In which a young girl who doesn't believe in magic ends up on the most magical place in the world; an island called Neverland. After spending a few months on the island, she wants to go home. However, two years later, Annie Wood makes her return to...
The feeling of fire building up in her chest made Annie forget all about the picture perfect world around her. Clear blue water warmed by the sun thrashed violently around her, some seeping into her mouth and to her lungs as she let out a gasp of shock, but also in desire of more air. Annie's hands clawed at the sea, in hope of finding something to grab onto, to stop her body from being dragged backwards. She couldn't even see what was going on, her vision blocked by water.
The moment felt like it lasted for ten minutes, when in actuality it was only about fifteen seconds. Calloused hands gripped the smooth skin on Annie's arms as she was dragged out of the water and up onto the grainy sand of the beach. Oxygen returned itself to the girl's lungs, forcing her to cough up the sea water that had tried to act like a replacement of air.
"You're crazy. What are you doing? Absolutely insane." A voice mumbled, her elbows still in contact with the warm, rough skin of another person.
Once Annie stopped coughing up the ocean, her throat sore and her body starting to feeling fatigued, she looked over at who had dragged her back to shore. As soon as she did, a warm feeling started spreading throughout her entire body as if the sun was coming out from behind a cloud and casting it's heat down on Earth. Annie ignored it, too distracted by who sat beside her on the sand.
It was Peter, with his forest coloured eyes and a concerned expression written across his face. His dark eyebrows were turned up, while his plump lips were slightly parted and his jaw clenched.
"Pe-Peter? How'd you know I was here?" Annie asked, her head slightly shaking as her dumb question rolled into the air.
Peter closed his eyes, his expression instantly changing to a mix of amusement and annoyance as he shook his own head.
"You don't get it, do you?" The boy said quietly, opening his eyes. "I know the movements of everyone on this island. Seriously, Annie. You should stop asking me how I know things. You'd save yourself alot of time."
Annie furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the boy. "We're on an island where time is frozen. I don't think I'm wasting any."
Peter dropped his head, concealing his grin while Annie only had a view of his dark brown hair; the colour of tree trunks that matched his leafy green eyes. Annie adjusted her position so she was sitting upright, and looked out at the peaceful ocean. Indigo was gone, seemingly not even noticing the girl's departure from the water. The same tingly warm feeling reached Annie once more, spreading from the tips of her fingers and toes all the way to her steadily beating heart. Her stomach tightened, in a way that meant a cage of butterflies had just been released inside.
Annie looked over at Peter as he crouched beside her, the rough skin of his fingertips gently brushed against her arm. An expression of confusion etched it's way onto her features as her own green eyes met with the familar ones of Peter.
"What's wrong?" The boy asked, noticing how concerned and tense the girl had grown in a matter of seconds. Her mouth opened and closed slightly as she tried to figure out what to say, her head starting to spin.
"What happened? Why...why am I so wet? What are you doing here?" Annie frantically asked, questions pouring out of her like water.
"You...you were in the water, and I pulled you out. We were just talking, what happened? You don't remember what just happened, not ten minutes ago?" Pan asked, his own confusion arising.
"I remember sitting on the beach with...with, uh, Victor, but nothing after that." Annie replied. She looked down at the palms of her hands, and pulled at her damp t-shirt. "Did he do anything? And you saved me?"
"No, Victor's back at camp. He's been there for a while." Fear wasn't a usual emotion for the leader of Neverland, but right now it seemed to be the only one coursing through his veins. He wanted to know what just happened to Annie, and why she couldn't remember any of the events that had occured to her in the last half an hour. Pan had his suspicions, of course. He knew what the mermaids were capable of, and he had just rescued Annie from their territory.
"It's like someone...went into my head and removed my memory. Everything after talking with Victor is black." Annie stated, looking out at the sea as she tried to remember what she had been doing on the beach after her brother left.
"I think that's exactly what happened, Annie. And I'm going to find out why." Peter stood up off the sand, brushing himself off before helping Annie to her feet. Her vision went starry as she stood up too fast, needing a few seconds to recover from the sudden movement. Once Annie could see again properly, she looked over at Peter, and couldn't hold back the small smile that spread across her face.
Without even thinking, Annie leaned forward and pressed a brief kiss to the warm cheek of the boy in front of her. "Thanks for saving my life." She spoke, not noticing the furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes of a shocked Peter. Nothing else was said or done between the two as Annie started making her way back into the jungle.
Peter stood on the beach, his mind frozen as he watched the girl walk away.
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