Nothing drowned the noise out. Not even your own sobs as you squeezed your eyes shut. And if you covered your ears, it only made the screaming louder. So instead you dug your tiny fingers in to the grass, tearing at it while trying to hold on to it.
"Are you okay?"
You looked up in surprise at the boy you've never seen before. He was standing on the sidewalk, just past the boundary you weren't allowed to cross. Instead of answering him, you continued to cry. What were you suppose to say anyways?
Suddenly you heard your name being yelled and you shot up to your feet. You spun around to look at the house and saw your father on the front porch.
"Get in the house! Now!" he hollered angrily. Which of course caused your mother to scream at him for yelling at you. Leading to yet another round of fighting. But you couldn't hide out here any longer. You were called for and you had to do what you were told.
Before you could start walking, your hand was grabbed and you quickly looked back at the little boy.
"Run away from Captain Hook!" he shouted. Then he took off, dragging you with him.
Your eyes widened in shock as you stumbled across the invisible fence. You didn't stop there though. Down the sidewalk you ran, listening to your name being bellowed behind you, and staring at the mysterious boy in awe.
The sidewalk gave way to dirt and houses turned in to trees. Into the little patch of forest you went, leaving the loud noises behind. Now it was only your feet thumping on to the ground and your heavy breathing in the warm, afternoon air.
You came up to an odd part of the forest where several of the skinny trees had fallen over. Some laid on the ground, ferns and moss covering bits of them. Others were still somewhat propped up, creating a zig-zag of bridges.
"Where are we?" you asked. This was your first time being so far away from your house without your parents.
The boy climbed up on to a fallen tree walked up the trunk so he was standing over her. Then he turned to her with his arms outstretched. "Neverland!" he declared with a smile.
You glanced around in both disbelief and confusion.
"I'm Peter Pan." he continued. He walked up the tree, getting even higher. "Come on lost boy."
Instantly pouting, you narrowed your eyes. "I'm a girl." you argued.
He turned to face you once more before pursing his lips in thought. "Hmmm... Do you want to be Wendy instead?"
The question was unexpected and you merely stared at him. Without waiting for you to answer, he scurried further up the tree while telling you to follow him. You hesitated for a bit before climbing on to the tree as well. You started crawling upwards at a much slower pace, making sure you wouldn't slip and fall. It didn't take long until you became more aware of how high you were going. You froze, unable to move with fear.
"Come on." the boy encourage further up the tree trunk.
"I... It's too high." you whined. You started to go backwards when your foot slipped a little. You quickly caught your balance but fresh tears welled up in your eyes.
He sat down and scooted closer to you. "It's okay." he told you while grabbing your wrists. "I won't let you fall."
You were still scared but you focused on him holding you. Together you slowly moved down the tree trunk until you reached the ground. Once your feet touched the earth, all of your fear left you. It was like a weight had been lifted off your chest and you were able to breathe once more.
The little boy jumped off the tree and landed by you. Wordlessly, he ran over to a small clump of wildflowers and picked a few. Then he came back to you with his hands high in the air. He ripped apart the flowers so the petals fell down on to you.
"What are you doing?" you asked, somewhat annoyed, and shook you head.
"Fairy dust." he explained with a bright grin. "Now you can fly and go anywhere you want. You don't have to worry about falling ever again."
You found yourself staring at him, speechless, yet again. Everything he kept saying was so silly but... a smile spread on your face anyways. He was Peter Pan and he had sprinkled you with fairy dust. This was Neverland, where magic was real and the rest of the world was far away.
Giggling, you ran around and played with him the rest of the afternoon. He would go up and down several of the trees, while you only went on some of them. The ones that stayed close to the ground and didn't rise in the air. To you though, it was like you had climbed a mountain still.
After a while, the light changed and he declared that he had to go home. It was only at that moment you remembered what you had ran away from. Your dad was going to be so mad at you. The mere thought of him screaming at you as loud as he could brought tears to your eyes.
"Hey, it's okay." Peter Pan assured you worriedly. "We can play tomorrow too."
Pressing your lips together, you nodded your head. He smiled softly at you before taking your hand. Together, you walked through the small forest and back to the neighborhood. He went with you all the way to your house, even up to the front door. What surprised you the most though was that he never let go of your hand. So you stood there on the porch with him.
"I'll see you tomorrow. And remember, you can fly now." he reminded you and squeezed your hand.
You nodded once more and took a couple of deep breaths. Then suddenly the front door flew open.
