John stares at his sister. She is 18 now and as beautiful as always. Her hair is the color of honey and it falls to her petite waist. She has such a bright smile but John hasn't seen much of it lately. Wendy puts up a good act of pretending not to miss him but John knows she does. The only jewelry she wears is a silver thimble around her neck. Peter's kiss.
"Wendy?" John asks quietly.
"Hmm?"
"Why don't you just tell them that he is not real?"
Wendy's jaw dropped and she stared at her brother.
"That's what they want you to say, just say it, be done with this teasing nonsense." John says sharply.
"John, you know he's real."
John stood up and walked to the other side of the room. "I remember your stories, Wendy. I was young. I could have easily imagined-"
"STOP IT, JOHN, STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" Wendy was on her feet and was yelling at her brother.
"Come on, Wendy! Admit, you wonder if it was real sometimes too."
Her hands flew to the object around her neck and she smiles vaguely. "No, I don't. I believe in him! I really do!"
"Ugh Wendy!," John throws his hands in the air," You don't get it?! If he is real then where is he?! Why hasn't he come back for you?! Face it, Wendy, Peter Pan is NOT real."
Wendy is shocked and angry at the same time. She throws her cig down and stomps out the flame on the hardwood floor. Then she runs up the stairs to her room and slams the door.
Wendy falls back against her bedroom door and tries to hold in the tears welling up in her eyes. No one understands her. She feels like she doesn't belong in England and she knows this to be true. The more she thinks, the sadder she becomes. Finally, she gives up and collapses to the floor. Her long curly hair drapes over her face like a curtain as she sobs into her arms which are propped up on her knees.
After drying her tears, she stands and walks over to the window. While keeping her gaze on the second star to the right, she unhinges the lock. Slowly, Wendy steps out onto the ledge. She looks down at the ground beneath her and wonders how much it would hurt to fall. Her tears start to form again and her breaths become shaky.
Jump.A voice in her head whispers. It reminds her off when she was forced to walk the plank by Hook and his crew. She had held her head high and jumped off the wooden plank but Peter Pan was there to catch her. And now he wasn't. He hadn't been here for five years.
Wendy takes a deep breath as she points her head towards the second star.
After all, she thinks, to die would be an awfully big adventure. And with that thought, she jumps.
