Second star to the right and straight on till morning…
Wendy Darling had grown up hearing those words. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't believe them.
Everyone in town knew of the great fairy tale, where Peter pan and tinker bell defeated the great captain hook. Children ran around in costumes, on parades they had fairy floats, and so on. Peter pan was a celebrated town hero, one the town had never met.
Looking out the window, Wendy sat thinking. She was the smartest kid in class, easy. But also the most unsociable. She was shy to a fault, and hated fairy tales. They just weren't logical.
"Ahhh!" A young voice was heard. Wendy groaned. What was it this time? Had John broken the window with his baseball? Or had Michael thrown a tantrum again, because he couldn't play on the computer?
It was John. He was sitting on the porch, head in his hands. "I threw a baseball ball at Michael. It was an accident!" He said when Wendy stared at him. "He ran into the game while I was playing with my friends! He screamed, and mom told me to wait out here. Soon dad will come home."
Wendy laughed. "Poor you." Their dad was ruthless, so their mom let him handle the punishments. John would probably get no baseball for a week.
That night, standing on their small balcony, Wendy wished she could fly. Even knowing it wasn't logical didn't change her mind. She wanted a new life. More than anything, she wanted to be free.
Falling asleep looking at the sky, Wendy dreamed of stars.
The night breeze whipped through her hair. "Dad, five more minutes." Wendy grumbled. "School hasn't started yet."
"School?" An unfamiliar, boyish voice sounded in her ear. "Who cares about school?"
Wendy opened her eyes and screamed.
She was in the arms of a boy she didn't know. She was fifty thousand feet above the ground, and she could not see her house. A sparkling light that looked like the picture of Tinker Bell was beside the boy.
"No, this isn't real! Magic isn't real! It can't be logical!" She screamed, pushing away from the boy. Probably not a good idea, considering she was fifty thousand feet above the ground.
Suddenly the boy grunted… and began to fall.
Terrified, Wendy hung on for life. Even when it wasn't logical, she preferred magic to death from air! Not to mention her grades would plummet terribly if she died.
The fairy whispered something in the boy's ear. He paled. "You've got to believe!" He shouted in her ear. "Otherwise we will all fall to our death! And I don't want to die young!"
"Believe in what?" Wendy shouted back. "You are all crazy maniacs and I hope you leave me alone! I want to grow up and leave this nonsense behind!"
"You won't get to grow up if we die now! Face it! Magic is real, and we are falling fifty thousand feet!"
That hit Wendy hard. She had been planning her life ever since she was ten, mapping out her ups and downs, planning a good life. And now there was a chance it would all go away.
She closed her eyes and tried to accept that this was real. A boy had kidnapped her, flow away with her and a FAIRY? And then told her she needed to believe in magic, or she would die.
As much as she tried, she couldn't believe that she was flying. What she could believe was that a boy had kidnapped her. THAT was much more probable.
Suddenly the boy flew up again. "Well that was fun." He said, grinning. "But next time try to believe in magic a little faster, OK?"
"I don't believe in Magic." Wendy grumbled. "I CAN believe that you would kidnap me. Now will you PLEASE bring me home, strange boy? I want a long happy life, not a life and death creepy guy."
The boy smirked. "I've brought girls to Neverland every year without fail. They all believed. So will you. The second you start believing, you can go home, OK?"
Wendy sighed. Great. So a crazy kid pretending to be peter pan was here, and he planned to make her believe in magic. And worst of all, she would miss the finals! She had to get home!
"So, if I say I believe in magic, then can I go home?"
"No." The boy flew into the sky, carrying her. Looking home, Wendy tried to believe in was all a dream.
