Whatever it was, then replied, “look up, your only friend may be the man in the moon.”

This statement left Adie puzzled for a while. Then, the bright light of the moon peered out from above the wicked trees. Adie tilted his head up to obtain a glimpse of it, as it had been his only source of light.

What Adie saw was surely appalling. As he looked directly into the moon, he saw nothing but a large, disturbing face, the same as his father’s, which he had not even seen for five years. The face in the moon stared directly at Adie for an uncomfortable period of time. A short while after the awkward silence had lasted long enough, the moon instantly began to plea for Adie to join him elsewhere.

“Run now, run with me- join me and escape reality forever, Adie,” the moon shrieked mockingly.

This only frightened Adie more than anything else, as it was eventually brought to his attention that his father was never coming home, he was dead. Adie would not be able to understand how long his dad was dead for, but he had a vivid idea of why he wanted to die. He then realized that he was following in the footsteps of his father, running away from home in an attempt to escape the faults in his life and the real world.

His knees planted on the ground, hands cupping his face, Adie continuously wept out of fear and frustration because he had longed for his father’s return many years ago, only to now find out that he had passed away. The moon simply continued to sit in the dark sky, endlessly staring at Adie with a wide grin on its face.

Many minutes have passed and Adie finished shedding his tears. Only a few seconds later had he noticed something from the corner of his eye, thanks to the light of the moon. It seemed to be a large, dark shadow, which approached Adie very quickly.

“Hello there, young boy,” the shadow suddenly said with a light British accent, “My name is Leo, a-and I’m fifteen years old and it appears that you may be two or three years younger than I am.”
Adie slowly stood up from the ground, receiving multiple scratches from the dense rocks and sharp branches scattered widely around the woods. When Adie looked at Leo, he thought that what he was wearing was quite out of the ordinary. Leo’s attire consisted of a light green hat, shirt, and pants, accompanied by light brown shoes. Despite the fact that it was very dark, Adie was still able to recognize Leo’s bright red hair and the small feather that sat upon his hat. One thing that caught him by surprise was Leo’s sweet smile, as it was similar to the moon’s smile, but in a much more friendly and gentle manner. However, Adie’s eyes also widened at the fact that Leo had been levitating in the thick, fresh air. Thus, Adie eyed him up-and-down repeatedly.

While Adie stayed focused on Leo, Leo was waiting for a response, for he was curious to know how old Adie was. “Well, are you going to respond to me and tell me how old-”

“I’m twelve. Twelve years old. Therefore, I am three years younger than you,” interrupted Adie.

“Hm.. you are certainly very young to be here, but every so often we have young children who come to visit the gates of Absinthe Forest. It isn’t exactly something that everyone knows about, as only those who feel they are ready to know, know it exists. Anyway, I’d like to show you someplace better than Absinthe Forest. In fact, it is in the middle of the forest. But, my job here is to ensure that you’ll never be lonely and that you feel at home,” replied Leo.

Adie felt more sound and secure with Leo rather than outside of Absinthe Forest with the company of the moon. “How will we get there?” asked Leo, “you clearly have the ability to fly, but unfortunately, I do not.”

Leo didn’t hesitate to think about how he would help Adie keep up at his pace. He then held out his thin pale arm toward Adie and calmly whispered, “Grab on,” his smile still twinkling as it had been before.

Adie tightly gripped Leo’s hand, not carefully thinking anything over, nor hesitating, for he was about to be flying in the air with Leo at any second. Before Adie knew it, the two were in the air, on their way to an unknown place, which had been more magnificent- more fascinating- more striking than Absinthe Forest.

With many fierce turns, elegant spins in the wild wind, and minor slashes from the brittle branches that stuck out from the vast trees below, Adie and Leo were there. They arrived in Neverland. As Adie looked around, he noticed many young boys, around his and Leo’s age casually chatting and playing with each other. Some of the young boys were also resting and admiring the stunning red velvet trees, which was dripped in fine gold and appeared very effulgent. Adie truly thought that Neverland was absolutely mesmerizing.

Adie then asked, “what is there to do here? What is it like?..” after approximately twenty seconds of waiting for a response, Adie looked over his shoulder, to his surprise, Leo was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, another random young boy approached Adie’s side.
“You’re lost- I was once lost- everyone here was once lost and still is. Neverland is a place where only ‘lost boys’ may be free. It is where we consider ourselves to be at home and at ease- you know... My apologies, the name is Kuro, glad to see you here,” Kuro softly stated to Adie.

Adie was quick to reply, “It’s alright. My name is Adie. However, what you said before truly does seem interesting- may I ask, what is the meaning of Neverland ?”

“Neverland has no meaning. But, it is a place where all boys share and remember only positive memories. We are to never speak of our past negative memories. In fact, most of us here have already forgotten many of our damaged memories,” said Kuro. “Now, I think it is important that you find Leo. He may be waiting to explain something important to you.” then, Kuro slowly walked away, toward a large red velvet tree, oddly larger than the rest.

Adie took note of what Kuro said and wandered through other areas of the forest in hopes of finding Leo again. Randomly, Adie felt two cold palms placed above his eyes. Then, he was violently spun around by Leo. he was staring at Adie with a chilling, ghoulish expression, and gripping his shoulders very tightly.

