Jody in Neverland

Chapter 20 - Return to the DG

Jody awoke shivering and stiff. It took a moment for her to realise where she was. Her mind was still full of images of the lagoon, the forest, the pirate ship. Her heart sunk as she looked around her room, had she only dreamed Neverland? It had seemed so real.  Her bedroom window was wide open and the wind was making the curtains billow. She got up and shut the window and stood shivering, the room was so cold. Then she caught sight of something on the floor from the corner of her eye. Leaves. She looked more closely and saw they were skeleton leaves scattered across the floor from the wind. She picked up a skeleton leaf and was surprised to see it sparkle. She noticed that a fine golden dust had rubbed off the leaf onto her hand. Fairy dust. Jody smiled and suddenly felt strong, determined and fearless. She had some pirates to defeat.

Jody rattled the door knob, wondering how she was going to get our of her room. She had considered climbing out of the window but it was a shear drop, there was no way she could climb down. Suddenly Jody had an idea, she started scrabbling around looking for something and grinned triumphantly when she found it. It was the birthday card Tyler had made for her. She opened it and smoothed it out and then pushed it under the door so most of the card was sticking out the other side. She then got a wire coat hanger out of her wardrobe, untwisted it and poked it into the keyhole. After about 20 minutes of poking and jiggling, the key finally dislodged and landed with a thump. Jody then pulled the paper back under the door, holding her breath for the moment of truth. Would she be able to pull the key under the door. She let out a sigh of relief as she realised that it had worked. She had the key. She let herself out of her room, locked the door behind her and crept along the landing.

Jody was passing by the spare room when she heard a familiar snoring. It was Kingsley. He must have decided to stay the night. Perhaps her phone was in the room. She opened the door as quietly as possible. Her heart was thumping and she was shaking with nerves. Jody dreaded to think what Kingsley would do if he woke up and found her in the room. She crawled into the room and went straight to the dresser and looked for her phone she couldn't see it. She heard a familiar ping. She turned and saw Kingsley's phone light up on the bedside table. Someone must have texted him. Thankfully the noise had not disturbed him. Then she noticed it. Her phone was next to Kingsley's. She crawled silently to the bedside cabinet and grabbed her phone. She clenched it in her teeth and then scurried towards the bedroom door. Just as she thought she was safe, a floorboard creaked beneath her. Jody stopped motionless on all fours, her arms shaking so much she thought they would give way. She heard Kingsley shift in the bed and then snore. Jody breathed a sigh of relief and finally made it out of the room.

Jody slipped out of the front door and closed it softly behind her. She breathed in the fresh air and the damp smell of the morning dew and smiled. She ran down the road until she was out of sight of the house and then stopped to catch her breath, wondering what to do next.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and decided to message Tyler.

But she looked in horror at the last messages sent. Kingsley had been sending messages pretending to be Jody.

Tyler had sent her a load of messages asking if she was ok and saying he would tell Mike about Kingsley, she just had to let him know if that's what she wanted. Kingsley had replied.

I'm fine, Just leave me alone. Time for a fresh start with my family. I don't want to see you again.

And Tyler's reply broke her heart

Fine, I thought we were best mates, that we had something special but I was wrong. Enjoy your new life.

Jody checked through her message history and saw Kingsley had also messaged Sasha.

Just leave me alone, I don't need care kids as friends anymore, I'd rather hang out with my new mates.

There was no point messaging Tyler or the others, there was nothing for it but to head to the Dumping Ground and speak to them face to face.