Grounded - Peter Pan After Neverland

Chapter 3 - Therapy

“Now these illusions, how long ago did they start?” The Therapist was sitting in a deep red arm chair and he was holding a little clipboard; his pen lazily scrawling notes. The note taking made Wendy feel very uneasy. It was as if he thought that there was something wrong with her.

“Illusions? No, no! It all happened four years ago! Ask my family- they were there! I dream about him every night though, but I know those are only dreams.” Wendy kept herself calm but she couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated. She didn't want to be here, answering questions to a stranger. The therapist was writing again and mumbling to himself.

“Still....thinks....true.” Was he talking about her? Of all the nerve! He was jumping to conclusions much too quickly!

“Now these....things that happened. Were you looking at them from a distance, or were you interacting with these.....people?” He said it slowly and carefully, as if she was unable to understand English.

“No I was there! I helped save N-”

“I see.” interrupted the therapist. He was lazily scribbling onto his clipboard as if it was the most boring job in the world.

“Now, before we delve any deeper, I need you to understand something,” said the therapist, still writing on his clipboard. “None of those things ever happened. You know that don't you?” He bent his head down and looked at Wendy over his glasses. Wendy was beginning to lose her patience with this man. He had absolutely no right to insult her like that!

“I'm not mad! If you will just ask my family, then they will tell you the same thing. They were there you know! Even Mother and Father saw the ship floating away in the s-”

“Miss Darling do you hear yourself?” interrupted the therapist, his head lolling into his hand as if he was trying not to fall asleep. “This is what I don't understand about you people, I mean surely, with all of this nonsense that you're spouting, isn't it obvious to you the reason that you're here?” The therapist sighed and raised his eyebrows as if making an obvious point. Wendy raised her eyebrows in surprise at the rudeness of the man.

“ Excuse me? My mother will have something to say about this!” said Wendy as she sat up in her chair and folded her arms ready to storm out of the room.

“Oh really Miss Darling?” said the therapist as he smirked at her from across the room. “Who do you think made the appointments for your whole family?”

Wendy was confused. He couldn't mean her mother! Her mother had always supported her and loved her stories! Wendy knew that her mother believed in him too! She saw the ship after all!

“You can't mean my mother. She would have surely told me!” said Wendy angrily. The therapist sighed and put his clipboard to the edge of his chair and linked his hands together.

“Your mother used to be considered the most beautiful woman in London didn't she Miss Darling?” said the therapist as if he was talking to a child.

“Well yes, but-”

“Wouldn't that mean that she was popular? That she had friends?”

“Yes, she used to have her friends over all of the t-”

“So where are her friends now Wendy?” said the therapist, his eyes glinting behind his glasses. Wendy stopped and thought. She hadn't seen anyone over their house in years and her mother certainly didn't leave to see anyone. The therapist saw that she still didn't understand and sighed with impatience.

“ Let me spell it out for you Miss Darling. Everybody grows up, except for your family. You're all still telling children’s stories and believing in fairytales while everyone else has moved on with their lives. Now from my understanding you're seventeen aren't you?” said the therapist, flipping through his notes to find her age.