Peter Pan before Neverland

Chapter 1: the Begining

                       Chapter 1: The Beginning

        In the city of New York there are many people, and lots of children, and many of them 12 year old boys; but none of them as Peter Pan.

        Peter Pan was a quiet sort of boy. He was very tall for his age, and very smart. Peter dreamt of adventure, swords, pirates, Indians, and anything not ordinary. He also dreamt about love, but that he would never admit.

All Peter wanted to do was play and have fun; his imagination was his best friend, and a good friend it was! He had so many adventures with it that he could never describe. His greatest joy was to rush home from the school house and run to his back yard and have yet another adventure.

        “This is perfect,” Peter thought once as he swung on the swing that he made himself. “No grown- ups to tell me to clean up or do my lessons or take a bath!” he said aloud. “Don’t you think so Mr. Bird?” He said this to a lovely bird of spring whose name he knew not.

        Peter was looking at the formations in the clouds pretending they were something else, wishing that he could fly up there next to them and sit on them, just when his mother told him to come in and clean up the mess that was his room. Peter rolled his eyes and got off his swing. “Fine!” He said angrily.

        You see Peter’s mother was always interrupting his play, and that made him mad.

        “She doesn’t pay attention to me anyway, why should she care if I sleep in a messy room?” Peter thought as he put toys away. “At least she takes some notice of me, unlike Father.”

        Peter’s parents made him sad, for they never really paid attention to him, sometimes he wondered if they knew that he even existed, but he was reminded that they did when they nagged him or corrected him, since that was really all they did for him.

        That night Peter couldn’t get to sleep. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of discovering a new world and what he would name it when he did. He tossed, he turned, then he just gave up on sleep altogether and got out of bed. His throat felt scratchy so he went to get some water. He crept down the steps making sure not to make them creak.

When he got down to the kitchen he found that his mother and his father were talking to each other. Peter frowned, for he knew that if they saw him he would get scolded again for being up too late. As he walked off, headed for upstairs he realized that they were talking about him so he turned around and put his ear against the wall to hear them better.

To his horror, they were talking about what vocation he should enter and the possibilities of an apprenticeship.

“It’s about time that boy grew up!” said Mr. Pan, “He should be a man soon.”

Tears started rolling down Peter’s face as he said under his breath, “I will never grow up.” Peter darted up the steps in great haste.

When he got to his room he grabbed a few things a boy can’t live without: a wooden sword, a broken compass, and a box of matches he had hidden under his bed and climbed out his window and down the lattice. And he ran, he knew not where he was going, but he ran.