Youth Is Forever

"Keep moving," snarled the man as he pushed me and my siblings out of the window. Our feet connected with a wooden plank that led onto a large old fashioned pirate ship. The hull was made of a dark, thick wood. The mast had pure white sails and the flag supported the usual pirate symbol- a skull and crossbones. I was caught staring at the ship, causing one of the men to shove the hilt of their sword into my back. I groaned and kept pushing forward. Before I knew it, my sister, brother, and I were standing on the hull of the ship, and then we all were immediately blindfolded.

"Each of you will be given a room on this ship and will have no contact with each other," started the man that I assumed was the leader. If he expected us to not have contact with each other, he was wrong. This was London, not to mention the 21st century. If he expected us to be more cooperative, he shouldn't have kidnapped me and my family in the middle of the night, blindfolded us, and then shouted orders.

"That is definitely not how this is going to work." I spoke without thinking. I was always doing this. I regretted saying anything as soon as the words flew out of my mouth. I wish I had my siblings' self control. John, my older brother, always thought everything through. He was truthful and blunt, but he always calculated the risks of any action or thing he says. Wendy on the other hand was careful. She always thought about what she did and said before she acted. She wasn't as blunt as John, but was careful not to hurt anybodies feelings. I was rash and impulsive, both qualities I thought I should work on.

"What was that?" The pirate's voice was hard and obviously irritated. The darkness of the blindfold was starting to make me panic inside.

"You're not going to put us in separate rooms. You will put us in one room where we will plot our slow escape. That is if you want this little kidnapping business of yours to go smoothly." I mentally scolded myself as I said it.

"Is that so?" His voice was now mocking, high pitched and almost laughing. That just made me mad. That was another one of my problems- a short temper.

"Yeah. That or I'll scream and wake up half of London."

"Or I can slit your throat." He growled.

"Or maybe you can take this ship, your threats, this kidnap, and your whole pathetic life and just shove it up you-"

"Michael!" Wendy shouted from somewhere off to my left. I realized then that if Wendy said it was to much, it was to much. Suddenly, I felt hands on the back of my heads, quickly untying the blindfold. It fell to the dark hull of the ship and I was surrounded by the dark of the night. My eyes adjusted slowly, the moon wrapping around me. A glance to each of my sides showed that my family was alright and safe. John was standing to my right, his body lean and tall. He wore dark jeans with holes in the knees. His shirt was a soft gray and fit his body nicely. His dark black hair hung to his pale cheeks in loose curls. His stylish square framed glasses that concealed his brown eyes were fogged from the night air.

Wendy, who was standing off to my left, was about John's height. She had long, straight brown hair that hung well past her shoulders. She wore a light blue shirt and dark tight pants. Her skin was a little tanner than me and John's, but she had the same light brown eyes. She seemed panicked and I didn't blame her. Being kidnapped from your mansion in the middle of the night was not her idea of fun. Come to think of it, it wasn't mine either.

"Fine, brat. You can have your way. Same room, but one mistake- one scream, one escape attempt and this trip will not go so pretty." I looked at the man. He was tall with a permanent sneer on his face. His skin was tan and he had short jet black hair. His eyes were a deep green that gleamed in the starlight. His eyes were squinted, depicting him as Asian. The man had a muscular body and broad shoulders. He was pretty intimidating.

"May I ask why we're being kidnapped in the first place?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I do not now. My orders come from Pan."

"Pan?" John asked, his accent light. All of our accents were light for we spent every summer in New York and had adapted to their accent, rather than the British accent we were raised with. I glanced around the ship and for the first time I noticed the other pirates. The weren't exactly dressed like pirates though. They wore armor that looked like it came from the 14th century with a sword strapped to their waists. I stared past the pirates and past the other side of the ship, looking at the rooftops of other house. Wait. Rooftops/

"Is this ship flying?" I asked. I already know the answer: it was. The hull was rocking slightly back and forth, the rooftops around us were glistening from the previous nights rain. I should have realized that this ship was flying as soon as we were pushed out of the window and onto the ship- and didn't fall.

