The bright beams of moonlight finally broke free of the dark clouds, as the scurried across the midnight sky. The moon, shining its blinding light, illuminated everything and everyone wandering the forest. It doesn't matter now though, only seventeen more minutes and I won't have to hide behind these enchanted trees anymore. Only seventeen more minutes, and I can finally escape this cruel and twisted hell, that some people call 'wonderland'. While we're waiting, let me tell you my fractured fairy tale...
My name is Alice, and I live on the edge of the forest.
Before I was born, my mother met Prince Charming right here, in this very spot. (That's how I know that these trees are enchanted; they hide you from the rest of the world.)
Well, like most fairy tale's, it was love at first sight. Soon they were married, and the Prince could think of no where better to raise his little girl, than in a palace beside Central Park. Oh, did I forget to mention that I live in New York City?
We were definitely living 'happily ever after'. Until one dark night, when the Prince was out hunting for food, he met a pack of vicious trolls. The Troll King wanted all the Prince's gold, but he got angry when the Prince only handed him $20. (Like I said, dad was out buying us a pizza; he didn't bring his master card.) Now these were the kind of stupid trolls that are found under every bridge and down every dark alley in 'wonderland', and so in his fit of fury, the Troll King killed the Prince.
My mother and I heard the sirens, but didn't think anything of it. When you live in wonderland, you learn to avoid the call of the sirens. Later, I would learn to flee from them.
The police caught the trolls, who had eaten too much magic mushrooms that night. The Troll King told my mother that he was sorry, and he cried almost as much as me. So kind was the Prince's wife, that she allowed the town warlock to set the trolls punishment. But the Prince's evil mother used her gold to pay a cruel and conniving warlock to place a curse on the Troll King, so that he would forever spend his days locked in a cold, lonely cage.
After that we lost all our gold to moms evil mother in-law, and had to leave our palace. I wished on all the stars that shined to just be happy again...it didn't work. I asked my mom why she couldn't just wish for the Prince to come back, but you see, she used us all her wished when she got dad and me. She told me that you only get to wish on your own shining star, and when your wish comes true, your star leaves the sky and stays with you. From then on, you don't need to gaze at the sky to see it, because your star is always with you...at least, that's what she told me.
I was nine years old then, and I hadn't found my star. Now I'm seventeen, but I still believe its up there somewhere...I just haven't found it yet.
When we moved into our small cottage, I was sad, but at least we still got to live beside the forest. My mom started working in one of the local inn's, and everybody in there always said that she was the most beautiful princess in town. It was in that bar that she got the name Beauty, and it was in the bar that Beauty was snared by the Beast.
Yes, my mother was roped in by Lou. If ever there was a Big Bad Wolf, then Lou probably ate him and took his place. Like the wolf, he and his cubs ate everything that came their way, even people. Its true, Lou and his two cubs would eat your head off if you annoyed them. Pretty soon, I inherited a wicked step father and two wicked step brothers.
Sooner again after that, Beauty got sick. And I mean really sick. I didn't know what it was at the time, and it was a long four months before I discovered Lou's vampire bites at the veins on her arms.
I knew straight away though, when she became a vampire. She hated sunlight, and only went out at night. She wore short skirts and tiny t-shirts, because she didn't feel the cold. And she always got really upset and angry when she was hungry for blood.
One night, I asked her to stay home with me, but Lou told her that she couldn't, that she had to go out and find someone to pay our bills. I ran out into the forest after she left that night, and hid myself behind the enchanted trees.
I lay down in the middle of the clearing, and stared up at the spiderweb of moonlight shining through the overgrown leaves above me, as they stretched out over me, trying to protect me from the outside world. I searched and searched for my shining star all night, but I never found it. I wished, and pleaded with every star in the sky that cold night.
I wished that my mom would get better, and that everything would go back to the way it was before. I wished that Beauty never met the Beast, and that the Troll King never ate the magic mushrooms. Most of all, I wished that the Prince would come back to save me and my mom, and that we could be together and live happily ever after again. I lingered in the forest all night crying, watching and waiting for one of the stars to stop shining. To desert all the others, like my moms did for her. Because that's what stars are supposed to do. When you ask them to, their supposed to leave everything behind and come to stay with you forever. But when the sun rose up from the east, carrying a cruel winter wind with it, a star still hadn't stopped shining...
I ran home, and found that in the few hours that I'd been hiding from the wolf in the forest, my mom had become an eternal Sleeping Beauty. She was lying beside the open window, the poisoned needle of the spindle still clenched in her cold dead hand. I knew that she would never wake up, because her Prince Charming wasn't around to kiss her and make it better. She was already with him again, and I was happy that at least I got a part of my wish. My mom wasn't sick anymore, and two-thirds of us were together again.
I was almost seventeen at the time, so of course everything was my fault. Or so that's what they all told me. Personally, I know that it was Lou's fault.
Three days later, I packed up whatever I had and tried to run away from the place that I could never again call home. I placed a special emphasis on the word tried, because my first attempt at running away, as well as my second and third, were foiled by my wicked step brothers. I don't know why they stopped me from leaving. They had always made it clear to me, that I was the runt of their little 'pack', and that I was useless and good for nothing.
This didn't bother me, because I never considered myself a part of their 'pack' anyway.
It was my fourth attempt that was my favourite. Don't get me wrong, it was still just an attempt, and I still failed miserably at it, which, according to Lou, was to be expected. No, my fourth attempt was my favourite because that was the night that I met Peter Pan, and he really did teach me how to fly.
For my fourth escape, I tried a new route. I walked the whole way around New York City, and for the first time in a very long time, I remembered why people called it 'wonderland'. As I passed through Times Square, a troll ran passed me and ripped the rucksack right off my back. I ran and ran as fast as I could, and followed him straight back to Central Park.
