In Search of Neverland

Chapter 1

Summer was almost over in California. Leaves were turning orange and falling. Gwen could feel scent of autumn and the chills in the air.

Besides Gwen stood a boy who was also a part-time employee in the ice-cream store. She recognized him to be a junior from her school, but she wasn’t even sure about his name. She remembered hearing others calling him Elliot once. She couldn’t remember taking any lessons with him though. Gwen had been working here for almost half of the year and she barely heard him spoke. She heard that he got picked at a lot in school by the bullies, but he didn’t even look like those weak type. In fact, he looked pretty tall and strong. Gwen would never understand why wouldn’t he fight back. Sometimes she even felt sorry for him. He was burying his head in his hands that Gwen could look at him without getting noticed.

Then Gwen suddenly thought of something. She took out a letter sealed in a white envelope from her bag. It was a resignation letter for the shop owner. She decided that she had saved enough money and it was time for her to leave.

“Um...Elliot?”

The boy jerked his head up and stared at Gwen blankly.

“Can you give this letter to Mrs. Norris? I think I have to quit my job.”

He nodded and took the letter from her without saying anything.

While waiting, Gwen thought about the first time when she told Freda about her runaway plan. All that she remembered was the astonished look on Freda’s face and her telling Gwen that she was totally out of her mind. It took even more time for Gwen to persuade Freda to join her.

Without Freda, she wouldn’t know what to do. She was the one and only friend she could confide in.

In her bedroom, Gwen pulled out the luggage she had been hiding under her bed for almost six months. It was packed with all the things she had been preparing for the runaway. There were food, drinks, clothes, some cash, the first edition of “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie, a diary, a laptop, some chocolate and her favorite beanie. Then she picked up the to-do list which listed out all the things she wanted to do before she leave and scanned it once again.

“Quit job. Checked. Cash. Checked. Driver’s license. Checked,” Gwen mumbled as she crossed out the the tasks on her to-do list. Leaving only the last two things to do. “Punch the bullies. Farewell letter.”

Gwen sighed and lied on the frigid floor with both hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling. Winds were blowing through the windows into the room, Gwen could smell the cold air with the scent of leaves and rainwater. Fall was her favorite season and this fall could be the last one she spent in California. She would miss this place.

Gwen flipped over the blanket as quietly as possible and slipped into the furry slippers beside her bed. She felt the cold as she put her hands on the windowsill. Then she pulled up the blinds, letting the moonlight spilled into the room. Under the moonlight, the Tinker Bell doll was covered with a light-blue layer. It had been there ever since she was born. The floor was also covered with a layer of blue, just like a deep ocean. Shadows of the dangling trees leaves outside the window were casted on the floor. And before Gwen could let herself drown in this magical moonlight, she pulled down the blinds and closed her eyes. She had to stop thinking or she didn’t think she would ever be able to leave this place anymore.

After some hesitation, Gwen decided to take Tinker Bell with her, leaving most of the stuffed animals on her bed. These things would only make her felt even more nostalgic.

It was not long ago before Gwen decided to leave her family, her friends and everything she was familiar with behind and went on a road trip to a place where she could escape from precisely everything she was familiar with. Well, it was not like she had ever been familiar with them. However, it was the last choice she had.

Sometimes she wondered if she had made the right choice.

Gwen stared at the ceiling, trying to clear her thoughts empty. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t ignore the light coming from the crack under the door. She could hear her parents talking in the living room, about their divorce and who would Gwen live with. She closed her eyes and sighed. She had heard a lot about divorced family from the classmates in her school, they made it sounded like it was nothing. However, Gwen just couldn’t understand how they could just let it happen and do nothing. Gwen couldn’t bear the idea of having a broken family.

As if she thought of something suddenly, she picked up her phone on the bedside table and look for Freda’s number, possibly the only person in the world who she could and would want to talk to. But right before she pressed the call button, she stopped and put the phone back. Freda was trying to persuade her boyfriend, Damon, to come the road trip with them since both Gwen and Freda were underage. Damon was in college already. They would need him to drive and deal with the cops if they got in troubles during the trip.

And before Freda could persuade Damon to come with them, Gwen would still have a week to to finish the remaining two items on her list.