Right guys, as promised heres chapter 5. Thanks for all the reviews! (please keep reviewing though :D)
Bit of angst in this chapter, but nothing terrible.
Ilovetoread38, don't worry about it lad. I'm very critical of my own work TBH and everyones style and abilitys change as they go on. From what i've read of your stuff its very good for a 13 year old. Good structure and you have a strong sense of plot which is always a plus. Could work on your syntax a bit, but that generally comes with age and experience at writing. Certainly better than my stuff at that point.
Peter and Wendy flew high, as high as they'd ever flown before, linking arms and swirling together like two swallows in summer. Peter led, taking them to the point where they where among the stars and out beyond the very hemisphere of the earth.
Below them sat Neverland, its five pointed shape laid out beneath them like a map. They could see the Jolly Roger as a tiny speck below, the Indian camp smoking silently to the north while Mermaids relaxed in the lagoon to the east. The sea stretched out for miles around, before it disappeared into the fog that coated the rest of the scene.
Wendy twisted in the air and turned to Peter, her eyes gleaming and shining under the nearby sun. "Peter!" she exclaimed, "It's beautiful."
He smiled back, a wan smile though with less of his accustomed warmth and cheer, then he flew higher still, leaving Wendy in his wake to follow as best she could. He passed the sun, the planets even and then, at the very apex of his flight he leant his head back and gave one last final crow tinged with sorrow and delight about what he was going to do.
When she finally caught up he was relaxing on a star, his back sloping perfectly down the stars crest, as snug as the most well designed chair. He seemed to be talking, his lips moving rapidly but producing no sound, while the star merely bobbed in response. He looked up at Wendy as she caught up with him and smiled once more.
"Peter," She protested, "You shouldn't fly so far, I almost lost you."
"But you didn't," He responded, "And where would be the fun in not flying so far." The old cheekiness had returned now, but Wendy could see how he was changing. He was older. One could tell, though the changes where tiny, the first flecks of silvery stubble where appearing on his chin and he had grown. He was not much older, perhaps he had aged 2 years or so but it was enough to be noticeable. He was no longer a ten year old child, but one who was beginning to emerge from that innocence and enter his teens.
Wendy looked around, glancing about for Neverland and the way back, but all she could see where stars and eternal darkness. She shivered in her nightgown, though it was perfectly warm, and looked again at Peter. "Peter we should go back."
He nodded and rose from his seat. "Follow me, First turn to the left and straight on till midnight." With that he shot off, leaving her trailing behind desperately trying follow him.
They flew for what seemed like hours in a Childs mind, but could have been minutes in reality. Every so often Peter would stop upon a star and whisper more instructions before Wendy arrive, and then lead off, leaving her behind once more. Few words where shared.
Finally they plunged into a deep fog, and Peter had to return to grasp Wendy's hand in order for her not to lose him. They plunged on for more hours, unable to see each other or there own bodies, yet Peter navigated strongly and truly. Finally something loomed from amid the vile mist, and Peter promptly stopped to land on it, the two of them balancing precariously on tiles.
Slowly the scene revealed itself as the fog lifted, houses and street emerging from the mist. It was a grand city of churches and towers, stretching deep into the distance where great industrial fires lit the night's sky. And there, balanced on the edge of a cobbled street stood a small terraced house with a dog barking deep into the night. Wendy turned to Peter and exclaimed, "Why Peter! This is London."
He nodded sadly at her and drifted slowly down towards the open window of number 14, hauling a reluctant Wendy with him. Nanas barking intensified as they drifted into the room itself, ducking slightly as they were not as short as they once were.
Beneath their feet, Mr Darling awoke from his slumber in the kennel at Nanas frantic barking and glanced upwards to see two figures silhouetted in the window. Pulling on his dressing gown and slipped he runs for the door and fumbles with the key.
"Peter, surely you're not leaving me here?" Wendy asks as they venture further in. She looks quickly around the room, at the oh so familiar beds and toys that she almost forgot they owned. Her memory has been eroded this past year in Neverland and now it floods back, like a tide that has burst through a dam.
Mr Darling gets the door open to the kitchen and sprints across it, Nanny in his wake. Eliza, the serving girl, emerges from her room in the cellar to join the general excitement as he pushes through the door that leads to the atrium.
Peter nods solemnly, his face a picture of contorted pain. "Yes." He whispers slowly and then silences her protests by quickly grabbing at her hands. "I must Wendy Darling, it's too dangerous for you in Neverland and you're needed here, you must grow up here." These words, this acceptance of aging unthinkable just days ago, and a new, fresh pain is written across Peters face. Finally, he understands.
Mrs Darling and Aunt emerge from the drawing room and join the charge upstairs, headed by Mr Darling himself. Nana takes over the lead as they round the first corner, bounding up the second flight of stairs. Two to go.
Wendy protests, stepping forward once more, "But Peter, I want to grow up with you."
The third floor is finally defeated, and Nana is half-way up the fourth.
Peter shakes his head once more, and then tilts it slightly, listening to the commotion below. "No Wendy. I cannot, I can't grow up Wendy Darling, for if I did then Neverland would be no more and the dead children would have no guide."
Nana reached the fourth floor, but slides as she tries to round the corner. The nursery is straight ahead, and she hits the door with a great thump. Locked.
Wendy turns swiftly towards the door as she hears Nana hit it but then turns straight back to Peter. Once more she attempts to protest and he overrides, gathering her up in his arms like a doll. She drips him tighter, refusing to ever let him go. "Peter, do you have too?"
Mr Darling reaches the key, and fumbles with the door lock.
"Wendy." Peter says slowly, cupping her face with his hands, "Neverland needs a Pan." Finally the door burst behind them and the cohort rush in, falling over themselves in their haste to get to Wendy. Peter places one last kiss on those sacred lips and then he's gone, a single speck in the night.
They envelop Wendy at once, a whirlwind of kisses, hugs and slobber. Even Eliza, the maid with no imagination, joins in, giving Wendy a great kiss of the centre of her forehead. "Wendy" exclaims her mother, "You've come back too me."
But Wendy has no interest in such happiness and joy, and she shakes off such gestures and moves forwards, looking out of the window. The wind whips her clothes as she searches desperately for that golden spark, for a sign that Peter has not abandoned her. The sky is full of stars, more stars than she's ever seen before, disguising Peters trail with their starlight. So now she knows what he was arranging with them.
She turns back towards her happy, expectant family who beam at her. The prospect of normal family life, of love and of growing up to be a grand old lady married to a very rich old man. She can see her future mapped out in those smiles, finishing school, marriage and computable living and then she glances back towards the wild outdoors.
"I'm sorry," She whispers and then thinks the happy thoughts that she hopes will lead her back to Peter.
Sorry if that was a bit melodramatic, and a bit longer than my normal chapters but I wanted to get it all. Chapter 6, Darling Love, will be up tomorrow. I'm about 800 words into it so far and reckon I've got 500 to go. Provided alchol dosn't intervine it will be up and ready.
Again, thanks for all the dedicated reviews, and its nice to hear from you again Wharfy (Where are you now, I know you where at UCL but I guess you've finished that now, unless your course is about 6 years long.)
Love,
BrooklynRed x
