The Boy Who Wouldn’t Bleed

Wendy once flew.

Her feet left the ground the night the stars opened their hands and gave her to a boy who smelled of wind and wildness, Peter Pan, the leader of children who didn’t bleed, who didn’t break, who never grew up.

She remembers the hum of Neverland, the hush of mermaids in saltwater dreams, the clash of pirate blades, the laughter of Lost Boys echoing through the trees. For a time, she belonged to the myth, their little goddess of bedtime and bandages, spinning stories into safety.

But myths are made of things that don’t change.

And Wendy did.

Peter stayed the same, wild grin, shining eyes, and that soft cruelty only children can have. He promised to come back every spring. He said it like children do, full of belief and nothing behind it. Wendy waited. The window stayed open. The seasons turned. Peter didn’t.

And so, like all mortal things, she grew.

She tucked away Neverland in the attic of her heart. She tried to love boys with both feet on the ground, but none of them ever flew quite right. None of them ever smelled like starlight and recklessness.

Peter lives on, unchanged, untouched. He never learned to cry in the dark or carry quiet disappointments in his chest. He’ll never know the heaviness of “what if.”

That was never his role in the story.

Wendy’s was to remember. To ache. To outgrow.

The Lost Boys left too. One by one, they chose London, warm soup, and long shadows over fairy dust. They wanted to become men. Peter watched them go. He did not follow. He never could.

Sometimes, Wendy still dreams of him, not as a boy, but as a possibility.

If he had grown up.

If he had come back.

If he had let himself change.

But Neverland is not a place where “if” lives. It is only for those who don’t.

And Wendy? She is real. Soft, scarred, and real.

One day, she closed the nursery window. Not in anger. Not at a loss.

In peace.

Because Peter Pan was not a lie, he was just a story that didn’t survive time.

And Wendy? She did.

She was afraid to grow up, but it’s in growing that she found who she really was!

-Ash Radison