The lost children (finished editing)

"Chapter 1; Before Neverland"

Pan's shadow was too strong.

Harriet would never admit but she had wet herself out of fear when she realized that Pan's shadow had her-she remembered her father's warnings and stories about Pan and Neverland, and she really didn't want to be left alone and defenseless against Pan but it appeared that she didn't have a choice.

She didn't even try to scream for her father-knowing that even if he did hear her, there wasn't anything he could logically do to help her.

The shadow dropped Harriet in front of a boy who looked no more than thirteen-maybe fourteen, but even that was a stretch. This man-no, boy was the dreaded Peter Pan? The demon her father and his crew had talked about?

Harriet wouldn't have believed it if it wasn't for the fact that the air around the boy felt off.

Pan looked at her and frowned, he hadn't been expecting a lost girl .

Eventually he shrugged and told her to run, and hope that his lost boys didn't catch her because the game was on.

Harriet immediately started running remembering what her father told her and her siblings:

"Pan likes to play games. And his lost boys love to hunt. If you ever end up on Neverland-which will never happen as long as I'm alive-DO NOT LET THEM OR PAN CATCH YOU. They will hurt you. They will kill you."

Harriet was beyond grateful that her father had prepared her and her siblings for this situation, even though he thought that they'd never even step foot on the island-he had always wanted what was best for them. He had always wanted them to be safe and happy- Harriet winced as that thought came to mind, and as she remembered what she had said to her father earlier that day.

She had been beyond harsh when all her father had wanted was to be left alone for one day. She felt horrible-she had probably only made her father feel worse than he was already feeling.

Hindsight was a bitch.

Harriet began to play the day's events over again in her head and slowly began to feel worse and worse as she did so.

She had been so mean to everyone-to the crew, to the Smee brothers, to her father, to her little siblings all because she had been mad and frustrated for no good reason.

What would her father think when he went to wake her up in the morning and found her bed empty?

What would her siblings think?

What would her friends think?

What would the crew think?

What if they thought she had run away?

She had been in a rather foul mood earlier, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume so.

Would her friends and family really think that she'd abandon them that easily?

Would they even look for her at all?

Would they be sad or angry that she was gone?

And if they did look for her, would they even consider looking for her in Neverland of all places?

Harriet shook those thoughts out of her head and took a deep breath, effectively calming herself down before running left and then right.

She continued running in random directions as she heard the lost boys holler from far behind her.

Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right... left, left, left, right, left, right ...

Harriet made damn well sure that the Lost Boys hunt for her was difficult and hid whenever she sensed that they were gaining on her.