Peter Pan

A Different Wendy

Chapter Two

Marie felt the sun shining down on her face. She felt grass beneath her body. She heard birds chirping and the sound of the…ocean near by. Where was she? This was not London that much she knew. Marie slowly opened her eyes, blinking, and taking in her surroundings. She knew this place. This was the seaport her father and mother took her to when she was real little. She remembered now. Her mom had sat on the grass with her while her father took Ethan fishing for the first time.

Marie smelled the air. It smelled just as she remembered it. She remembered lying next to her mom on a blanket, and feeling her mom's stomach, because that was when she was pregnant with Violet. She saw her mother's face. It was the first time in a long time she had remembered her parents, she thought about them all the time, but it was more wonders than memories. Her mother was beautiful. This special thought almost made her forget one thing: how did she get here?

Marie sat up so quickly her head began to spin. She stood up and began pacing, looking in both directions and trying to decide which way would get her back to London and Ethan and Violet. She couldn't leave them. Where were they? What were they doing? Were they already being adopted? Would she ever see them again? All of this was too much; Marie sat down hard on the ground.

"I have to think, think, think. What happened last night?" Marie muttered. "All I remember is Ms. Winglet coming in and telling me I'd be leaving today and….then nothing. I went to sleep. So what happened? Oh it's no use! I don't know! I'm never going to get back home! These streets are deserted, there isn't another human being for over twenty miles, I bet, and no one drives by here! I'm dead."

Marie rested her head on her hands and began to cry. She cried so hard she couldn't breath and she had to stop so she wouldn't faint. After she calmed herself down enough so she was only a little teary and taking rapid hyperventilating breaths, but she was breathing.

Marie wiped the tears from her cheeks and slowly stood up. She brushes the dirt off the back of her dress and smoothed it down. She heard a thud from behind her and she screamed and jumped around. A boy a little taller than her, with wild brown hair, dark blue eyes, freckles on his cheeks and dimples was standing a few feet away from her, looking like he'd never seen a girl in his life. He was wearing a costume that looked to be made of leaves and moss.

He stared at her for a very long time. He was looking at her like she couldn't possibly be standing in front of her right then, like she was supposed to be somewhere else, but then he blinked and that look wasn't there anymore, it was replaced by a look of wonder once more.

"Are you the new storyteller?" he asked.

"…Me? I…don't….think…so." Marie frowned. The boy frowned too. "Why do you ask?"

"I was sent to wait with the new storyteller; I thought she was supposed to be right here."

"And who sent you to get this storyteller of yours?" Marie questioned.

"Peter said she was to be like Wendy, but this one wouldn't leave." The boy looked unsure whether to tell her or not, but then decided she was harmless.

"Peter." Wendy repeated. "As in Peter Pan?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, you've heard of him?"

"I've heard stories about him. I've told stories about him, but he isn't real. He's just a make believe boy someone's mom and dad made up as a bedtime story. It's just a really great bedtime story." Marie looked at him as if he was crazy, and he looked at her in much the same way.

"Oh really?" The boy asked, giving her a defiant look. "And I suppose he can't fly either, right, Missy?"

"Of course not." Marie said.

The boy crossed his arms in front of his chest and smirked, he lifted a few feet up in the air. Marie's eyes widened. Then she pulled them into a frown again, "And I'm supposed to believe that you're Peter Pan?"

"No."

"Well, then, how did you do that anyways?"

"All you need to do is think happy thoughts, and, of course, a little bit of….." He was interrupted by Marie.

"Faerie dust?"

"Yep, that's the stuff. See, I guess you do know a lot about Peter Pan after all." The boy said. "So, are you the new storyteller?"

"I don't really know. Did Peter Pan tell you her name?" Marie was still looking curiously at this odd boy.

"Yeah. Her name was…...oh darn, I forget! I think it was……Marie or something like that."

"That's my name! Marie Antoinette Delonge." Marie looked fascinated.

"Then I guess you're the new storyteller. Come on, then, we have to go wait until its dark and then Peter will come for us." The boy led the way to the edge of a group of trees. They entered the shadows and the boy climbed the tree and sprawled out on a low limb as if he was going to sleep there.

"But I can't be the new storyteller!" Marie protested. "I need to get home to my sister and brother!"

The boy looked down with a tired look on his face, "Talk to Peter, not me, wait until he comes."

"Are you going to sleep?!" Marie sounded shocked.

"Well I was going to, but someone won't be quiet."

"You can't sleep up there! You'll fall! What am I going to do if you die?"

"I'm not gonna fall, I sleep in trees all the time."

"So that's what this is? You're some kind of homeless orphan playing tricks?"

"I play plenty of tricks, but this isn't one of them, and I'm not a homeless orphan, they usually call us Lost Boys." He declared.

"Oh, you're a Lost Boy. So which one are you? Let me guess. You can't be Barky or Hoppy, because they won't go anywhere without their twin, and you can't be Curly, because your hair isn't curly, and you can't be Tootles, because he's chubby, so you're either Nibbs or Slightly. Which one? Or is there more?"

