Ana climbed into her bed. The pearly white sheets engulfed her in a sea of warmness. Her curly golden locks cascaded down her back as she pretended she was a mermaid snuggling up in her shell bed in the blue ominous ocean.

“Mama can you tell me the story one more time?” Ana asked her mother, who was across the room diming the lamp lights.

“My sweet Ana, it is way past your bed time. You can dream the rest of the story!”

“Aww mama but I want to know what happens after you meet the flying boy!” Ana’s mother giggled and sat down next to her on the bed.

“His name is Peter, and I can tell you the rest of the story tomorrow night. For now, sleep my sweet angel.” She stroked Ana’s hair and kissed her on her forehead.

“Goodnight mama!” Ana’s mother smiled and closed the door. Ana tossed and turned in her bed. The mysterious moonlight beamed down upon her face. The few stars the night sky hugged reflected in Ana’s ocean blue eyes. She stood up and walked to the window seal. She knelt down, her arms crossed on the window edge looking down at the city streets and passing cars. She then looked up into the sky. “What was out there?” She thought to herself. Out of now where a golden light appeared in the night sky. It moved back and forth quickly, zig zagging from chimney to chimney. It grew closer to Ana’s window. Ana began to draw back from the window unsure of what was coming her way. The golden light tumbled in, sparkling dust scattered all over the floor. Ana jumped back into her bed and pulled the sheets over her head. She closed her eyes, as she listened to a faint tinkering. She was in her bed for a good 10 minutes when she decided to remove the sheets and sit up to see if the golden light was still in her room. She looked around her room and saw only her doll house and toys. She then saw a dim light glowing from her teddy bear propped up against the closet door. Ana slowly approached the teddy bear. Cradled in the teddy bears arms was a small little human, about the size of a finger. Ana gasped and knelt down examining the little thing. Ana realized that it was a fairy. The fairy’s wings sparkled in the moonlight. Ana cupped up the fairy in her hands. The fairy felt cold and hard like a porcelain cup. She wasn’t sure what to do. Before she could utter a single word, she heard the door behind her opened and saw her mother all dressed with a red cloak draped over her shoulders and two suitcases in her hand.

“Mama?” Ana asked in confusion.

“Ana we have to leave now.” Her mother quickly spoke as she opened one of the suitcases and started throwing some of Ana’s clothes in.

“Mama what’s going on?” Her mother didn’t speak but motioned for her to get dress. Ana still held the fairy in her hand as she ran to put her shoes on.

“Ana give me the fairy.” Her mother demanded. Ana carefully handed the light fairy dressed in rose petals to her mother who laid the sweet thing down on the bed. She muddled around in her pockets a pulled out a tiny little bottle with pink bubbly liquid. She every so carefully opened the fairies mouth and poured a few drops in. Ana watched from the corner of her eye as she put on the red cloak her mother gave her. Within seconds the fairy jumped up. Shaking its head back and forth, the little fairy began rambling on pointing everywhere. Ana couldn’t make out what she was saying, however her mother listened to the fairy with a worried expression cast on her face.

“Ana you ready?” Her mother said as she closed the suitcase. Ana looked out at the window for a last time and then looked at her mother.

“I’m ready mama, but why are we leaving? Is this fairy a friend of Peter’s?” Her mother looked at Ana and said

“Yes this fairy, her name is Rhoswen, is a friend of Peter’s, and she has come to warn us. Someone is heading our way and it is not safe for us here anymore.” With that Ana’s mother grabbed her by the hand and they shuffled their way down the stairs. Rhosewn followed as she sprinkled purple poppies on them, making them invisible from the human eye. They walked out of the front door to a cobbled street, damp from the rain and covered in a thick fog. Rhoswen flew up to the lamp posts brightening the lights. Ana held her mother’s hand tightly as they were sucked into the wet cloud gliding above the streets. As they hurried along Ana felt a trembling beneath her feet and a faint roaring from above the fog. It sounded almost like what a dragon would make but she told herself those didn’t exist. All of a sudden Ana’s mother yelled stop and in the middle of the street was a red door. Ana was perplexed that there was a random red door in the middle of the street, magically propped up without any walls surrounding it. Ana let go of her mother’s hand and walked around the door. The door led nowhere.

“Mama what is this?” Ana’s mother whispered something to Rhosewn, who then flew off disappearing into the mist.

