The Lost Boys

Little Wendy gazed out her window from her hospital bed. Her face was red from the fever, her figure thin and frail, much like a doll. A needle protruded from her arm, feeding her all of her nutrients, but yet, she still looked as if she lacked them.

             Her mother fiddled with one of the girl’s light brown curls which had fallen limply on the girl’s bony shoulder.

             “What do you see, Wendy?” she asked her young daughter.

             “Neverland, mother, it’s beautiful… a place where I will never grow up,” the girl muttered, gasping for breath after every couple words.

             “Oh, Wendy, darling, no such place exists on Earth.”

             “’It’s not on Earth, it’s in Heaven…”

             Tears ran down her mother’s face. Her daughter was only ten, hardly old enough to die. She left Wendy alone, she could tell the little girl liked being alone. She would mumble about pirates and mermaids and everything children dreams of. That was her mother’s only comfort, Wendy was happy, she seemed to hardly know she was sick at all.

             “Mrs. Ferris, do not fret,” the doctor said, clipboard in hand. “The only victims of this disease have been boys. All girls to come down with this Peter’s Plague have survived. We may not know a lot, but we do know little Wendy is improving every day.”  

             “I know, Doctor Hook, but she is so complacent and just not my little girl anymore.”

             “Mrs. Ferris, all will be well, if she responds to the surgery just like all the others, you will have that lively little girl back. Leave your daughter in my hands.”  The Doctor helped Mrs. Ferris to the waiting room as Wendy was wheeled from her room to the operating room.

             The little girl’s blue eyes were fixated on the ceiling above her. Instead of seeing the gray-speckled ceiling, she saw the same night sky as outside her window.

             “The second star on the right,” she said to the nurse nearest her. “It’s brighter than all the others.”

             The nurse looked up at the doctor worriedly and pumped a sedation drug into Wendy’s bloodstream using the needle in her arm.

             “There,” the nurse said, “she should stay out for a few hours while we go in.”

             “Thank you, Nurse,” Doctor Hook said quickly putting on his mask and gloves.

             Wendy’s eyes closed within moments and Doctor Hook grabbed the hands of his nurses who all joined hands as well.

             “May God be with us,” he said, dropping the nurses’ gloved hands.

***

             “Weeennnndy! Weeennnndy!” a voice called through the darkness.

             “Where am I?” she asked, flailing about unable to see.

             “Ah, sorry about that,” the boy’s voice said. “Light it up, Belle.”

             Wendy glanced around her hospital room. The needle was no longer in her arm and she felt a sudden energy within herself, like she’d never felt before.

             At the edge of her bed sat a boy. He appeared around twelve with his tall, lanky body and somewhat matured, yet still youthful, face. His cheekbones protruded like those of a man, but his green eyes were still those of a restless child.

             In the corner of the room stood a beautiful woman who Wendy believed resembled her mother. The woman’s blonde hair flowed down over her intricate green dress. From her back, Wendy noticed a pair of perfectly white wings sticking out of the dress and extending out another two feet from where her body stopped. She stood with her arms crossed over torso and had a somber look on her face.

             “Hello there, Wendy,” the boy said, his face lighting up as he spoke. Wendy recognized his thick London accent as the one had been hearing ever since she was hospitalized. “I’m Peter.”

             “Who are you?” she asked. “Why are you here?”

             “I’m going to take you to Neverland. That place you see in the sky, it’s where I live.”

             Wendy’s eyes lit up with the same youth as Peter’s. She turned her feet off the edge of the bed and leaned forward towards him.

             “You can take me there?” she asked, “how?”

             Peter smiled, revealing a mix of both larger adult teeth and little baby ones. His mouth was completely out of proportion as his two front teeth were complete different size and it set his mouth into a permanent look of crookedness.

             Peter reached down and grabbed the girl’s small hand. He stood up and pulled her with him. Wendy was startled when she felt her bare feet touch the cool, solid ground. A sensation she hadn’t felt for months.

             “Of course,” he said. “But first, I need to make sure you are worthy of going to Neverland. All of the girls I’ve met, they proved not to be. I like you Wendy, but do have what it takes to be a Lost Boy?”

             “Lost Boy?” she asked, walking on her tiptoes awkwardly, still holding onto Peter’s hand for support.

             “The Lost Boys are all those who have come to Neverland with me.”

             “Well, then Peter, I can’t come…I’m a girl.”

             “Ah, but Wendy, you can be the first Lost Girl!” Peter took hold of her other hand and began to dance with the girl.

             Although Peter was older than Wendy and tall for his age; she nearly exceeded him in height. She didn’t respond because she was awed by the feeling of being able to dance again. She used to love ballet but due to the sickness, was forced to hang up her slippers.

             He twirled her and she didn’t stop spinning until she came to the open window. The cool air startled her and she looked down at the world below her. Cars stopped in their tracks, people on the sidewalk paused in their busy lives.

             “What’s going on?” Wendy asked turning back around to face Peter.

