a n everland tale
By Avenley Horner
a n everland tale
By Avenley Horner
PART
1 “Do you know,” Peter asked, “why swallows build in the eaves of houses?
It is to listen to stories.” —J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
I
t had been many years since the story of the original lost boys, since then Peter Pan had collected some new lost children, no longer just boys but girls too. Through some un-rememberable
quarrel or event, the children had separated into groups. One group, full of some of the thrill seeking lost children moved towards Skull Rock. Another made Hangman’s Tree their new home while a more gentle and predominately female group moved towards Mermaid Lagoon, being mostly girls they didn’t worry about making the mermaids jealous as there were a lack of boys to compete for attention. One even braver group found themselves near Cannibal Cove. Two groups stayed and made their camps just across the river from one another. There was one full of the fierce and ferocious girls and one of crafty and clever boys. The girls enjoyed hunting and took pride in their strength and ability to fight while the boys treasured their knowledge and nimble hands.
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The leader of the girls group went by the name Sly, as she was cunning with her strategies and fighting. The boy’s leader went by the name Bug, and neither of them had ever gotten along. But neither of them could remember why.
Sly
Mouse
Dash
Trick
Bird
Dash was the fastest of the girls,
She secretly played with Squirt most
though came in a close second to
afternoons, she’d gotten good at pre-
Squirt who was the youngest lost
tending to be doing chores when in
boy but the quickest. Trick and
actuality Squirt and her ran around
Hootie were second in command
the nearby forest pretending to
to both lost children groups. Hoo-
hunt Neverbirds and swim with
tie’s younger brother was Stretch,
mermaids. Bird liked to follow Sly
who was a gangly little thing. He
around anywhere she went, curious
resembled part of the process of
to what the older leader was up too.
making taffy. Mouse was the small-
Mostly she just wanted to be Sly but
est of the girls and one of the nicest.
she possessed a talent Sly did not,
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Squirt
4
Hootie
Stretch
Pip
camp above ground, near the trees
she could imitate any bird noise.
and using their leaves as cover but
Pip enjoyed playing with Stretch,
staying close to the bank of the
often they would sword fight, he’d
river. The lost boys hid more in the
only won a handful of times but all
brush, creating clever woodwork
of them had been fair and square.
and homes hidden inside the forest.
The lost girls lived outside the
The girls were not afraid of invasion,
trees instead of in them, there were
they weren’t scared of anyone; not
only so many trees in Neverland
the pirates or the Natives, not even
that one could find a fit for, and
the monsters that resided on Nev-
hardly any left were in the same
erland or the ticking crocodile. The
place. Thus the lost girls set up
Part 1
lost girls took pride in staying their ground, while the lost boys took pride in their ability to hide in plane sight. They had lost count of how many pirates had walked right past their camp, and not even known it.
Bug
Bug
5
Sly kept a special treasure, a wooden box that had once been made by the lost boys, that carried a secret. It was a big secret, one of the biggest in all of Neverland. Sly had kept it safe for some time, and when she checked on it in the morning before she went off to check on her lost girls it was exactly where she left it. Tucked in and safe. With a smile, Sly went to find the rest of the lost girls. Trick and Dash were sword fighting with mighty sticks they’d found around. Only the most perfect of sticks could ever be used in a battle. Mouse played with her own sword which she was currently using as a pencil and the earth as her drawing pad. Over the bridge and across the river the lost boys were busy at work. Hootie and Stretch were building
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a model of the Jolly Rodger that had anchored just off shore near the mermaid lagoon the day before the day before yesterday. Squirt was chasing a fairy around, it was a bit of a game of tag seeing as the fairy would only give Squirt enough fairy dust to jump off the ground and hover momentarily before floating gently to the ground again which would lead Squirt to running after the fairy and the fairy sprinkling the dust on him once again. Bug was admiring part of the bridge, a craftsmanship of his own and it ceased to stop growing. He would build until he ran out of room, destroy his bridges and build them again. Somehow he never got tired of recreating the bridges, and each time they became more and more elaborate and more and more twisting. Things were always more fun when they were twisty.
