Nathanaël jumped to his feet.
Relieved to have finally crossed the door with the others, he looked around to celebrate their victory before realizing he was alone.
"What?"
He wasn't just alone. There was no one in sight.
In fact, it wasn't even a room. A vast expanse stretched endlessly in every direction, covered by a thin layer of water that reached as far as the eye could see. About ten centimeters of water submerged his boots.
And a faint shaft of sunlight illuminated him, while the rest of the immense space disappeared into a sea of fog.
"This can't be true."
Nathanaël slowly turned on himself.
"I'm clearly not in my world."
Nathanaël wandered aimlessly through the fog, the faint ray of light remaining fixed upon him.
He had no idea where he was going, his feet completely soaked
"I don't even know where I'm going. If we've been teleported to different places, I'll never find the other--"
Nathanaël stopped dead in his tracks.
The fog parted before him.
Because something was emerging from the white expanse...
A place he knew all too well.
A second faint ray of light appeared before him, gradually dispelling the fog.
And instead of seeing someone else, he saw a place—a room—slowly materializing. Walls of a warm, inviting beige, a small armchair of the same color, a small lamp, and above all...
Nathanaël grimaced.
"What…"
In the middle stood a little boy with a tousled afro, his head bowed, looking as if he were ashamed of himself.
But Nathanaël knew that the little boy was truly ashamed of himself.
And all around the sad little boy were other people, other children, all snickering for a reason he knew all too well.
**
Nathanaël had always been rich.
His father had been successful in life, and he always made sure everyone knew it.
He wasn't sure how he'd got there, but he was happy to know his father was happy. That was the only mindset a boy his age could have.
He had never asked him what he did for a living but his father often told him:
"Don't worry, son. Since I'm rich, you'll always have plenty of friends."
He said it with a smile. A smile so proud that it seemed innocent as he spoke.
So Nathanaël took this as good news.
Yet no one seemed interested in approaching him.
In fact, he never reached out to others, thinking that others would come to him. After all, that was the image he had of rich people, so naturally it wasn't up to him to reach out to others.
But no one did.
Not until they knew he was rich...
One day, he saw a parent whisper in his daughter's ear:
"This one's rich, Lana. You must be with him."
Nathanaël had smiled, thinking that his group of friends would finally arrive.
That his life would be filled with friends.
But instead, a series of uncontrollable illusions began...
Since that day, he'd made more and more friends.
Each one more smiling than the last.
One by one, they'd come to make friends with the rich man, and Nathanaël would greet them with a big smile.
Some even said:
"My father told me to be friend with you because you're rich."
Nathanaël smiled.
He always smiled...
Always...
And for a time, everything seemed fine.
But one day, he went home with his group of friends.
And during the ride, none of them spoke to him.
Not a single one.
As if his presence—even on the way to his own house—wasn't really necessary.
Nathanaël walked a few steps ahead of the group, a smile playing on his lips as if everything were going just fine. And seeing that the group was silent, he tried to lighten the mood with one of his anecdotes that he personally found funny.
"You know, my dad, he has...."
"Who cares? When are we coming?"
Nathanaël immediately felt something tighten in his chest when his friend interrupted him. He didn't quite understand why there was such malice in his voice.
Was this how a friend was supposed to behave?
"In five minutes."
And only after the tension had faded did Nathanaël realize they had been talking among themselves the entire time.
Without him.
Completely excluding him from their conversation...
Arriving at his place, they eagerly started looking around.
And once they realized they could make themselves at home, they didn't hesitate for a second to run all over the place having fun.
Nathanaël was laughing with them, jumping on the couches, throwing water balloons at them, drinking all the soda he could find, and even eating a cake he'd left in the fridge.
To tell the truth, Nathanaël was really looking forward to that cake—he'd planned to eat it later. But he didn't say anything for fear of ruining the mood.
So he ate the small slice of his own cake that one of them had given him.
Suddenly, he heard a commotion behind him.
And as soon as he turned around, his eyes widened in shock.
There, in the middle of his own living room, beneath the magnificent chandelier he'd asked his parents for on this very occasion, a boy was proposing to Lana with a ring he'd bought using the money Nathanaël had given him.
No one paid any attention to him anymore as he rushed over to the new couple, who seemed so happy.
But for the first time, maintaining his smile became impossible.
That ring… it wasn't just the ring the young man had bought with Nathanaël's money…
It was his ring.
The one he had asked his friend to purchase discreetly so that he could propose to Lana himself.
He had organized everything for the occasion:
the night out with friends,
the chandelier,
the ring,
and even Lana's presence.
His first… "friends"…
his lover...
"Am I not at home? I... I never said he could propose to Lana. I told him I liked her. "
Nathanaël didn't understand.
Was this how a friend should behave?
Everyone stared at them in wonder.
But as for him, Nathanaël tried to forget and enjoy his day.
And he couldn't.
The more the day went on, the stronger that strange feeling became.
It hurt... his heart hurt...
No one was interested in him anymore.
More than once, he ran to catch up with the others, but nobody cared about him.
He had become invisible in his own house...
They were at home...
And his heart ached more and more...
