I. Tick-Tock | Peter Pan retelling
Summary: Kara is a sweet girl who just went on with life until she got the news. Lung cancer, everything turns for the worst. The ticking clock reminds her the little time she has in this world. She has no hope and no faith left in her. But, fate has a different plan for her.
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Hello, everyone! :) I felt like putting up one of my short stories, this story was for a contest (I had to make the story like Peter Pan) so I guess this is like it, but not. This story is like Peter Pan, but what could happen in real life (I'm not saying that Peter Pan isn't real, I love Peter Pan :). I'm just explaining so you guys will understand what is going on.
I hope you guys like it! :D Please tell me what you think! :) Thank you very much!
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One - One
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The repeating sound woke me up. My chest went up and down as I took breaths in and out; pain shot through body every time I breathed. I gulped for my throat was parched. My breathing gave a raspy noise. How long was I out? Memory flowed through me. My fingers gripped the bed sheets. Peter.
Poor, Peter, I remember him screaming my name. What's wrong, Kara?! Help! Somebody help!
"Kara," a voice mumbled. My green eyes glanced over to see Peter sitting on my right side; his caramel brown hair was everywhere, his green eyes shined having a glassy tone to it.
"Why?"
"Why, what?" I coughed placing the bed sheet in front of my mouth.
"Why didn't you tell me, Kara?!" he shrieked. He stood up from his seat. His hands were in fists. His whole body shook with anger. He wore a green T-shirt, blue jeans, and black converse. He was very tall for his age.
"You've never asked," I simple said. My eyes glanced down at the ground.
"That doesn't matter! You should have told me!" he kept on yelling. He began to pace the room running his fingers through his hair.
"You can't pretend that you don't have lung cancer." I stole a look from him. His whole face was cherry red, tears ran down his cheeks, and eyes were puffy.
"You are the one who introduced it to me, Peter, to pretend."
***
I remembered the first day I met Peter. It was after; I got my first therapy done. It was a gorgeous day out. The sun was shining; the wind was very strong that day, I happened to remember. I wanted to go outside to play. Mother was protected over me, ever since I was diagnosed with Lung cancer; she would freak out over the littlest cough I would make. She never let me outside to play for she thought it would make it worst. I knew that she felt guilty. She has been smoking all of my life. I got the Lung cancer by second hand smoking. Once, she heard of this; she admittedly stopped smoking.
I glanced around the house, mother was upstairs taking a nap, and I snuck out of the house without mother noticing. I was walking down the sidewalk heading towards the neighborhood park. It was in the early afternoon, before school was out. I didn't think that anyone was going to be there.
"Unguard," charged a little boy, he was swinging a wooden sword towards the other boy. The other boy just stood there clanging his wooden sword with the little boy's. He wasn't even breaking a sweat; he stood there yawning as the six other boys chuckled at his gesture.
I hide behind the bush watching the action of the two boys fighting a sword fight. The little boy was losing energy as he fell down to the ground. The five boys cheered while one other just simply rolled his eyes.
"Great job, Peter!"
"You did a marvelous job!"
"I vote Peter to be our leader!"
"Agree!!" The boys were bouncing around and circled around Peter, who was in the center. He grinned adoring the attention by his fellow friends.
"It's a girl!" the little boy who was knocked down on the ground said pointing at me. Yeah, I'm a girl, so what? All the boys had horrified looks on their faces; they ran towards the playground, the one person who stayed was Peter. He just stood there watching me. His green eyes staring into mine, and then a smirk was on his face.
"Why, hello, what's your name?"
"I'm Kara." I stated waiting for his name. He never responded back, which was rude.
"What's your name?"
"Oh, my name is-"
"His name is James," a voice came from behind Peter. It was girl, her hair was very short and she wore a blue shirt, and jeans. I felt horrible for I thought that she was a boy.
"Wait, I thought your name is Peter?" I questioned.
"Yeah, his middle name. He hates his first name because it is his father's-"
"Be quiet, Eve!" Eve, that's her name. I watched as Peter was yelling at Eve. She didn't seem to care; her arms were across her chest just staring off into space.
"Sorry, just ignore Eve," responded Peter, he was facing towards me, "She has some problems if you know what I mean."
Eve glared at Peter, "Take that back."
"Take what back." He was playing dumb adding a playful smile on his lips. I bit my lip smiling at scene. I have to say that it was funny.
"You know what, take it back!"
"La, la, la I can't hear you!" he stuck his fingers in his ears running around the playground. Eve's face turned a dark red and chased after him. Laughter came from the boys who were coming out of their hiding spots. The little boy who battled Peter came over towards me with a gentle grin on his face.
