Peter by day, Pan by night

Chapter 16

        I push open the tunnel's door. Light hits my eyes. I blink a few times before the clearing focuses.

         Several lost boys wait a few feet away, eating apples. My stomach rumbles. My eyes skip from their stares to the plate of food by the lifeless fire.

          I bite my lip. Why aren't they saying anything?

        Daine digs his knife into his apple and eats the piece off the sharp point. Bert tugs on his red curls, his eyes never straying from mine. Felix taps his scythe against a tree. For once his gaze isn't on me.  

        "Wendy?" Jacob, the youngest lost boy, steps toward me. His half eaten apple falls to the ground.

        And I run.

        I lurch into the air and this time gravity doesn't hold me down. At least Peter Pan has given me that much.

        "Where are you going?" Bert calls out, but I don't turn back.

        Daine's words follow me. "Leave her alone."

        I fly higher and higher, leaving the green forest behind. Blue sky wraps around me. I don't cry, I don't scream-I breathe. The sweet air fills my lungs. I take another deep breath and my worries slip away.

         I am not angry anymore, I am not sad. For this one moment in an endless sky, I am alone and it is enough.

**

        Soft grass slips between my bare toes.

        I crouch down. I pull my hands through the tall blades. My fingers snag on a rose. It is blue, something I have only seen in paintings. But blue roses cover this meadow. I caress the satin petals. It smells sweet.

        "Neverland's blue roses." I whisper. Someone said those words before.

        Someone with a carefree smile and thick English accent. Someone who made me a dress out of these same roses.

        I lay down. My back presses into the soft grass. I turn my head and stare into a cluster of blue roses.

        I struggle to breathe, but the sadness has returned. I slip my fingers into my pockets. Only a wooden star is there.

        The acorn is forgotten in a room underground. Someone might have stepped on it. It is just an acorn. It is worthless. But I am tired of lying to myself.

        It isn't worthless, it isn't nothing.

        That acorn is Peter's first gift. And my first kiss.

        I pull Daine's star out and hold it over my heart. Peter carved a star onto the trunk beside the Indian's hideout. He knows how to get there. He will attack them soon.

        My stomach groans inside me. I look up at the sun. It is already midday! How did it go by so quickly? The days seem even shorter than before.

         I am starved.

        A small river trickles nearby. I drink some water. It sooths my throat, but can't fool my stomach. I should get up and look for food, but instead I flop back onto the grass and stare at the blue sky.

         Why can't Neverland always stay this way? Why must night return?

         Someone drops onto the ground next to me. I roll my head to the side. Jacob.