That twilight, a girl was crying on the side of a residential street. Her knee was bleeding from a fall while rollerblading. Her tears mixed with dust, forming a thin line down her cheek.
"What's wrong?" Suddenly, a boy roughly the same age as Dina—the girl's name—stood right in front of her. Instead of answering, Dina burst into tears, leaving the boy confused. "What's wrong?" he repeated, kneeling in front of Dina.
"I fell," Dina replied, choked out between sobs.
The boy stared at the wound on Dina's knee. Hmm... pretty bad, he thought. "Can you get up?" the boy asked again, sympathetically.
Dina just shook her head. Indeed, her leg hurt so badly that she couldn't even stand, let alone walk.
The boy thought for a moment, then turned and bent down slightly. "Get on," he said, reaching back, intending to pick Dina up.
For a moment, Dina was confused and hesitant. "Are you strong enough?" she asked uncertainly. Although he was a boy, the child wasn't much bigger than her own.
"I think so." The boy grimaced. Just as unsure. "Just get on. We'll be late, it's sunset," he urged.
Somewhat hesitantly, Dina slowly wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and climbed onto his back. The boy struggled to stand with Dina in his arms. He realized he had no idea where to take the little girl.
"Hey, where's your house?"
"Right there." Dina pointed to a three-way intersection not too far from them.
The boy nodded. He began walking, limping, of course, and even stumbling a few times. Dina felt bad for having inconvenienced others. And a bit scared, actually. Afraid of falling.
The short journey felt long. But finally, they arrived at Dina's house. Dina's mother, seeing her little girl injured, quickly approached Dina and carried her. She was worried and grumbled a bit because Dina was careless. Dina just whined at her mother's nagging.
"Thank you, dear, for bringing her home," the woman said softly. "Come in. I'll get you a drink."
"No need, Ma'am. I'll just go home. It's getting late. My mom must be looking for me," the boy replied politely.
Dina's mother nodded, then spoke to her girl. "Say thank you too."
Dina complied. "Thanks, for bringing me home," she said sincerely, looking at the boy.
He smiled, then turned to leave.
Dina watched the boy leave. Suddenly, she remembered that she didn't know her hero's name. "Hey, what's your name?" Dina shouted when the boy was a short distance from her house.
The boy turned around. "My name is Alfa," he replied, shouting back.
"I'm Dina. Thanks, Alfa," Dina said, waving. Alfa waved back with a smile. Then he left.
The evening sky was orange, and for Dina, it was the most beautiful sunset of her life.