andrew, loved to watch the animals living freely amongst the people in the park. Squirrels leaped from branch to branch, pelicans landed on the grass, and swans swam in the lake surrounded by trees. Everything followed the orchestration conducted by the singing of the birds. Andrew's maternal grandfather, an old man full of protective instinct, was the companion that the boy enjoyed the most.
His mother, a lawyer that would spend most of her time in the courts and not so much with her son. Old Jonathan was a widower, and his greatest pleasure was to have fun with Andrew. He loved to tell him stories on occasions like that, when they would take a walk with no one around to interrupt. When they were together, the old man would become a little bit of a child. Hence, why wouldn't Andrew grow a little bit older too?
"Grandpa, you promised to tell me more about the man who spoke to ghosts," said the boy, thrilled.
"Why, aren't you afraid of listening to stories like that?"
"Of course, I'm not! I always see spirits walking around and I don't care about it. I even talk to them..." he said lowering his voice as if he was telling a secret. "That's why I want to know more about the story you have to tell."
Old Jonathan widened his eyes as he listened to such an innocent revelation. A deep worry invaded his soul, and he decided that the time had come to let the boy know more about the spiritual world. This was vital to the child's protection. After all, Andrew knew that many supernatural creatures lived unleashed in the world of the human beings.
The same way the boy's father knew, for instance. Philip was special, he could easily live in the thin line that separated the living from the dead. Despite his incomparable gift¬¬ or curse, Philip had never told anything to Andrew, perhaps to protect the boy. Jonathan was of a different opinion, and preferred to tell Andrew the story, thus making sure that the boy's eyes were widely open to see the world of the spirits.
He checked his watch and decided that they still had plenty of time to spend together during the afternoon. Then, he started to search within his memories the story that the boy longed so munch to hear.
"It all started a long time ago, when the world was quite different from this one that you know now, and men still believed in the mysteries of the night."
Andrew fixed his eyes on the old man. His ears looked like a pair of antennas capturing every word that he said. From that time on, he would learn the most important secrets of his life.
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