XIV - Evicted From Neverland

‘Is this your first time in Marseille?’ Asked Leonardo, his sight still fixed on the port’s calm waters. Only the slightest waves betrayed its true state, one of slow but inexorable movement, from and towards the open sea.

            The three German boys, first Lars, then Klaus and Sven by last, answered affirmatively. To Leonardo, on the other hand, this was not his first time in Marseille. In his eyes, the turquoise waters reflected not only the dim light of the emerging sun, but also painful memories, that now resurfaced in his mind.

            ‘What about you Leonardo, have you ever been here before?’ Asks Lars, who was standing right next to him.

            ‘Yeah, once.’

            ‘On vacation?’

            ‘Yeah, I guess so. I came here with this girl I was seeing… that was a while ago.’

            ‘What happened to her?’

            ‘Well, she’s living in Paris now… and she has another boyfriend.’

            ‘Ouch!’ Says Klaus, who was sitting on the ground.

            ‘I’m sorry I asked, it doesn’t sound as if you wanna delve in those memories right now.’

            ‘It’s alright, it doesn’t really matter.’

            ‘Don’t worry man, we’ll find another chick. I’m sure this place is full of nice chicks just waiting to meet a stand-up guy like you…or me.’ Said Klaus, snatching a smile out of Leonardo.

            ‘Thank s man.’

            Hey Leonardo, can I ask you another question… I mean, about a different subject of course.’

‘Sure, what is it?’

‘You see, you said that you are just travelling, and that you have no real destination. I got that, I want to travel too after I’m studying. I mean, I love travelling, if not I wouldn’t be here. But what I really wanted to ask you “is why do you travel”? Do you know why you wanna do it? Is it just for the fun of it or is it something else?’

            Leonardo had asked himself the same question several times in the last two weeks.

            ‘I can’t really say. Maybe I’m running away from something, maybe I’m afraid of the real world. Or maybe it’s something else entirely but I’m not sure I can give you the right answer. I haven’t quite figured it out yet.’

            ‘I think that we are all afraid of the real world man,’ said Sven prompting Klaus and Lars to agree with him. Leonardo also waved his head, as sign of agreement.

            ‘Yeah man, it’s like if we’re all lost boys, you know like Peter Pan and his gang and we’re all suddenly being evicted from Neverland. It fucking sucks,’ said Lars. Those words caught Leonardo off guard, drawing a confused smile on his face, made all the more noticeable since he starred at Lars for a few seconds without realizing it.

            ‘What is it?’ Asked Lars.

            ‘Nothing… it’s just that those words could have easily come from my own mouth. That’s exactly the way I feel.’

            ‘Welcome to the club’ said Lars, and Sven and Klaus assented once more.