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Part 1
Bug could hear the lost girls practicing with their swords, something he never quite understood. Swords were to brash, one could always use words or tricks to resolve a fight or catch food. Snares and cages caught their meat while words kept them at peace with others. The lost girls would rather fight for their territory. Both groups took pride in different things, and that was okay. Even though Bug had built the bridge between the two of their homes, he knew it wasn’t crossed often. Sly gave pointers on the girl's abilities to fight, occasionally flying from one side to the other to give pointers as Peter Pan had once done. It wasn’t until mid day arose that the girls were hungry and decided to take a break from their adventures. Sly walked back to where she kept her secret, though she looked to her left instead of her right. The secret was not there! “Where is it?” Sly exclaimed as she started to dig where the wooden box had laid, where the secret had been kept. “What is missing?” Trick asked, taking a step up and straitening her shoulders to appear bigger than she was. Despite living in Neverland and never wanting to grow up, the children pretended to be adults. After all, someone had to pretend to be them.
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Part 1
“The secret! The secret is gone!” Sly exclaimed and straightened up immediately, knowing there could only be one person who would have taken it. “Who stole it?” Bird piped in. “The lost boys of course.” Trick answered and looked to Sly quickly to make sure she had come to the right deduction. “There is no one else who would want that secret.” Sly reached down and grabbed her finest sword and turned to face her lost girls. “Stay here while I ask them questions, I will find our secret and bring it back.” And with that Sly marched towards the bridge, the one object that brought their two different groups together. Bug had a feeling today would be a different day, because Sly marched her way over the bridge. The very one that wasn’t crossed, not for reasons of confrontation though at this moment that was why Sly was coming. Confused and a little worried, though he wouldn’t show it, Bug stood up from his work station and puffed up his chest to match Sly’s stature. “You stole it, didn’t you?” “I did no such thing.” Bug answered without really even knowing what they were talking about.
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“It had to be you! You’ve always wanted what we have!” “That isn’t true, you have always wanted what we have. If you used our traps and snares you wouldn’t be so tired after a day of hunting!” “If you used our techniques, you could scare away the pirates without so much as saying a word!” And the bickering went on, and on. The fellow lost boys even gathered
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Part 123
around to watch, but soon enough Sly did not want to use her words anymore so she raised her sword, calling a duel. “I understand you will never tell me the truth, so I will find my secret and take it from you with force.� Sly said. Bug who was a skilled swordsman as well, as both Sly and Bug used to train together when they first arrived to Neverland, picked up his sword,
and thus the duel began.
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Part 123
PART
2 “Never is an awfully l o n g time.” —J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
T
he battle began, and it lasted. The first day was only Sly and Bug, and once the sun went down they both agreed to get a good nights rest so they could settle this in the morning.
The second day was still only Sly and Bug, but the third day… that’s when the other’s joined in. Trick and Hootie started against each other while Stretch and Pip teamed up against Dash, though she was so quick she held her own. Bird enjoyed watching before she finally joined in, relieving Dash of one fighter. Squirt and Mouse fought, though soon the fighting became a game of tag. Time was lost, and the battle still raged on. Eventually a few members grew tired of fighting and switched sides. This happened every few hours, Bug was never quite sure who he was fighting for or against. Sly wasn’t sure either, but her pride was too strong to stop the fighting. It only took a few more days of fighting for both teams to get bored. “Why don’t we make some games?” Stretch suggested “Yes! Games! And the winners take both sides of the river.” Dash
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answered. Hootie seemed a little nervous, and he shifted from foot to foot. “I don’t know guys…” “It’s because you don’t believe you’ll win.” Trick answered. “We’ll win. We have more than strength on our side.” Bug answered. “Yeah!” Squirt interjected though he wasn’t exactly sure what they were all arguing about. “Then we each make up two games, if there is a tie we have to all agree on the last game.” Sly said, looking from her lost girls to the lost boys who were mostly covered in mud. “Lads first.” Sly said, leaning back on her sword. “Vine swinging!” Stretch interjected. “Racing.” Dash said. “Archery!” Bird suggested and all the lost children cheered as they often liked to shoot a bow. The lost boys favored because they could still sneak with this weapon, while the lost girls preferred it because it was a weapon. “Sword fighting!” Trick said. “That’s four, what should the tie breaker be?” Bug asked, unable to hide the smile of his that was growing with excitement. “Balancing.” Hootie said and got silent nods from every lost child. Bug stood up, raised his hand and spit in it, then he held it out for
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Part 2
Sly to shake. She did the same without any hesitation and they shook. “Then lets start these challenges.� Bug said. First was racing. Both groups of children formed a line, to make it random and thus fair they all drew sticks. Then they lined up in order of tallest stick drawn to shortest stick drawn and who they were lined up next to was their racing partner. Bug won against Bird, Sly won against Stretch, Dash won against Pip but Squirt left Trick in the dust. It was tied, two wins and two losses from each group. Mouse and Hootie were up next. The two kids, who were almost the same size lined up. The lost girls and boys almost crossed the line into the track as they started to cheer before the race even started. They were so
