Some Kind of Neverland {Remington Leith}

9

A/N: writing on my phone and doing so at work is more challenging than it should be tbh. I have two hours to kill every day I work bc of nap time (I work at a daycare(, so I'm like 'hey I'll write in wattpad' and then I get distracted by a kid coughing or something and lose my train of thought lmao so hi this is sloppy

How fitting, Wendy thought, her chin resting on her fist as she gazed out the window of her English classroom, Rain on the first day of school.

Rain drops dotted the pane of glass as she watched, her eyes flickering every so often to the clock. Ten minutes became nine. Nine minutes became eight, then seven, the six, five, four, three, two... one.

One minute left, and Wendy would be able to leave.

And although it felt like the longest minute of her life, it was finally over. The bell rang, cueing the class to dash from their seats to the door, merging into the crowded hallway. Wendy moved with the crowd of teens pushing their way to their lockers and the stairs. She didn't have anything to take from her locker or to put away, so she proceeded to walk to the staircase, going down and finding her way to the busses.

It wasn't hard to find hers, since it was the very first one parked in the schools back parking lot. Wendy stepped up onto it, clearly the first person.

"Good afternoon." The elderly bus driver gave her a warm smile. Wendy smiled back and nodded in greeting before taking a seat near the back. Not long after she had sat down, another person stepped up onto the bus.

Wendy looked up and couldn't help but stare. The boy had quite an interesting look, and she was pretty sure he was a junior, if not a senior. A black and white striped button up that was left open over a thin black shirt, and sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His pants were black with a bandana tied around one thigh. His hair was brown and messy, at a length somewhere between short and shoulder length, and small curls here and there at the ends.
The bus driver looked up and smiled, eyes lighting up.
"You're on my bus this year too, huh, Emerson?"

"It looks like it." Emerson shrugged and then looked over at Wendy, catching her gaze before she immediately looked down at her lap.
Her heart pounded in her chest, so loud that it felt like it were about to rupture. That was Emerson? That was Remington's brother? His eyes were like Remington's, although they were more green than brown, but intense and warm nonetheless. His voice was deeper than Remington's though, it was much smoother and fuller. It was relaxing.

She felt his eyes move away from her as he found a seat a few ahead of her. Wendy slowly looked up, gnawing anxiously on her lower lip.
She wanted to talk to him. She wanted to see if his eyes would light up the same way Remington's did, if he would flash the same smirk that Remington would whenever Wendy got flustered. She wanted to tell him all that Remington had told her... that he was sorry, that he missed them and that he was okay. What really happened, that he isn't dead or missing. He was just... stuck in a moment in time.

But Wendy knew very well that she couldn't. Both because she wanted to respect that Remington wanted things to remain the way they were, and because she wouldn't be able to handle it. Emerson couldn't know that she had befriended the big brother he believed to be gone, and if she were to talk to him there would be no doubt she would let something slip.
It was for the best for the two to remain as they were; strangers on the same bus home from school.

The bus filled slowly with more and more students eager to go home, but both she and Emerson stayed by themselves in their seats. The whole duration of her time on the bus, she watched Emerson off and on. He had taken out a small sketchbook and begun sketching with a fine point sharpie. Part of her longed to ask him what he was drawing, but she could tell he was beyond lost in thought.
So she said nothing.

Wendy's stop came near the beginning of the bus ride, so when her neighborhood came into view she put her backpack on and moved to the edge of her seat. She stood when the bus eased to a stop at her driveway and kept her head down as she moved through the narrow aisle and down the stairs.
As she heard the bus doors close, her heart began to swell in her chest. Her parents were gone at work still, and her brother had stayed after school for soccer or something of the sort.
She was home alone.

Wendy didn't even bother to go inside, instead she went around the house and out to the woods, keeping her backpack on her shoulders.
"Remi!" She called, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Remington, it's me!"

But the only response she received was the quiet scampering of a squirrel up the trunk of the tree.
"Remington?" Wendy frowned, looking around and moving deeper into the woods as she did so.

One of her hands grabbed the small key around her neck, but there was an odd bit of warmth to it. She released her grip and looked down, seeing it had begun to emit a warm glow. It was certainly odd but she knew it meant something. When she looked back up her surroundings had transformed from the dull gloom to the gorgeous 'Neverland.'
"So that's what it was for..." She muttered to herself with a slight smile. "Alright Remington, that was very clever, I'll admit."

And again, as before, there was no reply. Not even a quiet snicker off in the distance.
She felt something was wrong but she didn't want to admit it just yet.

"Remington, come on." She rolled her eyes and looked around. "I swear, if you jump out at me again, I'll..." She let her words trail off, as she had noticed something sitting under the large tree. Wendy walked over to it and got down to look. A small pile of Polaroid photos neatly stacked beside a sloppy note and a CD. On the CD, in faint sharpie, was written 'Ma Cherie.' As sweet as it was, it only pushed the fact that something was in fact wrong. With hesitant fingers, she lifted the paper to read the pen scribbles.
As her eyes scanned the page, the situation became all too clear.

Remington was gone.

A/N: sOrRY