Forever In Neverland
Chapter Two
--
Happy thoughts...
--
I had the most wonderful dreams that night, all of them having to do with Wendy Darling. Rescuing her from two ogres, escorting her home on a white horse, kissing her under the mistletoe at Christmas time, and my favorite, flying with her amongst the stars. It had been a long time since I'd had such wonderful dreams...
--
“Gods my head hurts!” I shouted upon waking. It felt like someone had driven needles into my skull.
“That's because I bumped your head on the wall when I brought you in. Not my fault you're heavier than the ones I usually bring over!” a tiny voice said. It was strange, it almost sounded like the voice was coming from inside my head. I didn't have time to consider it though. Panic quickly began to take over as the words sunk in.
“Who the hell are you and where have you brought me?!” I shouted, failing to be the least bit menacing due to a long groan and an inability to raise myself up properly. The voice made a surprised yelping sound and something was pressed lightly against my cheek.
“You... you can hear me?” the voice asked timidly. Confused and nervous, I slowly cracked open one eye to see what was happening. There standing on my cheek was a tiny blonde girl, no more than six inches tall, with a set of rainbow shaded translucent wings sprouting from her back. I closed my eye and laid my head back slowly, certain that I was still asleep. “Hmm... just an accident I guess... but I may as well make sure,” the voice said as the pressure on my cheek lifted away with a faint breeze. I was just settling down to wonder when I'd wake up when my eyelid was suddenly jerked open, forcing the tiny winged woman back into view. “I just wanted you to know that you're a fat ugly beast and you stink like the crap of a sick animal!” the tiny girl shouted, and though her lips were moving the words again appeared in my head and, after they were processed, a flash of anger shot through me.
“You little bitch!” I shouted, swatting sluggishly at the miniature girl who simply flitted away on her wings to avoid being smacked.
“You can hear me! But... but humans aren't supposed to hear me!”
“How could I not hear you when you're shouting in my head like that?!” I shouted, clutching at the side of my head which had begun to throb at the sudden motion.
“Inside your head?” she asked, hovering a little closer to me, I cast her a sour look.
“Yeah, kinda like a whisper or... wait, why the hell am I even talking with some dream pixie thing?! And why can't this dream be like the others...” The tiny woman promptly flew forward and kicked me in the nose with a surprising amount of force.
“I'm a fairy, you dummy, not some air headed pixie! And this isn't a dream!” I clutched at my nose and cast her a scathing look.
“Ow! That hurt you little...” I paused, slowly shifting my hand to poke my nose, wincing at the pain. “This... this isn't a...”
“A little slow in the head, are we? Didn't think I'd bumped you that hard...”
“So I... I'm really talking with a six inch pixie girl?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
“Fairy! I'm a fairy! Jeeze, it's not that hard to remember!” She then huffed and turned away from me, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I'm six and a half inches tall, thank you very much!” I fell back on the small cot and brought my hands up to my head.
“W-What happened? Where am I?” She turned and looked at me skeptically.
“You don't remember?” I clutched at the side of my head and tried to think of where I last remembered being.
“I remember... saving Wendy from those thugs and walking her home. We talked for a while and she kissed me...” I blushed at the memory of Wendy's lips on my own. Another twinge of pain shot through my head and the memories began to become hazy. “I think... I think I remember her calling out to me as I left but it's all fuzzy. After that I just remember some dreams I had and then waking up here with you.” The fairy girl was quiet for a long time before answering. I used the pause to look around myself for the first time, realizing that I must be in a cave of sorts because the walls looked to be made entirely of stone. Apart from the cot I'd woken up on there were two doors, a desk, a rocking chair, a basket hung from the ceiling, and a set of drapes covering what I could only assume was a window from the faint light coming from behind them. All of the items looked fairly old and were covered in a thick layer of dust.
“I had a feeling you'd be different from the others, I've never heard someone as old as you calling out to me...”
“I called out to you?”
