Thirteen
Had Wendy forgotten him yet?
It was a question Peter often asked himself. Sometimes he asked Tink, and she always replied that no, she supposed he hadn't. And that was enough until the next time he saw something that reminded him of Wendy, and then he asked again.
Neverland was different now, and Peter was lonely, and he wasn't quite sure why. There would be another Lost Boy soon enough - boys are quite stupid, especially when they are children. And there would be more pirates to fight eventually, since, as Tink pointed out, they couldn't be sure that some of the pirates he blew overboard didn't swim to shore.
It was mostly Wendy. She was different. It wasn't just because she was a girl, or that she told stories. Peter didn't know what it was, but he knew he wanted it back.
Was it love? He had no idea of knowing. Peter had never seen love in his life, or read about it, or heard about it. He only knew that it was awfully important, and that people who had love wanted to get married. He didn't want to get married to Wendy, or to anyone, actually, so he supposed it wasn't love. It was something, though. And it was important.
Now, Peter was sitting on one of the branches on the pixie tree. The fairies were having a party, and Peter was entertaining himself by watching. He had to watch hard, because if his mind was still, thoughts would creep in, thoughts about Wendy and the Lost Boys. Everything.
Sometimes, when Peter tried to sleep, he would think back to Captain Hook, and his words. Peter hadn't known words could be so powerful until Wendy came along. And then Hook had used them, and had sent Peter crashing to the ground. Peter remembered how he felt; sick and scared and… and broken all at the same time. And then Wendy had given him her thimble. It was an even better thimble than his own mother probably had. It sure was a powerful thing. It had saved them all… and now it and Wendy were gone. Because of grown-ups.
Peter growled, and shook the branch in frustration. "I hate grown-ups!" He yelled. The fairies froze, and then they were gone. He had never scared off the fairies before. It was Wendy's fault. She left. And that was grown-up's fault.
Peter began to breathe fast, purposeful breaths. There is a saying on Neverland that every time you breathe, a grown-up dies, and Peter hoped he killed every single grown-up in the whole world.
What he didn't know that grown-ups killed enough of each other by themselves. They didn't need help.