Disclaimer: I don't own any aspect of Peter Pan, whether it be the book, play, or various movies, etc. etc.
Never is an Awfully Long Time
Peter slowly closed his eyes and inhaled, concentrating on igniting some spark of fatigue, coaxing his mind to rest. When sleep did not come, Peter slowly opened his eyes and turned his gaze upwards toward the swollen moon hovering among the glow of other distant galaxies. The night remained undisturbed, unnaturally quiet and still. Peter was reminded of how empty and hollow Neverland had become whenever he let his voice echo in the coves where the enthralling mermaids once basked. Apart from a warm glow to the child's right, it was just himself and Tinkerbelle occupying the fading island.
He could have gone, he thought to himself. He could have flown back with her. He could have heard more of her familiar and comforting stories, the ones that his mother might have told him once.
He could have had a mother. A pair of warm soft hands to tuck him in between the sheets at night, to softly coax a smile onto his cheeks and smooth his hair. He could see Wendy every day, uncover adventures and mischief with her. Mischief, he thought. He would soon find himself in trouble, the victim of a smack with a ruler or the whip of a belt. He would be forced to sit at a cold desk and recite lines, then in a cramped office filing papers.
No, he didn't want that, that was the reason why he left. The day he was born when his father proclaimed that he would soon become a man and work from an office. At that, Peter left and never looked back. He could never be tamed, ever. And he would certainly never return to such a place.
"Never is an awfully long time." The softly spoken phrase still rang in his ears, a rude interruption of his thoughts. Perhaps she was right though. Wendy was always sensible like that. But how was he going to spend it? Chained to a desk? Choked by a starched collar and tie? Or free to do as he pleased and remain a boy forever; alone.
He really was alone. It had engulfed him and blinded him in a darkness that not even Tink's magical glow could penetrate. Wendy's kind face had faded from his memory, but her voice still echoed in his mind, softly reiterating the same familiar phrase. Now he was never to see her again. He knew she would never come back. Soon she would fade from memory completely. Perhaps never really was an awfully long time.