He returned to the room immediately from Sister Deborah’s office,
disregarding his empty, growling stomach. He was ready to defy his teacher. In
his eyes, Father Kenneth was a true grown-up; cold, calculating and always
ready to strike. Yet he if he was going to make it to Neverland, he had to be
strong enough to face the toughest grown-ups. He knocked on the hard wooden
door, waited for him to be beckoned in, and slowly and methodically closed the
door behind him. He took the pad and paper off of the desk and sat down before
Father could command him.
“I didn’t tell you to sit down yet. Stand, little orphan.”
He stopped mid-action and slowly stood up. His eyes were still
focused on the wooden floor he curled up on just a few minutes ago. He didn’t notice
Father Kenneth’s satisfied grin, his anticipation in grinding down the boy even
more. He didn’t know where David had been.
“You may now sit, boy. Let us continue. I have tried to teach you
about why you must throw away any chance of staying young, as it is against the
religion you have returned to…”
David didn’t even look up. He stared at the ground, filled with
shadows and the flickering light from the candles. He wasn’t rattled by his
problem of penmanship. He rather heard everything he had said, and to him, it just
wasn’t as much fun to him.
“… Now I shall tell you what you have in store for yourself, now
that you have been given the opportunity to become a priest. The greatest men
in history were teachers and Saints that took the burden of the world on their
shoulders, staying away from the temptations to atone for their existence on
The Lord, our Savior’s world. It is our duty to be the guardians of this world,
of its men and women.”
He barely had any emotion as he spoke, draining all possible excitement
David could have had at his involuntary prospect.
“You will be sheltered here or the same reason why all men should.
The world is a dark and dangerous place, as you know. People without any code
of honor roam the streets, killing and stealing from each other. Now, speak
only truths; where did you sleep when you were out there, David?”
He expected to hear all of the places he slept before he got to
Ichabod’s store, but the last place he slept was-
“Where I had a roof over my head.”
This took Father aback and enflamed him.
“Stupid boy! I ask where you slept when you were on the outside of
St. Augustine’s!”
“That’s what I said, Father. Before I came here, I slept somewhere
with a roof over my head. And a lot of books too.”
Hearing that caused Father Kenneth to lose his momentum. He had to
choose another approach to keep him in the rut he so effortlessly did just
before. His temples started to ache, and rubbing his fingers to them didn’t
help.
“Alright…David, I see that you are… too foolish. That’s why I had
to take you away from that outside world, from the jail you got yourself into
in this world and the Hell you could have gotten into in the next. You needed
salvation and in your foolishness you sought other refuges, none of the truths!
“After all, it was only a matter of time before you decided to come
back- you did so before. Which is why you had to not only have better
supervision when you got back, but preparations were to be made earlier on…”
Here was the kicker. He knew the events that transpired: He knew
she sought out other Churches behind all of their backs because she was too
weak for his commands. Even the fact that a family had specifically asked for
the boy that had tried to escape some months back. But David didn’t know. How
could he have known?
“After all, why do you think Sister Deborah left you here? And that
we gave that boy that was with you up for adoption that same day? You needed to
be ready when you got back…”
But this had the reverse effect. He expected David to cry or curl
up in a tight ball like he did last time. Yet there he sat, like nothing
happened, like whatever he had said went through one ear and out the other.
“So what? She wasn’t my mother anyway. She said that so herself. I
always thought she was until I realized I didn’t need one.” He looked up at him
with incurious eyes, with a twinge of satisfaction after seeing Father
Kenneth’s eyes stare back.
“That boy you mentioned- Were you talking about George? Him? I was
only scared because he was my only way of living on the outside. I can handle
myself now actually, maybe better without him…Why are you so quiet all of a
sudden, Father? Was it something I said?”
Unbeknownst to him, this whole reaction took Father Kenneth so far
off guard, he might as well have fallen off his high tower. The boy had become
so incredibly heartless in such a short amount of time that he didn’t know what
to say next. He automatically congratulated himself on his “victory”. He thought
he broke the boy in record time! He felt filled with glee as he looked down on
his handiwork, his prodigy with strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes.