"Would you like to be in our group?" he asked mumbling under his breath. His dark brown eyes shined with glee hoping that I would say 'yes'.
"Well," I hesitated, "I don't know if Peter will let me."
He grabbed my hand dragging me along with him towards Peter, who was at the top of the slide still arguing with Eve.
"Peter!"
He took his fingers out of his ears looking over the side walk looking down at us.
"Yes, Philip!" Philip, that's his name? Cool.
"Can Kara be in our group, Peter?" pleaded Philip.
"Oh, yes, please Peter," two boys said at the same time, they looked like twins to me.
He pursed his lips as he lightly rubbed his chin thinking about it.
"Sure," he concluded, he slid down slide coming out at the end right next to us.
"But, Peter." Eve slide down the slide, too, and he stood there smiling at me.
"You said that girls weren't allowed to be in our group." Eve stated while glaring at me? I was confused, why was she glaring at me?
"Well, rules were meant to be broken."
Eve huffed as she walked away from the group.
"Now," Peter persuaded. He was rubbing his chin thinking, once more, about something. "You need a nickname."
"Why?" I was flabbergasted, "I like my name."
"Because everyone here has a nickname."
"Oh," I muttered. I never had a nickname before in my entire life; I stood there excited for the nickname that they were going to give me. The boys began to walk around thinking of a name for me. Eve lay on the bench soaking up the sun.
"I know!" the tuppy boy said, "Wendy!"
I stared at him, where did he get Wendy from?
"Al, where did you get that from?" asked Peter clearly, confused as I was.
"Don't you see? Her brown hair is blowing in the wind! So I thought it was very windy. That's how I got Wendy!" he concluded. Peter seemed impressed with his logic.
"That's brilliant Al!" Al smiled a triumphed smile.
"Thank you."
"Kara," Peter turned towards me, "We will call you, Wendy!"
****
I was part of their group from then on. I never knew what I missed when Mother kept in the house. After meeting the lost boys (I could never find them, they loved playing hide n' seek), Eve, and Peter; my life was hospital, park, and home. Mother noticed my absents, but never brought it up. That is until the doctor noticed something. He asked if I was going outside, I was freaking out for I knew Mother would punish me. She had that angry look on her face. But, the doctor said whatever I was doing, I was improving dramatically.
She didn't bring up the conversation of "I told you not to go outside."
"Kara, please be home by seven at the latest." I glanced up at my mother. She knew all along that I was playing outside but it felt good that she actually let me play now.
Every day was a new adventure, all of us got new names (but I still call everyone by their name when I first meant them: Al, Philip, Curly, Gav, Grant, and Bob). My job every adventure was to the damsel in distress. It was getting annoying; I was getting tired of being the girl who always gets capture. I was losing interest in the game. That was when I brought it up to Peter.
"Peter, may I be someone else?"
He stopped fighting the pirates (Al and Bob). He chuckled, "Who do you want to be?"
I pondered for a moment. "The bad guy."
Laughter was everywhere, all the boys were laughing. Eve stood there looked actually sincere.
"What are you laughing about?" I questioned.
Peter slowly stopped laughing, "Well, I can't really see you being the evil villain."
"Really now?" I hissed. I picked up a wood sword that lay on the ground (Bob's sword) and I pointed at Peter. The whole place was silent, Peter glanced at the sword and up at me. He was questioning me, not believing what he was seeing. He held up his sword, a smug upon his face.
We didn't speak, the boys moved back as everyone waited for someone to make the first move. I swung my sword toward the left: Peter blocked it with his sword and lunged towards my left side. I blocked his attack, I pushed it back. I moved backwards on the playground mulch. Our swords clanged together, it seemed like a pretty good battle up until he blocked my attack and swung his sword causing my sword to go off into the distance. He had won. I didn't look into his eyes for I knew that I went against our leader's orders but I was sick and tired of being the damsel in distressed.
"Not bad." I glanced at him, the way his green eyes stared into mine. Something in the bit of my stomach was rumbling. I knew it wasn't the cancer, it was something else. I couldn't put my finger on it.
He smiled at me. "You were really good." He walked away leaving me there. That's was the day I noticed that I had feelings for Peter.
***
And then one day, I was going to the park –I knew that the gang wouldn't be there, it was too early. I wasn't really feeling that good; my radiation therapy wasn't helping me feel that good. I was losing hair from it. I was worrying if they would suspect it. No questions about it. I needed a place to think ... of what I need to do. Am I going to cut off my hair or let it be? Am I going to win this battle?
I bit my lip thinking about this. The day was cloudy, but it was still very windy. I walked towards the bench not noticing that someone was already sitting there.
"Peter?"
Peter jumped turned away from me, hiding his face. "Oh, hi, Wendy."
He rarely used my real name. I sat right next to him, "You, OK?"
"Yeah, why?" He didn't glance up, I could barely hear him. He hides his face underneath his hands.
"OK, whatever you say, Peter."
I totally understand what he is feeling if he doesn't want to talk to me about it. It's okay. I sat there next to him. I let out a sigh, the weird butterflies stuff was coming back. I asked my mother about it: she told me that I have a crush on Peter. I couldn't ... he is my best friend, nothing more.
"Why are here so early?" I heard him question me.
"I needed to think."
"Why?"
"I don't know just think what's going to happen."
"I suggest that you don't."
I turned to look at him, "Really?"
"Yeah, well OK, then." I wanted someone to tell exactly that, I didn't want to think what could happen to me. What the outcome could be. Just that thought made me scared.
"Peter."
"Yes?"
I bit my lip not knowing if I should ask this, "What are you afraid of?"
It was silent, the only sound were the birds singing above us. Did Peter hear me? Is he ignoring my question?
"I'm afraid of growing up," escaped his mouth. I was nailed to where I sat; I didn't know that he was afraid of that.
"Why?"
He licked his lips, "I don't want to become like my father. Everyone around me keeps on saying 'you look just like your father when he was young', 'you are smart like your father' or 'are you going to become a doctor like your father?'"
"It's annoying." I didn't know that Peter had so much stress upon his shoulders.
"What are you afraid of, Wendy?"
I gulped not knowing if I should tell the truth. Peter told me his ... it would only be fair.
"I'm afraid of dying."
His head popped up from his hiding spot, his face was a little red. "You shouldn't be. To die would be a great adventure!"He threw his hands in the air; Peter was back to his normal self. I pondered at the thought of what he said ... to die would be a great adventure, in a way it was true. I lightly laughed at his reaction, and then it hit me. The coughing spell, it felt like someone was squeezing my lungs and I couldn't breathe.
"Wendy, you alright?" he questioned looked at me with concern. I nodded my head hoping that I would have control. "OK."
He didn't believe, after awhile, and I still couldn't breathe. I was going in and out, that's when I heard him screaming, "What's wrong, Kara! Somebody help!"
***
Now, here we were: in the hospital, and Peter figured out the truth about me.
He gripped his hair in frustration, "That's not what I mean you can't pretend that you don't have cancer, Kara, when you do!" Tears fell down his rosy cheeks; I have never seen him like this before.
"I'm fine, Peter." I tried reassuring him.
"You are not, Kara. You are going to die," he kneeled right beside my bed.
I gulped down a knot in my throat, "It's OK, I have come to terms with it-"
"You haven't Kara. Just before this, you feared that you would die. You haven't-"
"I have, Peter because of you. It would be a great adventure to die," I assured him tears began to blurry my vision.
"Stop it! Just stop it!" he yelled getting back up from the ground pacing again.
"Peter, I will be fine."
"How can you be so sure?! You don't know anything!"
I was analyzing what was happening here.
"What are you scared of Peter?" I whispered to afraid to ask. The room was silent, he stood there by the door; he was turned away from me.
I repeated myself, "What are you scared of Peter?" but this time much louder.
He turned around to look at me. "I'm afraid that I will lose you, Kara."
Peter walked over towards me, gently placing his hand over my hand. Butterflies uttered throughout my stomach.
"I don't want to lose you, Kara."
"W-why?" I asked the tears fell down my face glancing into his glassy green eyes.
"I don't know but, I have this feeling in me. Whenever we are together, I shake and this weird feeling inside of me happens. It makes me want to talk to you more and-" he stopped having no idea what he was talking about, he placed his head on the bed sheets.
I had an idea. I leaned towards him, with all my strength left, picking up his head as I gently kissed him on the lips. It was short, sweet, and gentle. All I have to say is amazing. "I know, I feel the same way, too," I whispered. Peter began to grin, it was huge, and he got up from his spot and started running around with laughter. I smiled for his happiness.
He stopped as he came over towards me and whispered, "We will always be together, right Kara?"
"Always."
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Author's Note: I know the ending seems like a cliff hanger, but I made it like that so the readers can have their own ending. :) You can think whatever you want ... sorry that is confusing. I really hope that you enjoyed it! :D
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