• There once was a lonely orphan, called Tom, in the orphanage of Laurington, a town near Amlwch. He felt lonely without his parents, which passed away from cancer. Although there were lots of children in the orphanage, he had nearly no friends there, except for Gina, his only friend. Gina had come to the orphanage two months ago, her Dad was shot and her Mom took her life after his death.
    Gina cried often, because she missed them. Everytime she cried, Tom gave her a hug and made jokes to cheer her up. Sometimes, when the jokes didn’t make her stop crying, he started to sing and he danced with her.
    In the orphanage was a great door. The frontdoor. It was closed at night, but when the sun shone, the children could go out, playing in the big garden of the orphanage. Everyday Tom and Gina played hide and seek.
    One day they were playing again and Tom was hiding in a bush. Gina couldn’t find him. “Tiny Tom”(That was her nickname for him) “Tiny Tom!”, she shouted. “Where are you?!”
    Tiny Tom didn’t make a sound. The shouting got more quiet.
    ~So is guess she is searching somewhere else~ he thought ~Good! She’ll never find me!~
    After two hours of waiting he was really hungry.~Damn!~ he thought ~I’m so hungry. But the dinner is still 6 hours away!~
    The children in the orphanage indeed only got something to eat for breakfast and dinner. The orphanage was really poor.
    ~I’m starving!~ he thought after another hour. ~I will die if I don’t eat anything now!~ “Here you are! God, I searched everywhere for you!”, It was Gina’s voice. Tom was smiling. He was incredibly hungry, couldn’t concentrate nor answer. The next thing Tom remembered was looking up, seeing the sky and wondering where he was. Gina sat next to him, they were still in the bush.
    ”What ... ha...happenend? ...am..I?!”, Tom was confused. “You fainted. I guess it’s because of hunger... I’m almost starving,too!”, Gina sat on the grass and stared at her feet. “We must find something to eat! Let’s do it!”, He tried to get up, while talking, but his bones were still too weak.
    ~Damn!~ he thought and looked arround. “What’s that?”, Tom asked. Gina looked up. “Only berriesm Tiny Tom.... I guess they’re toxic or something.” She looked back at het feet.
    “I have never seen such berries!”, Tiny Tom niticed. “They’re bloodred with yellow spots.” He got up, which was really hard, because he was almost starving again of hunger.
    “I wonder”, Tom began “whether we can eat them.” The berries, about as big as plums, hypnotized Tiny Tom. “He! Don’t take them!”, Gina shouted, as Tom reached for one of the bloodred berries. “What should happen? Either I’m starving, or this berry kills me! I have nothing to loose, do I? Do you want one, too?”, Tom took two berries and handed one of them to Gina. She started to nod: ”You’re right.... Our parents are dead and it’s horrible to live in that orphanage. But.... I’m not sure about these berries...” She took a closer look at the berry in her hand. Tiny Tom didn’t care for anything anymore, he was so hungry, that he took a big bite of the fruit. Gina watched him interested.
    Tom began to chew. Very slowly. Then he swallowed. His eyes got big and began to sparkle. Without giving any comment to Gina he took some more bites and already reached for the next one.
    ~So I guess, they’re good~ Gina thought and bit in her berry.
    Gina’s eyes were sparkling, too! All these flavours in only one fruit. Sweet as honey. Sour as lemon. And sametimes bitter, but not too bitter... The only word Gina could think of was bittersweet. Perfect flavour. That’s what dreams are made of.
    Tom and Gina didn’t talk anymore. They only ate the berries and although it started to become cold outside, they were not freezing, because the bittersweet flavour got right into their hearts and warmed them from the inside.
    After they were done with eatingm they decided to go in, but Tom took the cores of the bittersweet berries with them inside. With a little bit imagination,the cores looked like little bloodred hearts.
    Now Gina and Tiny Tom went to the bush everyday and even in the winter the fruits grew on the bush. They were never hungry again, but they never told the other orphans about their bittersweet fruits. There was always lots of fun, when Tom and Gina went to the bush everyday to eat. They told each other stories, jokes and secrets and they were really best friends.
    One day, it was good weather, some strange people visited the orphanage. They had come to adopt a child. All the children wanted to be adopted, so they could finally leave the bad orphange, but Tiny Tom and Gina wanted to stay there. This way they could be together forever. But although Gina didn’t pretend to be polite and nice, like the other orphans did, those strange people wanted to adopt her.
    A week later Tiny Tom and Gina had to say Goodbye for the last time. They cried and cried, but before Gina went to the car, Tom gave her the bittersweet berry-cores from the first time, when they tried the fruit. “I love you...”, Tiny Tom said and turned away. Crying.
    “Wait, my Tiny Tom!”, Gina shouted and ran after him. “I love you, too! I will alway’s love you and I will NEVER EVER tell our bittersweet secret to anyone.”
    Tom took her hands and kissed her. “I will keep our secret, too. No-one will hear it. It’s in my heart, just as you are.”
    Gina sat in the car, the cores in her hand and stared at her feet. She was crying and the rears fell on the cores. ~No-one...~ she thought ~I’ll keep it...~
    The car drove away. That was the last time, that Tiny Tom ever saw Gina, but he never forgot her.
    Everytime he ate a fruit, a bittersweet pain reached his heart. ~I miss her...~ he always thought, when he ate a fruit. ~But the secret and Gina are in my heart... safe forever!~ The -bittersweet- End