Suddenly, I was blinded by the dazzling knight in his dull and beaten up leather jacket, as he caught the troll. At that late hour, we weren't the only people in the park, and the other peasants and washed up knights weren't pleased when they heard about yet another troll stealing from a young damsel.
My knight just gazed back at me for what felt like an eternity, before handing me my bag and asking me to wait for him while he fetched his steed...Probably the worst thing anyone's ever asked me to do.
Thirty seconds later, my two devious step brothers were dragging me kicking and screaming back to death row.
Another reason why attempt number four is my favourite, is because Lou wasn't in that night, and dumb & dumber had their dogs over. I wasn't allowed to leave my room when we had 'guests' in the house. Labeling anything that managed to crawl into that house as a 'guest' always sounded ridiculous to me. They all looked like that had narrowly just escaped the jaws of a nasty dragon, but my opinion never counted for much.
I was locked in my room, and it was then that I banged heads with Peter Pan. I was leaning outside to search for my star again, just as he came flying in my window.
He thinks it was fate. I think that he should have knocked first. Ever the child though, Peter couldn't see 'the fun in that'. A night hasn't gone by since then, where Peter hasn't flown in my window.
Peter was nineteen years old, with the attention span of a goldfish, and the soul of a nineteenth century gentleman. Sometimes I wish I could see the world through Peters eyes, just for a moment. He is so amazed by everything, and nothing to him is ugly or foul (with the exception of Lou and my step brothers of course.)
Peter taught me how to see the beauty in everything. To see the sweet fragility in the silk spun webs of a spider, or the beauty of a butterfly as it dances free of its cocoon.
Peter taught me how to fly, how to run with the wind and how to chase my dreams. Before I met him, I spent my entire existence shifting through days like they were empty rooms in a solemn house, never really appreciating one. But when I opened the door and found him, I learned to live every day like it was my last, never thinking about what I would find tomorrow when the sun rises...only dreaming about it, long after the moon rose and the stars came out.
But my happiness couldn't last. Lou began to wonder why I stopped throwing curses and hexes at him every moment of the day, to blissfully ignoring his very existence. You see, anything that made me happy just could not be allowed to exist, and I knew that if I wanted Peter to stay safe and happy, I would have to leave wonderland.
After that, a lot of great realizations came to me all at once.
Firstly, I discovered that my mothers evil mother in-law had died almost two years ago. Being evil, she had hoarded all of her treasure instead of putting it to good use...and I was her only living relative. I was to inherit everything, but only once I turned eighteen. That solved the mystery of why Lou wanted me around. But after hearing that, I definitely was not planning on waiting to find out how he planned to get his dirty paws on my treasure.
Secondly, I became one of the fortunate few to finally understand what love is.
I was terrified, and didn't know what to do or where to run. That night in the woods, when I told Peter, the only thing he asked me was 'Where do you want to run, babe?'. He wasn't afraid about the fact that we had no money (yet), no where to stay and no one to run to. And do you know why? He told me, that it was because 'he had me'. That's how I understood what love is. If you have it, you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.
If I left alone (to try and give Peter a normal life), it wouldn't matter that I was safe or rich, because I wouldn't have Peter anymore...and so I would have nothing.
But if I left with him, I would never need anything else, because I would have him, and we would always be happy as long as we were together.
It's 11:59 now, and there is only one minute left until I turn eighteen years old, and finally gain my freedom. By telling you my twisted fairy tale, I've come to solve the biggest mystery of my life. I now know why I could never find my shining star.
Earlier I told you, that when you ask your star for something, that its meant to sacrifice and leave everything else behind it; to find you and stay with you forever. I told you that when you wish on your star, it leaves the sky and shines only to you, in plain sight, so that you can stare at it every day. So that somehow, if you lose it, you will always be able to find it.
When my father died, I wished on all the shining stars that I would be happy again...I got my wish. I just didn't know it. Since I was nine years old, I've been searching the skies for my star. I should have been searching somewhere closer to home...
I dropped my gaze to stare at the second hand on my watch, as it ticked away the final seconds holding my freedom prisoner. Ten seconds. Nine. Eight...something catches my eye, way up there in the night sky. Seven seconds. Six. What is that dazzling, blinding diamond so high up? Five. Four...could it be? Three seconds. Two seconds. The light dies down, and I can gaze at the stars again without being blinded by the bright, wonderful light. One second passes by, and at the exact moment I turned eighteen years old, I finally found my shining star.
You see, dreams really can come true, if only we wish hard enough. You can have anything in life, if you will sacrifice everything for it.
Two years ago, I wished harder than anything for my mother to come back to her old self. I was willing to sacrifice everything to make my wish comes true...except for her.
Now, I made my own wish come true, and I sacrificed the little I had to catch my dream, and escape wonderland.
Peter's coming now, I can hear him, and although I would never sacrifice him for anything in the world, I never could. Because he is my star, and once your star comes to you, you'll stay together, forever...
My eyes shine with unshed tears of joy, as we make our way past the neon lights and mad hatters of Wonderland, tearing through the streets on Peters noble steed. Harley is a mass of black metal and vintage chrome, and he is beautiful.
"So your highness, which way does our journey lie?" He turns his handsome face around to me and smiles his boyish grin, just as we escape the city walls. Leaning into his warm shoulder, I raise my arms in the air and embrace the winds of freedom. I know there is only one place for us to live our happily ever after.
My finger trembles with excitement as I pointed my star out to Peter.
"Follow that one there, you see it? The second one on the right. Let's see where we end up in the morning."
The highlighted lines are J. M. Barrie quotes...the wonderful man who gave us Peter Pan.