Ever since that day, Peter stopped coming every night like he used to.

But...

Since Madison had gotten used to him coming in that particular time, she always waited for him..

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Even if it lasted her the whole night just to see him again...

Despite of that happening every night and her having lack of sleep, she still took care of her father in the day and just like what Peter had said, it took a few weeks for her father to slowly recover.

The man didn't seem to remember anything on the events that happened that night and she didn't dare to even mention it.

She gotta admit it, it was hard to take care of him since he's being too stubborn these days. Even if he knew that he's in an unexpected situation for some reason, his pride just couldn't let himself accept the fact that he's surprisingly weak.

And the most confusing part in his perspective is...,he couldn't get himself to talk, even if he tried to let out some words, it would be so unclear for Madison.

Besides all of that happening everyday, it continued until a couple of months finally came by...

And by then, her father started going out of the house again.

Madison didn't know where he was going this time, but one obvious reason of him going out came to her mind.

And that's going out to drink alcohol on wherever he goes once again and only going home when it's already late at night.

~ ● ~ ● ~ ● ~ ● ~ ● ~

Madison sat on the bench that she usually sits on, which was the one by the window.

She always stayed up all night waiting for Peter's arrival but...

...there's no sign of him until the time reached 12 am...

This routine continued every night until she felt her body slowly giving up on her. She already lacked a lot of sleeping hours and always lost her appetite on her meals.

She slowly got thinner by the day as she always put her long hair in a messy bun so it doesn't bother her face as much as her mind does.

She let out a deep sigh.

is she even like this?

Back then, even if she hadn't met Peter yet, she didn't felt or show any emotion like what she's feeling right now...

...is she having this weird feeling as if something is ?

Like a part of her is incomplete...?

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And

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Why is it so

Madison's eyebrows slowly furrowed as the thoughts in her mind started to bother her again.

She let out a breath with her nose and close her eyes for a few seconds as she raised both of her hands to massage each side of her temples gently.

This isn't giving me any good...

Madison thought as she opened her eyes and lowered her hands. She then looked out of the window and noticed that the sun's already going down and night time is already near.

She realized that she's been sitting there in thought since morning.

She sighed.

She's starting to admit that she's already tired...

Not by the fact that she just sat there for a few hours...,

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But by the fact that she's been these days...,

...and it made her feel...

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She then had the decision to finally stop this routine of hers.

It was

She wants to get back to normal...

Because soon enough her father would probably start beating her up again...

And she doesn't want to be

Because she won't know when her body will

She

She

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So by that, she puts her full attention to herself. Since her father isn't in house that often, she really took her time in eating bit by bit until she finally had her appetite again.

And as for night time, or usually after a beat up, she immediately goes to her room, quietly locking her door and tries to calm herself down from the situation earlier.

She carefully sat on the floor with her back against the door as she usually lets herself rest for a short while before standing up again and heading to the bathroom to finally clean herself up and getting ready for bed.

This continued for months as she finally got Peter off her mind until...

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A year has passed and her 14th birthday finally came...

Again, Madison hadn't thought much of it at first since she had gotten used to him not coming anymore.

But then, as if her mind is really doing it on purpose,

Sudden thoughts unexpectedly ran through mind.

What if he comes

What if I get to

Madison groaned in annoyance as she brought up her hands to ruffle her hair, making it have a few tangles here and there.

"My God, Madison you're thinking of him again.", she mumbled with a face-palm and sighed as she stood up from her bed and started walking towards her own bathroom to take a shower.

She stood infront of her mirror and stared at her reflection,

She finally got herself back to her original weight so she isn't that thin anymore. The bags on her eyes were already gone from sleeping early, or mostly alot.

A small smile formed on her lips.

She was glad she brought herself back to normal.

She then began to undressed herself, her eyes slowly trailed down on the reflection of her body.

Her smile disappeared in an instant.

Ever since her dad just recovered from being weak and started coming out of the house, it took another month for him to start letting out his anger on her once again. And by that, the poor girl ended up getting beaten all over ever since, and this time...,

...the beating just got even worse as if her father really forgotten her as his own.

Madison frowned, seeing bruises on specific parts of her body.

It instantly made her feel

Making her feel even more disgusted...

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...and .

The sight made her feel very uncomfortable, making her turn her head to the side just to look away from it. Her head was facing towards the shower as she finally decided to walk towards it. She stood below the shower head as she suddenly took a glace at the mirror, remembering the sight of her reflection.

She pursed her lips, closing her eyes tightly as she desperately makes herself stop from remembering the memory of herself infront of the mirror earlier.

She let out a shaky breath and slowly opened her eyes. She then reached for the handles, instantly noticing her hand slightly trembling until she finally held the handle and slowly twisted it to turn the shower on.

Once it turned on, water started sprinkling down as she instantly felt the cold water came contact with her skin. She shivered at first, her hand gripped on the handle for a while until the cold batch of water slowly turns warm.

As it does, she slowly lets go of the handle and started doing her usual routine in the shower,

...along with the thoughts that her mind purposely makes her think of while doing so.

The sun had finally went down as the moon slowly rises up at the sky along with the stars that slowly appeared one by one until it decorated the whole night sky, twinkling beautifully.

Madison sat on her bed with her back leaning against the headboard as she kept glancing on her window before looking back again at the book on her lap.

Even if she doesn't want to go expect that much and disappoint herself, she still have the slightest hope that he would come this time.

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She sighed.

You're starting to over think.

Stop thinking about him, Madison.

Just focus on reading your book...

Don't expect too much...

You're going to hurt yourself again...

She immediately closed her eyes tightly while her face slightly scrunched up. She then decided to take a long deep breath, shrugging off the thoughts in her mind before finally opening her eyes as she breathed out.