             “Wendy, do you know why you’re in this hospital?” he asked his face suddenly went completely serious. His mouth squished into a straight line, his eyes narrowed.

             “I’m sick,” she said.

             “Yes, you’re sick. But isn’t that unfair, unfair that you, a child should be sick, someone so young. Adults have these problems, children do not, and children should have no issues in the world. You’re becoming an adult, Wendy. You’re growing up.”

             “What’s so bad about growing up?” she asked.

             Peter sighed, he looked down at the ground, and then over to Belle, the beautiful woman with the large white wings.

             “Why don’t I just show you,” he said, “Belle?” He motioned to the woman who with the snap of her fingers had transported them into Peter’s life.

             Wendy stood hand-in-hand with Peter in the corner of his room. Belle, stood near them, once again crossing her arms over her chest.

             “That’s me,” Peter said, pointing to a boy lying in a hospital bed, in similar condition to Wendy. “They told my parents that I had some new disease no one had ever seen before. They said I was going into surgery, but really, Doctor Hook just wanted to see how his concoction had taken over my body.”

             “Doctor Hook? Why that’s my Doctor!” Wendy exclaimed glancing down at the sickly Peter. His hair, which was so vibrantly red on the Peter she was standing beside, looked dark and dirty on the one in the bed.

             “Yes, Doctor Hook,” he said. “He is why you should never grow Wendy.” He turned to Belle who once again, with just the snap of her fingers had transported Peter and Wendy to yet another location.

             There stood Doctor Hook, shuffling through various newspapers and patient files. He ran his hands over his buzz cut dark hair.

             “Smee, there must be something, someone here,” he said, “someone who will make me famous.”

             Smee, a portly man, held up Peter’s file in his fat, grubby hands.

             “What about this one Doctor? He’s always been quite healthy, perfect candidate for the plague,” Smee said.

             Doctor Hook studied the file. His face suddenly broke out into a smile so big, that it showed all of his pearly white teeth.

             “Yes, Smee, Peter, he is the perfect young boy. A healthy, lively, boy suddenly dies of a mysterious disease I discovered. I shall be the most famous Doctor in all of the British Isles!”

             Wendy stood in awe as she watched as her Doctor gave Peter his “routine” vaccines and as Peter became sick and eventually died.

             “You mean he’s doing this to us?” she asked awestruck. She looked up at Peter, whose vibrant green eyes were suddenly filled with such hatred that Wendy may have mistaken those eyes for someone much older.  

             “He doesn’t have to anymore. After he infected me, the disease has spread on its own,” Peter said. “Now, don’t you see? Growing up makes you greedy, all that you have is never enough! Growing up means being sad, it will turn you into someone like Doctor Hook, someone greedy, someone willing to do anything for fame and money. But Wendy, if you come with me, to Neverland, you will never have anymore worries.”

             “Never?” Wendy asked.

             “Never ever!” Peter exclaimed.

             He was suddenly flung into the air where he began to dance and twirl around.

             “Peter! How are you doing that?” she asked. Her blue eyes filled with delight as she watched as he flew around the room.

             “Belle, she’s an angel. If you truly believe, she can make you fly too,” Peter said, flying over to her and taking her hand, leading her to the window, where life was still paused. He flew out of the window and stood on the edge of the tiny balcony. “What do you say Wendy?” He held out his hand.

***

             Wendy’s heartbeat stopped and the piercing sound of the heart monitor haunted the entire operation room. One of the nurses began to perform CPR but it was too late. Wendy was dead.

             “Mr. and Mrs. Ferris, I’m afraid I have some bad news. The operation was going well, but halfway through, Wendy’s heart went into cardiac arrest and I’m afraid she didn’t make through the surgery.”

             The parents, still young themselves, began to mourn their only child. Wendy’s mother cowered into her husband who also had tears in his eyes.

             “I’m very sorry,” Doctor Hook said. “This disease takes hold and just doesn’t let go. Your little girl’s death will not be in vain because she is the first female victim of this disease. It may just lead us to a cure.”

             “Doctor, this isn’t fair. No parents should have to bury their children,” Wendy’s mother said.

             “The world is cruel, Mrs. Ferris,” he said, “at least you know Wendy is in a better place.”

             “Neverland,” Mrs. Ferris said glancing out the window at the sky. She could finally see what her daughter had been talking about all those months.

***

             “Peter, what about my mummy and daddy? Can’t they come with us?” Wendy asked, carefully stepping out onto the small, narrow balcony.

             “They’re adults, Wendy. Adults can never come to Neverland, for they have their lost ability to believe. They have seen too much of life. But us, we are still young; life was always just one big adventure for us. Now, come along, I get so lonely…”

             Wendy climbed onto the side of the balcony and took Peter’s hand. With large leap she jumped off the edge. At first it was only Peter keeping her from falling onto the still London streets. She closed her eyes.             “I believe…” she whispered to herself. Suddenly, she felt herself being thrust back into the air. Peter’s hand let go of hers and to her delight she was gliding over the now busy London streets. “Peter! I’m flying!”