Halo Effect//S.M.

Neverland

I sat in silence staring up at the popcorn ceiling, trying to imagine they were stars. The clock on the wall clicked every second and I found myself counting the noise. For every second the clock clicked I'd blink. I'd reached my one hundred and thirty six blink when I stopped.

"Pstttt...Mere...get the fuck over here." It was pitch black and I looked over at shawn, crouched outside the window. I unraveled myself from the blankets and came over to the window. The screen split his face into millions of tiny pieces and his forehead glistened with sweat.

"What the hell, shawn?" I whispered loudly giving him a look of confusion that I hoped was perceived despite the darkness.

"I want to show you something." His voice was quiet and filled with fascination. I looked him in the eyes, the moon light combined with the window screen casted odd shadows across his face. It was like something out of a movie, shawn sitting outside the window, an adventure surely to come. I could feel the humid air from the window and I bit my lip, contemplating, this feeling was new and exciting.

When I was younger and I was alone I was fascinated by Peter Pan. I'd had many dreams on many occasions that I was Wendy and someday my Peter Pan would show up outside my window to take me to neverland.

So for that very reason I grabbed my shoes from across the room and slid open the screen, to meet shawn.

As soon as my feet hit the mulch outside the window shawn took my hand in his, and ran. Our feet slapped the pavement in sync. The streets flew past around us and the lights blurred in my eyes. My legs begged for me to stop and my lungs burned but I kept going, hoping for neverland.

Just when I thought I couldn't go any longer shawn slowed to a stop in the heart of the city. A huge overpass stretched across the road in front of us. It was strangely beautiful, the cars flying past in streaks of orange. I looked over at shawn, his eyes reflected the lights and he stood completely still, until finally he turned towards me and took our hands together. With one quick movement we were both running across the highway in front of us. The sticky air made my shirt stick to my body and as soon as we reached the other side I collapsed, exhausted.

I clung to shawn as we walked up the hill to the top of the overpass. We sat silent at the top of the hill. I leaned my head into his chest and watched the lights fly past.

"Why do you know about this place Shawn?" I spoke almost inaudibly but nevertheless he answered. "I was a lost boy, never happy and one day all of it got to me. I tried to find a way out and that bridge was a kind of silver lining." He was crying, not a lot just a few tears but still he was crying. I hugged him tightly letting the smell of his sweat smother me. "What stopped you?" I figured I shouldn't push him, but I couldn't help it. "The lights." I didn't say anything but instead I pulled out the picture I'd taken earlier. My fingers traced over the creases and I handed the picture to Shawn.

"Who are they?" I pointed at the little girl and the man, watching Shawn's face. He smiled, broken heartily and sighed. "That's Aaliyah, my sister and my father."

"What happened to them?"

"It was a long time ago Mere, Aaliyah was diagnosed with cancer and it costed us a lot of money that we didn't have. My dad took his stress out on me and turned to alcohol. He was violent and angry. Eventually we ran out of money completely and we couldn't afford Aaliyah's treatments. She died. My dad committed suicide. I tried to commit suicide. My mom sent me to London. I met you." It was silent, tears slipped past both our cheeks and I held him tightly in my arms, afraid that if I let go he might disappear, turn to ash and float away with the wind.

"Meredith, the best thing that ever happened to me was meeting you." He looked down at me and I looked at him, his eyes were soft and strikingly different from my green ones.

"You're the greatest thing to ever happen to me, shawn."

We both leaned in at the same time, our eyes closed and I tilted my head to the left. Our lips met and I wish I could say I felt fireworks but it was nothing like that. I felt safe. I felt adventurous, I felt like I was in my childhood story books. Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy, my perfect fairytale.

****
I hope you guys liked it.

Comment if you have any questions. The song is called lost boy by Ruth B and I'm absolutely in love with it.

Thanks for reading ily guys.💕