He was everything to me. It didn't start off that way; nothing ever does in a hellish paradise like this one. Neverland consists of six boys who were deemed royalty by the Fae and the people of Neverland; Peter Pan, Roland Niblet, Xavier Slightary, Adam Curlter, Francis Toote and Maxim Twinton. The six supposed Princes were given advisers, faeries in human form, to lend them help in their ruling. Their ruling was rigorous, the most gruelling being crown Prince Peter Pan. He had been hurt by a mortal girl and mortals were never forgiven. Mortals were believed inferior to the immortals on the island, they were looked down on and seen to be disgusting and highly selfish creatures; even though that is what almost every inhabitant of Neverland once was. Access from Neverland to their world was forbidden. This caused stir in Neverland, Rebels wanted freedom to visit the mortal world and hated the iron fist monarchy. The only way out of Neverland was under Pirate guard, as the pirates wanted to spite the young Princes, especially as Captain James Hook was arch enemy to Peter. Rebels would usually choose the pirates side to visit the mortal world. The gender injustice on the island was apparent; girls, although highly praised by Peter Pan for being incomparable, were subservient to the male population. They were not permitted to fight or hold a weapon the way the boys were, they were forced to dress wounds and nurse, giving their sympathy to the poor, "hardworking" males. Quite a few of the girls hated this, in particular Princess Tiger Lily, of the Indian Tribe.
The Princes would have regular parties and were indulged in luxury due to their alliance with the Fae. They would never go hungry or have anything denied to them. Each of them were expected to find a Princess but Peter Pan stopped this declaring that he and the Princes were not ready and could cope without. They ruled their own Heaven with contentment and they were superior to almost everything else on the island, out of fear or respect. Their world would change, particularly one of them, when I came into it…
'How does Austen present the character Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and-' I began to write until I heard my brother and his new girlfriend waltz in, his obnoxious laughter filling the echoing hallway. They were strange the way they acted together, it was like she turned him into an entirely different man. He was labelled the most arrogant man in the whole of South England, and it was very true. He had a new woman every month, except this one, she'd been around for five months. He dedicated all of his time to her and they would run away for days on end and arrive home claiming they went on "a quick getaway to France". I thought her parents must have had a fortune if they could afford to go away so often, Jack spent all his on alcohol, poker and cigarettes so he couldn't possibly have been paying for it. I did take a large dislike to my brother; he was loud, arrogant and confident, yet in his self-assurance he never spoke any wise or kind words. He never spent time with me, even when we were little. He'd smack me over my head with toys and book and blame me for anything he did wrong. Our parents still took pride in him, my father was almost proud of him and he would always be my mother's "little boy". I didn't exactly favour my parents either, their jobs and social life was of far higher importance than their children. I'm convinced they only had Jack and me due to it being expected of them. My father would dedicate all his spare time to Jack, teaching him sports, and my mother would pass me over to a nanny so she could have tea with all her friends. My favourite nanny was Francesca, or to me she was Fern, she was with me from the age of seven till my sixteenth when I had "grown up". Jack had just turned twenty and my parents were hoping that this girl, Kate, would be the one he could marry. I hoped so too only because then he could leave the house.
'Eden, are our parents home yet?' He slouched over to me. I looked up at the clock in our extensive living room.
'It's only four, dad will be at work and mum is probably out with her friends.' I shrugged trying to get back to my homework.
'Perfect, how about I give you this,' he put some change in my hand, 'and you go get some sort of beverage, for about thirty minutes?' He smirked and Kate laughed.
'You're disgusting.' I sighed as I knew what he wanted me out of the house for. I put my homework down and slipped some polished shoes on.
'Thanks sis, don't tell them.' He smiled as he pulled Kate upstairs. I walked out the door and wandered around the streets, I wasn't going to get a drink, I'd save this money. I tried soaking up some sunlight in the midsummer evening and went along to the park. It had been a good hour, I didn't want to walk in on anything so I stayed out longer than necessary. I walked back down the quiet streets and back to the tall white house at the end of the road. I noticed Jack and Kate walking out the house and down the alley next to our house. I smirked to myself and thought it would be interesting to spy on them, they were always so secretive and this would be the perfect opportunity to see why. I crept after them and waited on the corner of the alley out of sight.
'…stay there permanently…' Kate said and I frowned. 'He's taken a liking to you.'
'I will, my parents would have a fit if I just disappeared though.' He said back.
'Tell them we want to live in France, and then come away to the island.' What island? I narrowed my eyes.
'Yes, I'll live on the ship with you…' He chuckled. She has a ship? 'So, France is the excuse?'
'They've believed it all before.' She laughed. I smiled to myself, he'd been lying. They'd never been to France. 'You belong with us, all our visits have been a success and you're practically one of us.' They'd been to the island numerous times… I wondered where it was, off the coast of Cornwall perhaps.
