Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters named in this story. Everything is completely fictional, so I am not to be blamed for any similarities that seem to mirror real life. I hope you like it, and please review!!
Searching for Home
Tina Johnson wandered the streets looking for someone, a person she had never even known the name of, but the one person she knew would help her. At fourteen she had left home after being kicked out by her domineering foster parents. Her birth parents had died when she was seven, in a blazing fire. Her father had left her outside before running back in to find her mother. He never returned, and all she could remember were the screams of her and her mother within the house, trapped somehow in the heart of the roaring fire.
Her heart was racing as she walked; the realization that she had no place to go had just hit her, and her mind was frantic. With twenty dollars and a small bag of clothe,s she continued to search for a decent place to sleep, seeing as night was sweeping in at tremendous speeds.
At last exhausted and alone, Tina collapsed into a small alleyway, her legs no longer able to move. She thought back on the happenings of the day, and she felt that they had been a long time coming. Her foster family the Burlingtons hadn't always been horrible to her; for one thing, they had taken her in when her parents had died. Being neighbors, they felt some responsibility to her and had adopted her as a last favor to her parents. As time went on, she had learned to love them as her own family. Adjusting had been rather easy because at a young age one tends to forget extremely painful memories.
However, Tina had not forgotten her past life completely, and many memories were vivid in her mind, especially one. Her real mother had taken her to the park one evening, on the way home from a day of grocery shopping. As her mother had walked, Tina had skipped by her side giggling and smiling at the other children on their way home. One boy in particular had caught her attention because of the peculiar way he was moving. He had seemed to be hovering slightly above the ground and talking to a light that looked much like a firefly. His face was rather mischievous, but he looked like he was about to throw a temper tantrum, though he looked like a teenager.
As his cheeks grew redder, he started to fly higher off the ground, until finally he sat on top of the tall jungle gym in the middle of the grass. His arms and legs were crossed, his eyes were squeezed shut, and he was pouting. Tina's face had lit up at the site and her mouth was wide open in amazement. Her mother had not noticed any of the happenings, and when Tina looked up to meet her mother's eyes, she saw her mum looked quite distracted. Hoping that her mum would not catch her, Tina stopped slowly and ran back to the jungle gym as her mother continued on in her somewhat preoccupied state.
The boy was still on top of the jungle gym when Tina reached it and began to climb to the top. She was not even half way there when suddenly she lost her grip and began to fall. She was in such shock that all she let out was a little squeak. Her eyes squeezed shut as she prepared to hit the ground, but all of a sudden she felt arms around her, slowing her fall. As she felt her rescuer stop on solid ground, she opened her eyes to meet the bright green ones of the boy she had been watching before.
"What are you doing, you foolish girl?" exclaimed the boy in quite an indignant manner, "If I hadn't caught you, you would have died."
He sounded quite proud of himself, and that bothered Tina. She started squirming until he was forced to drop her, and then she began to storm off in an angry rage. The boy, who had been startled flew after her quickly and landed right in front of her.
"What's the matter?" he asked sweetly, "I was just trying to help you, I didn't want you to get hurt."
"Well I didn't need your help!" shouted Tina, "I saw you fly before and I wanted to talk to you, but then when I climbed up after you I fell. Then you had to save me, so I feel silly because I thought I could do it on my own. Then, you made me feel like a baby because you told me that I could have died. I am a big girl, and you are mean. Now I'm not mad, just sad because I can't find my mummy!!!"
Tina ended her long rant panting and then sobbing. She had said the entire thing in one breath at an incredible speed; then because she realized that she had wandered off without her mother she had begun to cry.
The young boy put his hand on her shoulder as he knelt down beside her.
"Don't cry," he comforted, " who needs mothers anyway? They'll just make you grow up and leave the house. You don't want to grow up do you? You don't want to be a woman and have to get married and have a family, do you? Come with me and we can be kids forever!"
She smiled at this and was seriously considering it when she heard her name being called. As if from a dream, she snapped back into reality and scrambled to her feet. She looked at the boy who had now stood up next to her and smiled at him. He returned her smile with his own grin that revealed a set of perfect baby teeth.
"I can't go with you," she said calmly. "My parents always told me not to follow strangers!"
He looked at her completely shocked and then nodded his head in understanding, before flying away into the dark, night sky. Tina walked along the cement path, following her mother's voice, before she saw her mum standing before her.
"Mummy," she yelled as she ran into her mother's embrace.
"Tina don't you ever run away like that again, I was worried sick about you!" sighed her relieved mother.
"Sorry, mummy, but there was this boy on the jungle gym, so I tried to climb to him, but then I fell, and then he saved me, and then he flew away into the sky!" she said in one breath.
"That is quite an imagination you have there, Tina," said her mother with a smile on her face, "but we should start heading home because it is already dark."
As the two headed home, Tina continued to search the skies for the young boy, but the only thing that had caught her eye, was a glow second to the right of where she was looking and straight on.
The modern day, fourteen year old Tina was resting against a wall with her small bag propping her up as a pillow. A small book with a blue cover was clutched tightly in her hands. Perhaps she was too old for the children's tale she thought to herself, but in her heart, iPeter Pan/i was as sophisticated a story as any other adult book out there, with a bunch of pirates to boot! As her eyes began to close, visions of a boy flashed through her mind, the same boy she had met that evening when she was little, the same boy who had haunted her dreams, and the very person she had been looking to find.