Growing Young

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I tried turning away from the shadow, but my body felt like lead. Peter Pan? It couldn't be. I had read his story plenty of times when I was younger, sometimes wishing he'd take me away to Neverland. For him to be here in my room was downright crazy.

I forced myself to face the window, and when I saw the boy I suddenly saw everything. All that I had neglected to see before; life, beauty, purpose, it was there in front of me, in my room.

"Everything." A voice muttered, barely noticing it was my own. The boy just stared, his deep blue eyes holding an emotion that I couldn't quite capture.

It was as though we were both just now waking up from a cold nightmare, finding that reality was nowhere close to the demonic dream. Reality was finally worth seeing.

I tried to speak, but I couldn't quite push any words out of my mouth. The boy's frozen expression gained emotion, and a luminous smile stretched across his face.

"So that's what it feels like to have your eyes finally see mine. I have to say, I was expecting much more." As he finished speaking, he smirked, and I could almost see him holding the tease above my head.

I tried not to blush. I needed to think of a sly comeback, but I couldn't quite find it in me. It was as if all the lights had finally turned on in me, and my brain was becoming Times Square on New Years Eve. Overcrowded. Full of energy. Full of life.

"Come on, Em. I know you're not a shy person. Think of me as...Benny! I know how much you like to tell him your stories." His mocking smile was still there.

Benny was my dog, and since I preferred staying home with a good book over going out on a Friday night, Benny always made it a routine to sprawl himself next to me on my bed and watch me read. I often read him my stories, sometimes even making up my own. That's when a thought finally struck me.

"How would you know that?" I asked, the offense in my voice making it sound like a strike. This caught him off guard, but only for a moment.

"I'm Peter Pan, Emma. I know these things. Plus, it's not very hard to find you." He said this as though he had just learned that he saved the world from another war; triumphantly.

For some unknown reason, I wasn't very concerned about him watching me for who knows how long. My mind couldn't yet wrap around the beauty of the boy.

In fact, I must have been so absorbed by his beauty that I had missed something that made Peter stick out from any other boy I had ever seen. Apart from his odd hat, Peter was floating about 6 inches above the ground. He must have noticed that I had finally caught this, and gave another triumphant smirk. "You know, you can do it too. You just have to.."

"Think happy thoughts, I know. But I think of happy things all the time and I have never defeated gravity. I don't exactly see a fairy around here either, unless of course she flew into my drawer.." And it was his turn to interrupt me.

"Ha, fairies! There's no such thing. Emma, I'm not like the Peter Pan you've read about; I'm an entirely different story. Do I look like I'm a kid?" And with that my brain began to finally work.

His hair was a rich, dark brown, not the red like in the story. He was older than the small child I'd read about, and I saw no fairy flying around. "Well, what about Neverland? And Captain Hook? The Lost Boys?" My words were almost indecipherable, my lips seemed to move faster than my brain could process.

"Real, real, and real. Nothing like in the storybook though. Neverland? A small island located in the Bermuda Triangle, invisible to all eyes except the ones it wishes to reveal itself to. Ever heard of the USS Proteus?" Another flash of triumph crossed his face. "My grandfather captured the ship and crew members in 1941. All 58 of 'em. The captain? My grandfather cut off his hand in the battle, hence the name Hook." He moved his arm around, index finger curled in as a symbol of a hook.

"The lost boys? Lets just say all the people lost at the Bermuda Triangle aren't really lost at all." I noticed a dimple that showed when he smiled big enough.

"Well, why did you ask me to 'never grow up' with you if you've been growing up your whole life?" He didn't seem taken back from the question in the least bit. He actually seemed to be expecting it.

"I choose when I want to age. When I was about 12 years old, I was flying around America in search of a travel companion. None of the Lost Boys ever liked to leave Neverland, the outside world doesn't seem to interest them. I flew into your town, and that's when I saw you for the first time. I decided then that I would age as you did, growing up until you wanted to stop. And now, I see that you do in fact want to stop." At that he stopped floating and let his feet lightly touch the ground. It was almost like he was an angel, sweeping the floor just enough that the tips of his toes met each floorboard as he walked closer and closer to me.

My heart pumped faster. I thought that if I didn't calm myself down soon my heart would escape my body and run straight to the boy, finding a place right next to his heart and dismissing all thought of ever coming back to me.

He took my hand, and I was aware of the warm heat racing through my body, starting from his fingertips and completing it's journey down to my toes.

"So, Em. What do you say? To Neverland?" His eyes glowed in the way I imagined driftwood as it caught fire. It was as though my eyes were magnets to his, I couldn't pull them away.

I thought about his question as much as I could. Peter Pan. Neverland. Never growing up. I would never have to age another day. How many times would this offer show up? My parents would be so hurt, maybe if I left a note telling them I decided to go off and grow up they would understand. Benny? He would take it to heart. He was old after all, and as much as I avoided the topic I knew he didn't have much time on his hands. This was selfish.

"No." I said aloud.

"No?" He said, pain filling his eyes.

"No to myself. I'm coming with you, Peter Pan. We're going to Neverland, to stop growing up." With that he squeezed my hand even tighter, a smile bigger than any I'd seen before took over his face, and slowly I felt my feet leave the floor.

We flew out of my window, leaving behind my old everything. My new everything was right here beside me, and a part of me knew that as long as I had Peter, I had the world.