Creating a New Neverland

Ch. 5- Chained to Reality

We are still at the beach, the sunset taking away the light. Everything is in an orange glow. The water is shimmering and people becoming dark silhouettes.

A biting cold creeps into the air. I pull on a sweat shirt. We had decided to make a sand castle. It was looking more like a soggy mountain at this point.

"I don't think this is really a sand castle," I tell him," It's more of a gloppy pile of sand."

"Well, we'll just have to decorate it with shells and seaweed. Then it'll be a decent looking glop pile," he states with a smile, not looking up.

I walk down to the water to grabs shells and the dreaded seaweed. When I pick it up it is slimy and caked with sand. I run back quickly, trying to minimize the time of touching the awful thing.

When I get back, I chuck the seaweed at him. He panics, not sure what just hit him.

He then realizes that it was seaweed. His face immediately changes from confusion to disgust. I burst out laughing. I sit down in the sand clutching my stomach, just like the first day we met. I am gasping for air.

At first he laughs with me, but then chucks the seaweed back. I squeal and dodge it. I get up, still laughing, and brush the sand off my sweatshirt. He grabs the seaweed, and I take of running, the biggest smile plastered on my face. He doesn't chase me though. He puts it on the castle.

He carefully places the shells in a pattern on the moist mountain. It does look better. I walk back to him to admire our handiwork. But then he grabs the bucket we filled with seawater to make the castle. He dashes toward me. Uh oh.

I giggle and turn around, making my legs run as fast as they can. I hear him coming closer. I am about to turn around and redirect my path, when I hear a grunt from behind me.

I stop and turn around just in time to see Jesse fall into the sand, throwing the water out of the bucket.

I cover my mouth in shock, but it doesn't last long. The intense laughter from earlier returns and fills my body. I am laughing, hard. Tears well in my eyes. I can see Jesse coming over toward me, brushing sand off him. He carries the now empty red sand pail in one of his hands. This just makes me laugh harder.

"Haha," he says sarcastically,"very funny."

"I can't even," I tell him between Burt's of laughter.

"Can we go? I need to change," he says.

"I think you have to carry me," I say, once again through fits of laughter.

"Okay," he laughs with a huge smile on his face.

I can barely see him through my eyes, which are dampened with tears. He gathers the little stuff we brought and head back to me.

He picks me up and cradles me like a baby. The towel, bag, and pail we brought dangling off his arm. I am still laughing as I wrap my arms around his neck. He carries me across the street, and into the lobby. I prepare my self for when he puts me down, but he doesn't. He carries me into the elevator.

"Jesse! you can put me down."

"Nah," he teases.

We ride the elevator up to the eighteenth floor. He walks to my room number. How does he know my hotel room? I just push the thought out. I probably told him.

He stops in from of the door. He carefully sets me down, and I drop my hands from his neck.

"Um," he stutters," see ya tomorrow?"

"Definitely," I say back.

Then silence creeps between us. His eyes are staring into mine, making me feel as if he can read everything about me. I don't really know what happened, but next thing I knew Jesse was leaning down, inching his lips toward me.

I don't know if it was just panic, or the lust for him that dwelled inside me, but I raised up on my toes and closed the gap between us. I pressed my lips into his. I wrap my arms around his neck again, same as earlier.

He kissed me softly at first, but then more forcefully. A fire burned inside of me. But then he broke off.

"See you tomorrow," he says sheepishly.

I brush my hair back and reply,"Yeah." But that's all that I can squeeze out.

I open the hotel room door. My mom is on the little black sofa reading a book. My dad is next to her, staring at the tv. They both have a happy look.

"Hey honey. How was the beach?"

"Great!"

"That's good. Go get ready for bed. Lights out in ten."

I get into my pajamas and wash my face. I climb into the newly made bed. I sigh at the memory of our kiss. Then I drift off, happier than I have ever been. This vacation has changed everything in more than one way. It has changed me for the better. And that's just what I needed.

No dreams come to me. I sleep peacefully, not like the last night. When I wake I stare at the clock, making out the numbers through my sleepy eyes. It reads six forty. I can't go back to sleep, so I just stare at the ceiling until I am fully awake. Once I am I decide to go to Neverland, hopeful of what it will bring in the upcoming day.

I immediately appear on the back of a horse. I am riding in a beautiful silky gown behind a knight in shining armor. The sound of galloping hooves echoes through the air. Not sure what to do in this scene, I just go along for the ride. We are approaching the castle I spotted in the distance. It seemed so far away not too long ago. We are riding through the tunnel in the front of the castle when our horse loses a horseshoe. He begins to whine and spin out of control. The whole time I haven't said a word. Not to the knight, and he has said nothing back to me. The horse falls, and my knight pulls me off.

When he grabbed me, he used so much force that it caused us both to tumble. We scrape against the scratchy stones of the walkway. When we get up, the knight walks back over to the horse and helps it up. He doesn't really seem to care about me. Once he makes sure the horse is fine he walks back to me. I huff and turn away. He pulls me around and kisses me, as an apology I figure. I break and look up at him.

I open up the visor on his helmet to reveal the face of my earlier savior and fellow agent. This means it's going to be another memory with Jesse.

I return back to the real world. I glance back at the block numbers of the clock. They read seven o'two. Twenty minutes have passed since I woke up.

I am itching with anticipation of the day. My knight in shining armor, Jesse, is going to rescue me. I still can't understand the part of no conversation in my last trip. I always talk with someone, just not this time. So many details could be overlooked in the trip, but found when they play out in reality. I guess I just have to wait and see. These memories will stick with me forever. They are all great. Every single one hadn't disappointed me yet. And I will miss it so much once this ends. Just a week and a half more to go. Every moment cherished and locked in my mind. It may be enough to tie me to reality for now.