《Bedtime Stories》 Prologue He never really understood why people like to have interviews in cafes, why not at home, in a warm and cosy atmosphere? Not that he could complain.. he was the one who asked for it to be here. Well, if it had been at their home, that guy would''ve instantly guessed his plan. That¡¯s why he didn¡¯t like dentists, barbers and .. bartenders. Too many damn questions, and that damn smile, like they will understand your troubles no mater how terrible they are. Makes you want to complain about your life and spill the all your worries to them. Gale had asked her for an interview for a story he was writing (that''s the official story anyway, it is actually a present for the couples weeding. Not that she needed to know). Now he was sitting here, preparing for the lengthy conversation. The bride tends to talk a lot when she''s telling a story or in general anything that included her husband... (Geez, why did she have to pick that annoying, albeit very fascinating, trait of her husband. Making every story long and exciting.) ** He had met the pair while walking in the park one day. Following a pre-determined route toward his favourite spot in a secluded part of the park, he had found to his immense surprise, that the spot was taken. Okay, now lets just explain the situation. Yes, it is (by his personal conclusion) the best spot in the park: a small tree with a trash-stick-stone-turd-human free area with lush grass around it. Warmed by the early morning sun, partially in the shadow/sun in the afternoon, giving you the choice depending on your mood and clothes. And the best part, probably also the reason for its clean appearance, is the location: hidden in the corner of a colossal forest, also known as The Nation Park. Shortest distance in bird view from entrance to the spot being a kilometre, allowing the area to stay unknown to the general population (at least before this moment). His mood had gone to the rock bottom, not because he disliked people that much, but his day had already led to heavy stress. And now, the much needed solitude with his drawing equipment, was also taken away from him. Which leads to the facial expression known as a frown which can be caused by a few other just as displeasing situations: confusing a lemon with an orange (yes, and so what?! Alcohol and absence of other gastronomic products in the technological wonder, called a refrigerator, can lead to such confusion.) or being in the presence of a representative of the female gender, which is influenced by the disease known as hypocrisy (WHY, just why, do they have to exist!? The unstoppable force full of the same substance as an outhouse). The later being clearly the worst of the two, which placed this situation somewhere in-between the two (so I am currently between the female and the fruit? Fascinating). It actually wasn''t that surprising they knew about the spot, as he later found out, the guy was the one who had planted the tree and cleaned the place. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.** Noticing a figure walking towards his table, Gale stood up to give her a hug. Dressed in a simple white shirt with a black necklace made of some sort of black metal, followed by a skirt, obviously in black, as to match her favorite necklace (seriously, I haven''t seen her without it since he gave it to her, does she ever take it off?). "Hello there Gale, it''s good to see you" She said sitting down in a sofa, giving him a mischievous smile from across the table. "When are you going to let me meet your wife?" "When you introduce her to me." He said with a wry smile, making her smile widen. "Do you want to order something?" "Hmm, I think I''ll take a tea." Gale noticed the glint in her eyes, never a good sign. "And some deserts since you''re paying *groan* yes, yes, you think you can invite a girl to a caf¨¦, and then expect her to pay?" Giving up the thought of resistance, surrendered in front of this devil of a woman. Being a former collar worker, she always had a way with words, which he found out already three minutes after their meeting. The memory made him smile once again. "It''s good to see you Angelica." A few minutes they sat in silence, enjoying a friendly atmosphere and drinking tea. Angelica was the first one to break the silence. "So what did you want to know Gale?" A smile ever-present on her face. "Tell me, how did you fall in love with him?" The question made her narrow her eyes and look somewhere far away, probably back to that fateful day. Her smile widen a bit making Gale take a sharp breath, she truly had a smile, as he loved to say; ''As beautiful as the dawn of winter, as gentle as the winds of spring''. ".. How I fell in love with him you ask.. Hehe, it all started with a simple questions when I was at my lowest. You see, I had some serious problems with sleep, so I often went to bars to get a drink. Not the pub ones mind you, the high end bars, where a bartender really knows what to do, when you ask him for a drink to fit your mood. The him of that day captured me, it was .. cant say it was his visage, or the overall looks. It was more.. The way he looked at me you know? Not me as in, my body, but .. as a, .. being? I don¡¯t really know how to explain, but he had this super excited face, almost child like excitement." She turned to him, her face spoke volumes of the happy memories in her thoughts. "And then you know what he asked me?" "What?.." "He asked, Do you like bedtime stories?" 