Sarah Ballou
Per.2B
Mr. Edwards
Second Star to the Left
Peter Pan hasn't visited England for over two hundred years. Wendy Darling, her husband and kids all gone. He's often giggled about in elementary schools and looked down upon in places of business. The middle ground between those two ages are often stuck up about him and hurt that he didn't take them instead. He's much like history, the myth being now if he's still alive or not and if he still takes orphaned boys.
"I will be back and this time, for you." A boy said low and dark. With that he took flight to my window.
"Are you Peter Pan?" I asked frightened and at the aggressiveness of this visit.
"No, I'm his brother Porter Pan." He said, the shadow of his face making his eyes black with the moon at his back. He leapt off the sill into the air, a dark purple glow following behind him. I stared wide eyed at his figure growing smaller with distance.
That was a year ago but the scene still comes back to me at in nightmares. I had it again last night, and as morning came and everyone was waking up I couldn't help but feel more panicked that time was running out for me.
"How did you sleep Hitch?" My friend Copper asked, interrupting my thoughts, making me jump.
"Uh good I guess. What about you?" I asked trying to make him buy it.
"Not too bad. Hey you going to the Als today?" He said smiling, trying to barter my time for the day. Knowing that if he went alone he risks running into the Rags, our enemies on the north side of London.
"Yea I'll come, I got nothin' better to do today then protect your butt." I smiled still a bit shaken from my nightmare.
"Right then! I'll go get dressed, I know you always got my back Hitch." He said turning around to go through the bunk beds of our hall.
Me and the boys of Redlock rent this place out for all of us to stay at night. Most of us work, or steal to pay the low rent and just deal with the stench of boys. I got my nickname because I hitch real nice from the rich folk. Hitch being our term for stealing. But my real names Grace.
After we got dressed we headed out for the Als. Despite being one of the best fighters in Redlock I still get nervous being at risk of caught by Compzies (our cops) and beaten up by Rags every day. The Als were the alley ways that connected all of London to the other small towns, it was the best place to hitch, but the best place to get mugged too.
So yea naturally yes I was nervous but something other than the potential enemies we might face here made me on high alert. Copper was walking in front of me when all of a sudden the sky grew cloudy and cold. My arm tingled and it didn't go away. A shadow flashed on the wall ahead of us around the corner. My face fell pale as I looked up to see Porter flying straight for me.
"Copper! Run!" I yelled, turning around and taking off. Copper didn't waste time and he took off too.
I ran as fast as I could, faster than I would have for any Compzie or Rag, for what was behind me wouldn't take me to Juvy or beat me up. I didn't know what Porter was going to do, and that scared me way worse. I turned my head back a bit and Copper was a little behind me. Jumping over trash cans crushing broken glass bottles as we went. It seemed like minutes that we were running but we were also running out of energy. I braved a quick look behind us, Porter wasn't there, I slowed down to a stop as did Copper.
"Who was that?" Copper asked between breaths.
"He's after me not you." I said bending over putting my hands on my knees.
"Him who? I don't understand. Is he a Rag? That flies?" He said sitting down, chest pumping hard.
"No, far worse. You wouldn't want to believe me if I told you." I said catching my breath.
"Well whatever the case." Copper said in a different alert tone, "You might want to start running now." Copper said, I looked at him fear in his eyes, but they weren't looking at me, it was something behind me. Someone actually, as I turned around slowly Porter stood but a few feet from me. A handsome, charming, bright blue eyes boy about my age, just as I remembered him. His dark smile matching the dark clothes and dark brown hair that hung just above his eyes. His smile didn't go away and something was wrong with it, it was smug, like he knew he had me. And I wasn't gonna let that happen standing still.
"Don't follow me, this is my fight!" I yelled to Copper, not bothering to turn my head around to make sure he heard.
He had been sitting on the floor and I couldn't waste time waiting for him to get up. I ran again as fast as my tired sore legs would carry me. I felt the fear before I felt two hands on my shoulders not even 50 yards later. He pushed me down instead of lifting me up, which I would have been thankful if I hadn't landed on a cement roll I had started to jump over. I landed on my ribs and heard cracks that didn't feel too good either. All the air left my body with the impact and eyes went black, feelings of flight took my body before I didn't feel anything at all.