loud they gathered a crowd of fairy folk and even a few mermaids swam nearby to watch the excitement. The race started and both lost children were neck and neck, however, soon Hootie took the lead. It was short lived, as at the last second Mouse burst ahead and took the prize! All the lost girls cheered and jumped into the air while the lost boys all sat down in tragic defeat. “There is still more to be done.” Bug finally said, taking a stand to cheer up his boys. “That was merely one challenge. We have more to come.” And did they. The lost boys picked vine swinging next. It was something they were keen about and quite cocky about it. The lost boys had memorized the perfect stones to jump across and the right vines to take them across the streams at the perfect speed. They became pros at vine swinging. They were confident they would win. “How does one win?” Bird asked, looking down into the chasm of the river that separated the two camps. Bird, despite her name was terrified
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Part 2
of heights. It was not something she ever wanted to experiment with, yet that is exactly what the vine challenge was calling for. “The fastest across?” Sly suggested, not quite sure if her rules applied to the game picked by the lost boys. “No.” Hootie said matter-of-factly. “It is who can hang on the longest.” Sly stood up straighter, taking in this challenge with a determined gaze. This contrasted greatly with the giddy expression of the lost boys. They went one at a time, one boy then one girl, except in the middle when Mouse followed right after Dash. Sly held on for a while, where Trick fell off almost immediately. Bug slipped when he went first and fell rather quickly, splashing into the ravine but instead of being angry he laughed and swam with the mermaids for some time. All forgot briefly about the games and debated jumping in themselves before Hootie called attention back to the contest. Each had their strengths, but the lost boys held out better for the most part. The longest was a tie between Dash and Hootie who were almost tied. Squirt went last, being the smallest
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the lost boys did not have much hope for his ability to hold on as he often fell into the ravine. They were mistaken, Squirt held on with such intensity he out-held the lost girls and boys by double! When Squirt finally dropped into the water the lost boys cheered and quickly followed him into the water, they splashed and celebrated. The sun was already setting by the time the lost boys climbed out of the water, some of the mermaids pouting when they no longer had lost children to play with. The lost girls agreed to meet at the moment the sun rose for the next two contests. The winner would be determined tomorrow.
With a swift nod from both parties, they went their separate ways. The girls marching one after another and the lost boys hoping and skipping with no pattern or order.
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PART
3 “All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.”
—J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
T
he sun rose, and the final day arrived. The lost boys and the lost girls met at the bridge when the sun had barely risen like they agreed the previous day. Pip had a hard time stay-
ing awake, leaning into Squirt often and rubbing his eyes. Sly looked the most awake out of all of them, followed by Hootie who was more nervous than excited. He seemed to be the only lost child thinking of the consequences of their actions. Whoever lost today would have to find a new home. He did not want to find a new home. “What challenge should we start with today?” Bug asked, shaking Hootie from his thoughts. Squirt jumped up so high that Pip fell straight to the ground, “Archery!” He exclaimed excitedly. Mouse quickly joined in with the jumping and before long they all were jumping and wanting to do the archery challenge. The lost children all grabbed their bows and a couple of arrows and they lined themselves up on the bridge. They looked out over the ravine
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to a line of trees. Each tree held a number of points, whoever hit the tree and the specific knot would receive the most points and win. It turned out they all were very awful at archery. As only Hootie hit a tree, but it was by accident and it wasn’t one with points. The children were suddenly not very excited about archery and decided to pretend they never had this challenge. Sword fighting was picked next, which was only a contest between Bug and Sly. Their fight went on the longest and invoked the most cheering, at the end they both disarmed each other at the same time and fell off the bridge. Bug hit the water first so Sly was deemed the winner. The lost girls all won except for Mouse who was disarmed rather quickly by a gust of luck that hit Stretch at the perfect moment. Luck liked to fly around Neverland and often disguised itself as wind, but when it brushed against the right person their luck became great for those few
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seconds. Most times luck never hit a lost child when they wanted it too, mostly it hit them when they were walking or sleeping. No one really realized their luck had changed then. The lost girls took the victory of sword fighting, leaving only one more challenge: balancing. It was two to one, the lost girls in the lead. The lost boys were suddenly not very worried though, as they loved to balance and walk across logs that crossed over streams and chasms. This would be no different after all! At the beginning the challenges were close, Hootie and Dash were almost identical, so much so that even though Hootie won, Dash and Hootie high-fived and did a handshake they made up on the spot. It was elaborate and when they tried it again it was different, but they swore it was the exact same. Trick ended up being the only lost girl to beat a lost boy at the balancing, ending the challenge with the winners being the lost boys. The score was now two to two. Who won then? “We need a new new tie breaker.� Trick said and both Sly and Bug nodded in agreement. All lost children fell silent then as they thought. Some scratched their heads, a few looked towards the sky in hopes of getting a gust of luck to help with their thoughts. Squirt had given up thinking and decided to draw in the dirt.
