Ch. 5
"Smee! I want you to gather a search party and find them".
"Even Pan cap'n?"
"Why, yes. As you can recall he is dying a most painful death. It would be nice for me to put him out of his misery wouldn't it Smee?"
"Yes, it would be delightfully nice".
"And that's why I am not going to do that. At least not until I kill Wendy in front of him. That would make it even more painful!" Hook said with a laugh.
"Aye Captain! Will do right away!"
"Good Smee, good".
Wendy had woken up from her afternoon nap and was tiding up the "house". She was cleaning every crack and corner while Peter tried to practice sword fighting, but soon found that he was much too weak to be fooling around like that. He did not look like the old Peter Pan she had remembered. She felt so bad for him since he could not go on adventures without Wendy protesting or his own body protesting. Everyday, he grew weaker and weaker.
While Wendy was cleaning one of his bookshelves, she noticed a drawing of a young girl, about as old as Peter, or a little bit younger. She also spotted a letter beside it. She examined the picture. The girl in the picture had much darker skin than Wendy. She was very tan with dark brown eyes and golden brown hair that reached all the way down to her bum. She was very beautiful, Wendy had to admit that much but she couldn't figure out if she knew this girl or not. She looked familiar, but she could not place her.
Wendy reached for the letter and read the outside which said, To: My Love From: Yours truly. She opened the letter and started to read it. It read,
My Darling Peter Pan, How are you today? I couldn't stop thinking about you. You and your blue eyes of sea and your golden locks. There is a dance tonight, and I was hoping that you would come to it like you did last year after that girl left you to grow up! Who would want to grow up when they could spend the rest of their life with you? That's woopilsmoosh. I would love to stay with you the rest of my life. You are my one true love. I will love you always and forever. No matter what comes between us. I hope so much that you would come to the dance. It would mean everything to me. I love you so much. Kisses.
All My Love,
Karen Faith
Wendy looked up confused and sad. Had Peter fallen in love with another girl? She did not want to sound selfish, but Peter Pan was hers and no other girls. Then she went back to the name, Karen Faith. She remembered that name from somewhere. She looked at Peter who was now standing at the edge of the house opening looking out over Neverland. She was filled with anger. How could he do this to her? He said so himself when she came here that he loved her. Was it all a joke? Did he really not love me anymore? How can I trust him, she thought to herself. For all she knew, he could have been making the whole thing up about him being sick.
She walked up to him calmly trying not to alarm him with her anger.
"Peter, may I ask you a question?"
"Fire away Wendy".
"Who is this girl in the painting?" Wendy asked pulling it out in front of his face so he could get a good look at it.
Peter scrunched his nose and said, "I don't know."
"Then why did she write you a letter if you don't know who she is? Saying, please come to the dance like you did last year after that girl left you to GROW UP!"
"Well, what did you expect me to do Wendy? Huh? Just sit around and wait for you to want to come back. I came back like I said I would. What more do you want? I was lonely. I needed someone to run to".
"Well, you could've knocked on my window and taken me back to Neverland with you couldn't you? But you were too afraid of how much I changed! You want to know what I want from you. I want you to leave! I don't want to ever see you again!"
"You're in my house Wendy! It would be best for you to leave!"
"If that's what you want. Goodbye Peter Pan! Have a happy rest of your life." Wendy said between clenched teeth.
"I don't need you anyway! And I will have a good rest of my life!" Peter yelled before passing out from exhaustion.
Tinkerbelle flew to his side and looked at him in the face. She knew that his days were getting shorter and without Wendy there to help her and him, he would only fade quicker.
Tink sprinkled her dust all over his body and he began to float. She pushed him at his feet to the bed and then smacked him in the face. He dropped to the bed. He did not wake up.
Mrs. Darling had just finished getting breakfast on the table even though the boys had refused to eat anything until Wendy came home. Mrs. Darling knew that Wendy would not be home for a long while, maybe not even at all, so she insisted that the boys eat something or they shall starve to death! Of course, the boys did not want to disappoint their mother, so they ate just as she had said.
"Come now boys, eat your food. Your cousin and your aunt will be here in a few minutes. Hurry up you must be clean and neat to greet them", Mrs. Darling told the boys as they sat down.
"Yes mother", all the boys said gloomily.
Mrs. Darling walked out of the kitchen still holding back tears waiting for her aunt to come with her nephew. She walked into the din and sat down on the piano bench just thinking about the night before. They were all just sitting here listening to Wendy tell a story about the famous Peter Pan and Hook. She could remember the look on her daughters face. The excitement in her eyes. The calmness and the wonder when she mentioned Peter Pan. It was the same look she had when she looked at her husband. Then she remembered the look on his oldest sons face, John. He had never been fond of her stories about a year after he had gotten back from Neverland. He didn't believe in Peter Pan anymore. He had spent too much time growing up and worrying about becoming a banker to care for such silliness, as he had said often. And the boys, they will never grow out of her stories. Even if they have heard them ten times, they will always be even more intrigued than the last time. They enjoyed her stories so much. There favorite one was the one where Peter Pan defeated Hook and they helped out with it.