I awoke to something prodding my shoulder. I opened my eyes, and took a breath in but felt shards of glass instead. Looking around I saw that I was still in the Als but now sure where since it was getting dark. I was on the ground next to some trash cans.
"Sleep well princess?" I heard a dark voice say. Without looking over to where the voice was coming from I knew it was Porter. He laughed but it wasn't lightly, it sounded very icy. My arm was still tingling.
"Was that me or did you break 2 ribs all by yourself?" He chuckled to himself, amused by his own cruelty.
"No that was you I'm pretty sure, I don't push girls that are gravity restricted." I said trying to sit up. I looked over because he didn't snap back. A smirk was on his face.
"I like you, you're quick on your toes. I wasn't expecting you to turn a second time, considering you know I fly faster than you run." He said standing up and walking over to me.
"I never give up and I will never give you the satisfaction of winning." I said scooting away from him on my hands.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Now here's the thing, now that you're awake I'm gonna have to ask you don't put up a fight when I kidnap you." He asked eyes seeming to be a dark blue now, stopping short in front of me.
"What did you do with Copper? And not that it matters 'cause I'm not going anywhere with you." I said trying to sound as cold as I could.
"He's fine, just might not wake up for a few hours. And 'not that it matters' but I don't give a damn what way you come, but you're coming." He said stepping closer.
"Your cruelness would explain why you push girls then." I said sarcastically, pausing momentarily to hope Copper was ok, continuing, "Why me? I'm sure there are lots of girls out there who would want to play house with you and your brother but I like my life here. You can't just take people away, it's not right." I said struggling to stand to my feet now, holding my ribs. His gaze grew arctic cold and his hands clenched into fists.
"My brother is the reason I need you, him and I are nothing alike. I'm out to kill the little brat not play with him. You have the tattoo of the map, it's a map to a portal that goes to Neverland. Trust me if I had the choice I would stay away from your kind of people if I could. If not for all the crime and mischief I cause." He said pointing a finger at my arm. I didn't meet his eyes because I was looking at my arm as well, still tingling.
I was 15 years old when my mother was shot, and this was when my "tattoo" first appeared. The Compzies, shot her when she tried to run away when they had been notified of her hiding me in the country. She had managed to escape but she had a bullet in her lodged in her back. When she got back to the hum drum cottage we had been hiding at for 6 years. She threw open the door and proceeded to tell me what had happened. She managed to stay alive for 1 hour before she died. And the last thing she told me was that "everything was going to be ok."I didn't understand, nothing was going to be ok. And no matter what I did that year nothing could keep me warm at night.
Later that night after my mother's death, a tattoo (and I only call it that because it doesn't rub or come off) appeared on my forearm. I had never heard of anything like this happening before and it scared me greatly. It was some kind of a map but I couldn't place where it was. It didn't go away for 2 weeks straight and then one day coming out of the grocery outlet I saw a comic strip that was funny. I laughed and my arm tingled slightly and as I looked down it disappeared. Relief set in and I went home thinking it was over.
I found the Redlock boys when I was running from Compzies the day after. They took me in and I've been one of the family for 2 years. The tattoo seldom came then because I was happy where I was at, and I don't look back, or try not to at least. Over the course of 2 years I learned the tattoo showed up when I was scared, sad, frightened, nervous, or angry. And went away when I was happy, in love, cheerful, excited, was loved, or just felt like I finally belonged somewhere.
"My family is here, just because your relationship with the only family you have isn't good, don't drag me into it. Why do you hate him so much anyways?" I asked snapping back to reality and crossed my arms.
"Because the little twerp got the best of the two worlds, literally." He said looking coldly off in another direction.
"Wait, what do you mean 2 worlds?" I was curious but I didn't want to seem interested.
"I suppose you're going to have to know this." Porter said looking tired, "There's Neverland; second star to the right. And there's Alwaysland; second start to the left. One can't enter to the other after living in his own for a time. The winds are different and hard to ride." He explained, looking pleased with himself. I stood up and leaned against a trash can to steady my throbbing body.
"When was the last time you even talked to him?" I quarried, filled with pain. Family was all I had, how could one brother be filled with so much hate?
"2 years ago, and before that 250 years when he dropped off Wendy. It's been in the stars from the beginning that I kill him." He said short and angrily reading my inner questions.
