He laughed at my rumination and answered a question I didn’t know I carried. “Of course, you can remain a child. There are many physical adults that are still newborn souls. Some even die of old age, without ever maturing.” He chuckled. “You’re on the cusp, my dear. You are able to know and understand you are still a child, without losing your childhood for it.”
I surprised myself by not jumping at his approach. Since he brought up the topic, I continued it. “And how to I take the leap from childhood, to adult? I take it there is no adolescent stage, the way you are phrasing your words.”
“Oh, there is an adolescent stage.” He nodded knowingly. “But it is madness and delirium. You’ve already suffered that, though. Somehow you managed to retreat to childhood instead of passing to adulthood. So, for you, the path is now much shorter.”
“And that path lays…”
“At your feet. In your hands. When you stop allowing the world to bat you willy nilly. When instead of changing with the flow, you start directing the flow. When you stop being nice, and assert the responsibility given to you.”
I looked down at the trinket in my hand. Completely inert and full of nothing, it represented a step away from what I knew and what I was comfortable with. To take it up, meant becoming someone else, someone I didn’t recognize, yet wanted to be.
I didn’t notice he had moved to loom over me. “Know this, Kerian. Once this begins, your childhood is over. The only way to return to it, is to abandon this life and start anew. Do you understand me?” I did, but was afraid to acknowledge it. “It won’t be easy, but it will be fulfilling. You won’t be bored, I promise you.”
“So, how do I start on the path to adulthood?”
He points to the trinket. “Complete the gift.”