Later that day, Nathanaël huddled in a corner playing hide-and-seek.
But during the game, he heard two girls talking, thinking he wasn't there.
"The house is so nice. We should come back more often."
"Yeah. It's crazy how he doesn't realize it. He really thinks we're his friends. What's he thinking? I'm here for the house."
"To think he tried to tag me earlier. I'm still shivering."
The tears flowed naturally from his cheeks.
Nothing could stop them now.
Nathanaël had realized that none of his friends were there for him.
They were all there for his money.
For his father's wealth.
He understood the power of this dangerous thing and remembered his father's words:
"Don't worry, my son. Since I'm rich, you'll always have plenty of friends."
This was not true.
He had no friends.
He only had freeloaders who resented his wealth...
Sitting on the ground, his head buried in his arms, Nathanaël hid between a black bin and a wall.
Between money and loneliness...
Between what his father had promised him and what reality had shown him...
There sat a child who thought he had friends.
and had just seen the truth behind his father's words...
After an hour, no one had come to get him.
He simply stayed there.
He emerged from his hiding place, tears still visible on his cheeks, and went downstairs.
On the way down, he realized that his father was talking to Lana's parents. They were laughing with a glass of wine in hand.
He wasn't even worried about him.
So Nathanaël lowered his gaze and walked silently to his room.
**
"I really didn't have to see this again."
Nathanaël stood there in the fog, staring at his atrocious memory.
The fog dissipated beneath the memories, and the people who appeared in it seemed to dissipate with the fog.
A second ray had illuminated the scene.
Nathanaël had seen everything, convinced that it would change.
And unfortunately, nothing had changed...
So the little boy continued to hang out with his friends, who weren't looking at him.
He lost his smile.
But not the people around him
The years passed, and he kept making more and more... friends.
And the more time passed, the more he wore that fake smile on his face—welcoming and always generous.
People saw him as an angel, always ready to help and hand out money.
However, Nathanaël never let anyone see how much he hated that role.
But since he didn't know how else to make friends, that was enough for him.
Keeping his true feelings bottled up inside, Nathanaël grew emptier and emptier as the days went by.
But one day, something caught his eye.
Another boy who seemed as lonely as he was.
He scanned the fog, looking for that perfectly ordinary boy.
He carried the same vacant look Nathanaël always hid from others.
He wasn't really alone when he was with his friend, but as soon as they were in a group, they forgot all about him and he became as invisible as a leaf.
He knew people, but nobody saw him as important.
And sometimes he got the impression he was...sad.
And walked alone...
The Nathanaël in the memory was looking for this boy in the fog.
And Nathanaël watched him do.
He ran in all directions and the black-haired boy disappeared and appeared in different places.
The young boy of the fog thought that maybe...
for once...
for the first time...
someone could be...
his friend.
Suddenly, Nathanaël began to hurry as well.
"Catch him!"
He began to look for him too.
Looking for this person who could finally be the first.
Both were looking for him as if their lives depended on it. Being under the same beam of light, they chased the fog away with their arms and watched every move.
Some people began to appear around them, looking for Nathanaël's attention.
"So, Nathanaël, when do we come to your place?"
"You can lend me a hundred bucks. Can you?"
"Buy me that on my birthday, will you?"
"Can I have a ride in your car?"
Their eyes were veiled in mist, a bad omen, for Nathanaël had long since forgotten their true appearance.
He hadn't looked them in the eyes in so long...
And on that day, once again, he didn't even want to try.
He was looking for the boy who was alone, and in the distance, he caught sight of him.
And there he was.
Walking alone.
Just as he always had.
The two Nathanaëls rushed to catch him.
The two Nathanaels rushed to catch him. The two of them ran, trying to avoid all the people who were after their money.
The voices then grew much louder.
"Where are you going?"
"Don't you have a hundred bucks?"
"Can I come or not?"
Neither of them paid any attention to them; they were too focused on their race. They clenched their fists and gritted their teeth as they continued their frantic run.
But the Nathanaël of his memory suddenly found his feet caught by the figures in the fog.
Nathanaël turned around in panic but the memory kept him from helping him.
"Go ahead.
I should have talked to him first anyway, and you know it. I thought he'd be like the others. I thought he'd only be after my money.
You still have a chance.
I made a mistake, but we can't change the past.
We can only move forward. "
Nathanaël grimaced once again. But this time, the reason was quite different.
Having to leave that behind was much more painful than he had thought.
"After all, I'm just a memory, aren't I?"
For Nathanaël it wasn't just a memory.
It was him.
He hadn't changed.
That's why he was chasing the boy that day, and why he was still doing it.
But he finally turned around, head down, and resumed running, with tears in his eyes.
And after a short while, he reached the boy and grabbed his shoulder after a mad dash through the water...
Marc turned around.
"Nath?"
"Gotcha."
"What's the matter?"
"Would you be my friend?"
Marc seemed surprised by the sudden question.
His eyes lit up and it took him a while to reply, coming to his senses.
After a long moment, he smiled.
"Of course."
It was the first time Nathanaël had seen him smile so much that he could see his teeth.
And for some reason, the fog no longer seemed so thick.