Not long after, she decided to just pass the time by putting her attention on reading a few books. While she does so, she still couldn't help but to look up from her book once again and look towards the window every time a few minutes has passed.

This continued until she finally looked at the clock in her room. She noticed that the hands of her clock are almost close to 11pm. She suddenly frowned, she didn't know that time can fly that fast while she waited patiently, expecting to hear a single knock or a simple sound from outside her window.

She suddenly took a deep breath as soon as she had a feeling in her heart that feels like it was slowly being clenched tightly.

This is exactly what she expected to happen for .

She let out a shaky sigh, finally getting herself to slightly calm down as she tries to keep her tears from rolling down her cheeks. A few seconds later, she decided to move out of the bed and started to walk towards the window.

She pursed her lips as she stood infront of it and slowly lifts her hand up to reach for the handle. As soon as she got hold of it, she took another deep breath before pushing the window open.

She then closed her eyes, feeling the cold breeze gently blow against her before slowly opening her eyes again to look up at the night sky.

She stared at it blankly, observing every star she sees and noticing how they twinkled differently from each other.

Some twinkled weakly,

Making the star itself look small compared to others due to its light slowly fading while...

Some twinkled brightly,

As if it was close to being as bright as the moon itself...

She just wondered,

Can a star's light disappear forever once it loses its light...?

Or will it usually come back but in a time where the star is ready to shine again...?

She thought as she kept gazing at the twinkling lights until...,

...she saw a specific one that Peter said he lived in...

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It was the star to the right.

A place where he lived and a place that any child could ever dream of.

Mermaids...

Fairies...

And pirates....

A world of fantasies that any normal person wouldn't believe that it would ever exist.

But...

What really caught her attention more is when Peter said that it's also a land that doesn't consists of .

Well...

...except for a crew of dumb pirates.

She let out a chuckle, remembering the funny tone Peter made when he told her how dumb they are since they always lose a fight with him.

"Neverland, huh...", she mumbled, remembering that she wanted to go there when she was still young.

"I want to go to Neverland!"

Madison's eyebrows raised when she heard her young voice rang into her mind as she suddenly remembered their little conversation when Peter told her about his home.

"You can't... You're still young.", Peter said.

"B-but you're young too... Why can't I go?", she asked and frowned as Peter chuckled.

"You'll get there, but not now..."

Madison blinked 3 times as she processed what he said in her mind while Peter just watched her stare at him for a few seconds before opening her mouth to say something.

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"Will you be the one to take me?"

Peter stood still ,staring at her in thought before slowly letting out a smile that's mixed with something else that Madison can't even point out at that time.

"If it's Neverland you wanted to go, then of course I would be the one to take you.", he let out a chuckle and grinned as Madison slowly smiled.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Madison suddenly felt a tear roll down from her eye and landed on the white windowsill.

She held her cheek, instantly feeling the wet trail of her tear as she felt another tear roll down. She immediately wiped them off and let out a bitter laugh.

"I can't cry...I've been doing just fine...", she said to herself, feeling her heart ached the second she mentioned the word 'FINE'.

She sighed deeply, looking up at the sky once more before deciding to finally close the window and get some sleep.

However...

When she was about to close the window, she suddenly noticed a red thread hanging up above her. Her eyebrows furrowed as she slowly looked up to see where it came from.

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A hook...?

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, seeing that the thread was tied continuously around the hook as if the one who did it didn't want the thread to loosen right away.

Her eyes then trailed to the other end of the , which it seemed to be pushed down on her window's upper frame from outside. She stared at it for awhile, not knowing what to even react until her eyes trailed down to the other end of the thread.

Her eyebrows raised when she saw a rolled up paper that's been tied securely. She blinked 3 times, as if she wasn't believing on what she's seeing at the moment.

"What the-....I-is it-....Was it already there b-before I opened the window?", Madison thought as she stared at the paper that slightly dangled around as the wind hit it gently.

She hesitantly reached for the paper and calmly pulled the thread off it to finally loosen its tie. She pursed her lips, not knowing what to expect from its contents until she slowly unrolled the paper.

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She felt her heart skip a beat as she realized that it's a letter..

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A letter from the person she patiently waited for these past couple of months.

I see that you got your

appetite back, I'm glad.

.

..

You don't have to feel sorry for the things you've said before. It's okay.

I'll come back like I always do, but this time, please don't wait for me.

go back to the way you once were before we even met.

Happy 14th Birthday, Madison."

- Peterpan

Forget...?

Madison smiled bitterly as she started to sob.

You think that it's just that SIMPLE to forget everything...?

To forget you...?

Madison felt her tears stream down non stop as she brought both of her hands up to wipe her tears away.

"How... How can I just go back to the way I am b-before...?", she said as she looked at the empty space infront of her...

...where Peter should be.

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"How can I... when I already liked the way I am after I met you... "

She mumbled with a frown as she slowly looked up at the stars above.

She then sighed deeply, looking down as she wiped the upcoming tear that was about to roll down her cheeks again. She then reached for the handle and was about to close her window until she opened her mouth to say something again even though she knew no one's there.

"You know...I never wanted anything else for my birthday before...but, because of you greeting me every year...it really made me happy...so...", she paused and slowly let out a small sad smile.

"Thank you so much for still greeting me...and thank you for your concern...I really appreciate it..."

She genuinely smiled, feeling the last set of her warm tears slowly roll down as she swore it would be the last drop for tonight.

"..I miss you. Until we meet again...I hope you're doing well, Peter... ", and with that, she finally closed the window.

And little did she know...

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Peter was sitting on her rooftop...

And he heard .