Chapter 1 - A Lost Girl

Wet streams marred her porcelain face as a fresh bout of tears dropped from her sad eyes. She wiped her nose on the soft fabric of her nightdress as she stumbled down the wet road.

"They forgot me!" she sniffled loudly. "My parents just left without me. They left me in that horrid house with my aunt." A noise behind her startled her, causing her to spin around in fear, searching. "They didn't even say goodbye!"

"Who?" a cheerful voice called from the boy that appeared suddenly.

She screamed and fell backwards, splashing his legs with the cold water that lay in puddles on the road.

He looked baffled by her reaction. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. "It was just a simple question."

Sliding backwards through even more puddles, she attempted to get away from the strange boy with curly, blonde hair and clothes made up entirely of leaves. "What do you want with me? Why are you following me?"

He smiled at the wet girl still moving away from him. "I wasn't following you. You called to me… and I'm here to take you away."

Her eyes widened as she froze in place. "I knew it! I'm going to die here tonight… at the hands of a vicious scoundrel." She looked up at him with an unreadable look on her face. "A scoundrel, yes," she grinned suddenly, "but just a boy."

His face instantly transformed from happy and carefree to sad. The words hit him hard as he remembered Wendy.

He had been distracted long enough for the soaked girl to stand before him and hit him hard, knocking him back. Sparkling with the moonlight, his eyes glinted merrily at the game he was going to play with her. Taking off, he flew after her slowly, letting her think that she was getting away.

Feet slapping heavily against the stone streets, she looked wildly about her for a place to hide. A dark alley from between two buildings welcomed her into its shadowy embrace. With a wary look behind her, she saw no one coming. Catching her breath, she leaned her back against the outer wall of the buildings she had hid in between.

Once again, the green-eyed boy appeared in front of her. "This was a fun game. I've always enjoyed a good game of hide and seek and I haven't played it in so long. Shall we play it again or are you ready to leave, yet?"

"Play it?" she asked, angrily. "You thought this was all a game? You nearly scared me half to death chasing me, and you call it a game?"

His brilliant smile continued to anger her as he stood proudly in front of her. Silencing her with a finger, he parted his own lips with a laugh. "Just answer me this one question: are you lost?"

The question unnerved her. "I beg your pardon. What do you mean am I lost?"

He looked away from her and laughed brightly again. "Do you not understand me? I thought the question was simple. Are—you—lost?"

"No," she stated flatly brushing passed him and back into the dimly-lit street. Turning her head in both directions, she stomped off to the left.

The young man watched her with interest, there was no way he was wrong. The only way he could hear her calling to him from Neverland was if she was truly lost. All he had to do was wait for her to realize what he already knew.

She stomped bravely onward, knowing he was following her, feeling the unsettling gaze of his upon her back. Coming to a junction in the road, she gulped nervously, realizing that she was completely and utterly lost.

"Boy," she said, turning around; her dignity made it difficult for her to admit her past mistakes. Taking a deep breath, she acknowledged the leaf-covered boy with a slight movement of her head. "I…" the words caught in her throat. "I'm lost. I don't know where I am… and… I don't want to go back."

He had known that she would come around sooner or later, so he stretched out a hand to her. "You don't have to go back. Come with me and you can have adventures and fun… forever. You'll never have to worry about anything ever again. And," he added with a mischievous wink, "you'll never be forgotten again."

A solitary tear trailed down her cheek as she sucked in a shuddering breath. "What am I doing?" she wondered aloud. "Not wanting to go home… why, that's ridiculous! My parents… my parents, they would…"

"Forget you again," he interrupted her sharply. "They'll leave you with your aunt and they won't ever come back." He took a step closer to her, still beckoning with his hand. "Do you know any stories?" he abruptly asked.

She looked at his fingers: the nails were short and had specks of dirt underneath them. "I know some, but just ones that my mother has told me."

"You know stories!" he exclaimed, his face lighting up with excitement. "That's wonderful! I haven't heard any since Wen…" the golden-skinned boy trailed off. "Since Wendy shut her window." His hand shook as he brought it to his side in silent defeat.

Shaking her head in sadness, the young girl moved in front of him and touched him gently on the arm. "You poor thing!" Her face scrunched up in confusion. "But what would closing a window have anything to do with telling stories?"

He smiled weakly. "She used to tell wonderful stories. Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty. There was even this one about a boy who fought against a one-handed pirate…"

"Captain Hook! That was one of my favorites! My mother always told me those stories… about Peter Pan." Her jaw dropped, "No! You're just a story! A figment of my mother's imagination. You can't be real… you're not Peter Pan!"

The young man in front of her struck a pose and looked her in the eyes, staring in the mesmerizing depths of her blue orbs. He was forced to lower his head as he hovered a foot off the ground in order to continue to gaze into her eyes.

"I must be sick!" the girl said, touching her hand to her forehead and turning away. "I did not just see a boy fly. It's not possible!"

"'Course it is!" he called out to her, somersaulting over her head to land in front of her. "All you need is a little fairy dust and some happy thoughts."

"Fairies?" she stated, putting her hands on her hips as Peter looked on in horror. "What a load of rubbish. You can't expect me to believe…" she found it difficult to speak with his hand covering her mouth. But before he could say anything she had yanked his hand away from it and began to speak again. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? I know what not to say, thank you very much. I happen to have paid attention to my mother's stories."

His focus landed on the moon that reflected off of a puddle by his feet. "Come with me. Stay with me in Neverland… Wendy's taken all of the Lost Boys and it gets rather lonely without anybody to play with or tell stories to."

"Why do you keep saying Wendy? Surely you're not talking about my mother. It's not possible… all those stories are fake, they can't be real, right?"

"Of course they're real," he snorted. "And besides, what other Wendy's do you know that tells stories of me? I never saw who she told the stories to… and I stopped coming back after waiting for her to reopen the window that winter." He stopped and let out a slight, sad chuckle. "The colored glass on that boring, old window was so cloudy that I couldn't see in… I couldn't hear anything, either. I'd sit outside it for hours at a time, hoping that she'd open it once again."

The girl's face paled: he had just described the window in her bedroom. She had been the one to force her mother to shut it even though she had not wanted to.

He shook his tousled hair. "But it doesn't matter any more because you're lost… and you don't want to go back… or be forgotten. So you'll come with me. You're Wendy's daughter; you'll have lots of fun!"

"Just the two of us?"

Perfect white teeth showed as he tossed his head back in laughter. "No, silly. There are Indians and pirates and I'm sure there are bound to be more Lost Boys soon." He extended his hand once more.

"I'm Elaine," she said, tentatively placing her cold hand in his warm one. "And I suppose that I am coming with you to Neverland."

"Peter Pan," he introduced himself formally. Dipping his open hand into a pouch on his side, he sprinkled a gold glitter over her head. Leaning in close, his breath tickled her ear as he whispered, "Now think happy thoughts."

For the first time that evening, a genuine smile graced her lips. "I'm getting out of here." She closed her eyes and gripped his hand tightly, squeezing so hard that he actually winced.

"Elaine," he spoke, addressing the extremely happy girl. "Open your eyes and take a good look around you."

Squinting with her other eye, she slowly forced her right eye open, glancing around her. Not noticing anything odd, she opened her other eye and stood defiantly against Peter. "I don't see anything!" she said, glaring at him.

The look in his eyes guaranteed mischief. "Look down."

She gasped and grabbed onto his shoulders, clutching at Peter as they both hovered in the cool night air.

Pointing into the star-filled sky, he attempted to loosen the tight grip she had on his shoulders. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." He turned to her with a silly grin on his face. "Join me in Neverland for the greatest adventure you'll ever have."