Anna crouched on the floor of her room, her only light coming from the hall through the crack in her door. She curled into a ball, shaking, listening to her parents fighting.
"But honey, she's six years old! She needs to go to school!"
"Don't tell me how to raise my daughter!" The sound of a slap made Anna flinch. "We don't have the money to send her to school, I've told you that!"
"But-" Another slap, followed by sobbing. Anna could hear her father growling something too low for her to make out. "Alright," her mother conceded in a tear-choked voice. "Alright. I'm sorry, you were right. I'll just... go to bed."
"No!" A shrill screech was followed by a thud. Anna crawled to the door and peeked out to see that her mother was on the floor. Anna's father's hand clutched her mother's hair.
"Daddy!" Anna squeaked. She quickly drew back and tried, unuccessfully, to block out the voices.
"When are you going to grow a backbone?" her father growled. "I didn't intend to marry some wimp who will try to back out of every argument by surrendering."
Maria stifled another sob. 'What, then?' she wanted to ask. 'What do you want me to do? I try to tell you you're wrong, and you beat me. I try to tell you you're right, and you beat me!' "Just tell me what to do," she whimpered.
Rich raised his hand to hit her again, but a small voice stopped him. "Daddy?" Anna stood in the hallway, holding a book like a security blanket. "Daddy, please... read me a bedtime story?"
Maria choked back a cry when she saw Rich glaring at Anna. "Anna... Anna, darling, go to bed. Daddy'll be there soon to read to you."
"No," Rich snarled. "No, I'll tell her a story. How about a story about a little girl who can't mind her own business?" He stood from his crouching position next to Maria and began to advance on Anna. The little girl screamed and backed towards her room.
"Rich, no!" Maria clawed at her husband. "Please! Don't hurt Anna!" Rich threw her off with little trouble, but it delayed him enough for Anna to get back to her room and lock the door.
"Anna!" Rich started down the hall again, but tripped over the book Anna had dropped when she retreated. He picked it up and read the title in disgust. "Peter Pan? What is this garbage?"
"It's your daughter's favorite book," Maria told him angrily. She stood behind him, supporting herself against the wall. "Maybe if you did anything with her besides beat her you would know that." Finally having found some courage in her anger and protectiveness of her daughter, Maria advanced on Rich. "And maybe if you didn't spend all of our money on those prostitutes you keep picking up, we could send her to school." Angrily, Rich roared and knocked Maria down and unconscious.
"Anna! Get out here, now!" He pounded on her door. Frightened, Anna looked back from where she sat, her legs hanging out the window.
"No," she whimpered. "No. Please, don't let him break in..." she quickly pushed herself onto the balcony below the window and crouched down, trying not to cry. She had changed from her nightgown into shorts and a t-shirt, and now shivered in the cool night air. I wish I'd had time to grab shoes, instead of these sandals... She had to hold back a shriek when she heard her door burst open.
"Anna! Where are you, you little brat?" her father snarled. The little girl shrunk back into the shadows, huddling in the corner of the balcony. Slowly, as quietly as she could, she stood and started to climb over the railing, stepping carefully onto the drainpipe going around the wall of the house.
If I can just make it... I can get to the fire escape ladder and get to the roof. Slowly, inch by inch, she edged along the pipe, trying to ignore the sound of her father tearing apart her room and screaming curses. Finally, she grabbed the nearest rung of the ladder and started climbing. When she made it to the roof, she ran to the center and threw herself down, sobbing. In the distance, she could hear sirens - maybe her mother had regained consciousness and called the police, or maybe they were on their way to stop another abusive father and husband, or maybe it was something totally different. Anna pushed herself to her knees and crawled to the edge of the building opposite her room, looking into the street for a sign of the police.
"ANNA!" Hearing her father roar, Anna turned a little too quickly. She barely had time to register that he seemed to still be in her room before her hand slipped and she fell headfirst off the roof, screaming.
"Whoa there!" Anna felt herself caught in a strong pair of arms and looked up into a pair of brown eyes.
"Peter... Peter Pan?"
The boy looked confused. "Have we met?"
"No," Anna answered as Peter carried her to the roof, "but I've heard your story so many times. I ask my mother to read it to me almost every night."
"Really?" Peter set her down and sat cross-legged in the air facing her. "What were you doing, jumping off the roof?"
"I... I didn't jump, I fell. I was trying to get away from my father."
"Where's your mother?"
"She's still there with him." Anna looked down at her lap. "He was hurting her, and then he was gonna hurt me, so I came up here. And then I fell."
"So you need somewhere to go?" Anna nodded, and Peter stood, though he was still a few inches above the roof. "Great! Then come to Neverland!"
"Really?" Anna scrambled to her feet.
"Sure, why not?" Peter answered. "It's a great refuge for people whose parents don't want them or care about them."
"Oh, but my mommy still loves me," Anna said self-assuredly.
"Really?" Peter crossed his arms. "Then why isn't she looking for you?"
"She..." Anna faltered. "I don't know... maybe she is! Maybe she didn't know I'd come to the roof, and she's looking for me on the ground!"
"We could check." Peter whistled, and Tinkerbell flew up next to him.
Anna nodded. As Tinkerbell flew over her, she felt warmed by the falling pixie dust. Mommy still loves me... we're gonna go to Neverland and get away from Daddy! She felt light, and looked down to see that the rooftop was a few feet below her. "Whoa... I'm flying!" She flew in a loop for sheer joy. She looked down to see Peter below her, and flew down to him. "Come on! Let's look in the window!" She flew to the edge of the roof and looked back. Peter was laughing. "Come on!" she beckoned, before dropping out of sight.
Feeling exhilarated, Anna zigzagged back and forth across the street a few times before going to look in her bedroom window. Her room looked like her father had trashed it, but no one was in there now. She moved to the living room window - it was empty, too.
"No one's there." Anna would have jumped, if she had ground to jump from. She turned to Peter, who had flown down behind her.
"I know... maybe she's out looking for me." Anna flew back to her room, where the window was still open. Quietly, she flew in and into the hall, to her parents room. It was dark; she paused to let her eyes readjust. Peering into the darkness, she saw two shapes under the covers in the bed. "Mama?" she squeaked quietly. One of the forms, on the side she knew her mother slept on, stirred and moaned softly. She... she went to bed? With him? She flew quickly out of the room and back out to Peter.
"Did you find her?" he asked, not noticing her hurt expression until she looked up into his face.
"Peter, let's go!" she said tearily. "Please, take me to Neverland!"
Inside, Maria sat up slowly. "Anna?" She put a hand to her head; it hurt like crazy. I thought I heard Anna... She moaned again, trying to remember what had happened. She looked at Rich, and could tell that he was knocked out drunk. "Probably barely made it to bed," she muttered. She swung her feet over the side and stood, pulling on a silky robe. She walked down the hall into the kitchen, and saw a broken glass beer bottle lying on the floor. She remembered trying to call the police, but nothing afterwards. Rich must have hit me from behind and knocked me out... She gasped. "Anna!" She ran down the hall to her daughter's room. It was trashed, but empty. The window was open. She ran to it and looked out, staring around wildly. She clambered over the windowsill, onto the balcony. She clutched the rail, searching the sidewalk for a sign of her daughter, and even, for a crazy moment, the sky. "ANNA!" Maria screamed her daughter's name into the empty night.
