Hannah was only 5 years old when Peter first visited the house. He came rather unexpectedly, for Peter usually came to those big houses in London full of happy stories. Why had he come to a small shack full of sorrow and darkness, she didn't know, but he hadn't come for her. Peter had come for her brother and sister, Kate and Darcy.
She remembered that night her Dad had come home drunk. He foamed and roared through the house. Hannah remembered his black eyes and his curly hair wild as he hit his wife across her once beautiful face. She remembered hiding in her bed and seeing things that no young child should have seen. Ever since that night, she was a quiet silent, sad child. Fearful of most people. If she had ever had love given to her, she might have changed into the smiling dimpling child she use to be.
When her father's footsteps stopped, and her mother was sobbing more quietly, Hannah crept to the window and peered out to the stars, trying to forget the images flashing through her mind. Kate, her sister, bounded up to her. Kate was a nimble young girl of eleven, with long skinny legs and shoulders. Her blonde hair waved down to her waist, and she looked at Hannah staring out.
"What are you waiting for?" Kate asked innocently, looking at quiet Hannah. Kate and Darcy hadn't been there when Dad had hit Mother, they had been outside playing, and now had come in. They were completely oblivious of the events that had just happened.
"For the stars to come down and dance with me," Hannah whispered, clinging to her old stuffed bunny toy. Her short brown hair glistened from the moonlight, but her eyes were clouded with thought and horrible images.
"You're queer," said Darcy, standing by Kate. He was a little talker than the nimble Kate, even though they were twins. "Stars can't come and dance with you, don't you know." He said, leering above Hannah.
"Oh," Hannah said softly. She gave the stars one last look, before crawling over to her small mat on the floor. Darcy and Kate had the bed, and they never shared it with Hannah because it was "too full" or that it was because "Hannah wriggles too much." And so Hannah was given a small mat to sleep on, since their parents couldn't really afford another bed. Hannah didn't mind it; she hardly minded anything. So she rolled into a ball to help keep herself warm, and fell asleep without another sound.
"Oh, no, you don't want to bring her," Kate's voice woke Hannah up. Hannah looked quietly over to Kate and Darcy, and some strange boy in green. He was smiling a little uncertainly, all of his baby teeth showing. "Why ever not?" He laughed. Hannah smiled at the boy, she liked happy people, they didn't yell at you. The boy, who had been looking at Kate turned to look at Hannah, the toothy grin still on his face. Hannah shyly ducked her head and held her stuffed bunny close.
"She looks young, but in the inside she's too grown up," Darcy said, nodding towards Hannah. "You can see it in her eyes, the same hopeless look that grown ups have."
The boy in green looked at her with suspicious eyes, and his smile faded, but Hannah didn't see because of her downcast bashful eyes fixed on her bunny.
"Yes, and she is really a nuisance, Peter," Kate said convincingly to the boy in green. But the boy didn't seem too convinced, he flew (literally) over to Hannah and put something shiny on her. Hannah looked up and saw him and a small fairy. "Think happy thoughts, and then you can fly." The boy said into her ear. How can I think "Happy thoughts?" Wondered Hannah. How could she after she had seen what her parents had done to each other that night. Everyone in the room waited for her. At length she said "I can't." The boy nodded, apparently convinced in their arguments and the fact that she couldn't fly. "She won't ever go to Neverland, then," the boy, Peter, said. He turned and looked towards Darcy and Kate. "Ready?" He asked them. A small blonde fairy came to his shoulder and made a rude gesture towards Kate. But Kate was oblivious to it. "Yes, we're ready." And Hannah watched, wide eyed, as she saw her siblings fly off to Neverland.
They were back by morning, with the strange boy, who soon left them. "Did you miss me?" Kate asked Hannah. Hannah shook her head, she honestly didn't. "You brat," Kate said dismissively before remarking, "I'm surprised you haven't grown, we were in Neverland for what seemed like a year!" Hannah shook her head again and whispered "One night."
"Whatever," Darcy shrugged, and began to talk to Kate about the boy, a snotty fairy named Tink, and a man called Captain Hook. Hannah listened quietly with her doll to all the stories about the smiling boy, Peter, and his heroisms. At length she asked, "Can I go to Neverland?" Her response was nothing but a laugh, which, as Hannah knew, meant no. The boy would come every so often to visit and to take Darcy and Kate away. Hannah would watch them go, with her soft dark brown eyes, knowing that she wouldn't go with them, they wouldn't let her. She was alone, as she had always been. However, the boys visits seemed to come less often, and soon, they weren't coming at all. Which meant the stories of the smiling boy fighting Captain Hook came no more to Kate's ears.
A/N: The next chapter is 8 years later, so Hannah will be 13 years old. It won't be depressing like this chapter.