"Of course," smirked the leader. "Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger."



The leader -who we came to know as James- threw us into one tiny cabin with no food, clothes, or clean air for that matter. James had said that we'd only be in this God forsaken ship until the morning. The room had two bunk bed on either side, each bed with thin blankets and thin pillows. Wendy sat cross legged on the top bunk on the right, John laying on the bed under her. I sat on the top bunk across from Wendy and was desperately trying to stay awake.

"What is happening?" Wendy whispered for at least the sixth time in a minute.

"We've been taken hostage by a hostile Asian. Don't you remember?" I whispered back, my voice hard and sarcastic. She glared.

"Guys, we need to get out of here." She whispered again, completely ignoring me.

"What do you propose, Wendy? That we escape from this room, jump of the side of the ship, and then what? We fall to our crushing deaths." John muttered.

"I like that idea." I whispered.

"With attitudes like that, we're never going to escape."

"I doubt Mom and Dad would even notice."

"Don't say that!" She yelled, her eyes flaring with anger.

"Hate to say it, Wendy, but Michael may have a point." John said. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was pale with realization. We would probably never go back. We were going to die in the hands of some Asian sky pirate-knight guy.

"And that is that our parents don't care about us? You guys are so-"

"Right?" I asked.

"Precisely to the point?" John asked, playing along.

"Fine. Then I'll escape on my own!" She yelled, turning her body over and pulling the pathetic excuse of a blanket around her. I scolded myself for making her mad, but I knew that in dangerous situations, she'd have to cooperate with us sometime. I rolled over and pulled my own blanket around myself. I quickly fell asleep.



We woke to light pouring into our room as James opened the door. I opened my eyes slowly, trying to make myself believe that this was all a dream. It wasn't. James was smirking, arms crossed and his eyes were flickering with anticipation.

"Let me guess. Either you're going to sell us to slave owner or you're going to make us preform sexual favors?" I laughed, my mind already slipping into it's cynical state. I looked James over, pointing out his flaws to myself. He had tiny scars along his neck that I assumed ran down his chest. His suit of armor was not covering the burns that covered his right hand.

"Your first, shorty," James sneered, participating in the joke- I hoped his was just joking. His words kind of stung. My height was an issue for me. I was only fifteen and hadn't hit my growth spurt yet, so I was considerably short. That's exactly the opposite for my brother and sister, though. John was fifteen as well and had just hit his growth spurt- and was still growing. Wendy, on the other hand, had always been tall.

"Michael," John whispered. "Please don't make him angry."

"Time to get up. You've got a long day ahead of you." James called, his eyes never leaving Wendy. It occurred to me that for being a kidnapper, he wasn't very aggressive. A little rude, but not forceful or to commanding. We got out of our beds, still rubbing our eyes. James led us out of our little room and onto the deck. We were docked in a small harbor with a clear sky all around us- which was a pleasant change from the gray skies of London. Clouds lined the sky, but there was no sun. Rainbows were evident everywhere.

But the sky was the complete opposite of the land. While the water was a shining, sparkling blue, the land was not. The whole island look like a dark empire of forestry. The trees were redwoods that reached toward the heavens, the branches heavy with dark green leaves. The cawing birds could be heard, yet none were seen. In one corner of the island was a large mountain. Off to the right, in the distance, was a large skull shaped rock. The skull rock was large enough to be a cave, so I suspected that it must be a cave. The air around all of these places -the mountain, the cave, and the forest- seemed dark and unwelcoming.

I stepped to the side of the ship, gripping the rails as I leaned over to look into the harbor. Under the sparkling blue surface were shadows of large fish, small fish, and a slim, human like silhouette. Actually, more like ten human like silhouettes. I gasped and looked toward the forest now. I could see brief movements of unseen animals, but high in the trees were the most surprising to me. Tiny multicolored lights kept flickering on and off, moving in and out of the trees.

"What is this place?" Wendy gasped, obviously taking in the sights like I was.

"This," James started. "This is Neverland."