Giving Fantasia: The Taking Fantasia Sequel

Chapter 84: Velvet and Steel

Chapter 84: Velvet and Steel

Three times Jim entered.

Three times Jim looked at Wendy and left, unable to talk for disgust.

Three times Wendy stared at Jim's boots, trying not to cry. But each time he scoffed and  stormed away, Wendy's sadness hardened to anger.

She didn't remember what happened after the nightmares struck. She didn't know how Jim pulled her from the darkness. But now, with pain everywhere inside her, Wendy wished Jim had left her to die.

Peter ended it. He ended their engagement. 

Wendy stared at her dreamcatcher. The magical hoop was destroyed, broken as her future.

She and Peter were nothing.

Jim re-entered a last time. Chair in hand, he rounded the bed and stood before her. 

He said nothing. Neither did she. Then –

Crack!  

Wendy flinched as Jim slammed the chair and sat. He was smoldering . She could hear it in his voice.

"I told you to get dressed."

His tone was insulting. Humiliated, Wendy tightened the hem of her pink slip, but she might as well have been naked. 

Refusing an explanation or apology, Wendy glared into nothing. She fought to stay calm. She bit her lip so hard it hurt.

Jim stared. Then he growled.

"Are you insane? You let that piece of shit...you let him..." Jim spit. "Are you fucking insane --"

"Shut up!"

Wendy heard the shriek before realizing it was hers. Every frustration she'd withheld since arriving in Fantasia ruptured. She couldn't have stopped if she tried. A second after the first explosion, she was on her feet and screaming.

"Are you happy?!" Wendy demanded, tears stinging her cheeks. "Are you?! You got exactly what you wanted, ARE YOU HAPPY?!"

"You sleeping with Pan—" Jim roared "—is not what I wanted, NO! You giving yourself to that piece of shit—"

"NOTHING HAPPENED!" Wendy screamed so violently she started to choke. "Nothing happened but I WISH IT HAD! I wish Peter had taken me but HE DIDN'T! He said I wasn't ready! He said I was scared! He thinks I'm a silly little girl that can't please him AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! HE HATES ME! HE—"

The truth was too painful, too overwhelming, Wendy felt herself slipping into blackness, losing control. "YOU WERE RIGHT! ARE YOU HAPPY YOU WERE RIGHT – PETER HAS NEVER SAID I LOVE YOU AND HE NEVER WILL BECAUSE HE HATES ME! HE HATES ME! HE HATES HATES HATES –"

Jim grabbed her.

"Calm down! Wendy –"

"Get off!" Wendy thrashed. Her eyes flickered black. "Let go – get off!"

"Wendy calm –"

"GET OFF!"

"Wendy--"

"GET--" Wendy screamed, ripping away. "-- OFF! Get off – let go – leave me alone you SELFISH, EVIL –"

Her rage was unimaginable. Overcome with grief, Wendy hit Jim with every ounce of anger inside her. Her fist stung– and sunk into his shadow.

What she saw, what she felt, was unbearable. Jim's worst memories poured out, flooding her with his loneliness, restlessness, bitterness, anger, fear, and utter self-loathing. She felt Jim's confusion when Sinbad ran away, and his anguish every day after. She felt Jim's sorrow when he shunned Sarah, and his frustration when she didn't understand. She felt Jim's terror when he pulled the blankets, and saw his little sister coiled under Peter Pan. And she felt Jim's yearning for Ariel... his girl... the one he loved... the one he didn't deserve... the one... possibly carrying... his –