“Ana we must go inside the door, come around to me.” Ana walked over to her mother and held her hand again. Her mother turned the rusty brass knob and a golden light slivered out from the door crack. A thick breeze blew against their faces. Ana’s curls danced in the rushing wind. The door was thrown open and Ana’s eyes grew wide as she saw inside the door a green pasture with strange yellow flowers ablaze across the field. The pasture overlooked a lake with a waterfall spilling over a mountainside covered in moss and dazzling flowers. The air was light and clear unlike where they were. Ana and her mother were about to step in when someone grabbed Ana’s mother from behind. Ana screamed as she saw her mother trying to defend herself against two men with long beards and swords strapped to their sides. One had an eyepatch and the other a tattoo of a ship on his arm. Ana knew they must be pirates, enemies of Peter. She stood there helpless unsure what to do.

“Ana go inside and close the door!” Her mother yelled. Ana still did nothing as tears began to fill her eyes.

“Ana go now, I promise they won’t hurt me! Go know and I will find you!” Ana took a few steps back her breath quickening. Another pirate emerged from the fog and sprinted towards Ana.

“Ana go!” Ana swallowed her fear and faced the door as one of the pirates yelled for her to not enter. She walked inside and shut the door. She closed her eyes tight, hoping that when she opened them this would all be a dream. She opened her deep blue eyes to the picturesque scenery of the whimsical waterfall and luscious pastures. She looked back at the red door that was now tangled in vines and had gnarly barks protruding from it. Ana looked down below her and saw five tiny hedgehogs. They all had patches of leaves and strung out straw laced over their body. Some had flower petals as hats and acorns as outwear. Ana knelt down and looked at them with her sorrowful eyes.

“Can you help me?” She desperately asked, hoping that one of them spoke English. One of the hedgehogs spoke softly in a squeaky voice.

“Follow us miss!” The hedgehogs then scudded off into the woods as Ana followed. All Ana could think of was finding her mother. She bit her lip as she looked around at this foreign world. The woods were not dark like in the storybooks but light and open. The trees elegantly swayed in the wind, their branches curving and twisting as if embracing one another. Flowers of outrageous and indescribable colors climbed up the trees. Ana did not realize but as she walked into the woods every step she took a white orchid took to bloom. They finally reached a big tree with roots extruding from the ground, piling up on one another. A girl sat there. The only thing you could see was her green face. The rest of her body were radiating scales that changed color every time she moved in the sun. Ana slowly approached as she walked behind the hedgehogs. Her red cloak glided across the grassy floor. The girl on the tree roots smiled, displaying some of the whitest teeth Ana had ever seen. The girl then stood up on the pile of roots and placed her arms on her hips.

“Welcome to Neverland.” She jumped down from the tree and walked towards Ana. She placed her scaly hand on Ana’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry your mother will be safe. First of all, there is someone I want you to meet. Oh, and my name is Wind, formerly Wendy, but I go by Wind now.”

Ana gulped loudly as she searched her mind for clues to help put this together.

“Wendy Darling?” Ana asked. Wind stopped and looked over her shoulder to Ana.
“Not anymore. Now follow me.” Wind climbed through the tree roots and disappeared. The hedgehogs followed and Ana thought what other choice did she have. She climbed through the sticky wet roots and found herself falling until she landed on a soft pile of what seemed to be cotton and fuzzy leaves. She stood up to find herself in a big room. There stood Wind in the middle with all the hedgehogs around her.

“I thought you left. You went home to your family?” Ana out of breath asked.

“I never left.” Wind smirked and motioned for Ana to come closer. She then pointed across the room to a chair where a boy was sitting hunched over. Ana approached him. His head was buried in his muddy bloody hands. Ana stood in front of him looking up at the towering throne of twisted bark and vines. The boy then moved his arms and looked down at Ana. Ana gasped and stumbled back as she laid eyes upon a pale face masked in wrinkles and age spots. Yet the boy’s eyes were the darkest most lively blue a human could have.

“Ana let me introduce you to Peter Pan.” Wind solemnly spoke. Ana was in utter shock. This was not how she envisioned the Peter her mother had talked about.

“But you’re not supposed to grow up. You are supposed to be a boy forever.” Ana mumbled to herself. Peter stood up from the chair. Wind jumped in to assist him as she held his hand, helping him catch his balance. He looked at Ana.

“Ana, I need your help.”

TO BE CONTINUED