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It was a sight far peculiar. What he understood was that none really got him here. None understood. None even tried. It was a sight too horrendous—how somebody’s eyes are looking at him with pity, how somebody’s mouth is talking about his worst, how somebody else is doing that. He felt naked. He was naked. He is.
But, purer than the water, a boy who introduced himself as Riki made his way toward him. He, Yang Jungwon, who was pitied. He, Yang Jungwon, who was disgraceful. He, Yang Jungwon, out of all people, was the one that Riki chose.
“I am no man,” whispered Jungwon.
They were alone on the bench. Nobody really took them seriously for one sole reason. But whatever that reason was, Jungwon was thankful. He had always needed company. Now, he got what he wanted. Therefore, he whispered so none other than Riki would decipher his words.
“Then, what are you?” Riki asked with a blooming smile on his face. He was blooming like a flower. He was beautiful with mist and glitters. Obviously, Jungwon couldn’t take that for granted.
“Child,” he said. “Just a child.”
Both were beaming. Jungwon savored what was left before him, a child no more child-like than him. Meanwhile, Riki treasured what was left on open land, a barren waste. Just with a flicker of time, they were back to being a child. Innocent and translucent, because time killed them.
Bars. They are kept enclosed in such dark place, with bars. Their surroundings were white. People with white clothes were examining them from afar, judging their actions as the time passed by. Jungwon did not pay them any mind, nor did Riki. Just with a flicker of time, they were back to being a child. Pure with glow, because adults had lost their light.
“Why don’t we stay as a child forever?” A mere thought it was.
“How?” For that, Jungwon was intrigued. Oh, to be a child forever. For ever. He could only imagine how good that would be—being a child with Riki, playing together to kill the time.
“Peter Pan said we could go to Neverland for that. Would you?” A mere fairy tale it was.
“Of course.” Without any hesitation, Jungwon answered with ease.
“Do we go together?” Riki’s voice was getting smaller with each word. What if Jungwon never had the thought of going to Neverland with him? What if Jungwon just left him alone here? What if Jungwon wanted to get rid of him? Riki had a distant but familiar memory which crept into him every night, crawling to Riki’s back because that’s how his mother used to hug him.
In that dream, his mother would hug him and kiss his forehead, and she would always turn off the light. But that day, his mother said she loved him and that was why she needed to do something. She was gone. He was left alone. Because his mother never had the thought of going with him. Because his mother just left him alone there. Because his mother wanted to get rid of him. Riki was sure of that.
“Yes, Riki,” Jungwon assured him. “We do.”
That was how they succumbed into the Neverland. The temptation was far greater than anything known in land. The calling was far louder than anything known in the sea. The happiness was far bigger than anything known in the sky.
All children, except one, grow up.
That was how Riki understood, Jungwon was no different from his mother back then.
Breaking news! Two teenagers, no older than 17, committed suicide on their own ward, in the Psychiatric Hospital of Edelweiss. Yang (17) was found dead due to blood loss, meanwhile Nishimura (16) was given the proper first aid. Their condition—
Riki turned the television off. It was five years ago. He remembered it clearly, too vivid to be fake. He begged for this recorded cassette, because this was all he could preserve about Jungwon. This is all.
“Mr. Nishimura, it is time to take your medications.”
All children, except one, grow up.