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‘Send for Mother.’ Felix had ordered in a hushed urgent whisper.
The thunder cracked loudly as the other boys scrambled to their feet. They raced through the jungle, jumping over the fallen trees, branches scratching at their skin as they shoved them out of the way. Rain pounded down on them, blurring their vision but they continued moving fast through the wilderness, desperate to get to Mother as soon as possible.
Her cage was swinging dangerously in the air.
The boys struggled to fight the gale wind as they struggled to untie the rope and held on tightly as they lowered her down.
The cage did not land gently on the ground but no one cared about the safety of Mother, as long as she was able to get back to house.
The youngest of the boys rushed over and fumbled with the lock, his fingers frozen in the rain. He was taking too long and soon one of the other boys stomped over and forced the lock open. The door swung open so fiercely in the wind that it nearly came off completely, knocking the two boys over in the process.
Mother was not old really enough to be a real mother. She crawled out and when she stood she was barely a head taller than the tallest boy in the clearing.
She attempted to brush the dirt off her white night gown. Her unkept hair flapped angrily around her face in the wind and got caught in her mouth, She clawed at it to get it out of her eyes and tried to spit it out of her mouth.
No one spoke, they all knew what was happening and what Mother had to do.
She ran with them. Her bare feet stinging as they hit sharp twigs and jagged stones. The ground became muddy and she struggled as her feet sunk into the ground, slowing her down.
The sky lit up as a bolt of lightening struck through the air, a clap of thunder rumbled after it. The boys grabbed at her arms and the material of her dress, urging her to move faster, guiding her back towards the little house.
Felix was stood outside the front door, his arms folded and his hood up, hiding his face. The boys propelled her forwards as they let go and Mother rushed to the door. The boys melted back into the jungle and sought to find shelter now that Mother had been delivered. Felix merely moved silently to the side, allowing her to pass.
Wendy Darling entered what was once her house. The small room was elegantly draped in lace curtains, hiding the bark walls. A white framed bed took up most of the space. There wasn’t any light but there didn’t need to be, she knew he was there.
He whimpered in the dark.
She moved quietly over to the bed as he cried out as if he was in pain.
‘Shhhhhh.’ Wendy perched on the edge of the bed. ‘It’s ok Peter.’
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could make out his form on the bed.
‘It’s ok, it’s just a dream.’ Wendy whispered. She ran her fingers through his hair to try and soothe him. He let out another whimper.
There was another loud clap of thunder that woke him, making him shoot up.
‘Wendy?’ He shouted desperately. His eyes were wide and frantic.
‘I’m here.’ Wendy told him. She wasn’t sure he’d heard her at first but he reached out for her, gingerly touching her face.
‘You left me.’ His voice was hoarse.
‘No Peter, I’m right here.’ She said. He cupped her cheek and leant forwards, resting his forehead on hers, his breath hot against her lips.
A flash of lightening lit up the room for a moment and Peter’s eyes widened. His hand dropped from her cheek as if he’d been scolded and he scooted back. He let out another whimper and buried his face in one of the duck feather pillows.
She reached out for him and when she rested her hand on his shoulder he jerked and then without warning grabbed her arm and dragged her to him.
Neither of them cared that she was soaked through or that her night gown clung to her skin. Her hair was plastered to her face in a tangled mess and her feet were throbbing, bleeding carelessly everywhere. Readjusting the covers so that it was draped over the pair of them, Wendy lead on her side to face him.
The rain began to ease off outside, the noise no longer deafening inside the little house.
Gently as if not to scare him, Wendy’s fingers moved slowly to his face and stroked his cheek. It was wet as she knew it would be. As she wiped his tears away, he made no effort to stop her or try hide the evidence from her.
Peter sniffed. He closed his eyes and then frowned and scrunched up his face before re-opening them. Wendy knew he must had recalled something because fresh tears were now running down his face and he choked down a sob. The rain hardened again and a flash of lightening lit up the room for a brief couple of seconds.
Without any hesitation Peter shuffled again, only this time he moved closer, getting rid of the small gap between them and curled himself around her. Wendy put her arms round him and rubbed one of her hands up and down his back while he broke down.
Wendy did not know what tormented Pan in his sleep, but it tore down his walls and left a young vulnerable boy in its wake.
As Peter’s cries got louder, Wendy tightened her hold of him. His head was buried in her chest and Wendy kissed his hair and rested her chin on the top of his head. This was the Peter that pulled at her heart strings. This poor tortured soul that clung to her as if she was his lifeline.
Wendy slowly rocked him gently and hummed a song that her mother used to sing to her and her brothers when they were ill or upset. She liked to believe it was always that particular song that ultimately calmed Peter into a deep sleep. It was so long ago when she’d last heard it that she could barely remember the words, but she could never forget the tune.
The rain once again lessened and eventually she couldn’t hear it anymore. Peter had stopped crying and his breathing had levelled out. Wendy carried on humming, the song now more for her than for him.
