Second Star to the Right

Chapter Nine: Felix

"Isn't  it funny...the things we haven't thought  about in years still have the ability to make us cry?"

~Felix, "Once Upon A Time"

Chapter Nine: Felix

Wendy couldn't sleep that night. She didn't want to. She needed to see Felix. Why had he been following her. Even more than that, why was he in London, in her world? John snored and Michael was talking about having tea with Mr. Stuffins in his sleep. Wendy quietly sighed, and judged that it was probably one in the morning. 

Wendy turned to face the window that she had left open just a crack. She didn't want Shadow waking up her brothers with his tapping. That was, if he came. Peter Pan didn't seem very consistent with picking Wendy's visitation days. 

Wendy's heart beat sped up when she saw something quickly fly across the window. She quietly got up and put on her shoes. She heard her window creek, and feet walk across her floor. Wendy turned around, and who she saw was not was she was expecting. 

"Felix?" She whispered, bewildered at the fact that he was standing in front of her. Felix put a finger up to his lips and silenced Wendy. He grabbed her arm, and they disappeared into a cloud of green smoke. 

When the smoke cleared, Wendy saw that she was in the middle of a dark forest. 

"Welcome back." Felix said and let go of Wendy's arm. Wendy rubbed where he had gripped her.

"Why were you in London today?" Wendy asked.

"What," Felix said, "No thank you?" He scoffed. Wendy glared at him and demanded an answer. Felix rolled his eyes. "Pan sent me to check on you. The stupid shadow told him you were in trouble."

"So he has been spying on me?"

Felix shrugged. "He cares about you." There was an awkward silence. 

"Why did you pick me up tonight?" Wendy asked. 

"Shadow needed a break." Felix answered sarcastically. He tried to go around the truth, even though he wasn't sure what the truth was. 

"Why didn't we fly?" Wendy asked a lot of questions, and Felix noted that. He wasn't sure how Pan or the boy put up with it. 

"You see Wendy, Pan and I are similar in many ways." Felix said.

"I don't see it."

Felix ignored Wendy's comment and continued. "The thing is though, he can fly. I can't. He has a happy thought. I. Don't"

"Why are you so spiteful?" Wendy asked. 

Felix remained quiet. He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to remember why he was so angry and harsh all of the time. He didn't want to dwell on his life before Pan. He couldn't do it.

Felix reached up and lightly touched the scar over his eye. 

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't....

*********

"FELIX!" A voice boomed through the darkness. Sixteen year old Felix hid underneath his bed. He held the pan in his hand tightly to his chest, and breathed softly. Footsteps sounded down the hall, and creeped closer with each step. 

"WHERE ARE YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING-" His father yelled in the darkness. Felix couldn't move. His body trembled at the vulgar words that his father threw at him. A tear rolled down his cheek, but Felix refused to make a noise. He couldn't cry out, no one would reach him in time. Even though Felix would be able to defeat his father if they fought, Felix didn't want to fight. He couldn't fight the man that had raised him. 

Felix's bedroom door slammed open. Felix held his breath and froze. His father screamed and yelled and stomped around the room, throwing things and destroying everything in the way of his drunken rage. 

"FELIX!" The father roared before storming out to search and destroy another room. Felix scrambled out from under the bed and tried to escape out of the window. He desperately wiggled the lock, but it wouldn't budge. Before he could hide again, his father entered the room.

"There you are." The father said, then grabbed Felix by the hair and yanked him into the kitchen. Felix still held tight to the fying pan, which his father had not noticed. Felix slammed the pan against his father's hand, and his father screamed in pain. 

"You rotten boy! I'll make another scar on your face! To match the other one!" Felix's father yelled. His hand was swelling already, and it was probably broken. "You'll pay for this! JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER DID!"

"YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!" Felix screamed, unable to contain his rage any longer. 

"The miserable wench deserved it." His father spat, then laughed. His laugh got louder and louder in Felix's head. It echoed to the deepest part of his mind and soul. Felix's anger from the past few weeks welled up inside of him. He yelled and attacked. 

He hit his father violently across the head with the pan. Felix's father fell to the ground with a loud thud. Felix started to cry, and he heard a ringing in his ears. He dropped the pan to the ground. He could hear sirens in the distance, and saw lights turning on in the houses close to him. He heard his neighbors yelling. They had heard what happened. It was only a matter of time.....

Felix's knees collapsed and he fell into a sobbing heap on the floor. Then, the sounds of the sirens droned away, his breathing slowed, and the neighbors' yells diminished. The noise was replaced by a beautiful sound of music, coming from outside. Felix mustered up all of his strength and stood up. He shuffled to the door as he continued to cry, just slightly less. 

Felix looked down the road, and saw a hooded figure playing a pan pipe. The figure's face was concealed, but Felix knew that it was looking at him. The figure turned, and walked away. Felix followed. He followed the figure through town until they reached an abandoned building. They were alone. 

The figure stopped playing, and face Felix. 

"Who- who are you?" Felix asked. The figure pulled off his hood and looked at Felix. He was a boy, around the same age as Felix.

"I'm Peter. Peter Pan." The boy said. He gestured to Felix. "And you are?"

"Felix." Felix answered quickly, and stood up straight.

"Well Felix, this pipe is magical. Only the abandoned can hear it. You heard it, and you followed me. I want to know why." Pan said and placed the pan pipe into his cape. 

"Magic isn't real." Felix said, and almost laughed at the boy. 

"Why of course there is." Pan said, about to laugh at Felix himself. "You just don't believe." Felix didn't reply. Pan saw that Felix was broken, and he had seen what had happened in his house. "I lost someone too, you know. A long time ago. It's a lonely feeling." Pan sad. Felix nodded. 

Sirens wailed in the distance, getting closer and closer. Felix looked at Pan with fear in his eyes, and anger. "I hate him. I hate him with everything I've got." Pan smiled. 

"I think we;re going to be a great team. Do you trust me?" Pan asked. Felix didn't answer. He had just met Pan, but something about him made Felix want to trust him. They were just so similar. 

Pan grew impatient. The sirens were only a minute away. "Look, I'm all you've got right now. Unless a cell is somehow appealing to you." Felix rolled his eyes. Pan was right. 

"I trust you." Felix said. Pan grabbed his arm. 

"Well then, Felix. Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning!" Pan yelled. Pan and Felix disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, just as the police entered the building.