I Just Want Peace - Chapter 9 :. First Meeting .:

I sat on a wooden bench in the gardens, staring absent-minded into space. My feet dangles halfway to the ground as I lightly swung my legs. My hands at my side as they press against the bench. I gaze up to the sky, watching the clouds as they crawl across the sky. The sun trying to peek out but always hiding behind a cloud as swiftly as it appeared, as if the sun playing hide and seek with me. I want to play hide and seek. . .

I slowly slid off the bench, my eyes glued to the playful sun. Then I lie down on trimmed grass that barely graze my ears. Sprawl all over the grass, I continue to stare up at the sky.

“Where’s brother Von,” I pouted. “He promised to play with me today!”

Frustrated, I grab fist full of grass and threw the grass into the sky. I watch the grass as I control it magic, the grass flutter in the air as if it was dancing. However, not use too using magic often and my magic control being rough, at once all of the grass falls as gravity overtakes it.

“Wah! So cool! Do it again, again!” A voice called out from behind me. I urgently sat up and look towards the source of the voice. A boy who looked about my age stared back at me, we locked eyes with each other.

I look deeply into the boy’s eyes and found I could not stop staring. His eyes are different from the adults that surrounds me, it looked like the stars were trapped in his bright, silver eyes. They look so captivating, so bright, so ‘alive’.

“Can you do that again? What was that?” The boy asked. He practically bounces towards me, his hair cluttered with leaves and dressed in scratches.

I gapped in disbelief at the human shaped hole in the hedges. The hedges were tightly knitted and twisted and full of thorns. It’s a safety precaution in case someone tried to break into their home via the backyard. In fact, the whole backyard is surrounded by hedges forming a labyrinth.

I carefully examine the boy in front of me. I could feel a trace of magic circulating deep within him.

It’s like. . . His magic has a mind of its own. Automatically healing himself.

“Hello? Anybody home?” The boy suddenly appeared crouching in front of me, looking straight into my eyes.

Surprised, my hands slipped underneath me. With my support gone, I fell back and hit the back of my head.

“Ah! Are you okay? How’s your head?” The boy quickly pulls me up and checks the back of my head. The moment his fingertips touched my head, a cold sensation drifts to the dull pain, as if the boy was holding an ice cube to my bruise. I grabbed his wrist and saw a faint bluish-white light at with fingertips fading away.

Isn’t he the same age as me? Why is his magic acting on its own will?

I cautiously eyed the ‘boy’ in front of me. He. . he’s not an adult pretending to be a little boy right?

“Who are you?” I asked, weirded out when I thought he could be an adult pretending to be a boy. My eyes locked onto his, looking for any clues the ‘boy’ is lying or hiding something.

“Oh, um, hi. I’m-” The boy nervously glanced at me, freezing up at my icy glare.

The ‘boy’: QAQ ‘Please stop trying to kill me with your eyes!’

“chirp. .”

“What was that?” I asked, letting go of his wrist as my eyes darted around the garden. Searching for the strange noise.

“chirp. . .” It sang again.

“Ah! Over there!” The ‘boy’ pointed to my left. There, tangled in the hedges, is a baby blue bird. Its tiny feet dangling in the air, and wings flapping like mad but its effort were useless. The bird is trapped in the leaves and branches.

The ‘boy’ sprinted towards the bird and tried to free the bird by pulling on its feet. The bird, agitated, began clawing at the ‘boy’ and scratching him with its claws and wings.

“Ouch, ouch! I’m trying to help you,” the ‘boy’ cried. By now I was at his side and harshly smacked his fingers.

“You’re not helping! You’re hurting it even more,” I scolded, pushing the ‘boy’ aside. I gently pulled apart the branches to free the tangled bird, getting scratch both by the bird and the branches.

The bird, free at last, tumbles down and I quickly cupped my hands catch the pitiful blue bird. I could feel wet drops as the bird nestled itself into my hand, taking it as its new nest. As if tired from all the struggling earlier it quickly fell asleep.

What am I supposed to do with this? I glance at the ‘boy’, his eyes burning with jealousy.

“Lemme pet it?” The ‘boy’ asked, his hands clasp and his eyes pleading with me. I carefully stared at him then glance down bird, its head turned 180 and had its beak embedded within its wings.

“It’s sleeping, leave it alone,” I replied to the ‘boy’. Upset of being rejected, the ‘boy’ cried to himself as he crouch down and draw circle on the ground.

“How old are you?” I interrogated the ‘boy’. I eyed the ‘boy’ closely to see if he’ll lie about his age. To be that fluent in magic yet be the same age as me, I find it hard to believe that the ‘boy’ truly the same age as me.

The ‘boy’ lifted both of his hands and put up one finger at a time, murmuring numbers under his breath.

Me: -_-|| ‘You don’t even know numbers off the top of your head?’

“7!” The boy said at last.

‘S-seven? Seven! Yet you don’t know numbers off the top of your head!’ I ridiculed in my mind. I furrowed my brows at I lean closer to the boy then grab his cheeks. Inspecting every inch of his face for a single hint he is lying.

“Whaat chou dooin?” The boy asked through squished cheeks.

