Chapter 6—Hide and Seek
The Darling house was thick with distress. Mr Darling was slightly panicked at having lost his daughter and Mrs Darling was slightly stressed, trying to calm him down.
Michael was playing with Teddy and John was playing on X-Box, which was blasting very loud and obnoxious rap music.
It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Wendy finally darkened the doorstep.
"Wendy! Where have you been?" shouted Mr Darling haughtily.
"I was out with my friends," lied Wendy, inwardly hoping that they still were her friends.
"What did you do with that boy?" demanded Mr Darling next.
"He went home," lied Wendy again.
"Go to your room!" bellowed Mr Darling, because he was a very impatient man who didn't like to be made to wait.
So Wendy did. When she was there she threw the window open and called down below. "Peter! Come up! Quickly now, quickly!"
Peter rose soundlessly and looped in the window. Wendy shut it quickly and hastened to make Peter a comfortable place to sit.
"Now listen," she said hurriedly. "My parents may come to check on me and I'll need you to hide if they do. Can you do that?"
Peter nodded.
Later...
The last light flickered out and Tinkerbell flew out of Peter's pocket. She didn't like the stuffiness of it much and complained loudly. Wendy watched her, hypnotized by her glowing radiance in the darkness. She forgot, momentarily, how much she hated the fairy.
Peter was watching her as well. "In Neverland," he said softly. "I sleep under a great tree, on the inner most roots of it is where I make my bed. It is bumpy and hard, assuring that I never sleep in. Also, The Lost Boys surround me. Tootles, Nibs, Slightly, Curly and the twins. Sometimes," he said with a chuckle. "Slightly takes control when I'm not around. Nibs plans the battles and Tootles, more often than not, just gets in the way."
Wendy was not sure where this was going, but she listened anyway.
"We chased pirates and befriended Indians. Sometimes, late at night, we would have bon fires and roast the roots of marsh plants. Tootles ate so many once that he got sick. I wonder if they're listening to Slightly all right. Sometimes those boys can be a handful."
Wendy was becoming quite bored with Peter's story, become surer and surer that there was no point to it at all. It was just Peter's trek through nostalgic memories.
"Peter," she interrupted him. "Where does this story end?" she asked rudely.
Instead of appearing unjust, Peter perked up and looked around the room. "This is where it ends. I'm here, in the home of Wendy, more wonderful than Princess Tiger Lily. To leave Neverland has been an awfully big adventure."
This line seemed very rehearsed, as if he'd said it a million times before.
"Would you like to roast marsh roots?" asked Wendy cheekily.
Peter smiled and nodded. "Oh, yes please. Very much!"
Seconds later Wendy crept form her room and out into the hall where she proceeded to the steps. She jumped over the creaky one and dragged her feet silently against the hardwood floor. In the kitchen the rummaged through the cupboards until she found a bag of marshmallows. She tucked them under her arm and started upwards. When she reached her room Peter was nowhere to be found.
Her hauntingly pale poster of Justin Timberlake stared back at her, right beside her buffed up one of 50 Cent. There was no tinkling of in-flight fairy, nor any breathing associated with Peter. Had they vanished? Where were they?
Wendy, distressed, sunk down onto her bed and opened the bag of marshmallows. She popped one into her mouth and sighed gloomily.
"You can't eat them like that," scolded a voice above her.
Wendy looked up and saw Peter directly above her, sitting upside-down on the ceiling. She nearly screamed, had not Peter flown down and shoved his hand over her mouth.
"Shh," he said, his finger held over his lips. "I'm playing hide and go seek with Tink. She's hard to find."
He rose and circled the room. "Tink," he whispered into the still air. "Tinkerbell! Where are yoooouuu?"
And all of a sudden he pounced. With a loud 'ah-ha!' Peter had taken off, full speed, after her. The tiny fairy scooted in and out of corners, dodging behind the dresser and under the bed. Peter followed her every move. Unfortunately, she was much smaller than him and therefore he couldn't fit all the places she could. In a few seconds Peter was stuck under the bed.
Tinkerbell laughed from where she floated near the fogy window.
Wendy's desk was a mess, her dresser had shifted across the floor and her bed had skidded a few feet. She looked around helplessly.
"Peter, what are you doing?" she asked, sighing heavily.
"Oh," said Peter lightly. "I thought I told you. I'm playing hide and go seek!"
Wendy glared at him, then Tinkerbell, then him again. "Look what you've done to my room!" she exclaimed. "It's an absolute mess!"
Peter blinked and smiled. "Do you mind helping me out?" he asked. "I'm rather stuck."
With a great jerk Wendy yanked Peter out, arms first.
Peter took to the sky, hitting his head on the ceiling and swearing loudly. Wendy was very surprised that her parents hadn't woken up yet.
"Peter, how about we just sit here and talk?" suggested Wendy.
Peter shrugged and floated down. "Fine, you talk. I'll listen," he said.
Wendy found it very hard to believe that Peter would be able to keep his mind on anything at all, but she began with a story.
"Once upon a time," she said softly. "There was a girl who lived in New York City. When she was a little girl her mother told her stories about a kiss. The kiss that could win any man's heart and give him the strength to do anything. It would give him bravery."
Wendy plunged into the wistfulness that was her past; it embraced her as if she were its child, small, alone and frightened.
"When this little girl was but twelve years old her auntie, a fine woman of stature and opinion, told the little girl that she too possessed The Kiss. 'Right in the corner of your mouth,' she said, 'do you see it?' And her little brothers gasped and her father looked proud. Someday, they predicted, she would marry a banker, like her father, or a lawyer, like her grandfather.
"But the girl did not want this," said Wendy sadly, mesmerized by her own tale. "She wanted adventure. She wanted to explore the world and see new things. However, she thought she was destined for life at home, watching soap operas and caring for her three children that would be just like her and her brothers."
"Then what happened?" asked Peter breathlessly, hanging onto every word.
"Then a boy came," said Wendy. "And he showed her how to fly. Suddenly things weren't so clear. Unknowing, she decided, would be an awfully big adventure."
End ChapterI honestly can't remember when I last updated, so I'm not sure if it was long ago or not. Either way, I'm updating now.
Shoutouts:
BendyStraw: I think you've had a bit too much sugar. Are you OK? (hopes you don't go into a sugar coma-thing)
Girl With the Evil Computer: I don't think so. It was really just an attempt at funny.
C.M. Higgins: I do believe in newsies, I do! I do!
Sugerplumfairy: thanks, I will keep it up. I'm hoping you reached this chapter in posting this shoutout here.
Lizzie Presscott: this chapter answered a bit about the kiss. I hope you liked it.