"How…old are you and your brother?" I said feeling compassionate for the guy.
"I'm 300 and two months, he's 300. And don't start with that touchy feely crap, never was into it. We're wasting time." He said looking up into the sky. It was getting dark.
I was still on the age thing. 300 years old? I know you don't age in Neverland but I didn't know anything about Alwaysland. Porter interrupted my fascination by whistling a high pitched melody. A small very faint hovering purple glow ball came into view a few houses away.
"What is that? I asked standing up now, looking at the purple glow sphere.
"Her names Misery, she's my fairy," He said looking down at his shoulder, and looking closely now I saw a tiny woman enveloped in the glow.
"Stop stalling." He asked annoyed, the Porter I knew before was back.
"I'm not going with you Porter." I said crossing my arms like a defiant little child. Misery from his shoulder giggled, her laugh sounded like little bells.
"Oh did I make it sound like you had an option?" He asked levitating into the air. And before I could reply with a sarcastic comment he flew into me fast and precise. Hitting my torso with ripping speed. I screamed from the pain and surprise, we broke into the air, he turned up and we started to fly, yes fly, up above London and all its lighted streets.
"Porter! Lettme go!" As the words left my lips I nearly cried for forgiveness. I had pulled away from him and as my face passed his I saw a smile on his face that said all he was going to do. He let me go. And I fell back to the place I had so badly wanted to stay at. Screaming bloody murder as I called his name. Just 20 feet from a cement sidewalk he came from underneath and caught me. Holding tightly I started to cry because my ribs felt like they had been broken into a million pieces and I had never been so scared to die.
"I hate you!" I sobbed hard over his shoulder.
"What?" He growled, "You told me too. Just being a gentleman here is all uh.." Porter stumbled at my name, which I hadn't told him yet.
"Grace." I sniffed still really mad at him.
"Right. Well um stop crying, you make me question if I've feelings." He said montoned.
"You dropped me, and my 2 of my ribs are broken, and..and I'm a girl." I said not really caring now anyways. My arm was still tingling, the tattoo still marked on my forearm. But the tingling felt weird now, more than just at tingle, it was like a pinching.
"It's in the stars and was from the beginning that I do this, I can't apologize because its fate." Porter said looking straight ahead with a professor tone.
"The stars don't define anything." I paused, still thinking about my arm, "You are who you are at the beginning." I recited mother's words straight from her made-up bed time hero stories. I looked up at him, he had a far off look on his face, surely pondering what I had said. He must have seen me staring because he became a "man" hurriedly.
"Well if you're done being all girly hold tight 'cause we're about to enter through an air pocket. Misery, you know the drill." He said looking behind him. Misery came over and held onto a makeshift belt he wore loose around his hips.
"Here we go, home sweet home." He said gruffly, as the winds picked up and we too picked up speed towards a bright green star becoming bigger and bigger in front of us. My arm suddenly started to pinch increasingly until finally it went back down to a tingling. My face relaxed and I exhaled my relief and looked up just in time to see the star right in front of us. We passed through it like a black hole, and when I opened my eyes from the bright lights a whole new world, literally, lay in front of me.
Alwaysland lay open like a map, in the middle of the ocean. If I could imagine what Neverland looked like I would say this is it, but something told me that Neverland was a much brighter happier place than AlwaysLand. A large Island, miles long from the looks of it, lay in the ever long shadows of dark grumpy clouds and the water was raging off shore. The trees looked either dead or grew of black wood. And the sky was the darkest blue with sorrow. I had never seen a sadder or scarier place than this. All that was missing was-. I stopped mid thought, my arm wasn't tingling. I know the familiar, almost comforting, feeling when I was nervous or scared and I didn't feel it. Just as I was about to look down at my arm I was dumped on the beach. Ribs exploding with pain when they had been a numb quiet before.
"What about 2 broken ribs do you not get?" I yelled, trying to stand up. Porter landed gracefully on the beach and Misery was nowhere to be found.
"Look I didn't bring you here to be friends or anything so I'm not gonna make things easy and sweet this short loved visit." Porter said snidely, "Now let's have a look see at that map." He kneeled down and grabbed my arm.
It looked like an ordinary arm on any ordinary person. His face grew immediately flustered. He looked up at me with eyes after a storm, restless and irritated.
