Sweet Nothing

Peter didn’t want to grow up, for all the typical reasons but not the usual situations. While he didn’t want the responsibilities that growing older brought, it was the fear of love and a family of his own that made youth so attractive to him.

A young man of seventeen had lost everything.

For the first time in his seemingly short life, London seemed dull and the world felt small. The stars that were normally hidden by dense fog and clouds shone clearly in the night sky, and as Peter lay on his roof staring up at that speckled navy he felt terribly and utterly alone.

An hour after learning of his parent’s death, he finally cried. His whole body was wracked with sobs and his heart clenched with a pain that was too unbearable. Everything was lost. All he wanted was his youth.

A carefree youth who still had parents, and didn’t need to eventually grow up to start a family of his own; a family that what inevitably get hurt and feel the pain that he felt ripping through his body.

Peter’s tears slowed enough to where he could see the sky again, see the stars. He wished he could fly among them, see the world from way up high and know that anything was possible. Know that not everything was wrong with his life.

That’s how he ended up on the edge of the roof, standing there and staring at the night sky, arms stretched out on either side of him. He could fly and rise up into the heavens, not a care in the world.

If he had been looking more closely around himself, Peter would have noticed the growing yellow light moving fast towards him. But he didn’t. As he took that final step off the edge, the light met him in a brilliant expanse of gold that engulfed his entire form. He felt a warm hand suddenly holding his own, and as he met unfamiliar green eyes he realized that he really was flying.