This chapter was inspired by the song 'Inner Ninja' by Classified. Duh.
Inner Ninja
Matthew walked down the street lost in his imagination. He was holding an epic adventure in one hand and dragging a red wagon stacked with other library books behind him. His left shoe was untied and his collared shirt was untucked, which would scandalise his mother, but his attention was elsewhere.
He was seven years old and captivated by stories of pirates on the high seas; of worn maps and dangerous islands and mermaids. Of counting paces and cursed treasure.
His brother always told him that his head was in the clouds but Matthew could not bear to keep his feet on the ground. In real life, he was just a kid with too much time on his hands; when he was reading, he was a brave adventurer. The heroes of his stories all found happy endings. He was not so convinced that happy endings existed in real life.
He was a bit morose for a seven year old.
His blonde curls fluttered in the wind and tried to come between him and his library book but he shook his head to put them back into place. The main character had been stranded without food or water and Matthew refused to miss even one second of the action.
"Aha!" Someone screamed, jumping from the bushes suddenly and waving a big stick around. Matthew yelped and stumbled back into his wagon. Books scattered across the sidewalk. He flinched and covered his head with both hands. His feet stuck up in the air at odd angles.
"Ack! W-w-w-what do you want?!"
The figure paused and pulled down the hood of his black sweater. His colourless hair floated around him and stuck up at odd angles. There was a bit of dirt smudged across his cheekbone.
He propped the stick on his shoulder and grinned at Matthew, cocky and sure of himself.
He was a year or two older, Matthew thought, and he did not look like any of the other children in the neighbourhood. He was pale, with red eyes, and it would have been unsettling if his smile were not so infectious.
As it was, though, Matthew was not laughing.
"I'm a ninja," the older child proclaimed. He gestured to his dark clothes as if it were obvious. He puffed out his chest as he said it.
Matthew sat up in the wagon and frowned.
"No you're not," he said, pushing his eyeglasses up his nose with a finger, "I've read all about ninjas and you're not sneaky enough. And your weapon is all wrong."
He expected the other child to lash out at him for being a 'know-it-all' but he just cackled.
"You! I like you! You're weird." He bent down and started picking up the library books he had knocked over. "My name's Gilbert. We just moved in down the street. It's the house with the red mailbox. I think the attic is haunted."
Matthew tilted his head to the side and studied his newest neighbour. He was odd, but interesting.
"My name is Matthew. I live in the house with the tire swing."
"Oh! That's awesome. You should invite me over sometime."
He handed Matthew a pile of books.
"… Okay."
"Wicked. But why do you have so many books?"
Matthew clamoured out of the wagon and set the books where he had been sitting, straightening the stack as he did so.
"I like to read."
"Really? What are you reading?"
Matthew blushed and looked down, biting his lip. The other children usually made fun of him and called him names for reading. They said he was not 'normal'; that he was a 'weirdo' and 'Teacher's Pet'. They called him a 'nerd'.
Gilbert called him none of these things… It was nice.
"I'm reading about pirates," he mumbled. Gilbert heard him anyway.
"Wow. You must be really smart, then." Matthew blushed further. "Do you want to play pretend with me?"
Matthew looked up at him through the fringe of his hair.
"Is that what you were doing? You were playing pretend?"
"Well, yeah. I'm not actually a ninja. But it's fun to pretend, right?"
Matthew thought of his reading, and pining, and dreaming of adventure. He knew what Gilbert was talking about. Sometimes he just wanted to be someone else for a little while.
"Yes, alright."
"Great! You'll be a pirate and I'll be a ninja!"
"… But pirates and ninjas never…"
"Ah, but this is pretend, remember?" Gilbert waggled his finger, cutting off his tangent on historical inaccuracies. "We can do whatever we want. We can be whoever we want."
"Oh," Matthew blinked. "Okay then."
And it was that simple.
Gilbert dropped his stick into the wagon and took the handle from Matthew, heading towards the park and laughing. Matthew followed him, grinning ear to ear, and felt like this was the start of something amazing.
"We're just going to be the best of friends," Gilbert said, confident. "I can tell, you know."
And so they were. It really was that simple.
Author's Notes:
This was so much fun to write, you have no idea. I love writing children. (And yes, childhood logic is that strange. And yes, children do make friends that easily. Children can be cruel but they can also be surprisingly accepting.)
I just posted a (complete) piece here and on tumblr. called 'Crossroads', so please feel free to read that one too if your Saturday is just as barren as mine.