His Precious Bird (Peter Pan/Robbie Kay)

A Visit From The Shadow

I unlock the front door of my so called 'home' and close it behind me when I walk in. "I'm home!" I shout to anyone who might be listening. All I hear is screaming children. My foster parents have three younger kids of their own. They just scream, throw, and break things. They annoy me more than anything.

I walk into the kitchen and my foster mother, Edith, is cooking dinner. My foster father, Joseph, was sitting at the table reading a book. Their kids are on the floor playing with a train set. They have two boys and one girl. The youngest boy, Liam, has one of the toy trains in his mouth. The two oldest, Felicity and Ivan, are arguing over one of the trains.

"Hi everyone" I greet everyone while waiting for a hi back that never came.

"Alaina I'm glad you're home, I need you to get started on some laundry," Edith says while chopping some carrots.

"The study could also use some dusting," Joseph adds, not taking his eyes off the book.

"Sure..." I respond, going off to do my chores.

The first thing I do is walk over to the children and take the toy train out of Liam's mouth. I swear, its like I'm a better mother to these kids than their own. Liam starts to cry, but I don't want him to wind up dead because his parents don't know how to watch him. I then get started on my chores. I take care of the laundry then dust the study as I was told. Then I head to my room and tidy it up like I'm supposed to everyday. After I'm done with my room, I go to tidy up the nursery. Its always a mess considering its where the children play and sleep. Edith and Joseph make me clean it since the children don't know how. By the time I'm done with my duties, its dinner time. Edith made beef stew like she does at least once a week. Dinner in this house is the same every night. Edith tries to hold a conversation with Joseph, but he never listens. Ivan is picking on Felicity for the way she eats. And Liam is in his high chair, feeding his food to the family dog, an annoying and yippy King Charles Spaniel. After dinner, I'm made to clean up the table and do the dishes. Once I'm done, I go up to my room and get started on homework and studying. The school I go to always gives a lot of homework, so I'm normally doing it for a good three hours. It doesn't help that Ivan, Felicity, and Liam's nursery is right next to my room. I hear every noise they make and its hard to concentrate.

After a while, its finally time for the children to go to bed. Edith and Joseph tuck them all in and say goodnight. They never say goodnight to me though. After another hour of homework, I'm finally finished. I change out of my school clothes and into my pajamas. I stare at myself in the mirror in my grey sweatpants and white tank top. I wish I could ware my pajamas all day. I then brush my teeth and throw myself in bed and the small annoying dog joins me. I'm the only person in this house the poor dog likes. Probably because I don't forget to feed it. I reach my hand under my pillow and pull out my story book. I've had it since I was a little girl. My mom used to read it to me every night. Its the story of Peter Pan. The boy who never grew up and lived in Neverland with the lost boys and pirates. The book is the only thing I have left from my parents. They died when I was fourteen. We were in a car crash and I was the only survivor. Since then, I've been bouncing in and out of foster homes. Its been two years since their death and I'm still not really over it. I've been living in this foster home for six months now. I'm not even treated as part of the family, I'm treated like a maid. I'm tired of it. I wish Peter Pan was real so he could take me away from this hell hole; so I can leave this life behind and start a new one. I read the story to myself like I do every night. Once the story is over, I put the book back under my pillow and go to sleep with tears staining my pillow.

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I wake up hearing strange noises coming from outside my bedroom window, It woke up the dog too. I get out of bed and throw on an oversized navy blue sweater to keep me warm. I slowly walk towards my widow and open the curtains. There outside my window, was a floating shadow with glowing eyes. It frightened me, so I took a step back. Then I realized what it was. Could it really be Peter Pan's shadow? But Peter Pan is just a story...right? I hesitantly opened my window and the shadow welcomes himself inside. The dumb dog starts barking up a storm. I was able to get her to stop so she doesn't wake up the whole house. I sit down on my bed as the shadow floated in front of me. We talked for a bit. He spoke of Neverland and how the lost boys, the pirates, and Peter Pan himself are all real. He said he wanted me to come with him and Pan would decide if I was aloud to stay. I said yes within a heart beat. This is the greatest night of my life. I stand up and the shadow offers me his hand. Then I thought of something. My story book is the only thing I have left to remember my parents by. I can't leave it behind. I quickly grab the book from under my pillow. I give a quick pat on the head to the dog and say my goodbyes. Then finally, I grab the shadow's hand. He lifts me off my feet and into the air. The dog starts to bark again and wakes up Edith and Joseph.

"What's going on in there?" Joseph shouts.

"Alaina, whos in there with you?" Edith soon follows.

I can hear them coming down the hall to my room. I look at the shadow and he understands that I don't want to be in this house any longer than I have to. We quickly fly together out the window. I look back and see Edith and Joseph staring at me in utter confusion and bewilderment. All I did was smile knowing I would never see them again. This is it. I'm finally saying goodbye to my old life and hello to a new one.