Wunderkind

“No!” Ryan screamed and he turned and ran. He ran until his chest hurt and then he tripped, fell, kept falling. For a moment he thought he’d fallen into a sewer because he kept falling. But it would have been dark, right? Not pale blue with soft-pink cotton candy clouds and shooting stars close enough to touch.

He wanted to be scared, but he couldn’t. Not with all the beautiful things surround him. So he just resigned himself to looking at the stars and trying not to think of all the bones he’d break when he finally hit rock bottom.

He fell asleep sometime during his fall and when he woke up, something felt wrong. Something unrelated to falling through the earth. He wasn’t sure what it was. It was dark now though, with a beautiful lavender crescent moon hanging faintly in the sky.

“Got one!” Ryan heard a boy yell, his voice far off, but not too far. “Quick, bring the net!” the same voice called.

A few minutes later Ryan realized he was approaching the ground and began to panic. But beginning was as far as he got because he was suddenly caught in a net. Though it felt more like he’d landed on a gigantic feather mattress.

The net was set down and Ryan was on his back. A hand reached out and he took it, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. The hand belonged to a boy who looked a few years older than Ryan, with red glasses and dark brown hair. He smiled broadly.

“Hi! I’m Brendon.” He was clearly excited for some reason Ryan couldn’t grasp. “How old are you?”

“Thirteen.” Ryan answered uncertainly. Not uncertain about his age, but about the relevance. And why would Brendon ask his age before asking if he was okay from his fall, or even for his name?

“Finally! Someone my age. They’re usually ten or twenty when they hit.” That seemed to be more to himself than Ryan, but he was still confused.

“I’m not your age. You’re older.”

Brendon opened his mouth to say something, but yells and footsteps interrupted. “Brendon! What’d you catch?” “Did we get a girl? I want a girl!” “How old is it?”

Three boys suddenly appeared behind Brendon, out of breath and panting. One was shorter than Ryan, but clearly older and with black hair. The other two were extremely tall. One was too-skinny like Ryan, and pale. The last was tan and looked slightly disappointed.

“I wanted a fucking girl.” he muttered, then seemed to shrug inwardly. “I’m Gabe. What’s your name?”

“R-Ryan.” he stammered, slightly overwhelmed. Where was he and who were these people?

“How old are you?” the other tall boy asked.

“He’s sixteen.” Brendon said gleefully.

Ryan looked at him, slightly confused as to why he had said that. “No, I told you I was--”

A loud female voice interrupted the ‘thirteen’, which instantly died on his tongue as she stepped out from behind Gabe. “Let me see.” Ryan felt certain he was dreaming now. He recognized her at once, despite the changes in her dress and hair.

The blonde girl was dressed in a denim skirt with white knee high socks and plain black sneakers. She wore a long-sleeved men’s button-down shirt tied at her waist, and her hair was shaggy and hung only to her shoulders.

“Alice?” he whispered.

“Mhm.” She looked him over once, twice, three, four times while the boys behind her rolled their eyes and exchanged looks. “He’s for Brendon.” she announced finally. “Now, why did you run?”

“Run?” Ryan was starting to feel perpetually perplexed by this place and these people.

“Nobody gets here unless they’re running away from something.” Alice told him.

Ryan looked at the other boys and they all spoke in turn, as if this was something they were very used to.

“Church camp.” Brendon said.

The tall, pale boy spoke next. “Boyfriend.”

“Math test.” Gabe said seriously.

“Myself,” was all the shorter boy said.

They all looked at Ryan expectedly. He felt stupid and embarrassed, began to blush. “M-My dad. He said we were moving. Again.” He swallowed the lump in his throat and tilted his head back to look at the sky. “How do I get back?”

Nobody answered the question.

“You’re sixteen.” Alice told him, point-blank, no beating around the bush. “The fall takes three of their years, ages you as you fall. It takes about six hours of our time. They’ve usually give up looking by now up there. Anyway.” She glanced up at the sky. “Looks clear. I’m hungry. Let’s see if those worthless boys finished supper.”

They all turned and started walking. Except Ryan. Nobody noticed except the shorter boy. He came back and grabbed Ryan’s arm. “C’mon. It’s just ten minutes away. I’m Pete, by the way.”

“I don’t understand.” Ryan whispered, letting Pete lead him toward the rest of the group.

“It’s easier if you don’t try. You’ll get used to it. There’s three more guys at the house and two girls.” Pete was still holding Ryan’s arm, but rarely turned to look at him. “The unicorn and Chess and Bit. It’s pretty nice. You’ll see.”

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, except when Ryan asked the pale boy’s name and Pete told him it was Will. But Ryan gasped aloud when he saw the house. It was four stories tall and brick, with ivy and trees twisting ‘round the walls. A well stood in the yard. They walked up an outdoor stairway and through a door on the second story.