1. Child in the night The reason for my sleeping problems is as typical as it can be. A child, lost in the woods, alone and with no source of light. What lead to it was a series of unfortunate incidents: the father too drunk to notice, the mother busy with the father, a stupid cousin, a challenge, a scared dog, a hole in the fence. In the end, it all resulted in a child alone in the middle of a forest. I was found soon enough, but it did result in me being scared of being alone in the dark. This trait of mine did lead to a lot of traumatic boyfriend experiences for my father (stop laughing Gale. Well, it was his own fault in a way, should''ve paid attention to his child.), I would always fall asleep in their bed when they were sleeping over. Father luckily didn¡¯t get a phobia for the concept of a boyfriend, thanks again to my phobia. I would always ask to sleep with my parents and he would always have this goofy grin when i asked if i could sleep with them. Best way to make him forget who i ended up sleeping with last night. It did get better with time, but I still had trouble sleeping without a night light. The day I met him, I was on my way to a bar close to where I lived. It was a nice place with few visitors, as in ten people at the same time is the most I''ve seen there. The boss is a nice guy whom I got to know over a few of my visits late at night. He always knew what to get me, I didn¡¯t even have to ask for anything, he was already making something for me. So I became a regular at his place, even moved a bit closer to his place a few months after my first visit. That night it was rowdy at his place, it was a group of rookies from some company. They had just made a good deal and had gone out to celebrate. I was just about to give up and go home to try and sleep, when Reggie told me of some bar he knew I would like. ** "Hello angel, you look like you hit a few birds on the way down from heaven." Reggie greeted me when I entered, a playful, yet gentle smile on his face. He had the face of an old soldier, a few scars here and there. The most notable being an ugly, old one going across his left eye, making his eye appear sunken in. For most young women, such a scar would probably be pretty disturbing, or at least make you want to look away. For me it was my favourite part of his looks, it made me feel safe, at peace. The reason was probably my deceased father, he had been a former soldier and his face had been riddled with small scars from his time at war. Reggie had become something of a second father to me. He even had the same gangster expression on his face, when an occasional young man would come and try to flirt with me. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. "Hey Reggie, seems rowdy in here today." Looks like no drinks tonight, too loud for me. Should I try and fall asleep without Glowy? (Glowy was my cute little night light, a strawberry smiley in the form of a heart. I had gotten it lost that day, which was the reason for my visit at Reggies.) "Ye, some boys from XX company had a good day, they came by to celebrate. Couldn''t fall asleep again?" Seeing me shake my head, he looked at me for a minute, seemingly debating about something. "You know what, since you don¡¯t like when it''s loud, go to this place. The bartender down there is a nice guy, you should like him. Tell him I said hi." While telling me that he fiddled around in his pocket, before handing me a black plastic card. Then waved a goodbye and went back to work. I looked at the card while pushing the door open, it wasn¡¯t black, nor was it plastic as I thought before. It was made of some kind of metal alloy, I couldn¡¯t make out what kind, not that I knew much about metal. It had a flowing kind of dark colour, with a tint of white, making it look like it glowed when you turn it. Turning it around I saw some words in a golden colour. ''Aeriera'' ''XX Street, number 7'' XX Street.. That¡¯s not so far away. Well, if Reggie says I''ll like it, then why not. Number seven, number seven, number seven... that¡¯s five. Probably the next one, ah, here it is. In front of me was an old door, one of those you would imagine to see in the 18th century. Maybe calling it old wasn¡¯t correct, it was a new, old looking door. It had a light brown colour and a beautiful number seven of a golden looking colour. To the left of the door, there was a big window like a shop typically has. But you couldn¡¯t see inside through the window, because it was fully covered from the other side. The cover was a bit weird from the first look, but when I looked closer.. That¡¯s.. Books! There must to be at least two hundred books covering the window, you couldn¡¯t by any means call it a small one. At least two meters in height, with more than five in width. And on the window was the same beautiful inscription as on the card. Aeriera.. A name?.. I wonder what it means.