A Lost Boy

Prologue

This is based off of the 2003 live action Peter Pan film but it will also have references to other adaptions of the famous story by J.M Barrie.

The boy sat in his nursery, glaring out the open window to watch the sunset from the sky and over the horizon. Normally it would calm him down after he got angry like this but not this time. This time he was going to stay angry because he had every right to be. Or rather he believed he had every right to be. What had made him so cross was the fact that for the last few weeks his father had not been home much due to a special project he was working on. One that kept him busy from the crack of dawn to almost midnight so he not been able to spend a lot of time with his son nor anyone else for that matter. In fact he couldn't even visit with their family who had come over for the holiday.

But the completion of his father's project was drawing near and today the man had some free time from work so to make up for lost time he decided to take the boy to the park after school, where they would do all his favorite things like flying his kite and sailing his model boat over the pond. Well after school his father did take him to the park and they started to have a very fun time until one of his co workers showed up to talk to his father about something regarding their project. The boy grew impatient and rudely told the coworker to go away. As expected his father scolded him for his behavior and insisted he apologize but like most children he failed to understand what he did wrong so he refused to relent.

As punishment he cut their afternoon of fun short which only made the boy angrier. On the way home the two had a little spat which ended with the father telling his son to grow up and to stop being so unreasonable and selfish. The boy grew angrier and angrier as did his father, they both lost their tempers and said some things that they did not mean.

"I wish I had a different father!" The boy had shouted. "One who would actually spend time with me!"

"Well I wish I had a different son!" The father shouted back. "One who would actually behave himself and not be so horrible!"

The young man ran up to his room in the nursery after that. Feeling more angry than ever and hurt as well. His father regretted saying those words as soon as they came out of his mouth. He didn't mean them it was just that it's natural for people to sometimes say untrue but awful things when they were angry. He decided to apologize to his son but it would be after he gave him and himself some time to cool off. So he stepped out of the house for awhile. Unfortunately his son would not be as quick to realize his mistake as he had.

"Big brother." The boy groaned when his little sister came running into the nursery, having just come back from visiting the zoo with their aunt, uncle, and the other children. Completely oblivious to the tense moment that had taken place earlier.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I want to tell you about the zoo." She said. "It was so much fun and there were so many animals there. I wish you would have come and look what Auntie bought me."

She laid out a book and it opened it up to reveal pages of beautifully painted, water color pictures of different wild animals.

"Aren't they pretty? I think I want to be a painter when I grow up."

"Grow up? Why would you want to grow up?"

"Because I'm too little to do a lot of things right now. I'll be able to do them when I get bigger."

"But do you know what happens when you grow up?"

"Um...I'll be able to walk down the street by myself?"

"No. When you grow up you become mean and nasty all the time. Just like Father."

"Father's not mean."

"Yes he is. He shouted at me and he ruined our day for no reason and he said that I was horrible."

"You're lying."

"I am not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not! Father doesn't care about us anymore! All he cares about is his stupid work! He probably won't even remember your birthday next month."

"You're telling fibs to scare me again! Mother told you to stop that!"

"I'm not telling fibs. Father doesn't care because he's a grown up and grown ups don't care. So when you grow up you won't care about anyone and you'll be mean to everybody!"

"Quit it! I'll tell Mother!"

"Go ahead! I won't get in trouble because nothing I said was a lie!"

The little girl ran out of the nursery and downstairs to tell their mother what he said. To his surprise she didn't come upstairs to scold him. In fact she didn't come up at all which made him a little suspicious at first but he convinced himself that it was because they had relatives visiting so she was too busy to sort out their disagreement. Busy, busy, busy, he was so tired of everyone being too busy. He hoped that he would never grow up so he wouldn't have to worry about being too busy.

Later in the evening he along with all the other children in the house retired to the nursery to get ready for bed. They had all changed into their pajamas and nightgowns when she walked in. The lady of the house and the boy's mother, looking as fair and sweet as she always did. Truly it was no exaggeration when people said that she was the loveliest woman in their town.

"Is everyone comfortable?" She asked.

"Yes." They all answered.

"Very good." She said. She gave each of them a kiss goodnight and went to close the nursery window.

"Mother." Said the little sister. "Will you tell us a story please?"

"Yes tell us a story." The oldest girl insisted.

"I was hoping you all would ask me to do that." She said with a smile. "Because I have just the right story to tell you all."

"It's not a love story is it?" The youngest boy asked. "Because they make me sick."

"Well it has a some romance to it but it's mainly a coming of age story. One with sword fights, adventures, far away lands, pirates, lost children, and even a dragon."

"Does it breathe fire?"

"Not quite but it's still just as scary and this dragon happens to have a very peculiar appetite."

"What does it eat?"

"Oh you'll find out."

"Is it a story you read in a book?" Asked the oldest girl.

"No. You won't find this story in any books. But it's an age old story and I believe every child should hear it. Especially ones who think that it's better not to grow up and don't fully understand how much their parents love them."

She glanced over at the boy who was now very upset with his sister for opening her mouth.

The lady of the house giggled and then sat down in her chair while all the children in the nursery gathered around and turned their attention to her.

"All children grow up." She began. "Except one."