"You know about all of them? Wow. Well, you forgot a few, but they're new." He looked impressed.

"Yes, now who are you?"

"I'm Slightly." He answered. "Nice you meet you, Marie." He reached down and shook her hand.

"Good manners for such a wild boy." Marie commented.

"Hey, we aren't all that wild. We just don't have anyone to teach us these things."

"And who would teach you 'these things'?" Marie asked, to her this was starting to sound like what Peter told Wendy to convince her to come to Neverland with him.

"Well, we don't have a mother, and I'm not asking you to be our mother, because we tried that once with Wendy, and when she left, Peter never got over it. But Peter wants a girl to…to…well I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do, but you have to come with us!" Slightly looked slightly confused, "You don't really want to stay here, do you?"

"Of course I don't want to stay here! But I don't know you! I can't just go away with someone I don't even know! How do I know you didn't drug me to make me see things, like you flying, and wearing that ridiculous outfit?" Marie took a deep breath. "All of these things you are talking about have been stories to me. I told the story about Peter Pan and Wendy last night to my sister, Violet, and my brother, Ethan. Well, I told them part of the story, but then stupid Ms. Winglet came up and told me I would be leaving tomorrow. Then I wished for the night to never end so I wouldn't have to see what was going to happen today!" Marie's eyes shot up accusingly to look into Slightly's blue ones, "Is that it? Was Peter listening to me? Was he there last night? I didn't wish to come to Neverland. I didn't."

Slightly just looked at her, "I didn't," she said shaking her head. Marie bit her lip, "Maybe I did."

"Peter won't just take anyone. You see he's been looking for someone like you for a long time. I suppose he'll let you bring your brother and sister if they want to be with you, too. But I think there's something else about you that Peter didn't say…" Slightly hesitated.

"What is it? Tell me." Marie had been sitting on the ground a few feet away from the tree Slightly was perched on, she got up and walked over to it, reaching up to put her hand on the branch.

"Well, there's a story about a girl that one of the Lost Boys told us when he first came. He said his mother told him the story of an orphan girl named Marie who had a younger brother and sister, and she was really the daughter of Wendy, and her brother and sister were her other children. But Wendy died when the little sister was born, and her husband brought them all to an orphanage because the only one he really truly wanted was Wendy. I think Peter had it in his mind to kill you, but he decided to keep you to see how much of Wendy is still in you." Slightly said.

"That's not true about my father! He loved us, he did! He might never have said it, but he loved us. And though he would sometimes have drunken rages, we knew it was just all the alcohol. My father did not leave us at an orphanage, he must have been coming back for us, and maybe that's who's adopting Violet and Ethan….and me if I get back in time!" Marie looked desperate. "I have to go! Tell Peter I'm very sorry, but I can never be his storyteller. I might not want to grow older, but I have to because I need to take care of my sister and brother."

Marie ran out of the cluster of trees and began running, following the dirt road that led to a town many, many miles away. She had only gotten a little ways away when something whooshed by her head. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked around. She whipped around to see if someone was behind her. Someone tapped her on the shoulder; she shrieked and turned around again.

"You can't leave, Marie, Peter told me to keep you here." Slightly said.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I don't have to listen to you, for goodness sake you're only ten years old! I'm fourteen, just to let you know, and I'm almost a lady, I don't need to listen to a child." Marie pushed him aside and began walking away again.

"I am not ten! I'm…I'm…I've forgotten how old I am." Slightly admitted.

Marie slowed down a little. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he wasn't following her, but…crying? He was sitting on the ground…crying. Marie went back over to him and kneeled on the ground. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't cry, Slightly."

He looked up laughing, "Ha! I got you! I wasn't crying, I was faking, but it got you to come back, huh?" He grabbed her hand and dragged her back to the trees.

"You little devil! Let me go! If I wasn't almost a lady I would fight you, but it wouldn't be right to fight a little boy and win." Marie was yelling.

"Girls, they never shut up, do they?" Slightly let go of her hand, thinking she would follow him the rest of the way.

"What was that?" Marie asked, stopping where she was.

"I said 'girls never shut up'." Slightly repeated, still walking.

"Oh, that's it!" Marie shouted. She ran at Slightly and jumped on his shoulders, making him fall to the ground, she pinned him there and said, "You really need to learn, boy."

"Learn what?" Slightly pushed her off and sat up, looking very puzzled.

"I give up, really, I do. I'll just wait until Peter comes and hope he's smarter than you." Marie got up and walked back to the trees. She entered their shadows and curled up on the ground. A minute later Slightly walked in. He glanced over at her and went to a tree just close enough to hear her if she called and to see if she left. He climbed up and fell asleep on a low branch.

Marie fell asleep thinking about whether or not this was all just a dream, and she would wake up any minute in her own bed. Marie began to dream about being at her old home, with her mother and father. She saw her mother asleep in the rocking chair by the big open window. She whispered something about Peter Pan. Could her mother really be Wendy?