Nobody to Catch You
Out of all the worlds he'd ever been to, Axel thought Neverland took the cake for most messed up. A place where half of it was make believe to the other half--a place where the strongest flavor of evil was a one-handed gay pirate whose goal in life was to beat a little boy who would never grow up. Even Axel found it hard to believe.
There was a maniacal ticking crocodile out there, and pixies who could make you fly, and God only knew what other wacked out things existed in the depths of Neverland. And then, there was a town with a giant clock tower who slept easy every night under a regular shaped moon.
Axel liked this tower. The view from up there wasn't as cluttered as the one from the castle, the town not as neon-slick or desolate as the Dark City. It was just a regular town, smoke rising from chimneys where people lived, instead of smog from buildings as empty as the creatures who roamed the streets.
Just like his world, though, it always seemed to be night. He would have liked to visit Neverland during the day, to remind himself what real people were like. A part of him would have settled for a compromise--a sunset--but the thought of twilight brought to mind memories of the friend who had walked away from him, and he tried not to stir those up too often.
"Whatcha doing there, mister?" a youthful voice interrupted him one night.
Axel turned from his perch on the edge of the tower to see that girly kid in the ridiculous outfit staring curiously at him.
"Jumpin' off, what does it look like?" Actually, suicide was the farthest thought from Axel's mind, because it'd be pretty pointless to waste this life, too. All that waited for him on the other side was oblivion.
The kid surprised him by laughing. "What a joke! Imagine if grown-ups could fly!"
Axel snorted. "Yeah right, because it's not weird at all that you fly."
"Of course it's not. Pixie dust and happy thoughts are all you need, and I've got both!" The kid--Peter Pan, was it?--jumped into the air to prove it, floating around in front of Axel.
Axel shook his head. "Good for you. 'Cause that's a freakin' long way down. Be one helluva mess to clean up." He rolled up on his toes, looking out and down, wondering how the rush of free-fall could ever be worth the cost of the trip.
As he did this, Peter Pan yelped, which startled Axel back a step. "Careful, mister! You'll fall!"
"Not if you don't scare me like that again!" growled Axel, clutching at the stones behind him.
The kid, who looked terribly worried for Axel's safety--and wasn't that the kicker--pulled out a pouch and abruptly tossed a handful of yellow powder into the Nobody's face. "Happy thoughts!" he instructed, "that's all you'll need now."
Axel coughed, trying to rub the stuff out of his eyes. "Sorry, pal, but that recipe ain't gonna work with me. Try me in the next life."
He never got to go back.