In The Darkness (a Demonic Neverland story)

 

Inspired by 'Peter Pan' by J.M. Barrie. 

In the Darkness 

Since Peter started sleeping during the day, Neverland had become nocturnal. Everything came alive in the darkness. During the day, the sky stayed red, as if the heavens were permanently stained with blood and fear, but beneath the corruption, the island’s original beauty shone through—the brightest colors blurring together that burned the eyes in the best possible sense. But sadly, everyone on Neverland gradually forgot that beauty over time. All they knew were creeping, consuming shadows, crimson moons, and echoing screams in the island’s darkest corners. 

Even Peter’s appearance began to change. He threw away his garb made from autumn leaves, tree sap, and cobwebs, and had Wendy sew him new clothes out of fabric he stole from the Jolly Roger. He now wore a crimson tunic, red and black striped tights, brown combat boots, and a red hat with a black feather. Because of the black pixie dust, his fiery-red hair turned midnight black, and his emerald eyes turned red and began to glow. 

Because he had killed all of the Lost Boys, Peter spent most nights entertaining the Demon Queen and her dark angel. The Queen built a vast, stone castle that towered over Hangman’s Tree. In her spacious throne room, candles burned with red and purple flames as Peter danced around and played his panflute. Tiny, skeletal demons with horns and wings also danced and flew about. The Queen and the dark angel sat on their thrones, cackling at this sight.  

Wendy always sat on the throne room’s floor with her legs crossed, emotionless, zombie-like. Her blue dress was stained with old blood or dirt—she couldn’t tell, and she didn’t bother cleaning it. She had witnessed so many horrific things, like murder and human sacrifice, that she had grown numb to it. She couldn’t even acknowledge the strange darkness she lived in. Her mind was always in a fog. She loved Peter and would do anything for him, but she didn’t know why. She felt as though something was missing, but she didn’t know what. Her eyes still worked, but mentally, she was blind. 

One night, as Peter danced for her, the Queen caught Captain Hook standing outside the window, intensely watching young Wendy from the corner of her eye. The Queen read his mind. Apparently, the ruthless pirate had grown a heart—he wanted to be the hero for the first time in his life and rescue the little girl from Peter. Even Captain Hook feared the evil of the island. No one but the Queen had seen him, yet she said nothing. She wasn’t worried about the idiotic pirate. She grinned to herself, knowing Peter would do her dirty work for her.   

Notes: Neverland is in a permanent night. Image created using AI tools (ChatGPT / image generation), but it's my concept. The story is 100% written by me. 

©Lena Holdman, all rights reserved 2026