Origins

 I slowly retreated up the stairs to my room. I could still hear my parents fighting from my poorly insulated room. I was surprised that my parents were still even together. They should've gotten a divorce years ago. But maybe only about 5 years. After all, I was only 11. As I layed down in my bed, I made a silent wish. I wished that I could be 11 forever. The only real example I had of adulthood was my parents. And look at how wonderfully that turned out.

My dream, unfortunately, was more of a recollection of my day. It had started out normally enough. I woke up at 7:00 for band practice. It was important that I be there. I was the only one good enough to start out on saxophone instead of clarinet like my (mostly idiotic) classmates. I say mostly idiotic because of my friends. They were almost as good as I was. But not as good. No one was that good. After our practice ended, I headed off to Mr. Brooks class with my friends who were also in band. The classroom was loud as always. But when I arrived, I slumped down into my seat, exhausted. My parents had fought the day before as well. I usually tried to trick everyone into thinking that I was okay. I almost always wore a smile. But faking it can become exhausting after a while. "Bro, you don't look too good. You okay?" Nico, my best friend, asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My parents hate each other is all," I replied much more lightly than I intended.

"And you made a wish to stay your age forever," Jason, another one of my friends said. All of my friends knew the wish I'd been making every night since my parents started fighting.

"You can't stay young forever. But at least you look young," Ralph said. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You look 9 at oldest."

"How?" I asked.

"Well, your hair is terrible," Tanner chimed in.

"And your eyes have a certain look that goes away at 10," Damien, his twin added.

"Well, at least it looks good on me," I said. They all rolled their eyes.

"Arrogant twat," Nico said, not unkindly. I gave my trademark smart-alecky smile as the bell rang for class to begin.

"Everybody sit down!" Mr. Brooks bellowed in his high, squeaky voice.

"Today we'll be learning nothing!" I said loudly from the back in a perfect imitation of his voice. Nico smirked. At least he still thought it was funny. I did this everyday.

"Peter!" Mr. Brooks screamed.

"Yes, sir?" I replied carelessly.

"Did you just make fun of me again?" he screamed.

"No sir, I was telling the truth," I said, ever the smart aleck.

"I've had it...up to here...with you...Peter. Once more...and you're done," Mr. Brooks replied, walking over to my desk and putting his hand over my head. "One. More. Time." He walked back to his desk to continue teaching.

"Your impression is as good as ever," Ralph said to me when class was finished.

"Isn't it always?" I smirked.

"It'd be better if you weren't so arrogant," Jason said.

The rest of the day passed in a kind of surreal blur. I enjoyed the day, sure, but I knew what awaited me when I got home. And I was none too keen to get to that part of my day. I was a great climber, so upon getting home, I jumped up to the gutter, and hoisted myself onto the roof silently. I went to my window, which I'd left open for this reason entirely and crept inside.

To find my mother waiting for me, arms crossed, scowling.

"Hi, Mum," I mumbled, already knowing what was coming.

"I got a call from Mr. Brooks today. Would you like to explain, or should I just ground you now?" she asked.

"I think I'll just not say anything. You'll forget tonight when you fight with Dad anyways," I replied. I probably shouldn't have said anything, but I couldn't resist. The vein in my mother's neck was sticking out, a sign that she was mad. I knew I'd gone too far. "Sorry, Mum, I shouldn't've said that," I mumbled. My mother looked at me, and, without saying anything, turned and stalked out of my room. I sullenly sat down at my desk and did my homework to the least extent that was acceptable, and everything passed up until my parents fight. That was actually when I was woken up.

By my mother shouting from the kitchen.

"Peter! Get up!" I grabbed my phone and turned it on. Saturday. Finally. I stumbled downstairs. My father was sitting at the table, drinking coffee while reading the paper, my mother was doing breakfast dishes. They weren't talking, as usual. At least they'd cared enough to save a plate for me.

Not that I cared.

I didn't care much for food anymore. What's the point in eating when it all tasted as bitter as my life. I decided that, as an act of rebellion, I wasn't even going to eat what they'd saved for me. Instead I grabbed an apple and headed outside without a word.

I still wish that I'd at least said something.

Because it was Saturday, my friends had decided to all hang out at the local park. And it was my job to get everyone. I walked over to Nico's house and banged on the front door. Mrs. Young answered. "Oh, hello Peter. Come in. Nico is in his room," she said.

"Thanks, Mrs. Young," I said, and proceeded upstairs to Nico's room. I didn't even bother knocking.

"Hey, Pete!" Nico said. I reddened slightly. I hated being called "Pete" and he knew it. Everyone knew it. And Nico would of course call me "Pete" just to annoy me.

"Don't call me that," I muttered.

"Sorry. But it's fun to annoy you. Especially with you being so arrogant all the time." I rolled my eyes. He was right. Unfortunately.

"Anyways, let's go get everyone else," I said.

"Yeah. That's right, I almost forgot!" he replied brightly, as always.

With a quick goodbye to Mrs. Young, Nico and I headed out to gather the rest of our friends. What we didn't know is that this would change our lives. While we were walking from Jason's house to the park with everyone else in tow, Ralph, ever the observant one, stopped and was staring at something. "Ralph, you coming, or are you just going to be fascinated by that bush all day?" I asked.

"Bro, it's a shrub," Jason said. I ignored him.

"It's just...there's something," Ralph said. I breathed out and with an eye roll headed over to where he was. Then I saw it. A bit of white, sticking out of the bush. I bent down, and gingerly grabbed it. It was paper. In fact, it was what I'd been wishing for, in a way. Damien and Tanner appeared at my sides.

"Oh, Hell yes!" they said in unison.

"Yeah. Let's go!" I said. I showed everyone else what I held, and they all agreed for reasons of their own. In my hand, I held 6 plane tickets, and we were going to be the new passengers on the flight.