In the beginning, no one knew it was Pan’s nightmares that caused catastrophic weather changes throughout Neverland, endangering all that lived there. Some suspected he was the cause but assumed he was doing it for fun or for some form of punishment.
No one dared ask about it. They just knew that he was never be found as the storm raged on and everyone had no choice but to take cover and try to survive until it past.
Many had lost their lives to the Neverland storms.
When the storm passed and Pan would return in a dangerously foul mood. Some weren’t even convinced that he was aware there had been a storm.
Over time, the Neverlanders just came to accept that it was just another of the island’s mysteries, that was until the Wendy Bird came.
The house had been hers at the time. The sound of the rain had woken her from her sleep, the storm angry and roared outside, bits of trees and stones bashed loudly against the sides of her house as the winds hurled them through the air. Wendy wrapped herself tight in her sheets shivering and afraid.
The worst of the storm had seemed to pass when Peter had appeared in her room. She screamed when he magically appeared in his signature green smoke, her nerves shook from the storm.
She was never sure if he had been fully aware of his decision to come to her that night.
He just stood there. His head bowed down and his hands by his sides, curled into tight fists. She saw drops of water fall from his face and land on the floor. His clothes and hair were dry which could only mean that he was crying. Wendy didn’t know how to process that information and she froze.
It was a slight sniff from him then made her jump up from the bed and go to him.
He resisted her touch at first, tensing when she gingerly touched his arm. She had to duck down slightly so that she could peer up at his face and meet his eyes since he was focusing so hard on staring at the ground.
Wendy sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes were red and blurry, his cheeks blotchy and wet. He only caught her eye for a second before his eyes darted away in shame.
‘Peter.’ She whispered reaching up to cup his face in her hands. It was his turn to take a sharp breath for no one had uttered his first name in years. In fact it had been Wendy to use it last, just before their first fight, before she realised what he truly was.
‘I’m a monster.’ He stammered as he tried to get the words out. Wendy realised he was shaking hard.
Not knowing how to answer him, Wendy leant forward, placed her hands on either side of his head and gently kissed each cheek.
Peter closed his eyes and took a deep shuddering breath. The tension in his body lessened and he slowly brought his arms up and rested his hands gingerly on her back. She moved her hands down and round his neck and burrowed her head in his neck.
They stayed like that for a while, Peter’s hold tightening until she was flush against him.
Peter’s eyes burst open in panic when she began to move away from him.
‘It’s ok.’ She’d whispered. She gently took his hand and lead him towards her bed.
‘You had a bad dream?’ She had asked. Peter simply nodded his head like a small child. Wendy climbed into bed and pulled him in with her. She brought the covers over them and lead down. It was too small a bed to share without being tangled together, so Wendy lead on her side while Peter was on his back. She shuffled to move her head onto his chest and draped her arm over him.
‘You can sleep now.’ She told him. ‘I’m here.’
Peter just nodded again. Wendy heard his heart beating wildly against his rib cage. She didn’t realise at the time that it was not solely the lingering nightmare that caused his heart to beat so fast. He slowly moved his arms, one circled around her back while the other rested on top of the arm she had resting of his chest. He squeezed her gently and to as what she assumed was a thank you and drifted off to sleep.
When she woke up in the morning, he was gone.
After that, he would always appear in her house during a storm. It wasn’t as often as one might think. Pan didn’t sleep until he had no choice and sleep threatened to take him where he stood.
Sometimes he would just appear in her room, bleary eyed and half dressed with rumpled hair. He would immediately crawl into her bed, draw her to him, whisper sweet words in her ear and go back to sleep. Those nights were the easiest and Neverland would barely see so much as a flicker of rain. Other nights, he would appear and fall to his knees, tears flowing freely down his face and he’d beg her to make the pain go away, to make it all stop, and she would, with her kind words and her gentle kisses and the storm would fade away outside.
With only Wendy and Tink living outside the lost boys camp, Felix had come to check on Wendy a couple of times during the night as the storm started to calm and each time he had found them sleeping, curled up together. It didn’t take long for Felix to work out the connection.
Now, for the safety of everyone he made sure to reunite them whenever the storms came. They were fortunate that Pan’s subconscious would still take him to her house. They wouldn’t have been able too find him otherwise.
So here she was, cradling the most feared boy in all the lands while he slept. Once the storm had passed and the sun had begun to rise there was a light knock on the door. Wendy carefully untangled herself from him. Pulling at the covers, she tucked him in and gently pushed back his hair so that she could kiss his forehead.
He mumbled her name and then rolled onto his back. Wendy smiled for the briefest moment before turning away and made her way to the door.
Felix would always escort her back to her cage, neither of the them speaking. She’d always return before he woke, in fear of what he would do to the boys for letting her out.
She would often wonder if he knew she was really there and not just part of his dreams. If he did know, he never questioned it and no one dared mention it.
And so it was the unspoken agreement between the Neverlanders and Wendy became one Neverland’s most precious guarded secrets. One that was to be protected at all cost, potentially even from Pan himself.