Dan stepped into the cold night, his cheek still stinging, tears prickling his eyes. He broke into a run hardly paying attention to where he was. He slowed to a walk and registered the familiar surroundings.

He had reached the old park he used to come with his father to; it had been shut down last year. He had found a secret spot deep in the trees where the other children were to scared to venture. He was going to show it to his father but decided he'd rather keep it to himself. He regretted that decision now; his father was gone. Dan didn't quite understand where or why. A couple of months ago when he woke up one morning, his father was missing.

All Dan knew was it was somehow his fault that the unfaithful man had walked out. Well, at least that's what his mother told him almost every night when she'd had had too much to drink. She'd often say unkind words to Dan but he took them silently, believing he was to blame.

Earlier that evening, Dan had been playing with his basketball indoors. He had accidentally knocked over a cheap vase. But the hell his mother subjected him to made him feel like a criminal fit to through into prison. Why was his mother being so mean? She hated that vase anyway. When he pointed this out, she raised her hand.

Dan snapped back to reality and walked slowly towards the park. He crawled under the fence, tiny enough to make it through comfortably. It was a full moon night though Dan didn't need the extra light; he could've found his way blindfolded. The tears had dried up now, leaving behind cold streaks down his cheeks and he became aware of just how chilly it was. In his rush to leave the house he hadn't put on anything warm. Only when he felt he was safely concealed in the shadows did he allow himself to relax a little.

Two large trees grew particularly close to each other, making their trunks almost merge. They formed a sheltered seat of sorts, kind of like a hollow. Dan sat down in his usual place, placing his head on his knees and wrapping his arm around his legs. He came out here whenever he felt down, which was getting more frequent every week, this was the first time he had come here after sun down. Unlike most children his age, he preferred being alone.

Dan heard a twig snap and his head snapped up. Was is it his mother coming to torment him again? He didn't know how much more of that he could take. Terrified, he crouched deeper into the darkness, making himself as small as he could. He could vaguely make out a shape approaching, slowly as though it were scared. Dan squinted, the body seemed far too small to be his mother. Or any adult, for that matter. Dan had grown to dislike adults. They were unreliable and he didn't trust them.

A small boy, who seemed only a little older than Dan, stepped forward, standing under a gap between the branches, allowing his face to illuminated by the moon.

"Who are you?" his voice called out, quivering slightly and mirroring the fear Dan felt inside. He had been warned against talking to strangers. But that was something only adults had told him and he had no intentions of obeying them.

"Who are you?" the voice repeated, a little more confidently this time. Dan, suddenly aware of how cowardly he probably seemed, came out of his hiding place and walked forward on wobbly knees.

"I- I'm Dan," he answered. "Who are you?"

"Phil," came the reply. "What are you doing in my secret place?"

"What?" Dan asked, slightly confused. "This is my secret place. I've been coming here for very long." In Dan's mind, like most children, six months seemed like a lifetime.

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"I could ask you the same," Dan shot back. Even at the supposedly tender age of six, Dan was known for his cocky behaviour. Though he had sobered up a lot after his father went missing. He kept telling himself that if he behaved like a nice little boy, his father would come back. In spite of knowing, in his heart of hearts, that wasn't very likely.

"Ok," Phil seemed to consider Dan's argument. "Maybe we could share it," he concluded. Dan looked at the boy in the face, taken aback my by his friendly tone. "Hey, what happened to your face?" Phil asked, looking concerned.

Everything came flooding back to Dan. He didn't know why, but he told Phil everything as they sat in their special place in the hollow. Right from the morning his father went missing, to the children in school bullying him about to, to the part where he met Phil.

"That's horrible!" Phil was shocked. "How could anyone do that?" Dan although not aware of it, knew the answer to that question. People could do that to people they didn't care about. Dan shivered, and Phil immediately took off his jacket and offered it to him.

"No, I'm fine," Dan tried to decline. But a little more persistence from Phil was all it took for him to accept the gesture because he was sure he'd freeze to death. "I'm wearing a full sleeve t shirt anyway. You need it more," Phil insisted.

"Phil, why are you in the park so late? Won't your parents be worried about you?" Dan realised that Phil too wasn't at home like children are expected to be. Phil sighed.

"No. They don't notice when I'm gone. Me being there or not doesn't make a difference. I like coming to the park... it makes me feel happy." Dan considered that as valid a reason as any.

For their age, they were far beyond their years. Going through more than you and I could never even fathom.

They sat in silence, enjoying each others company, something alien yet surprisingly comforting. When they decided it was getting far too late and that they wouldn't be able to stay up much longer, they slowly walked back the entrance of the park under a streetlight.

"Thanks," Dan said, handing the jacket back to Phil. Phil only shook his head in response.

"I want you to keep it."

"Why?"

"You're my friend, I want my friend to have my favourite jacket," Phil said firmly. Dan stared at Phil. He had just called Dan his friend. No one had ever done that before. He noticed Phil had blue eyes. He had always wanted blue eyes, but he was stuck with his boring brown ones.

"Won't your parents scold you?"

"They won't even notice," Phil assured him.

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, Dan," Phil smiled before running off in the opposite direction.