Chapter One
The cold autumn air whipped around the funeral service quite wickedly.
It seemed like forever since she last remembered seeing a smile on her mother and fathers face. Wendy stood numbly, unaware of the sniffs and tears that the black mourning had to offer.
The image of that horrid night was forever pressed into her memory, not once letting the girl have peace.
The smoke...the charred remains of what use to be her home. The desperate search for her mother and father. The tears and cold that never seemed to have left her. It was horrible to think about. Imagine, arriving home, only to see your house was a pile of ashes.
Thirteen was such a tender age to loose ones parents. Even if she believed them to be in blissful happiness, her heart was forever wrenched in pain.
"And even though the Darling's left behind two boys, and a girl, may they always remain in our hearts, minds, and thoughts. Amen."
"Amen..."She whispered.
"John! Michael! Please hurry! You'll be late for your first day at school!" The young beauty yelled up to the second floor.
She heard protests, moans, and curses, but smiling, she awaited her brothers to come scrambling down the wooden staircase.
"Wendy Moira Angela Darling, don't use that tone with me." Her year younger brother John remarked.
John was growing into be a fine man, Wendy thought. At the age of fifteen, he had developed quite the physique. Long fingers, well-toned muscles, a small golden tone to his new-found complexion, and a drastic change in height. She giggled as his tousled hair fell into his chocolate brown eyes. All in all, she was content with her brothers, and Aunt M, as she liked to be called.
"Dear John, I'm older, and wiser than you, so I'd find it quite agreeable if you were to shut your trap!" she mused.
He returned the remark with a small smile.
"Now, what is taking Michael so long?"
John shrugged his broad shoulders and turned back towards the stairs.
A small figure, grumbling about the early hours, came trotting out of his hiding place, (behind the railing) and looked sourly at Wendy.
"Wendy, I tell you, its far too early in the morning to be off to school." His small hands rubbed his hazel eyes in irritation.
"Michael, Wendy is doing us a favor while she attends lessons with Aunt M. Lets be off before the professors give us hell!" John grabbed the little hand before him, and ran out of the house, into the cold air.
Wendy watched, with warm eyes, as she saw the cloaked figures leave the room. With a sad sigh, she closed the door after them, and headed for the parlor to get some reading in.
A sudden thought shot through her mind as she remembered the date.
"January 14th..." she whispered.
It was exactly three years after the death of both parents.
She soon felt the prickling of tears as her memory came back from standing before the rubble.
Wendy stood, completely frozen, as she tried to clear her mind away. It obviously worked, for the second the thoughts left, she was well on her way to the parlor for a good book.
When she reached the small divan, with Pride and Prejudice, in hand, she sensed something change in the air. It grew colder and colder by the second. She looked to where the two windows where, and to her utmost surprise, found one to be wide open.
"What in the world..." she said out loud, as she crossed the room to close it. She reached the window, and attempted to shut it with one hand, but found there was an unknown force keeping it open. With frustration, she placed the book down on a near by table, and with all her might, closed the window shut.
"Finally." She panted. She locked it, and stared outside for a while. Wendy could have sworn she saw a dark figure pass quickly by the window, but simply dismissed it as a bird or a large maple leaf.
Right as she decided to settle down and read her lovely book, Aunt Millicent was heard trotting down the staircase.
"Wendy Moira Angela Darling! Come here this instant!" The rather plump woman of 42 shouted excitedly to Wendy. It was right away that Wendy knew the reason for her aunt's excitement. Obviously that one word was...suitor. Aunt Millicent had been trying to find Wendy an agreeable suitor since the age of fourteen, but every young man Aunt Millicent had over for a relaxing cup of tea, Wendy automatically shot down.
Lets see, there was Edward Stone. He was a rather thin, sickly boy of seventeen, and was a strange sight to look at. His black hair didn't seem to contrast well with his rather pale complexion, and he was five inches shorter than Wendy. Aside from having a sharp look about his unnaturally dull features, he was rather sluggish, and stiff. Another male that Aunt M. attempted to marry Wendy to, was a dreadful boy by the name of Richard Ells. He was extremely wealthy, and he not only inherited the family fortune in years to come, but also inherited the family's pompous attitude towards others.
Wendy had a horrid run-in with him at tea one morning, as he made an advance for her skirts, which sent her into violent hysterics. She accused him of being a man version of a trollop, and a dirty scoundrel who needed pleasure for his manhood and nothing else.
This obviously upset his family, and himself, and from then on, they degraded the Darling family no matter what.
Getting up regrettably from her comfortable blue divan, Wendy, leaving her book in place, and picking up her skirts, headed towards the front of Aunt Millicent's home. When she arrived at the bottom of the grand staircase, she gasped at her aunt in awe. Aunt M. was holding up a passion-red dress that was cut in the V style. It had small diamond encrusted jewels on the spinning bodice, and the skirts were made of pure silk. The top of the bodice was outlined in black lace, and the very bottom of the dress, where all the many layers of skirts were, was outlined in a deep burgundy red, with small sequence laced into the design.
"Oh my goodness..." Wendy gasped as she looked at the dress with the utmost admiration.
Aunt Millicent seemed to approve of her reaction.
"You like it, then?" Her eyes cast a warm glow of satisfactory.
"Like it? Are you honest? I think I've fallen positively in love with it Aunt. But, its not for me of course, correct?" The small ray of disappointment that was seen through Wendy's bright blue eyes was a bit saddening.
Aunt Millicent finished her walk down the steps, her green velvet dress shining in the gas light.
"Wendy," she placed a chubby hand on the sixteen year olds shoulder, "its yours. I found it, and I knew you would love it." The older woman tried a smile, and it seemed to have given her the effect she wanted.
Wendy's mouth stood agape. It was hers. Finally, something besides the dreadfully dull dresses she had to wear.
"Oh thank you Aunt M.! Thank you so very much!"
"Go on darling, go up to your room and try it on! If you need help with corsets, let me know, okay?" She responded giddily.
Wendy waited for no further motivation. She bounded up the stairs, her soft ringlets bouncing about, and headed straight for the drafty, and dull room that was her own. Locking the door, she quickly did her best to undress, but failed to notice the pair of eyes staring at her from the streets below. The window, which was horribly barred and left to be cold, was the only thing keeping Wendy from one of the people she had learn to forget.
A sudden sense of someone watching her frightened her to death, as she was tightening the vines of the corset. She looked out the window, and again, saw that sudden flash of something dark. The more that she put her innocent mind to it, the more she knew of something she had forgotten long ago.
"I must have left something slip away from my grasp..."
Not even then, did she realize how much pain someone else was going through.
A/N: Okay, please don't be too rude to me. I just took a stab at writing fanfiction. No flames please?
But reviews are just lovely to me: