His Precious Bird (Peter Pan/Robbie Kay)

Mother

I slowly open my eyes and see the sun coming through my window. I sit up in my hammock and look out my window. Its a gorgeous morning. Its like that stereotypical morning that you see on sixty's sitcoms. The sun shining, the birds chirping, you know. Suddenly, a small bird comes and lands on my windowsill. I've always loved birds. I love how they have the freedom to fly anywhere their little wings could take them. After my parents died, I spent a lot of time wishing I was a bird. I thought if I was a bird, I could fly away and leave everything behind. It kind of seems like my dream came true, only the shadow was the one who flew me to Neverland. I slowly reach my hand out in an attempt to touch the bird. Before the flesh of my finger tips could make contact with its soft feathers, it quickly flew away. I stare after the bird as it fly's off into the sky and I let out a deep sigh. I look across the way at Peter's tree house and see he's not there. He must be at the lost boys camp already. I get out of my hammock and start off for the camp, not forgetting my crossbow of course.

***************************************************************

I arrive at the camp and see that something is going on. The boys are gathered around in some kind of circle. Then, I hear voices. One voice sounds angry and ferocious, and the other voice sounds scared and apologetic. I then realize that the angry voice belongs to Peter. He's scolding a lost boy, but why? I walk up to the circle of boys and push my way through. I make it to the middle of the circle and see Peter holding a younger lost boy by the collar of his shirt and yelling in his face about breaking some rule.

"Peter, what are you doing!?" I shout, mortified at the scene before me.

"He broke a rule Alaina" he exclaims, looking at me with rage and wrath in his eyes. "He must be punished."

He calls over the older lost boys, the ones who are obviously the strongest and help to inforce Peter's rules, Felix being one of them. "He's to be locked in a cage for the whole day with no food and water" he orders.

They nod their heads and go to take the boy. He starts to kick and scream as he cries out strings of apologies. I couldn't just stand there and watch a really young boy be locked in a cage.

"What did he even do that was so bad!?" I scream at Peter and the older lost boys.

The lost boys stop in their tracks and look at me like I have six heads. Peter stomps up to me and gets so close to my face that I can feel his breath on my lips.

"This isn't any of your concern Alaina" he says softly but still seems to put some authority in his words.

"Don't you think this punishment is a little harsh though?" I whisper, expressing my concern for the young lost boy.

"You wanna know what he did Alaina?" he says, a little louder this time. "I caught him trying to leave the island."

He turns away from me and looks around at all the mortified lost boy's faces. "We all know nobody attempts to leave Neverland, because if you do, I'll catch you."

"Peter please, just leave him alone" I choke out. "He's too young to be treated this way."

He looks at me with a frown and an apologetic look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Alaina, but this has to be done."

I thread my eyebrows together and sigh deeply. Anger suddenly sets off a balm inside me and I load my crossbow. I stomp over to the lost boys and aim my crossbow at them. They flinch and back up slightly.

"Let him go, now!!" I shout in a demanding tone. The older boys put their hands in the air and back away from the young boy. I quickly put down my crossbow and take the boy in my arms. He cries into my shoulder as I hug him tightly. I look at Peter and give him a sour look. I let go of the boy and wipe his tear from his cheeks. I then realized that I've never seen this boy before, he must be new.

"What's your name sweetie?" I ask in the sweetest voice possible.

"Tr-Trevor" he hiccups.

"Hi Trevor, I'm Alaina" I tell him while wiping away another stray tear. "When did you get here?"

"T-Two days ago" he answers, holding up two fingers. "I wanna go home to my mommy."

He starts to cry harder and my heart starts to swell. This poor little boy just wants his mom, little does he know that as long as Peter keeps him on this island, he'll never see his mom again.

"I'm so sorry Trevor" I apologize, pulling him in for another hug. I felt terrible that I couldn't do anything to help him or any of the lost boys as a matter of fact. I don't like fighting with Peter and I don't want him to be angry with me. They all have families that they left behind that they miss more than anything. They all have moms back in the real world that are probably still out there looking for their baby boy. Those moms are probably still wondering where their son disappeared to in the middle of the night and why he never came home. Suddenly, I thought of an idea. I let go of Trevor and stand up. I take his hand in mine and look around at all the lost boys.

"You all had mothers at one point" I blurt out. "Some of you call out for them at night, some of you have given up hope that you'll ever see them again."

They all look at me like I've lost my mind and hey, maybe I have, because what I'm about to say is gonna make me sound crazy.

"What if I became your new mother" I suggest to them. "You can all look to Pan for leadership and authority, and you can look to me for comfort and warmth like any other mother would provide."

I look at Peter for approval. He smiles and nods, encouraging me to keep going.

"So what do you say?" I propose "Do you all want me to be your mother?"

The younger lost boys all slowly smile. They all run to me and hug my legs along with Trevor. I smile warmly as they all start calling me mother. The older lost boys stand in place next to Peter. I didn't expect them to have the same reaction as the younger ones. Peter saunters over to me and the happy lost boys. The lost boys all stop hugging my legs and back away as Peter gets closer. Peter tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and smiles.

"You never fail to impress me" he says, making me blush. Its like every bit of anger I was feeling towards him suddenly went away with one touch.

"Boys, Alaina will now be seen as your mother" he directs to all the lost boys.

The younger lost boys cheered and went back to hugging me and calling me mother. I kneel down and give them all one big hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Peter warmly smiling and giving me that 'proud father' look again. There was something else in his look though. I just couldn't put my finger on it.