OUAT: Never Happy, Ever After - Peter Pan and Wendy Darling

Chapter 3: ♪

The shadow didn't return the next night. It was the same with the night after that. I started to ask myself whether it was just a dream, but that night in Neverland felt too real. Of course I shared the story with my brothers. They were just as excited about it as I was. There were other things that kept my mind of Peter Pan, Hook and the Lost Boys though. Only three days after my trip, my father had another important dinner with his colleagues. This time it took place at our home and the whole afernoon was spent with preperations.
"Wendy, could you check whether there are enough dishes on the table. I'm not quiet sure if I chose the right number", my mother asked me while she prepared the food in our kitchen.
"Okay, Ma", I said and walked along the long corridor that lead to our living room.
Suddenly I heard Nana bark. She was a lovely and peaceful dog, so if she barked there had to be something wrong. With fast steps I reached the living room and saw a thief standing near the table, looking at Nana with a terrified expression.
"Stop!", I called out and quickly grabbed the nearest thing I could reach to defend myself. It turned out to be a small, wooden sculpture. I never liked that decoration.
"Who are you? What do you want?", I asked the stranger.
"Please", he said, "I don't mean any harm. I... I was just..." Nervously he pointed towards the table where a plate with three loafs of bread stood on. One loaf was already missing one half.
"You're hungry", I noticed and got a better look at the stranger. He was just a boy around my age. He looked skinny and his clothes were ripped and dirty. In his eyes you could find deep sadness.
I sighed and put down the sculpture. What kind of person would I be, if i let him starve?
I picked up the breads and walked towards the boy.
"Here", I said looking up to him. "Have as much as you like."
"Really?", he asked looking at me with disbelief.
His doubtful voice made me laugh a bit.
"Well, I'm not about to let you starve to death", I said with a smile.
The boy just looked at the bread and then back to me.
"What's your name?", I asked him.
"Bae."
"Bae? How unusual...I'm Wendy. Wendy Darling."

My brother and I kept him hidden in our room behind a secret wall. We gave him food and let him out to go to the bathroom whenever it was safe to go. Since I thought my parents wouldn't like to have a stranger in their house, I made my brothers swear not to tell anybody. They were actually glad about it, because they loved our new guest. And Bae loved them.
So everyday, after breakfast, lunch and dinner, I took some food that was left over and brought it to Bae. I was still wondering about that name. At least it was not as normal and boring as Wendy. Or Peter. I really needed to stop thinking about that boy. But everytime I closed my eyes I saw those green glittery eyes of his that stared into mine intensely.
I worried about my parents getting mistrustful. Probably because I wasn't quiet there at dinner anymore. I was always busy thinking about Neverland and worrying about Bae, because we couldn't keep his presence a secret forever. My parents actually caught me a few times when I wasn't listening to their conversation. It was just really hard for me to focus the next couple of weeks.

As usual I went straight to our bedroom after dinner one evening. With some food packed in a little bag I kneeled down in front of the piece of wall you could remove and knocked. Bae opened it fast and I gave him the food.
"I brought as much as I could."
I smiled at him as he thankfully smelled his food.
"And your parents don't suspect anything?"
"There grown-ups. They can't see anything that's not right in front of them." Both of us chuckled, but we were interrupted by my fathers voice.
"We can't, can we?"
I quickly stood up startled and looked at my parents who were standing in front of the bedroom door as if they've waited there since hours.
"Please, father! Let me explain...", I began while Bae crawled out of the small room and stood next to me.
"How long have have you been in my house?"
"Only a few weeks, father! He was hungry on the streets", I answered the question instead of Bae.
"I was talking to him", he interrupted me. "Where's your family?"
"My mother died", Bae explained. "My father...he's dead too."
My parents exchanged a glance while Bae gave me the food he still had in his hands.
"Look, I'm sorry. I'll leave, sir."
Finally my mother walked towards Bae and said: "You're not going anywhere!"
My father and I both looked at her surprised.
"The streets are no place for a boy."
"Please, don't send me to the workhouses!"
"We'll do nothing of that sort. You'll stay. Right here."
"What?", I heard my father say.
"Welcome to our home", my mother said ignoring my farther.
Bae just laughed and looked at me with so much relief in his eyes and I must have had the same expression.

So Bae stayed with us. He was one of the Darling family now. My brothers were stoked about it and my dad got used to it as well after a while. We made some space for Bae in our room and he was sleeping on a matress on the floor for now, since we didn't bought a bed for him yet.
It became a habit og me to get up in the middle of the night, so I could stand in front of the window and look into the sky.
"Pss, Bae", I whispered and he woke up immediately. He got up and stood next to me in front of the window.
"What is it?"
"The shadow. Is it coming tonight?", John suddenly asked. We didn't even noticed that my brothers woke up.
"Oh, I hope so", I said smiling.
"The what?", Bae asked puzzled.
"A few weeks ago, right about the time you got here, this... shadow... it came to the window. Only it's not attached to a body. And it can do so many wonderful things, like change its shape and fly and travel between worlds", I told him excited.
"And do you know why? Because it has magic! "
I was surprised that Bae's expression only got fiercer. What was wrong with him?
"Whatever you do", he finally started, "Promise me you'll never open that window again, promise me you won't talk to the shadow."
My mood changed quickly from excited and happy to angry and confused.
"Don't be silly."
"Magic is dangerous! It always comes with a price." I remembered that saying. Peter Pan and Hook had said it before. How did Bae know about this?
"You're just saying that, because you don't believe", John said.
"No, I do believe! That's the point: I've seen magic. I come from another land where magic is everywhere."
I stared at Bae in disbelief. "Is that really true? Because this sounds wonderful!"
"It isn't what you think. Magic is the reason I left. I lost everything because of it..."
"Your mother and father..."
"Magic desroyed my family. I don't want it to do the same to yours. If the shadow comes back, promise me you won't go anywhere near it."
"Alright Bae, I promise."
I didn't believe in a single word that I just said. If the shadow comes back, I would take its offer again.

Another night I tiptoed through our room, after my mother checked whether we were all sleeping. When I walked passed the window I stopped. The sky was clear and you could see a ton of stars, just like the night the shadow came and took me to Neverland. I wondered if it'd ever come back.
"I believe you'll get me Peter", I whispered into the night. "I believe."
Then I saw something. I looked closer and realized that it was Pan's shadow. I kneeled on the window seat and opened the window. The noises I made must have woken up Bae, because I heard him shifting in his new bed.
"Bae, look!", I shouted as quietly as possible to not wake my brothers.
"It's him! The shadow."
"No, Wendy", Bae said quietly and walked towards me. "Get away from there!"
"You don't have to be afraid! He doesn't want to hurt us. He's from another land, a land of magic, but different from where you came from." Bae told me about the land he came from and it didn't sound like Neverland at all.
The shadow was very close now. It reached for my hand like last time and I took its.
"Wendy, please! Don't listen to them!"
"It's called Neverland", I ignored him, since I was too excited to go back to that magical place.
"There are no grown-ups there and children never grow old. And we can do everything we want even fly!" These are only some of the amazing things Peter told me last time when we sat at the cliff...
The shadow lifted me up, but Bae grabbed my other Hand and pulled me back to him.
"It's a trick. Don't go with them! You don't need magic! You have a family right here. That's the only thing that matters."
Of course it matteref, but I'f only be gone for that night, just like last time when Peter let me go home. For now I just want to get back there.
"This is what I've always dreamed of. You just don't believe!" With that I let go of his hand.
I heard him call my name a couple of times and looked back. Bae was looking at me from out the window when the shadow took me farther and farther away from him.