"Where the hell have you been?!" you dad spat. "Get in here. Now!"
Obediently, you let go of Peter's hand and entered the house. You only took a couple steps though when you hurriedly turned around. "What's your name?"
The boy blinked at you for a brief moment before smiling. "Jongup."
You smiled back at him. "Bye Jongup."
"Bye lost boy." he replied and stuck his tongue out. Then he turned and dashed away.

You had spent the entire morning fulfilling every demand from your parents. You were sure you were doing most of the cleaning but it was pointless to argue with them. It would only lead to another week of being grounded. So you clenched your jaw and did all the chores you had been assigned.
When you were finally finished, you rushed upstairs to your bedroom. You grabbed at your clothes, not even caring what they were. You changed as quickly as you could before bounding back down the stairs.
"Bye!" you called out and went to the front door.
"Hold on." your mom fired off.
You stopped and turned to face her, annoyed but doing your best so it wouldn't show. "What?"
She narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. "You don't have your bra on."
"I can't find it." you argued.
Which only earned you an even more stern look. "You are not leaving this house without it." She pointed at the stairs. "Go."
With an exaggerated groan, you stomped back up the stairs. In your room, you dug through your clothes in search of the new, infernal contraption that you hated. It was uncomfortable and you didn't think you needed it but like everything else, you had no say in the matter.
You finally found it and ripped your shirt off before putting on the torture device. Then you put your shirt back on and ran out of your room. This time you didn't say anything as you went to the front door in case you were stopped again. You went outside, quietly closing the door behind you, and then you flew off the porch.
You crossed the yard to the sidewalk and swiftly ran down it to where it ended. You disappeared in to the trees, following the familiar trail that you had traveled for several years now. It led to a place that you could find with your eyes closed.
The trail gave way and you slowed to a stop. You glanced around and spotted a person sitting on one of the fallen trees. As you made your way over to him, he glanced up at you and smiled.
"Did you get lost again?" he questioned.
"Ha ha." you replied. It was the same joke every time you showed up later than usual. "One of these days I'll be here before you."
He chuckled in amusement. "Never going to happen."
You sat down next to him. "Anything can happen in Neverland." you retorted.
He burst out laughing at you using the childhood name for the secret spot. At the same time though, he nodded. "Alright. One day." Then he reached in to his jacket and pulled out two chocolate bars. He offered one to you and you took it with a grin.
While you ate your treat, he stood up and moved to one of the other trees. It sloped upwards with the top of the tree caught on another tree. He carefully walked up it without slipping or losing his balance while eating his own candy.
"Tomorrow's the last day of summer." he commented. "You ready to go back to school?"
"No." you answered with scoff as you watched him. You were still too afraid to go too high, unlike him. And every time he did it, you were still in awe that he could be so fearless. Instead, you stood up on the tree you had been sitting on. You leisurely walked across it like a balance beam.
"Maybe we'll end up in the same class again." Jongup added.
That brought another smile to your face. "Yeah, that'd be cool."
Slowly but surely the day slipped away until the light began to fade, signalling that the sun was going down. You walked with him side-by-side with him as you left Neverland behind and headed home. He walked you to your front porch where you said you'll see him tomorrow.
Suddenly you felt your hand grabbed, preventing you from going inside, and you turned back around. Jongup was standing close to you and before you could react, he leaned in and planted a kiss on your cheek. Your eyes widened in shock and when you saw the smirk on his face, you instantly blushed hard.
"See ya tomorrow, lost boy." he told you as he squeezed your hand. Then he let go and turned away.
You watched his retreating back, frozen in place. Your heart thundered in your chest and it felt like your skin was on fire.
The door squeaked open. "What the hell are you doing just standing out here? Get inside now."
Avoiding your father's gaze, you entered the house and hurried upstairs. You went to your bedroom where you closed the door to hide yourself.
Later that night when you were trying to sleep, you heard loud voices coming from your parents' room. You tried to ignore it like usual but it was much harder this time. Every word penetrated your skull, filling you with both dread and confusion.
"She can't hang out with that boy anymore."
"He's her best friend."
"I don't ing care! She's getting too old to be around him."
"They're still kids."
"Don't be so stupid. That damn boy only has one thing on his mind and you know it."
Squeezing your eyes shut, you put your head under your pillow to help muffle the offending sounds. With your eyes closed though, you saw the look on Jongup's face after he had kissed you. Over and over again it played out in your mind.