"Where in the hell is it?" He said almost yelping. I knew he was just confused but I was too.
"It comes when my emotions are negative and leaves when they're positive so believe me I don't understand this either 'cause I'm pretty pissed right now. Don't get your tights in a wad." As I said the lame joke I couldn't help but laugh at his face. He was so mad, I could tell just by watching his mouth straighten to a thin line. My arm tingled all of sudden and I looked down to see my tattoo appear.
"Interesting it must be reversed here." I said aloud holding my arm in a new light of perspective.
"Here let me help you up." Porter said jumping up and holding out his hand.
"Don't think changing now will help you out at all." I said as I stood up ignoring his hand. My rage welling up making my tattoo go away.
"And if you don't mind I'm going to wait here 'til I'm rescued." I said knowing that it would never happen.
"Grace I got a wild idea, want to meet the not-so-lost boys?" Porter asked, trying to sound excited. And I admit I really did want to meet them, it sparked an interest.
"Fine, but I'll walk I don't want to get thrown, or pushed, or dropped again." I said stubbornly starting to walk, hoping I was going in the right direction.
"Grace I'm really sorry about that." Porter said with a hurtful voice. My arm tingled as I turned around, touched that he would-. He was staring at my arm. Ugh the jerk the likes of him to take advantage of my emotions. Fine let's play that game. Anger set in and my tattoo left as quickly as it came, Porter saw my expression knowing now he had been caught.
"I'll uhh, show you the way then right?" He said collecting his cool right away.
"Yea, following the leader." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
We weaved through multiple groves of trees, and over small brooks and streams. Through tall grasses and weeds and across plains of dead wheat.
"You know we would have already been there if you would just have let me fly us there." Porter said from the front.
"Go ahead then, but you're not touching me again." I said as strong as I could without letting my feet and ribs say the truth.
"Fine then. Be a little-." He stopped short, "I mean whatever you want girly." He said with fake sweetness.
We arrived later to the biggest tree I had ever seen in my life. Over 30 stories high for sure but I could barely even see the top with the sky so dark with rain clouds. Porter walked to trunk and hit on it, opening a door no taller than himself.
"After you." He said smiling.
"Whatever." I said frowning. Letting the blackness inside engulf me as I stepped inside, "Where to now captain?" I said biting my lip so to not say more than needed. Light poured into the dark room we had been in, the dark running to get away. A door had been opened and Porter stood in the doorway. I walked over and he motioned me to go ahead. I stepped into another room and saw everything much more clearly as there were torches and fires everywhere. I saw bunk beds and toys, books, wooden swords, discarded bones and dishes on the floor and in the middle of this room was dining table with 5 boys probably 15 and under stuffing their faces with various island foods.
Upon me entering though they all stopped and stared, some still with food in open mouths. Porter came around the side of me and flew to the table and stood in the center.
"Let me introduce the not-so-lost boys." He said with a tour guide mimic, "That's Diggory, Charles, Avery, Lennox, and Owen. " He pointed around the table to each of the boys. They all said a "hi" or a "nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet all of you, sorry I'm not here on my own terms otherwise I might be more happy to make friends out of all you." I said with sincere remorse. Porter turned to the boys, whispering in a group huddle.
"Now see here boys, the map only shows when her emotions are negative and leaves when they're positive, but here it's the opposite so be extra nice, we need at map." The boys nodded their heads and resumed to eat. I spotted Misery in the corner, resting in a make-shift birdhouse.
I spent the night in another room with my own bed and my own furs and books. I know it was all nice things and gestures, but I still wasn't happy because they were doing it to get my tattoo so show, I was hurt if anything really. For the next following days it was the same, hurtful and fake. It didn't help that the sky was always dark and gloomy, day or night, either .When no one was looking I cried and not even my own sarcastic comments and jokes could spark a laugh from my soul.
But it was about the second week I had been there that I actually felt emotion from the boys. They actually started to invite me to do things even if I wasn't in the room. We canoed, hiked, fished, and even painted war paint on each other one night. Before I could help myself I was laughing and playing along in no time. Before all that I had counted the days, but now I didn't know how long I had been here. My ribs healed and I was able to do anything the boys, if not better. Porter hung around sometimes with us and that's when things were always the most tense. My tattoo came and left more periodically when he was around because he made me feel so many things at once. Misery, I was finding out, was really nice, but her one-mood-at-a-time that fairies are known for was being depressed. The sky got a lot lighter as the days progressed, and the boys told me that it was Porter's doing, his moods affect the weather just like Peter.
