The Lost Story

They told me I would be great. That I would be the savior of the children. They told me that everything I ever wanted, every dream I ever wanted, I would have.

They put too much faith in one simple action.

Neverland. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the timeless, old tale. That’s the place where kids go to never grow up. The place where magic crosses the lines of reality. Where faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust can make anyone believe.

However, Disney is known to shine a nice light on our dark stories.

Disney has drilled it into your brain that Neverland was a happy place, a place where the flowers bloomed and the bunnies hopped and the deer frolicked. And it was like that at one time.

It was called the Light Years. Everything was perfect. There was an abundance of kids believing—almost 90 percent of the population—and there was more Neverlife than ever. The waterfalls were clean and clear, fairies flying around in the billions, pixie dust everywhere. Tink and I would go around and sprinkle pixie dust on nonbelievers, showing them the magic of believing in the sometimes unbelievable.

It was almost 20 years ago when things started going south. Kids began losing faith; we started losing energy. Just like humans survive on food, oxygen, and water, we Pans live off of faith. As more and more kids started to lose faith, Neverland started to lose its magic. The fairies started dying and the mermaids were swimming away. All in all, the island just started dying.

With almost nobody believing in our magic, we resorted to our last hope. Souls. We lured kids out with the prospects of becoming great or rich or whatever they wanted. Then we pounced; we took their young, energetic souls. With the knowledge that souls could energize us more than faith could, it became addicting.

We started going out on raids every night, taking over 1,000 souls with each real-world expedition. As we stockpiled more and more, the island commenced to regrow, but it was different this time.

It got darker, not lighter. The remaining positive energy fueled the negative energy that took over the island. The trees shriveled up, leaving haunting shadows in their wake. The lakes harbored an unknown species of new fish along with gobs of deadly algae. The fairies were on their fast way to an inevitable extinction. The island was coming back alive, but dead. New animals roamed the dangerous nights and strange birds killed in the bright light.

It was just the Pans on the island then. Only around 300 toughened up and made a half-decent life on the island. But tensions were high, and the need for more souls drove everyone crazy. Eventually, Pans started turning on each other, ganging up with their old rivals to swipe even more souls or stealing another Pan’s collection. The island started to get chaotic, fights breaking out over souls or territory, the death toll on the rise.

That’s when the Pan Wars broke out. Starting in 1995, it lasted over two decades. With four different sides, the Pan race was slowly declining. Dozens of Pans were dying by the week, slowly ruining the once happy atmosphere of Neverland.

The Pan Wars consisted of years of fighting against each other, a multitude of

different battles, betrayal, and brutal behavior all led by yours truly. I organized a special team of 20 called Panless and, as the Pan Wars were going on, we stole all of the souls from Neverland. We took them back to our secret base and fed off of the energy, becoming stronger and smarter than any Pan. A feat I was, and still am, quite proud of.

When the three opponents realized I had taken their soul collection, things got ugly. They ganged up with Hook, who was an Elder and believed in the old ways, and went after my team and me. However, with the strength of the souls on our side, they stood no chance. We were stronger than they were by miles and had skills they could only dream of having.

In the matter of one battle, we had won. The Battle at Oak Tree ended the war in two days. Two days of constant fighting, strategies, and consuming countless souls had made Panless invincible. We had killed every Pan opposed to us—a solid number of 217 Pans. As for the remaining Pans not on Panless, we gave them the option of joining us or dying. Many converted, but some were not so willing. In the end, only around 45 Pans lived, including the original team.

The Pan Wars were an unfortunate but unavoidable event in our dark lives. Today, around 30 Pans are alive and flying around at night, stealing children’s souls for our well-being. If you’re awake at night and feel a tingling sensation in your chest, don’t worry; we assure you your soul is going to be used for a good cause.

Neverland is nothing like Disney paints it out to be. There was a time of good, but it was quickly taken over by darkness. Light never wins; only the dark prevails. The only thing more powerful than darkness is us. The Pans. There will not be another mistake like the Light Years again in our future, that we are sure of.

“Who is this?” you may ask. “Who was the Pan destined to save children but saved himself instead? Who would be so selfish and greedy with power to discount all of the human kind just to rule Neverland?”

It was me. It is me. Now I don’t just rule Neverland, I rule your land too. I’ll send you a thank-you card later. Who am I?

Peter Pan.