“Bit and the unicorn live downstairs.” Pete explained. “Second floor is the dining room and kitchen and stuff. We live on three and four. Don’t ever go downstairs.”

Brendon seemed to suddenly remember Ryan’s existence when Alice elbowed him in the ribs. He ran back to retrieve him while Pete disappeared though a door. “It’s not done yet. Come on. I’ll show you our room.”

Ryan followed silently. He expected bunk beds, but instead there was just one. It was huge. A dresser stood in the corner, and a table with a few wooden chairs across the room. “Where do I sleep?” he asked.

“In the bed with me.” Brendon said as if it were obvious. “Alice said you were for me.”

“For you how?” Ryan sounded angry, but he was really just terrified. “Like a toy?”

Brendon shook his head. “N-No. Like a . . .” He struggled to find the words. “Like . . . a friend and then you . . . you’ll love me and one day . . . we’ll be . . . like, everything, I guess.” He didn’t seemed confused with what he was talking about, just about how to explain it.

Ryan panicked. They’d found him out. “Look, I don’t know who told you I’m a faggot,” he spat out, “but they’re crazy. I like girls and whoever you fuck is your business, but I don’t want to . . . to know.” He faltered. Brendon was about to cry and Ryan realized his words didn’t belong to him.

Downstairs, everyone had heard Ryan’s voice. Will was staring very hard at his hands while Gabe began to stand. “Sit.” Alice snapped. “It needs to happen. And, you, quit being so damn nosy.” she said to the cat, who had begun to disappear.

Upstairs, Ryan looked at Brendon and felt sick. He hated when people made him feel like that and he’d just done it to another person. “I’m sorry.” he whispered. “It’s just, no one knows.” His mind was beginning to catch up to his body now. He felt older, felt like he’d lived through the battle he’d been fighting every day since he found out.

“Everyone here knows.” Brendon mumbled quietly. “And no one cares. It’s not like up there.”

Ryan bit his bottom lip. “I’m sorry.” he said again. “I just . . . I don’t even know you.”

“You will.” Brendon ran his hand over the yellow comforter. “This doesn’t happen overnight. Let’s go see if supper’s ready.”

Supper was ready. There was a long rectangular table with a blue tablecloth and twelve chairs. Ryan’s eyes went wide when he saw Bit. He was a white rabbit, easily six feet tall. He looked somber, not at all comical, and he somehow looked human. It must have been the joints. His legs and arms, elbows and knees, were built like a human’s, not like a rabbit’s. And he had fingers, though they were covered in fur.

Bit sat at one end of the table and Alice at the other. To Alice’s left there was a boy, a girl, and another boy Ryan hadn’t met. Then Pete and another boy at the end, to Bit’s right. Brendon sat in the chair to Bit’s left and nodded for Ryan to take the one beside him. Gabe was on the other side of Ryan, then Will, and then one last girl.

Ryan felt something brush against his leg and looked down to see a lavender cat. He smiled and held out his hand. “Here, kitty, kitty.”

“Here, little boy, little boy,” it said back, baring it’s sharp teeth. “Excuse you.”

“That’s Chess.” Brendon said. “Ignore him. He’s an ass to everyone but Alice.”

Supper was lamb chops (which Ryan had never had), salad, potato casserole, snow peas, and cherry cobbler. Everyone talked loudly and the strangers introduced themselves to Ryan. There was Alex, who swore a lot and always kept his hand on the girl beside him, who was named Molly. Brendon told Ryan that Molly was from Neverland, but she and Alex belonged to each other so she visited all the time.

Jack was the boy next to Molly. He swore as much as Alex, shamelessly flirted with everyone, and pulled Chess’s tail. Patrick belonged to Pete and didn’t talk much (except to Pete). The girl beside Alice was Dru and she didn’t quite belong to anyone.

Ryan’s appetite hadn’t quite recovered from the shock of everything that had happened. “Aren’t you going to eat?” Alex asked him, raising an eyebrow. “We worked on that for two hours.”

“Alex.” Alice said warningly.

“He just fell.” Brendon said defensively.

“Because it takes a lot of energy to fall.” Molly teased. She, Jack, and Alex began to laugh like they were all in on some secret joke.

Ryan turned pink and lowered his eyes. Brendon squeezed his leg under the table and he tingled slightly from the touch. When supper ended, everyone went their separate ways. Dru, Will, and Gabe did the dishes. Alex, Molly, and Jack went outside to find some caterpillars, Ryan heard them say. Pete and Patrick went to their room. Bit and Chess went into the parlor with Alice.

“You’re tired.” Brendon said. Ryan nodded, his eyes heavy. “Bed.” Upstairs again and Brendon got a shirt and pajama bottoms from the dresser. “They’ll be a little big, but I’ll take you to the seamstress tomorrow.”

“Who’s th-th-that?” Ryan yawned.