He sprinkled silver glistening particles over Adie’s head and painfully stuttered, “p-please, believe in him, and- and believe in me... together- we will fly away, to your beautiful destiny.”

Adie looked at him with concern, “Is everything alright Leo?” Leo’s skin appeared very blanch and felt cold as if he were very sick. His lips had small cracks in them and the circles beneath his eyes were as dull as a rusted spoon. Leo completely ignored the question and grabbed Adie’s hand tightly. However, his friendly smile was beginning to fade, which worried Adie even more.

The two later flew together to a place far away, named Cyanide Sea, not too far from Absinthe Forest. While they soared above the land, Adie peered down and noticed that the trees became wheedling illusions, appearing to be multiple brick red houses and buildings that seemed familiar to him. He soon recognized that this was his own town, in which he never felt loved or cared for as he grew older. Many memories became vivid to Adie at this point. His body swiftly became numb, causing him to lose control of all of his limbs. The only thing keeping him from falling was Leo’s firm grip and the heavy winds lifting him above the ground. Adie watched- he watched as all of the familiar scenery passed right below him, with his very small eyes, full of tears, and a sorrowful expression on his face.

Soon, it had hit Adie that he had a family. One that may have not loved him, or so he personally believed. But, they were still his family and part of him. Regretting his decision of fleeing home, he felt tempted to tell Leo he wanted to return home but did not build enough courage to do so. Although his body was numb, he could surely feel his emotions numbing as well.

Eventually, Leo and Adie arrived at Cyanide Sea. Both planting their feet on the chalky red sand, they gazed at the wonderful sight in front of them. Adie had been so distracted by the trees’ illusions, it was unrecognizable to him that it was dawn, and the sky was a bright salmon color with small areas of yellow peeking through the clouds. As they looked out into the vast clear waters, there was a strange awkward silence...

Restating his question from before, Adie broke the silence by asking, “..Leo, is everything alright with you?”

Leo’s response was one that was not expected by Adie. He replied, “Yes. I am most definitely fine. In fact, this is normal and I am very used to it. The way I look right now, the raspiness in my voice and heavy breathing. It’s a natural process I go through often. Though, I want you to believe in me, and him (“Him” being the lord). I want you to believe that we may take care of you and protect you here in Neverland.”

Adie knew he had to take this into consideration, for he was still opting to head back home. After nearly ten minutes of thinking about what Leo said, he finally had the audacity to ask, “what if I want to go home? I feel as if I should return home to my family, and I can accept reality.”

After hearing this, Leo stood very still. His body became tense, and his bottom lip was quivering. He then said in a medium tone, “Do not ask such thing like that ever again. I do not see what you don’t understand. You may never ask such questions- if you were to return home, that is going back to your old negative ways, where you have suffered in reality. Neverland is home- home to boys who are lost, like us. You and I.”

Adie did not realize how harmful his question was but without thinking stated, “I still want to go home.”
Leo’s chest tightened and his limbs began to slightly shake. His brown eyes fell back, revealing his full, white scleras and inflamed blood vessels, bulging outward.

His voice soon became deeper and stronger, almost as if he were possessed by an unkind spirit. Leo raised his voice even louder in vexation and said, “No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you try, you may never go home. You left your home through your bedroom window because you wanted to escape reality. many people who purposely want to escape the truth and horrors of the cruel world don’t realize what they’ve done- How they’ve affected others. They automatically assume they will end up in a safe place while running into secure places that they’ve imagined in their minds and fantasized about! Though, eventually, they learn that they can’t return home, and never think about it ever again. However, you should have certainly thought twice about jumping out of your window onto the rough concrete 16 feet below, and purposely taking your own life! You knew it was time, so you began to visualize this wonderful place, Absinthe Forest, to distract you from how brutal the idea of suicide was. You knew nothing of it, only its location. Therefore, you knew that the only way to get there was to end your life and escape into these foreign woods!”

When Adie heard this, his heart shattered into a million pieces, for Leo was right, and he had no idea how to feel. He didn’t know if he should be upset about his inability to go home, or if he should be glad to have left into a safe and welcoming place.

“Before you say anything else, I want you to promise me one thing,” said Leo. “Repeat after me, ‘Neverland, I love you so, you are now my home sweet home, forever a lost boy at last’.”

At first, Adie was hesitant to do so, then clearly remembered he had no other choice. He silently repeated after Leo, “Neverland, I love you so, you are now my home sweet home, forever a lost boy at last.”

Leo, who still had a horrifying appearance, smirked at Adie and softly grabbed his hand, “Let’s go,” he said. Both of the boys had set off back to Neverland, walking alongside the water on the warm red sand.

Back at home, Adie’s mother Mrs. Belladonna sat on his bed every so often. Many months went by and she had always hoped that he was safe and free of his past worries. Recently, she has been glaring out of Adie’s window and sometimes clearly sees her poor son standing there very still, staring back at her. Behind him, she believes is a wonderful forest that brings peace. Mrs. Belladonna knows nothing of the forest but knows how to get there. Ever since the incident, she has longed for her son and misses him dearly. She soon plans to visit the vast forestry that surrounds their house, hopefully being able to see her son once more.