THEN AND NOW...

This is no-mans' land, rather, no-cadets' land. Strictly out of bounds. There's no way I could escape punishments if I'm caught right now. I could get into BIG trouble if somebody realises that the khaki-clad youth on the roof isn't the security.
I'll still take my chances though. I don't think anyone'll notice me in the first place, simply because nobody expects anybody up here. Anybody except the DSC, that is...
Ever seen a fire snuffed out 'cause somebody was dumb enough to toss in a fire-cracker? Glowing embers all over the place, suffused with a life of their own. No specific colours, just varyiing degrees of brightness, yet not potent enough to light up the surroundings. That's what the view from up here looks like, from 150 feet up, just varying degrees of brightness. Each speck, a life, a family, a home, hope...
So near, yet, so far. I believe I can clasp one of them, be part of one of them. Yet, when I try, the nearness is merely an illusion, the lights still winking, taunting.
I've just realised something, for the first time, I'm caompletely and absolutly alone. No junior requesting for PT shoes or drill instructors barking at me to move "on the double". This is something I've been seeking since I've joined the Academy. Yet, now, I long for company, a friend, a soulmate. I don't like this, this Being Alone.
"We meet to part, and part to meet." I hope so. From the bottom of my heart, form the depths of my soul. I've changed.I never imagined I'd buy flowers for no reason. That I'd go to any lenghts to see a smile on somebodys' face. A pretty smile on a special somebodys' face.I'd never realised how happy that smile could make me.
I guess I left Neverland. I guess I've grown.

Thank You.