"Aunt Mary",
Mrs. Darling jumped at the startling voice of her nephew.
"Slightly dear, you startled me",
"Sorry Aunt, I didn't mean to",
"It's alright. Where's your mother?"
"Oh, she ran into the kitchen to go great the boys. She told me to come in here and say hello. Where's Wendy?"
"Did your mother not tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Slightly asked confused.
"She...she ran away to Neverland to...um...help P-p-peter. He is hurt", Mrs. Darling stuttered dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.
"Wendy, gone! And Peter, hurt?"
"Yes",
Slightly began to back away slowly with a shocked and angry face. He turned and ran to the door placing his hand on the handle and opening the door and running outside before anyone could blink.
"Slightly! Come back!" Mrs. Darling yelled out the door.
Aunt Millicent ran to the din and ran after Mrs. Darling who was now running after Slightly.
"Mary! Slightly! Stop! Come back!" Aunt Millicent yelled at the both of them.
The boys jumped up from there seats and ran to the door. The twins started to run off, but Nibs grabbed them before they could make it to the first step.
"Stay here. I'll go. Besides, I'm the fastest runner out of all of us." Nibs told the boys as he dashed off.
For being only a year younger than John, but John growing up before him, Nibs always seemed to be in control of things when Wendy was not around.
John led the boys back into the house and to the table to finish eating breakfast.
Nibs was tailing his Aunt now and was just about to pass her when he saw Slightly crossing the street and heading towards the train station. Nibs knew he could cut him off.
He dashed across the street right in front of a car and a pedestrian, almost knocking them over, but not forgetting his manners,
"Excuse me, sorry sir!"
He saw his cousin out of the corner of his eye. He could make it. He ran a little faster and tackled him just as he was turning the corner. He shoved Slightly's arms behind his back like he was going to handcuff him.
"Get off of me Nibs! Let me go!"
"Not until you calm down and stop trying to run!"
"Fine! Fine. I'm fine",
Nibs slowly let go of his arms but kept hold of his sleeve so if he tried to run, he could grab him. Just then, Mrs. Darling and Aunt Millicent ran around the corner.
"Oh Slightly! Thank goodness! Why did you run from your Aunt?" Aunt Millicent asked in an outrage.
"Why, you want to know why? I'll tell you. You knew about Wendy, but you refused to tell me! You just told me to pack my bags because we were going to stay at Aunt Mary's for a while! And Peter! Why didn't you tell me mom?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt. Imagine if it were just I running after you. I would have never caught you",
Aunt Millicent walked up to Slightly slowly lifting her hand to touch his cheek. He backed away before she could reach his skin.
He had grown a lot. He was five ten and a half with light brown locks and dark skin from working outside in the garden and on the house. He had deep blue eyes that showed so much emotion at once it was hard to tell what his feelings were. Nibs was only half an inch taller than him and he too had light brown locks, but he had dark brown eyes that always seemed to dance around when he was happy or angry or scared.
"I can't trust you anymore mother", Slightly told his mother with sad and angry eyes.
Aunt Millicent almost fell to the ground when she heard her son's words. Mrs. Darling ran to her side to help her stand. Nibs turned around to face Slightly with angry and confused eyes.
"How could you say that to your mother?"
"She cannot tell me the truth. How can I trust her when I am her only son and she can't tell me the truth? And your mother, she couldn't tell me either when I answered the phone. I can't trust her either!"
"You can trust my mother just as much as you can trust me!"
"Who says I can trust you?"
"I do! You can!"
"No, I cannot. You would lie to me as quickly as you would lie to John about believing in Peter",
By this point, Nibs was very upset. How could his own cousin, practically his brother, say that he could not trust him? They have shared everything together. Why would he say that to him?
Nibs clenched his hands into fists trying to control his anger, but he could not stop. He threw his fist up in the air and punched Slightly right in the nose, almost breaking it, but instead, just making it bleed.
Aunt Millicent and Mrs. Darling gasped in shock. Nibs looked back at his mother and saw her saddened face. He turned around to find his cousin on the ground and he couldn't believe what he had just done.
He knelt down beside Slightly.
"Slightly! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just so angry with you for saying that. Please, please forgive me. I won't do it again",
Slightly moaned and rolled over on his back with a shocked look on his face. His eyes were saying thank you, I needed that but his face was saying how could you!
Sorry it took so long to update. I was out of town all week and didn't have time when we got back. I just finished it at 11:50 p.m. Hope y'all enjoy!!! R&R! Love Y'all!!! Night night!
