The First Lost Boy (Wattys 2017) ON HOLD

t w o

Neverland; the island was a blessing in Harry's eyes. It was everything to him, and gave him the escape he desired when he left home. He was the happiest he had ever been there, and he never once felt regret towards leaving everything he ever knew behind. He had friends, a family in Neverland. His life was perfect.

But, as we all know there is no such thing as perfection. Every good thing also had its flaws, and Neverland's was the curse of forgetting. As great as the island is, staying there too long meant losing some of your memories. This had happened to all of the lost boys already, but since they were much younger they forgot more than Harry had. Their memories from their old lives were practically non-existent and it was the sole reason they had assumed the girl lying unconscious before them was an animal. Harry might have forgotten pieces of his old life, but he remembered enough to know that this body in front of him was a girl. And after scrutinizing her he could tell she had to be around his age, maybe a year or two younger.

He was staring, and he knew by the sound of the loud whispers and confusion around him that he should assure them that they were in no danger. But he couldn't find it in himself to speak, he was too enthralled with the girl before him. It wasn't as if he had never seen a beautiful girl before because he had, it was just that it had been so long since he'd seen a person of the opposite sex. The mermaids were girls too, but he viewed them more as creatures of the sea. He never looked at them the way he was looking at her. With attraction.

"What...is it?" He heard Will ask and he finally tore his eyes away to look at the boy. His lip was curled almost in disgust and his eyes were studying her, the toe of his foot lightly kicking her leg. Harry's arm shot out to pull him back, forcing him to move away from her and gave Will a look of silent warning.

"I've never seen an animal like it before," Earl said, moving around to Peter's other side. "Where is its fur?"

"Maybe the pirates skinned it." Will responded and Harry winced at the thought, briefly glancing at both boys in disgust.

"It's not an animal." Harry's voice bellowed through the trees, the fairies' whispers dying out at the sound of it. He could feel them all watching him, waiting for him to elaborate and he took a tentative step towards the unmoving girl.

"Well what is it then?" Peter asked this time, tilting his head in curiosity. Harry squatted down and carefully leaned around the girl to check for any cuts or bruises. She looked unharmed and it seemed as if she were only sleeping but Harry was a little hesitant about disturbing her. Did she know where she was? How did she even get here? Those were the questions Harry asked himself as he stood back up to his full height, slowly walking around to the girl's side.

Just when he was going to answer Peter's question and clear their confusion, the girl stirred. He could practically hear everyone's quick intake of breath and Harry froze as he watched the girl's hand twitch. Slowly, the rest of her body began to move and her eyes fluttered open seconds later. Harry couldn't move. Not when he saw the color of her eyes and the way the glimmer of pixie dust reflected off of them. His own eyes were glued to her when she carefully turned her head up to the sky, her hazel irises focusing on the tree above her. She was confused when she saw the pixie dust, unsure of what she was really looking at. Then the whispers around her had registered and her gaze fell onto the fairies and four boys surrounding her. She sat up so quickly that for a moment she was dizzy, but she ignored it and gasped as she hurriedly stood onto her bare feet. She walked backwards into the tree before she bumped into it, her hands holding the trunk behind her while her wide eyes darted around to the millions of fairies that were still whispering about her.

Harry took the opportunity to take the rest of her appearance in, his eyes steadily moving over her attire. She was wearing her undergarments, the thin straps of her night gown clinging to her shoulders. The neckline was laced and heart shaped, buttons going down over the chest area before stopping right at the waist line where there was a band of crème colored fabric hugging and outlining her fragile hour glass shaped waist. From there the rest of the long skirt flowed down to just above her ankles, a few laced ruffles layering at the bottom. Her hair was a light brown but Harry noticed that with the light of the pixie dust above her, it looked more auburn. It was tied at the nape of her neck with a white ribbon, long curled strands that had escaped framing her heart shaped face.