“Are you really seven?” I asked, finally releasing my hands from his cheeks.

The boy rubs his cheeks and looked at me, telling me with his eyes how wronged he feels, then open his mouth to say, “Then what about you?”

“Ah?”

“How old are you?”

“. . . 6.” I reluctantly said. I felt a bit guilty how I treated the boy thus I reluctantly told him my age.

“Oh. You’re only 1 year younger than me!”

“. . Yeah.”

“Hehe, you’re the only one here whose age is closest to mine. From now on you are my best friend!”

“. . . Can I not?”

“Nope!” The boy not giving me time to even process what just happened hook his arm with mine and dragged me around the back yard. With face full of black lines, I was forced to follow this weird boy around the garden.

I suggest that we look for the little blue bird’s family. The boy kept refusing until I let him pet the bird until it peaked him, then he agreed with swollen fingers.

First, we looked around the hedge where the bird was found. Much to my surprise, the boy straightforwardly walked through the hedge as if the hedges didn’t exist. I even poked the hedges to make sure they weren’t an illusion.

I was about to follow the boy when the hedge suddenly closed up and I couldn’t force my way through. Thus, I stupidly stood outside the hedge with the bird cupped in my hands, both of us quietly waited for the boy to return.

As I watch for the rustle of leaves, indicating the boy is back, the little blue bird rubs its head near the base of my thumb. Unconsciously I it back with my thumb as I sat down. Bored again. . . and a bit lonely.

At long last, the boy didn’t come back through the hedges, but instead climbed over the hedge and looked down at me.

I scoot back as fast as I can with a bird in my hands, then I said, “You’re going to fall down from down.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” the boy shrugged it off. What he did next terrified me. Without a moment of hesitation, the boy jumped off the 5 m hedge and would’ve landed on me if I hadn’t scooch back even further.

“You’re crazy!” I screamed. The boy, once he reached the ground, did a quick summersault and hopped up in front of me. The boy laughed and grinned ear to ear, indifferent to my worries.

I carefully step back, trying to get from this madman. I stared deep inside his lively silver eyes, it was impossible not to because his face was mere centimetres apart from mine. I shifted uncomfortably as I peel my eyes away from our staring contest.

Looking over his head, I realize I am about 3 cm taller than him, but the way the boy carry himself, he looks like he is the one towering over me.

“What were you doing up there anyways?” I asked.

“It’s easier to see everything high up,” the boy replied.

“Oh, did you find anything?”

“Over there. Let’s go!” The boy hooks his arm around mine and drags me to a faraway tree. I stare up at the maple tree and squinted, trying hard to look for a bird nest.

“Can you even see inside of this tree from so far away?” I turned to the boy and asked. I can see the tips of the boy’s ears flushed and he began rubbing his neck.

“Must be the wrong tree,” the boy said, obviously lying, “I think this is the one.”

The boy hooks his arm with mine again as he drags me all over the place looking at all the trees, making me feel dizzy I could throw up. After being dragged here and there without a break, I couldn’t take it anymore. I knee the boy in his leg’s pit and made him fall face first, I tumble after him. I flipped around so my back is on the boy’s back.

“Ow, why did you do that?” The boy groaned.

“‘Cause,” I said out of breath, “you wouldn’t stop no matter how much I complained to you.”
for visiting.

Then I lay on the boy as he lies on the ground, trying to punish the boy by crushing him to death. I finally sat up and got off the boy. I brushed the dirt off my shorts and notice how I’m covered all the grass stains. I glared at the boy as I kick his side.

The boy caught my foot, then said, “Where’s the bird?”

“Uh. . .” I was too caught up with stopping the boy that I forgot about the baby blue bird in my hand. As soon as I glance around for the bird, I felt a weight on my head followed by something scratching me.

“Sherry!! This is where you have been!!” A female’s voice echoes in the garden. Surprised by the sudden loud noise, the baby bird topples off my head. I quickly reacted and safely caught the bird in my hands. Once I was sure the bird was safely tucked in my hands, I glance over to the lady jogging towards us.

Sherry? Is that the boy’s name? But isn’t that a girl’s name? Confused, I furrowed my brows and stare hard at Sherry. Sherry jumps up and ran to hug his mother.

“Oh, second young master, I’m sorry. Did my boy bother you?” Sherry’s mom asked me.

“Mom, of course not! We had so much fun today. We rescued a baby blue bird and. . .” Sherry ranted to his mom what the two of us did all afternoon, not giving me a chance to speak. But I didn’t mind, I had. . fun too, unexpectedly.

Ever since that day, Sherry would always seek me to play with. As we gradually get older, our childish playing eventually became into magic training with Sherry’s mom teaching us.

Sherry was a genius born with an amazing magical talent. Although I may not have his magical talent, my control and knowledge of magic far exceeds Sherry’s pitiful magic. He may be strong but not as strong as me.

—

Author’s note:

Sherry: Aww, such a cute narcissist~. Yes, yes, you’re stronger than me.

‘I’: Shut up. Of course I am.

Lazy Lunar: Hmm, Sherry just tricked the poor boy.

‘I’: Wait! Not the narcissist part!

Sherry: : ) Sure sure~.