"Smee! I want you to gather a search party and find them".
"Even Pan cap'n?"
"Why, yes. As you can recall he is dying a most painful death. It would be nice for me to put him out of his misery wouldn't it Smee?"
"Yes, it would be delightfully nice".
"And that's why I am not going to do that. At least not until I kill Wendy in front of him. That would make it even more painful!" Hook said with a laugh.
"Aye Captain! Will do right away!"
"Good Smee, good".
Wendy had woken up from her afternoon nap and was tiding up the "house". She was cleaning every crack and corner while Peter tried to practice sword fighting, but soon found that he was much too weak to be fooling around like that. He did not look like the old Peter Pan she had remembered. She felt so bad for him since he could not go on adventures without Wendy protesting or his own body protesting. Everyday, he grew weaker and weaker.
While Wendy was cleaning one of his bookshelves, she noticed a drawing of a young girl, about as old as Peter, or a little bit younger. She also spotted a letter beside it. She examined the picture. The girl in the picture had much darker skin than Wendy. She was very tan with dark brown eyes and golden brown hair that reached all the way down to her bum. She was very beautiful, Wendy had to admit that much but she couldn't figure out if she knew this girl or not. She looked familiar, but she could not place her.
Wendy reached for the letter and read the outside which said, To: My Love From: Yours truly. She opened the letter and started to read it. It read,
My Darling Peter Pan, How are you today? I couldn't stop thinking about you. You and your blue eyes of sea and your golden locks. There is a dance tonight, and I was hoping that you would come to it like you did last year after that girl left you to grow up! Who would want to grow up when they could spend the rest of their life with you? That's woopilsmoosh. I would love to stay with you the rest of my life. You are my one true love. I will love you always and forever. No matter what comes between us. I hope so much that you would come to the dance. It would mean everything to me. I love you so much. Kisses.
All My Love,
Karen Faith
Wendy looked up confused and sad. Had Peter fallen in love with another girl? She did not want to sound selfish, but Peter Pan was hers and no other girls. Then she went back to the name, Karen Faith. She remembered that name from somewhere. She looked at Peter who was now standing at the edge of the house opening looking out over Neverland. She was filled with anger. How could he do this to her? He said so himself when she came here that he loved her. Was it all a joke? Did he really not love me anymore? How can I trust him, she thought to herself. For all she knew, he could have been making the whole thing up about him being sick.
She walked up to him calmly trying not to alarm him with her anger.
"Peter, may I ask you a question?"
"Fire away Wendy".
"Who is this girl in the painting?" Wendy asked pulling it out in front of his face so he could get a good look at it.
Peter scrunched his nose and said, "I don't know."
"Then why did she write you a letter if you don't know who she is? Saying, please come to the dance like you did last year after that girl left you to GROW UP!"
"Well, what did you expect me to do Wendy? Huh? Just sit around and wait for you to want to come back. I came back like I said I would. What more do you want? I was lonely. I needed someone to run to".
"Well, you could've knocked on my window and taken me back to Neverland with you couldn't you? But you were too afraid of how much I changed! You want to know what I want from you. I want you to leave! I don't want to ever see you again!"
"You're in my house Wendy! It would be best for you to leave!"
"If that's what you want. Goodbye Peter Pan! Have a happy rest of your life." Wendy said between clenched teeth.
"I don't need you anyway! And I will have a good rest of my life!" Peter yelled before passing out from exhaustion.
Tinkerbelle flew to his side and looked at him in the face. She knew that his days were getting shorter and without Wendy there to help her and him, he would only fade quicker.
Tink sprinkled her dust all over his body and he began to float. She pushed him at his feet to the bed and then smacked him in the face. He dropped to the bed. He did not wake up.
Mrs. Darling had just finished getting breakfast on the table even though the boys had refused to eat anything until Wendy came home. Mrs. Darling knew that Wendy would not be home for a long while, maybe not even at all, so she insisted that the boys eat something or they shall starve to death! Of course, the boys did not want to disappoint their mother, so they ate just as she had said.
"Come now boys, eat your food. Your cousin and your aunt will be here in a few minutes. Hurry up you must be clean and neat to greet them", Mrs. Darling told the boys as they sat down.
"Yes mother", all the boys said gloomily.
Mrs. Darling walked out of the kitchen still holding back tears waiting for her aunt to come with her nephew. She walked into the din and sat down on the piano bench just thinking about the night before. They were all just sitting here listening to Wendy tell a story about the famous Peter Pan and Hook. She could remember the look on her daughters face. The excitement in her eyes. The calmness and the wonder when she mentioned Peter Pan. It was the same look she had when she looked at her husband. Then she remembered the look on his oldest sons face, John. He had never been fond of her stories about a year after he had gotten back from Neverland. He didn't believe in Peter Pan anymore. He had spent too much time growing up and worrying about becoming a banker to care for such silliness, as he had said often. And the boys, they will never grow out of her stories. Even if they have heard them ten times, they will always be even more intrigued than the last time. They enjoyed her stories so much. There favorite one was the one where Peter Pan defeated Hook and they helped out with it.