“They all do, that's how I know who to bring here. It's been a long time since I've brought over anyone though, I was starting to wonder if there were any more who knew... but then you called out, and louder than I'd ever heard before, nearly vibrated my wings clear off! When I found you... well, it's probably best that you've forgotten, normally it takes ages for the new ones to forget and they're always happier afterwards.” I made to speak but she cut me off and continued. “And you can hear me speak too... you're an odd one alright, I've only heard about humans talking to fairy's in stories... not another one like you to be found here now though.” I furrowed my brow.
“You keep saying 'here'... where are we?” She looked at me confusedly for a moment before flying down to tug at my finger, pulling me over to the curtains.
“You're right where you've always wished to be!” she shouted as she flew over to tug at a string, opening the curtains and sending up a cloud of dust. Coughing and waving my hand to clear it I found sunlight on my face followed by a cool breeze. Swallowing hard, I stepped forward and looked out the window at the world around me. My eyes followed a flock of gulls as they dipped down past the window and along the cliff side where the apartment lay. They flew low along the lightly churning sheet of water before bursting upwards into the sky to drift lazily towards the sunset. I tore my eyes from the wondrous sight to drift along the ocean coast, finding a thick forest to my left and a seemingly endless plain to my right. There was a sound like an explosion from the water and I looked just in time to see a massive whale burst from the water only to spread a pair of enormous wings and send a gust of wind so powerful it nearly blew me over as it sped off in the direction of the gulls. A series of loud squawking noises from my right drew my attention from the winged whale to a pack of odd creatures sprinting across the plains. They looked like a combination of an ostrich and a giraffe with their bald heads and pointy beaks atop stiff long necks, plump bodies, and short feathered wings.
“This... this is impossible!” A sound like faraway holiday bells filled my mind as the fairy girl landed on my shoulder and leaned against my cheek, I realized the sound was probably her laughter.
“Of course it's possible you silly girl! Anything is possible in Neverland!”
“I'm in Neverland...” I whispered quietly, just seconds before my eyes rolled up into my head and fell flat on my back unconscious.
“Oh dear...”
--
A quick look around when I awoke was enough to tell me that it hadn't all been just a dream. The moonlight shining through the open window told me I'd been unconscious for at least a couple hours. It was strange, my head was telling me that I should have been more afraid but I just couldn't manage it. There was something so comforting about the room or maybe it was something in the air... but I'd never felt more at peace.
A quick tiptoe around the room revealed the fairy girl to be asleep in the basket that hung from the ceiling. She'd traded in the frilly green dress she'd been wearing for what looked like a tea cozy with holes poked in it so she could wear it as a nightgown. There was something heartwarming about the sight of her snuggled up next to a frayed and worn teddy bear that must seem massive to someone her size.
I found myself drawn to the window by the sounds of waves lapping against the base of the cliff. Simply gazing out across the beautiful scenery I knew in my heart that this really was the place my mother had told me about in her bedtime stories. A place of endless beauty where you could laugh and play as much as you wanted and never have to worry about growing old. I'd finally found that wonderful paradise and yet... something in my heart told me that I was missing something... like a piece of me had been left behind...
--
“Wendy...”
“Hmm?” the fairy girl murmured, yawning and stretching as she floated over to the window from her basket.
“The girl I saved before you brought me here... I can't stop thinking about her. Is it possible to go back?” She landed on my shoulder and sat down to look out the window with me.
“You really are a strange one, aren't you? You haven't even stepped outside and you're already wanting to go back.”
“To visit I mean. I'd like to tell her where I am so she won't worry when she doesn't see me again. We'd made a promise to see each other again and I don't want to break it.” I said, turning to look down at the fairy girl, noticing her eyes were downcast.
“You don't need to worry about that... everybody knows that you're gone.”
“How's that?” I asked, only to have her shake her head.
“I can't really explain that but that's just how it is, okay? Besides, we have more important things to talk about anyway. You need to learn how things work around here. You should feel lucky that you can have me explain things to you, most of them have to figure it out for....”
“You didn't answer my question,” I interrupted. “Is it possible to go back and visit?” She stood and stamped her foot before glaring at me.