You awoke the next morning and quickly dressed. With any luck, you could sneak out of the house without your parents noticing. Then you would be in the woods before Jongup for the first time and you couldn't wait to rub it in his face. While thinking that thought though, you found yourself blushing again for some reason.
You quietly descended the stairs and headed straight for the front door. As soon as you touched the doorknob, you heard your name called.
"Come eat breakfast!" your mom hollered from the kitchen.
You briefly debated about saying no and just leaving but it would only piss her off. And piss off your dad, leading to more yelling and spending endless hours in your room.
Sighing, you turned away from the front door and went to the kitchen. You sat down at the table and swiftly started eating. It was still early. If you hurried, you could still beat him there.
"You're not going outside today."
You whipped your head up to stare at your dad. "What?"
"You heard me. You can stay inside today. Get ready to start school tomorrow."
Tears welled up in your eyes. "But dad.."
"You're staying here and that's final!" he snapped angrily.
A single tear trickled down your cheek as you slumped in your seat. You stared down at your food, no longer able to eat it.
"If you're going to cry about it, go to your ing room."
You sprung out of your chair and took off running. You wanted to reach the front door that you saw at the end of the hallway. To go outside and to the one person who was always there for you. But your body seemed to move on its own and your feet carried you to the stairs. You ran up them and to your room where you slammed your door shut. Then you threw yourself on to your bed and hugged your pillow while you cried.
That night, you opened your eyes and blinked up at the ceiling. You to your side and started to close your eyes once more when something odd caught your attention. You sat up and stared at your bedroom window in confusion. Then you pulled your blanket off and slipped out of bed. You tip-toed over to the window and looked outside to see... lights. Lots and lots of lights.
A coldness seeped in to your bones, causing you to shiver. Your heartbeat became frantic as your breathing grew shallow. Then you turned and dashed to your door. You flung it open, ran down the hallway, and down the stairs. You heard your name being called but you didn't stop as you reached the front door. Stuffing your feet in to your shoes, you hurriedly unlocked the door and went outside, not even thinking to close it behind you.
You flew down the sidewalk, past the houses and the lights to the tiny forest. The sound of your feet hitting the ground helped drown out all the yelling that seemed like it was coming from everywhere. You came up to the special patch of trees and skidded to a halt. It was only then that you heard the shrill screaming. It was coming from the woman who was sitting on her knees with her back to you. There were other people too and as soon as they noticed your presence, they shouted and ran over to you. Your gaze stayed fixed on the woman though as she turned around. Familiar eyes that you had seen on another person looked at you and screamed something. You couldn't tell what the words coming out of were though. It was like someone was holding your head underwater. All you could understand was her frantic hand waving that told you to stay away. Even as the edges of the world turned black, you stared at her tear stained face until you couldn't see anything anymore.

You glanced around the trees that you hadn't seen in years. It was strange being back after avoiding this place for so long. After you realized you were the only one that was ever going to show up. Even now, you half-expected to see him sitting on one of the trees and waiting for you but you were all alone.
You went over to one particular fallen tree and sat down. You reached in to your jacket pocket and pulled out two chocolate bars. You sat one down on the tree before ripping the other one open. As you took a bite, you clearly saw his face in your mind. He looked exactly as the way you remembered, never having aged.
"I guess I really am Wendy." you uttered out loud. You weren't a lost boy. You had gotten the chance to grow up.
He never slipped. Not once. He could move up and down the leaning tree trunks like he was flying. And then the one time, the one time he did slip, that was it. A rare event followed by an even rarer occurrence. He hit his head on a rock. Right in the temple, rupturing the middle meningeal artery and causing an epidural hematoma. Bleeding in his brain that caused too much pressure. He would have appeared fine at first but eventually disorientated before falling unconscious.
If he would have just gone home when he fell instead of staying. If you had been here with him so you could have gone for help. If they knew exactly where to look so they could have found him sooner. If, if, if.
You sniffled and wiped at your eyes. Stuffing your half-eaten candy back in to your pocket, you stood up and walked away. At the edge of Neverland, you grabbed your discarded bag and hoisted it on to your shoulder. Then you kept walking.
You emerged from the woods but instead of heading to your house, you turned and went a different way. After walking for a couple of blocks, you came up to the small building that help you run away from everything.
You found the right bus number and climbed up the stairs. You handed over your ticket before going down the aisle to an empty seat by the window. You sat down, feeling like your heart was going to burst out of your chest. On to the next adventure.

Song Inspiration: Lost Boy by Ruth B