Summary: Every child must have their time to fly, their time of freedom, their time in Neverland. Between childhood and growing up, they meet Peter Pan.
Ester sat staring at the clouds surrounding the setting sun through her window. Her father was still at work, policing the Red light district of London, her mother had run off when she was six, leaving Ester and Amaryllis, who was four at the time, alone with their father and each other. Ester was twelve now and the tallest girl in her year, she was the outcast of the seventh grade, being tall, skinny, and pale.
"Ester... tell me a story." Amaryllis said coming over to Ester and tugging on her skirt,
"Alright little one,"
"Not so little as some," Amaryllis said quietly walking to her bed
"Little to me," Ester said tucking the blankets around her
"Most everybody's little to you Essie,"
"Which story would you like tonight dear?" Ester said sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking stray strands out of Amaryllis's face
"A new story, an exciting one, maybe one about mother?" Amaryllis said snuggling into her bed
"Mother? Why would you want to hear about her?" Ester said pulling back slightly
"Because everybody but me has a mother, and I should like to know about her."
"If you wish, Once upon a time mother and father met, and they fell totally and madly in love. They had a wild and passionate engagement and then they were married. And for quite some time after that, they were very happy and they loved each other very much. Because they loved each other so much they had you and I. But then after being so intensely happy, something horrible happened. Mother got very sick and had to run off to South America to find a cure, and she's been there ever since, barely surviving. All because she loved us so much and she couldn't bear if we caught the horrible disease she has. And so we're waiting for her to come back with the cure."
"Is that really true?"Amaryllis said squinting skeptically at Ester who just smiled
"You asked for a story not the truth, good night Little One, I'll see you in the morning." Ester turned off the light on her way out
She walked quietly back to her room, father wouldn't be home for quite some time even after his shift in the red light district was over he often stayed late to drink with the other officers.
She slipped into her room without a sound and changed into her pajamas, a pair of plain black pajama pants and a blue flannel shirt. Ester walked back to the window seat and stared at the stars wishing that she could take Amaryllis to a far off place where she wouldn't have to worry about where mother was or why father wasn't home yet.