“Fine, I'll tell you! Remember those stories I mentioned about the human that could talk to fairies?” I nodded. “They say there was a young woman that managed to come here by accident which had never happened before or since. They say she was able to talk to the fairy that watched after the place she had come to, which is this very room I might add, but that for some reason she went back to the other world at some point. Some of the stories say she came back to live here eventually and others say different but nobody really knows if any of it's true to begin with, it supposedly happened a really long time ago. Although I'm guessing there's some truth to it somewhere because I'm standing here talking to a human myself... one who unfortunately is stubborn as a mule!”
“Sorry about that... this is all just so overwhelming,” I relented, not wanting to agitate her any further. Her face softened a bit before she lifted off my shoulder and flew towards her basket.
“I'm sorry too. This is a new experience for me as well. But let's not let it get in the way of things, there's lots of stuff you need to learn. I need to get changed but you can wait for me outside if you want, just don't stray too far!” Not knowing which door to take I simply picked the closest one but paused before opening it.
“I just realized I don't even know you're name... um... fairy's do have names right? My name's Petra Pan in case you didn't know.”
“Of course we have names... although I don't really like mine. How about you just call me Tinker Bell?”
“That's an interesting one, how did you come up with that?”
“I like to fix and mend things, mostly old pots and whatnot so... Tinker. I've actually got a pretty big collection. Oh, that reminds me! Make sure you don't open the...” Too late I'd already opened the door only to be consumed by a tidal wave of various pots, pans, and other oddities. “...closet.” I could hear that familiar sound of faraway bells as I struggled to pull a particularly large kettle off of my head.
“And I'm guessing the last part comes from that pretty sound you make when you laugh?” I muttered after freeing myself. She paused where she hovered in front of me, hands still on her sides from laughing so hard.
“What do you mean?”
“I hear this adorable sound in my head like a bunch of little bells ringing from faraway when you laugh. Figured that's how you got the last part of your name.” She turned away from me then and it was hard to tell but I could have sworn she was blushing.
“Well... I don't know anything about that...” she murmured before turning back around to look at me worriedly. “You're not hurt are you? That looked really funny but it must have...” The closet, it would seem, had a little humor left in it as a small tea cup managed to roll off of a high shelf and bump Tinker Bell from behind as it fell, sending her flying over my head with a yelp. A thin mist of golden dust trailed after her as she flew by, drifting down to settle over where I was sitting.
“What's this stuff?” I managed to ask through my laughter before breathing in some of it and breaking out into a fit of sneezes.
“What stuff?” she muttered as she flew around in front of me, casting a glare at the closet as she rubbed her butt, red faced with embarrassment.
“I don't know, this weird dust stuff came off you when the cup hit you... it's tickling my nose like crazy!” She paused in her rubbing to stare at me incredulously.
“You could see my Fairy Dust?!”
“See it? Hell, I'm choking on it!” I shouted before sneezing again, noticing a faint hint of sparkles in the air I'd let out. “Why? Is that bad or something? It's not poisonous is it?!” Tinker Bell didn't seem to hear me, instead placing her head in her hands as she hovered slowly away.
“Oh... nothing about this is right at all! No memories of how she got here, she can speak to fairies, and now she can see Fairy Dust...”
“Hey, that last question was kind of important!” I shouted after her but received no response.
“If she can see Fairy Dust then maybe she can see the Gateways! Oh this isn't good at all!”
“Well this is just great! I've been here one night and I've already been poisoned or something! Some paradise this is...” I muttered, making my way over and throwing myself down on the cot.
“But even if she can see them it won't do her any good if she can't fly...”
“Flying...” I whispered to myself, closing my eyes and picturing a dream I'd had the night before. A surge of elation coursed through my body as the memories consumed me. The wind whipping through our hair as we flew hand in hand through the clouds. The sheer elation of being weightless combining with the thrill of seeing the ground rush by beneath us to create a sense of sheer joy that I would never forget, even if it was just a dream.
“Oh no...” she murmured, her tiny mental voice wavering in my mind.
“What? What's wrong with me now?” I asked, opening my eyes to find myself inches away from the ceiling...