Believe in Happy Endings

Chapter 1: Jane Darling

The year is 1954 and Jane is roaming the streets of Manhattan, a new life she's settled into for the past five years. She grew to be a very tall woman amongst the crowd, towering about five feet seven inches off the ground. She literally stood out amongst the crowd along with her characteristics. Jane used to show off her unique qualities and traits as she felt in New York, people would understand her. She thought it would be a place that was fully welcome to opinionated, ambitious, outspoken women. She started working for the New York Times as a paid intern once she graduated from college in '51 and worked as hard as she could to start writing as soon as possible. She also used to attempt to talk about her political views amongst the people in her workspace, she was told that as a lady working in the New York Times, she was already lucky enough to work up to be a reporter. Merely a source of evidence -- not opinion. That her only place to speak was in her interviews. "But how would anyone know how I feel as a human being -- not a reporter?", Jane asked at the moment. The assistant editor flashed her a grim smile and laughed, "That's our point, baby. Your job is to report what OTHER people are saying. Please. All you have to say is, 'what did you see?' 'what did you think?'. You can't let your opinion influence what they're feeling. We need raw, untouched shit for these pieces."

Jane had learned to cut the gas once she was told to do things in order to not get fired. She needed this job. She wanted to prove to her mother she can help make a change in the world. To prove women are more capable than dolling up and doing chores. To show they're more than dolls to play with. "They're human beings too," Jane would argue, "They can have amazing minds. It's just that the men of society keep shutting them down to make them feel better about themselves. They mustn't think so low of the idea of females! Some of us aren't meant to be mothers. Some of us are meant to toughen up and tell men that our range of intelligence can exceed far beyond anywhere their brains can go."

Jane moved to New York hoping that the number of people in Manhattan would multiply the percentage of the population that agrees with her opinions on controversial topics compared to London. She couldn't talk to other girls at school because most of their fields of interest involved displaying and selling themselves for the world to see and read in plain sight. You can tell they were ditzy and dumb just by the look of them and sure, they may have not enjoyed what career paths they followed, but it gave them money and nice dresses that often displayed to men who would help them get their lives together and the validation the average female strived for. The boys at school, on the other hand, just did not get her. "You're a girl for fuck's sake, what do you know?" She could've definitely befriended them in any way possible, but being a girl was the only thing standing in the way. She couldn't stand the toxic masculinity of males and the oppression females had given into. Jane thought if she'd wait it out and start anew in a different place, she'd find different people that view the world like her. But so far, nothing's really different. She'd have female acquaintances that would simply nod their heads and laugh whenever Jane would make a whole speech on her views on controversial topics. Jane couldn't understand why they wouldn't use words to respond, and if that laughter was of pity, agreement, or mockery. Jane didn't have many friends ever since she met Peter Pan since she wasn't enough of a female for her peers to tolerate. She was different. Not even in an annoying way.

She was a special kind of girl that would make only the best of men go crazy. She claimed she didn't have time for luxuries like men. She believed they wouldn't be able to stand her either. An outcast she was, and one she would be for a long time.

Welcome to the fifties.