"Aunt Mary",
Mrs. Darling jumped at the startling voice of her nephew.
"Slightly dear, you startled me",
"Sorry Aunt, I didn't mean to",
"It's alright. Where's your mother?"
"Oh, she ran into the kitchen to go great the boys. She told me to come in here and say hello. Where's Wendy?"
"Did your mother not tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Slightly asked confused.
"She...she ran away to Neverland to...um...help P-p-peter. He is hurt", Mrs. Darling stuttered dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.
"Wendy, gone! And Peter, hurt?"
"Yes",
Slightly began to back away slowly with a shocked and angry face. He turned and ran to the door placing his hand on the handle and opening the door and running outside before anyone could blink.
"Slightly! Come back!" Mrs. Darling yelled out the door.
Aunt Millicent ran to the din and ran after Mrs. Darling who was now running after Slightly.
"Mary! Slightly! Stop! Come back!" Aunt Millicent yelled at the both of them.
The boys jumped up from there seats and ran to the door. The twins started to run off, but Nibs grabbed them before they could make it to the first step.
"Stay here. I'll go. Besides, I'm the fastest runner out of all of us." Nibs told the boys as he dashed off.
For being only a year younger than John, but John growing up before him, Nibs always seemed to be in control of things when Wendy was not around.
John led the boys back into the house and to the table to finish eating breakfast.
Nibs was tailing his Aunt now and was just about to pass her when he saw Slightly crossing the street and heading towards the train station. Nibs knew he could cut him off.
He dashed across the street right in front of a car and a pedestrian, almost knocking them over, but not forgetting his manners,
"Excuse me, sorry sir!"
He saw his cousin out of the corner of his eye. He could make it. He ran a little faster and tackled him just as he was turning the corner. He shoved Slightly's arms behind his back like he was going to handcuff him.
"Get off of me Nibs! Let me go!"
"Not until you calm down and stop trying to run!"
"Fine! Fine. I'm fine",
Nibs slowly let go of his arms but kept hold of his sleeve so if he tried to run, he could grab him. Just then, Mrs. Darling and Aunt Millicent ran around the corner.
"Oh Slightly! Thank goodness! Why did you run from your Aunt?" Aunt Millicent asked in an outrage.
"Why, you want to know why? I'll tell you. You knew about Wendy, but you refused to tell me! You just told me to pack my bags because we were going to stay at Aunt Mary's for a while! And Peter! Why didn't you tell me mom?"
"I didn't want you to get hurt. Imagine if it were just I running after you. I would have never caught you",
Aunt Millicent walked up to Slightly slowly lifting her hand to touch his cheek. He backed away before she could reach his skin.
He had grown a lot. He was five ten and a half with light brown locks and dark skin from working outside in the garden and on the house. He had deep blue eyes that showed so much emotion at once it was hard to tell what his feelings were. Nibs was only half an inch taller than him and he too had light brown locks, but he had dark brown eyes that always seemed to dance around when he was happy or angry or scared.
"I can't trust you anymore mother", Slightly told his mother with sad and angry eyes.
Aunt Millicent almost fell to the ground when she heard her son's words. Mrs. Darling ran to her side to help her stand. Nibs turned around to face Slightly with angry and confused eyes.
"How could you say that to your mother?"
"She cannot tell me the truth. How can I trust her when I am her only son and she can't tell me the truth? And your mother, she couldn't tell me either when I answered the phone. I can't trust her either!"
"You can trust my mother just as much as you can trust me!"
"Who says I can trust you?"
"I do! You can!"
"No, I cannot. You would lie to me as quickly as you would lie to John about believing in Peter",
By this point, Nibs was very upset. How could his own cousin, practically his brother, say that he could not trust him? They have shared everything together. Why would he say that to him?
Nibs clenched his hands into fists trying to control his anger, but he could not stop. He threw his fist up in the air and punched Slightly right in the nose, almost breaking it, but instead, just making it bleed.
Aunt Millicent and Mrs. Darling gasped in shock. Nibs looked back at his mother and saw her saddened face. He turned around to find his cousin on the ground and he couldn't believe what he had just done.
He knelt down beside Slightly.
"Slightly! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just so angry with you for saying that. Please, please forgive me. I won't do it again",
Slightly moaned and rolled over on his back with a shocked look on his face. His eyes were saying thank you, I needed that but his face was saying how could you!
Sorry it took so long to update. I was out of town all week and didn't have time when we got back. I just finished it at 11:50 p.m. Hope y'all enjoy!!! R&R! Love Y'all!!! Night night!