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“Whoever comes up with the best story, wins.” Pip suddenly blurted out, which got both Squirt and Mouse cheering with agreement and excitement. Soon ever lost boy and lost girl was jumping with excitement and already talking amongst each other on what makes a good story. “I’m hungry.” Mouse suddenly broke the conversation of story telling. Sly nodded and turned to the lost boys, though now they were intermingled with her lost girls it was hard to find them all. “Let us go eat, then when we get back we will start our story telling.” The lost children met later in the day, once again on the bridge. They sat down, all excited for telling stories. “The little ones should go first, they come up with the best stories!” Bird suggested, which was followed by agreement from some of the older lost children. Squirt, Pip and Mouse did not agree. They laid down instead and shook their heads. “Why not? Don’t you want to tell a story?” Sly asked Mouse, who curled up in her lap. “No, I just want to listen.” “Yeah!” Squirt quickly joined in. “Yeah me too!” Came a delayed Pip. “But it’s a contest, you have to tell a story.” Bug answered. “Why?” Squirt asked.
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Part 3
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“Because we agreed on it.” Sly answered. “But why?” Mouse asked. “Our secret was stolen.” Dash chimed in. “Why?” Pip asked. “I don’t know.. Because-“ But Sly was interrupted, “Why don’t you know?” Mouse chimed in. “Because the lost boys stole it because they are our enemy?” “Why?” Both lost boys and Mouse chimed in, this resulted in silence. Both the lost boys and the lost girls could not remember why they did not get along. The sat in silence, thinking back and trying to remember. A long time went by before both leaders agreed they did not remember. “Why do we have to fight? It is more fun to be competing and playing together.” Stretch pointed out, which caused all the lost children to think again. Sly opened her mouth to come up with an answer but could not. Bug then tried but no sound left his mouth either. “Let’s not be enemies anymore.” Hootie said, causing all eyes to fall on him. “It is more fun if we are together. The lost girls can use their hunting and fighting skills while we can use our hands and our plans. We can win against all other lost kids then!” “Yea!” “Yeah!”
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Part 3
“Yea!” Came replies from all but the leaders of the lost boys and girls. Bug and Sly looked at each other and understood that their lost kids were right. They should team up, they would make a good team. Sly spit on her hand and held it out, Bug did the same and they shook. Cheers filled the forest and everything brightened. Pip jumped up suddenly, no longer tired and ran off to get a present for the lost girls. They were part of their group now and they should get a present. He brought back the girls secret, not knowing it was their secret and handed it to them. “That is our secret!” Sly exclaimed.
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“No it isn’t, it’s a pretty box.” Pip said. They all laughed, because they realized everything was a misunderstanding. The sun was setting, but they still had enough time to have fun. Both the lost boys and the lost girls, who were now just the lost children, ran off to play more games and make new friendships. They hopped from one rock to another, marking new paths around Neverland.
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Neverland would never be the same again, and that was a good thing.
the end. 37
Colophon // AVENLEY HORNER // SERLIO TYPEFACE BODY // SABON PRINTED // AUBURN, AL PHOTOGRAPHY // AVENLEY HORNER AUTHOR // AVENLEY HORNER DESIGNER
TYPEFACE TITLE
A Neverland Tale
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