He began to teach him more and more, as if the boy wasn’t learning
enough. But he didn’t realize what kind of heartlessness David was feeling. Never
would he have expected that the little orphan was not paying attention at all;
he was planning a way to escape the clutches of St. Augustine’s for good.
…
He counted ten new faces amongst the other boys at recess. He
didn’t know what they were told about him, but he could only guess them; that
he was diseased, one side effect being a change in his hair and eyes; that he
wasn’t forced to work like the rest of them; he left and came back without any
problem. But they were all looking at him.
All ten boys looked straight at him while he gazed at the fence. He
felt them coming towards him, as a pack of wolves. Someone told them that he
was someone unusual enough to be the perfect target.
But he didn’t care.
He wasn’t looking beyond the fence this time. He was looking up,
where the black bars touched the heavens and must have dissuaded many a child
from escaping. It was the only way. When he was at prayers in the Church, he
saw that the doors were bolted shut; before he returned from Sister Deborah’s
office, he saw that the broken door at the side entrance of the orphanage was
fixed to need a key to leave it. The huge doors at the front were guarded by
two burly policemen armed with sticks, like cavemen in uniform.
The only way to get out was up.
“Oy, priest! Looking for the lord?!”
He turned to see who said that. Only one boy of the four was brave
enough to come closest. He was taller than David, with a big overbite and dark
brown hair. And cold, blue eyes.
But instead of stuttering, he let out an over-exaggerated, exasperated
sigh.
“Can you please just give me a moment? I’m not in the mood for
this. I’m trying to-”
“Oh!” The boy recoiled dramatically. “He’s not in the bloody
mood?!”
He turned to the other boys as they all laughed hysterically.
“Not in the mood for a good smacking to take you off of your high
place? Think you’re better than the rest of us, staring at books while we work
our bloody arses off for bread?”
David was at a loss for words while other boys began to notice. As
he saw the sticks and stones the three others carried, he realized that this
whole scenario was not going to end well. Then he saw the head boy clench a
fist.
“Go ahead, priest. Preach peace to us. Let’s see how that works.”
He looked up one last time. He found the best space to use. He looked
back at the boys as they inched closer.
“Sorry boys,” He smugly grinned, “but I have an outside to get to.”
He leapt up as high as he could, arms stretched way over his head.
His left hand slipped, but his right hand gripped the cold bar with all its
might. He was still in range of the tallest boy’s grip. He swung his legs over
to the left and wedged his left foot in a higher hole in. As he began to climb,
some boys began throwing rocks while others cheered; they didn’t know what to
think. No one they remembered had climbed the fence before.
The administering Nuns gasped in horror as the protégé reached the
top of the fence. At the time the guards came, most of the boys were cheering
him on. He couldn’t believe he was so close to escaping. It had seemed so easy,
until he looked down.
The fence had jutted up high above the trees and even further than
the street walk. Then the guards decided not to come through the playground but
to the other side, the side of freedom. He began to feel a panic as he tried to
think what would happen if he tried to reach for the trees a daring jump away.
David, don’t you remember?
A puzzled look grew on his face. The voice; it sounded like a
younger boy but definitely not like him.
There’s always a way. There’s always another way…
Then he felt it again. The rush. The calm breeze. It came all the
way over him, warming him against the cold bars. Then the bars didn’t feel cold
anymore. He didn’t feel any of the bruises forming from where the rocks hit him.
Then his hands felt tingly. As he looked at them, he noticed golden
dust forming around his fingerprints. Then he looked down again at the ground.
To his eyes, it felt like it was a short jump. And the guards were nothing but
worthless grown- ups.
He climbed up on the fence, higher than the trees, the skyline
filling his view. The sun was blocked by clouds brought in by harsh gusts of
wind. It felt like a storm was coming, but he only felt the calmest of breezes.
All that filled his mind was one calming thought.
This is the other way.
He closed his eyes and jumped off. He felt the wind rush through
his hair as he was pulled towards the ground… then horizontally, as if there
was a rope pulling him across the sky. By the time he tumbled to a stop he was
more than a stone throw away.
Did I just…fly?!
While he had somehow glided to safety, the only people who knew
wanted him back where he came from. He turned away from the screams and gasps
of amazement as he vanished into the alleyways in front of him; into the world
he only saw from the other side.