The Land of Dreams

4: A boy and a Fairy

I must have blacked out from almost experiencing a mini heart attack because when I wake up, I find myself back on the couch and with a boy a year or so older than I am leaning over me, his golden hair messy and his green eyes bright and clear in the moonlight. "Ah ha! You're awake! I'd thought you'd gone cold turkey on me, darling." The boy says and then laughs, dancing away from me.

I sit up quickly and glower over at the boy. "Who are you?" I demand and he just laughs even harder. His laugh is light and lilting and it sounds like freedom personified. "Why are you laughing?" I try again, but he just shakes his head, doubling over in laughter. As I wait for him to calm down – he's crying now, thick streams of tears running down his tanned cheeks as he doubles over in childish laughter – I observe him.

Despite the dim lighting, the pale moon ahead gives me just enough light to make out the color of his clothes. He's wearing a scraggly dark green knitted jumper with a slight turtleneck, black worn boots, and either dark brown or black trousers with patches on the knees. I can't quite tell, but I know it must be a dark color because his legs seem to blend in with the darkness in the alley.

And the boy is tall, that much I can tell, and he has very broad, squared shoulders, and yet he still has the lean body of a young boy. His face, now slowly loosening itself from its earlier pinched expression of laughter, is both round with the youth of a boy in his twelve's, and yet he has sharp cheekbones that a seventeen or eighteen year old man would have. His features confuse me profusely, for he looks both incredibly young and yet mature at the same time.

I scowl at the boy, who has calmed down some. "Are you finished acting like a little boy?" I snap, annoyed. Because I'm cold, and I'm tired and this boy with his man-child face is keeping me from peaceful, sound sleep.

At this, the boy snaps up, his laughter fading as he regards me with an overly serious composer. "Yes, I am. Please, forgive me for being an annoyance. It's just that your earlier facial expression when you woke up from your slumber..." He giggles slightly at the thought. I just stare at him with a raised eyebrow and he clears his throat.

"Sorry. I'm Peter Pan and I'm here to take you to Neverland, where dreams are born, and time is never planned." He says and then it's my turn to laugh. Magic? Did he just say magic? I grin up at him, only to see that this time he actually is serious and that he meant what he said.

My grin slips off my face. "Neverland?" I say, and he nods, his face somber. "I heard you whisper your wish and I thought I would be kind and offer you a new home, with fresh food and clothes and a hut with a roof, but I guess if you don't believe me..." He trails off, and I know, deep down, that he's baiting me with bribes currently, and that there is a very good chance he is lying, but hope still blooms in black places, because after all I have nothing to lose except for James. I find myself saying, "No. I just need proof. If you can provide me with reasonable and reliable proof, I shall go to Neverland with you. Wherever that might be."

Peter's grin is as bright as the sun in the sky. "Wonderful! Fantastic! Just wait a moment and then-"he stops. He tilted his head to the left, as if he's listening to something very quiet and has to focus hard to hear it.

After a moment, he grins at me. "Your proof has woken up! Tink!" he calls and when nothing happens, I consider the simple fact that Peter is a crazy person who has escaped from a hospital or something and that I'm only making his mental state worse by playing along with his game.

But then something does happen: a bright, pale yellow glow appears out of nowhere, floating right by Peter's left ear. It grows and grows, the light burning brighter and brighter until I have to squint to be able to look at the blinding yellow light by Peter's ear.