It Always Ends With a Kiss

As a young girl I had fantasies and adventures that I couldn’t contain. My parents told me that I had an imagination too large for my own good. I would run around my yard chasing and catching fairies and hiding from trolls. When night fell I would go home and get yelled at by the nurse because the knees of my tights were always ripped and I would be covered in dirt, the curls in my hair no longer there, having gone limp after my running around all day getting it snagged in twigs and leaves. After a good long talk with my parents and a yelling for me she would force me into a bath and send me to bed. I tried to sleep early so I could wake up in time to blow out the stars. It was so lovely watching the stars just blink out of existence.

My bed faced the windows that I always kept wide open, the curtains pulled apart to let the moonlight flit through. I fell asleep that late July night, the stars shining bright and the heat from the outside filling my room. The nurse was in charge of me for the week while my parents visited some friends in the city. Nurse wasn’t very good at making sure I followed the rules and came in on time, for that reason I was exhausted from a long late night of imagining. My eyes were closed and soft sores rose up from my nose, I lay there with my blankets thrown to the floor and my legs tangled in my night dress.

As I slept I dreamt of someone flying through my window and landing with the soft pitter-patter of a trained cat burglar. There were whispers and bumps as the person moved about my room in search of something. Tink, Tink, Tink. I started to fuss in my sleep my dream not making much since at all. Finally after a few moments of silence I awoke to crying. There is a soft sobbing coming from near my dresser. I sit up in bed and face a boy dressed in leaves, it appears, sitting on the floor, his head in his hands and sobbing.

“Why are you crying young man?” I ask him as I stand and move slowly forward.

“My shadow doesn’t want to stay with me.” The very thought of a shadow running away from you made me giggle, which earned me a quick glare as something bumped into the back of my head. I squealed.

“What was that?!” I turn to find a small firefly floating angrily in front of me.

“Tinkerbell be nice to . . . Who are you?” The boy had bright blue eyes and rust colored hair with an elven face and impish grin.

“Well I’m Mercy Clara Tanner and who are you, young man.” I smile at him as I kneel down and start to deal with the thin, gauze like fabric of his shadow.

“Well I’m Peter Pan and that is Tinkerbell, she’s a fairy.” He stands up hands on his hips and smiles down at me as I finish reattaching his shadow. I stand in front of him and he looks down at me with a small smile flashing on his face. “Do you want to come to Neverland with me, Mercy Clara Tanner?”

“You can just call me Mercy, and what’s ‘neverland’?” I giggle as I turn toward Tinkerbell, she hovers just past Peter’s shoulder her tiny arms on her hips just like his.

“Neverland is where I’m from, it’s where you go if you never want to grow up. It’s where pirates try to rule and punish us. Where mermaids swim with you and you can fly.” He smiles and I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “So Mercy, do you want to go to Neverland?” He reaches his hand out to me and I pause staring at his hand and then back to my bed.

“Will you bring me home before morning?” I ask him as he nods his head I take his hand and off to Neverland we fly. I look down at the buildings getting smaller and smaller as Big Ben strikes midnight and we fly into the stars. Peter pulls me with him into loops and wide arcs. I looked ahead of us and saw a break in the stars. Sunlight was shining through and suddenly with a loud crow we burst into the sunlight.