One afternoon the boys and I were going to go on the other side of the island to go hunting but just as I stepped through the trunk door Porter grabbed my arm. My arm stopped tingling.
"Hey, I thought we could hang out for the day." He said, his blue eyes looking down at his feet.
"Do you want to hang out with me? Or my tattoo?" I asked shyly.
"You Grace." He said looking up and meeting my eyes. I was shocked, he could be lying I supposed but the eyes usually give that away and his eyes were sincere.
"Oh ok um, lettme tell the boys I guess." I stuttered without meaning to. Was I twitter pated? This was not good news.
"Hey guys!" I yelled, they turned around, "Porter and I are gonna hang…alone, that cool?"
"Yea, right then Grace, catch you later." Charles said as the others smiled and continued to march. Porter looked at me.
"Can we fly now?" Porter asked pleadingly.
"You know people can still get around and not fly all the time." I half laughed, annoyed he wanted to do only that.
"But I want to take you somewhere you can't get to by walkin'." He said his dark blue eyes brightening. I was nervous now, was he gonna push me off a cliff? Feed me to some sharks? I guess all I could do was find out.
"Just this once." I said trying to make it seem like I still had control of things.
He picked me up with his strong arms and I wrapped my arms around his neck like a wreath lightly. He gently took flight into the sky. I had been crying and scared to death our first time flying but this time I realized it really was beautiful, and I understood why he loved it. Minutes later without much talking we arrived at a plain up on peak of some mountains. In the middle of the plain was a circle of eight tall stone pillars.
Porter set me down and I walked over to one of the pillars. It had archaic words and symbols of all sorts. It was the most abstract coolest thing I had ever seen. Porter walked up next to me and stared with me. I had never looked at him any other way except mean and cruel, but now seeing him in the faint sunlight with true color in his eyes and his skin catching the sun's rays I couldn't help but stare at him in a crush kind of way. The way he provided for the boys and cared about Misery he had never struck me as a caring person. My arm tingled.
"I found it, I thought you might wanna to see." Porter said, interrupting my thoughts. What did he mean? Found what? My heart sank then, I knew now he had found the portal. I know he didn't really use me but over time I had forgotten that I was here in Alwaysland for my tattoo. I was hurt that after all the time now it was still for that reason.
"It's great. Bye then." I said as I turned around and started to walk away. My head fell down my heart felt defeated, and I was on the verge of crying.
"Wait, where are you going?" He said as he came around the other side of me and grabbed my shoulders gently. I arm was still tingling and as I looked in his eyes I knew that somewhere down inside me I had something for this boy. Leaning up I kissed him on the lips. He froze for a moment but caught on. After a several moments I broke away and a tear broke free down my cheek.
"Grace," He said tilting my head up, "What's wrong?" He asked softly.
"You don't have to do this, the portal, killing Peter. The past is the past, you especially seem to live in the present, in the moment Porter." I shook from the emotion, my arm tingling now more than ever before, a constant buzz.
"It's written in the stars Grace, if we don't follow what the stars then who are we?" Porter explained pointing up at the sky.
"The stars don't determine who are and always will be. From the beginning you were your own person and now you have to decide who you'd rather be. Not the stars." I said more clearly and stronger as my tears kept falling.
"I..I just can't let go of him Grace.. I've wanted to hurt him for such a long long time" Porter said looking down. He looked, for the first time, defeated and broken.
"Porter use grace to forgive him of his wrongful doings." I said as he looked up, a new glow in his vivid eyes.
"You're my grace in my life. And with grace I forgive my little brother." He said honest and true. My arm pinched and I looked down and just like that my tattoo was gone, and I had a feeling, for good. Smiling I looked up at the new Porter and knew that 'everything was going to be ok.' And that Porter was my hero in our story.
"In the words of my brother, new and improved; to have grace, would be an awfully big adventure." Porter said proud and true, both our eyes shining in the new light of the weather, sunny and clear. And with that we turned to walk away from the portal, away from Neverland and away old hurt and despair. Together we flew to a new always, together by Grace.