“She’s the seamstress.” Brendon obviously thought it was a stupid question, but he tried to sound patient. “She can sew anything. But she lives near the Duchess, so the Unicorn has to take us.”

Ryan climbed into bed and was asleep before Brendon turned the light out.

*

“That one has a strong hold.” Bit was telling Alice downstairs. “I’m not sure the hole was right in bringing him.”

“The hole doesn’t make mistakes.” the girl said levelly. “And besides, they told me he was for Brendon.”

“He might try to go up.” Bit continued as if Alice hadn’t spoken. “Brendon may try to follow. This could end badly.”

“He’ll forget in a week.” The girl’s voice was heated now, and stubborn. “They never hold onto the desire to go back.”

“Little boy, little boy, ‘causing trouble already.” Chess sang before he faded from sight. He appeared beside Pete on the bed, where Patrick was blowing him.

“Oh, fuck off.” Pete shoved him off the bed. “Not you.” he told Patrick. “Stupid cat.”

*

The next day, Brendon took Ryan to the seamstress and they did the dishes. The day after that he went with everyone except Alice, Bit, and Patrick to see the caterpillars. Everyone smoked from a pipe and then they laughed about nothing for hours. Ryan kissed Brendon that night and felt the blood thrumming warm in his veins.

The week passed, then another, and another. As Alice predicted, Ryan’s desire to go up faded, though sometimes the boy would look around as if he were looking for something he’d lost. Bit, however, continued to state that Ryan could lead to trouble.

Ryan and Brendon were kissing more frequently now and in longer intervals. They held hands sometimes and slept very close to each other in bed, occasionally with their bodies pressed tightly together. It seemed right, somehow, and Ryan couldn’t help but feel the need to do it, as if some force was making it happen. When he mentioned it to Brendon, the boy told him that’s what ‘belonging together’ meant.

One night they awoke to a crash and ran to inspect it, along with everyone in the upstairs rooms except Alice, who seemed to always know what was going on. Alex was screaming and yelling, knocking over his dresser while Jack tried to calm him down.

“Fucking Peter!” Alex yelled, seething but near tears. Ryan’s eyes flicked toward Pete, but Brendon shook his head and explained in an extremely low voice. When Molly came to visit, she usually left on her own. But on occasion (like tonight), Peter would fly in through the window and pick her up while she was sleeping, then fly her back to Neverland.

“Peter Pan?” Ryan asked, his eyes lighting up. He felt ridiculous, but he couldn’t help it.

“Who else?” Brendon said, sighing and leading them back upstairs.

The next day, Alex left early and didn’t came back until a few nights later. When he did, his eyes were bloodshot and red. He spent the next few days in his room and wouldn’t talk to anyone but Jack.

Pete told Ryan, while they worked on dinner, that Jack belonged to Alex, but Alex only loved Jack. They stayed in the same room when Molly was in Neverland.

“So there’s a difference between love and belonging to someone?” Ryan asked.

“As much difference as there is between liking someone and loving them.” Patrick said from the sink, not even looking up from the vegetables he was washing. It was one of the few times he’d spoken to Ryan. “You can’t control who you love, but can control what you do. When you belong, you can’t control anything.”

“Why doesn’t Dru belong to anyone?” Ryan asked.

Pete looked at Patrick. “Let’s go get apples.” They left the room and Ryan to wonder what he’d done wrong.

He continued to wonder about Dru all through dinner and asked Brendon after, when they went outside for a walk. But, for the first time, Brendon wouldn’t answer Ryan’s question. And then his eyes went toward the sky. “Look!” He pointed at a shooting star. Ryan looked up and the star suddenly veered right and flew in a horizontal line until it faded. “Peter caught it.” Brendon explained. “If they keep going, we get the net and catch it. Well, if it’s going to land here.” He shrugged.

“Where else do they land?’ Ryan asked, forgetting his previous question.

Brendon smiled inside, though his stomach squirmed. “In Wonderland, they could fall in Tulgey Wood, near the Red Castle, in the White Kingdom, or at the Chess Board. And outside us, there’s Oz, The Wild, Narnia, and Atlantis.”

“Do you get to them by rabbit hole?”

“No.” Brendon shook his head and took Ryan’s hand. “Oz, you get to partway. Like, your body stays up there but part of you goes to Oz. It’s right above Neverland. And The Wild you actually have to get there yourself, but you don’t really know you’re going. Narnia is always an accident and then Atlantis, well, they’re just really weird there.”

Ryan kissed Brendon then. He could feel his heart pounding. It was like a world of dreams, where everything he had ever considered believing in was real. And if everything like that was real, then surely a boy could love a boy without having to worry.

His mind had caught up to his body weeks ago and it was evident as his hands began to slip under Brendon’s shirt, feeling the warm skin there. They both broke apart, breathing heavily.

“Yeah?” Brendon asked, voice thick.

“Yeah.” Ryan answered, nodding, his eyes dark with need.