'I'll take that as a compliment.' He snickered. 'Now go tell him I'll be there in a few days.' I peered around the corner and watched Kate literally step into the wall and disappear as the plain red bricks glowed. My blood ran cold and I sprinted into the house, I must have been out in the sun too long. I didn't know what to make of what I just saw. I ran to my room and closed the door. Jack was hiding something about his girlfriend.
I was called down for dinner later in the evening. I took my place at the table and picked at my food with my fork listening to my mother's shallow chatter.
'So I told Julia that we couldn't possibly make her wedding anniversary because we'd be at Sarah's son's engagement party. Of course she was having none of it and began to get mouthy so me, Sarah and Andrea aren't speaking to her. Don't talk to Hector because he'll just report it all back to Julia, it's only their tenth year, nothing that special.' My mother babbled on about her superficial social life.
'I know dear, it's all very silly.' My father tried to comfort. 'Ellen, are we free tomorrow evening?' My mother nodded. 'Excellent, Bill is hosting a drinks evening at their house and I thought we would want to go along.'
'Yes, that gives me time to catch up on gossip.' My mother smirked to herself. She had the biggest mouth of any woman I had ever met. 'I know Bill has a son that's Eden's age.' My mother eyed at me, smiling. My parent's friends were not to my taste, which included their snotty children.
'Yes, Harry seems a nice chap, will you be joining us Eden?' My father asked.
'I don't really want-' I began to answer but my mother sighed.
'Oh for goodness sake, Eden! You should go instead of locking yourself away in your room! Harry is a lovely boy, beautiful face as well.' My mother nodded encouragingly.
'Fine…' The truth was Harry was Head Boy at his all boys school that had extremely high fees and he was a close runner up to my brother of being second most arrogant boy in the whole of South England.
'Jack, you should bring Kate along.' My father urged.
'Yes, about Kate…' He said and I waited to see what he was going to say. 'We are going to live in France, where I will propose to her.'
'France?' My father frowned but my mother squealed.
'Oh! My little boy is getting married!' She clapped her hands together. 'In France too? How romantic! He can announce it tomorrow at the drinks evening!'
'He can't announce the proposal, the girl will know!' My father laughed.
'Not that bit Edward! The France part! When do you leave?' My mother asked.
'In a few days.' He shrugged.
'Days?!' She gasped and started babbling about preparations, packing and all sorts of other nonsense.
'I'm sure he has it sorted.' My father calmed my mother and gave a wink to Jack.
The next evening I was turned out in an emerald green dress and thrown into a room full of high society business men and gossiping women. I stood in the corner by the piano with lemonade in hand. I watched Jack show off Kate's beauty to everyone, my mother was talking to all her friends about some ridiculous health tip whilst smoking and my father was congratulating his fellow business men on their relatively simple jobs they made look so intelligent. I noticed Harry making his way over to me and I internally screamed in annoyance. I'd met him once before and wanted to stick a pencil in my eye.
'Good evening, Eden.' He greeted.
'Good evening, Harry.' I replied.
'How are your studies coming along?' He started small talk.
'Fine, and yours?' I asked. I immediately regretted asking him as he went on an endless talk about himself and how amazing his school was.
'Of course I was put as Head Boy due to my sheer enthusiasm and academic results. My extracurricular activities also added to getting Head Boy in the bag. I play cricket, polo, football and also hunt with father at the weekends. What do you do in your spare time?' He asked.
'I read and fence.' Said plainly and his golden eyes widened.
'Fence?! How unfeminine! What's wrong with ballet?' He looked appalled, he wouldn't be the first. My parents weren't pleased when I took up fencing.
'I do ballet as well, you have to be agile to fence Harry.' I patronised. 'To shock you even more I've had my fair few archery lessons too.' I crossed my arms over my chest.
'You are nothing like your mother.' He shook his head, his blonde hair slicked back shining.
'Good.' I'd never want to be like her: a snob, gossip and servant to my father. I noticed Jack and Kate slip away from the party and walk outside. They both looked sketchy. I walked away from Harry and followed them outside. They were hurriedly walking down the street and out of curiosity I followed after them. They hadn't even announced their "France" trip yet and they were walking away. I followed them down the street, keeping a safe distance but close enough to hear.
'They wanted us to announce it?' Kate hissed.
'Yes.' He said.
'We'll have to leave now, they would have all wanted to visit us in France.' She shook her head.
'Now? My parents are going to flip.' He replied.
'I don't care, you made a promise you'd become one of us, they could have found out that we aren't going to live in France.' She said. 'We have clothes on the ship, that'll do, you don't need anything else from home.'
'Neverland it is then.' He chuckled. What the heck was Neverland? The island? They both got to the alley way and Kate did some weird tap on the stone wall, she held his hand and walked through the wall, just as before and they were gone. The wall was still glowing a tinge of teal, I walked up to it and stuck my hand through, it felt warm on the other side. Adrenaline washed over me, this was an adventure like in all of the books I'd read. This was an opportunity for a change. Away from the boredom of this ridiculous life. I took one step through and then I was consumed by darkness for a moment.