The Space Speculation: Book 2 ~Painful Past~

Chapter 27: Not a Little Boy Anymore

I'll go to Pluto first! I thought to myself as I swerved right ever so slightly. 

I prayed that Chad had released little Willie. Was that too much to ask for? I really didn't want him to still be on Neptune. 

In the far distance, I saw a tiny blurred dot. Pluto!

 After flying around the planet, soaking in the familiar sights and memories, I finally landed. I was glad that I had come in a Plutonian ship; if it had been an Earth spaceship, the Plutonians would have hidden everything inside the planet so it looked like there was nothing there. 

Tiny Plutonians began to swarm the pod as I scrambled out, gasping for fresh air.

Yes. This was the place. Tears filled my eyes as I looked around. Not much had changed on the surface. 

"Hello? Human?" a voice said from behind me. 

I spun around quickly and saw a young male human standing there, looking at me curiously. 

We met eyes. 

I know those eyes, I thought.

"My name is William," he shot out at his hand towards me, "Everyone calls me Bill."

"B-Bill," I hardly choked out. 

"The one and only," he laughed. 

"I'm-" I stopped myself. I had dreamt of this moment for eight years. Why did I freeze up?

I always imagined my little nine-year-old son running into my outstretched arms. I would swing him around and kiss his faces. 

But this; this was no little boy; this was a grown man. He wasn't even in his alien form. I guessed I had never accepted that he would be grown. I missed it all. His childhood. All of it.

A familiar guilt flooded my mind and body. I left him. I left him and he grew. He grew without me, because I left him. He would hate me, most definitely. I will always be remembered as the distant mom who abandoned him. Everyone would know.

But now; now was a chance to start over. No one knew I was Paithenia. Nobody had seen me in my human form before now.

"My name," I started, "Is Paisley Lane."  

A wide and friendly smile stretched across his face. 

"Welcome!" 

I smiled.

"Thank you."

As he showed me around I asked him questions.

"I hope I'm not being too personal, but, could you tell me, like, about you? You're life?"

He raised an eyebrow at me but complied. 

"Well, I was moved to Neptune with my parents when I was young. We left because my uncle, the wicked king, was very upset after his wife passed on. So upset and angry it got too dangerous for us, so we moved back to Pluto. He then kidnapped all three of us. My father..." he paused and swallowed. "He was, uh- he was tortured and eventually died. My mother worked all the time and then one day, she left. I never knew why or where she went. My uncle worked me hard and said to act like he was my father, but I never would. Eventually, he let me go; but not on kind terms. I flew here and now I diligently serve my queen, and she protects me from his ever-growing wrath." 

I did everything I could to refrain from sobbing my brains out right in front of him.

"And w-what about-I mean, how come you are, uh, why are you in human form?" Why was I struggling to speak simple words?!