Chapter 6

I dreamt I was a child again and that Peter came and rescued me. We flew away from the ship, circling higher and higher. We laughed and I awoke with a smile on my face. For a few moments I thought everything that had happend the past few days had been a dream, but I soon became aware of the heavy arm around me, and the soreness between my legs. Deep inside my stomach I felt a dull pain and the insides of my thighs felt sticky.

I looked at the man beside me. Sleeping he didn´t look dangerous, the hard lines had soften and the cruel mouth had relaxed. For the first time I wondered what had made him the man he was. He must have been a child once too, though I could not picture him as one.

Then he woke up and his face swiftly took on its usual expression. In just a second the cruelty and arrogance was back and I wondered if I had just imagine him looking different when sleeping. He pulled me close to him and I felt him press hard into my hips. I was sure that it would hurt as much now as it had last night and I didn´t know how I would be able to stand it.

-"Captain, wait, wait just till tonight, I beg you."

I was quite sure that he would not care for my words, so the reaction I got surprised me. The Captain let go of me and rolled on to his back. Staring up in the ceiling he spoke in the same odd voice as when he had ask me if he repulsed me last night.

-"Why do you always call me Captain, Wendy? Why don´t you say my name? If you say my name I will do as you say. Can´t you say my name?"

I didn´t know what to say. I had always thought of him as the Captain and to call him anything else felt very strange. He propped himself up on an elbow and stared intensly into my eyes, as if tried to read my thoughts. I wondered why he wanted me to say it and then I wondered if there was anyone who did call him by his name. A fleeting second I thought I saw another man, the sleeping man befores me, instead of the Captain and I felt sorry for him.

-"James, please wait."

He smiled, a much gentler smile than I had seen before. -"I will wait, and I promise you it will be better tonight." I knew I wouldn´t be there tonight, if everything went as planned, and something that resembled regret made itself noticeable for a fleeting second.

I had hoped that I would be able to talk to Jean-Baptiste, but the Captain was still dressing when he came with my breakfast. He just gave me a worried glance and a half-smile behind the Captain´s back. When left alone I got up to wash and make sure my few belongings were packed for our escape.

As we were to swim I choosed to get dressed in my nightgown, which would not be so much in the way. I ripped off the bottom half so it became kneelength. I carefully braided my hair, tying it of with a piece of the nightgown. In the fabric piece left I packed my white ballgown, the teagown and the few toiletries I had. I couldn´t bring myself to get the blue dress I had wore last night, so I left in on the bed.

Soon afterwards I could hear men shouting and the ship slowed down and stopped. As my cabin was at the end of the ship I could not see land from my windows, but I realized anyway that we had reached our destination. Neverland. I wondered if it would look the same as when I was a child. I longed to see it again and I longed to meet Peter. I wondered if he would remember me.

Time seemed to pass so slowly. I waited and my imagination conjured up a number of things that could go wrong. The Captain could decide to take Jean- Baptiste with him after all. Or we could be seen when we swam, either from the ship or from land. Or Jean-Baptiste could decide to go without me.

Finally the door was unlocked and Jean-Baptiste came in. He was just dressed in his breeches and carried a small bundle packed in oil-cloth. He quickly took my things and tied it together with his. He looked pale and very tense and when he took my hand in his I could feel him tremble.

-"Are you alright?" He asked, his tone worried. There was so much I wanted to say to him, how scared I had been, how awful it had became, but that it somewhere in the middle had not been so bad. But I felt shy and just nodded.

Jean-Baptiste did not resemble the Captain much I couldn´t help to notice. He was shorter and had a heavier build. The muscles on his arms came from hard work, I was sure, and his skin was much fairer. I thought he was beautiful and I blushed a little. I wondered what he would say if he knew it was his face I had thought of when the Captain had kissed me and I blushed some more. Then he turned around and I saw his back. It was just a mass of scar, old and white, but so many of them, criss-crossing each other. Without thinking I reached out my hand and touched his shoulder. I could feel him recoil from my hand as if I had hit him.

-"Did Captain Hook do that?"

-"That. And worse things." Jean-Baptise´s eyes darkened with hatred and I wondered what worse meant.

The deck was deserted and we went as quietly as we could to the side of the ship. I could see the green slopes of Neverland and my heart jumped. It was not far, soon we would be there and we would be free. A rope-ladder was hanging down into the water and we climbed it, careful not to make too much noises. I almost cried out loud when I slid into the warm water as the saltines of it stinged between my legs. But after a few swim strokes it felt better and we started to swim towards the shore.

It was a truly horrible swim as I all the time expected to hear shouts from the ship or land. I knew that if we were noticed we would have no chance as long as we were in the water. But we reached land without incidents and soon the jungle hid us from sight. We found a spring were we could rinse the salt water from our bodies and clothes. I felt a little embarrased as the wet nightgown had became transparent, but Jean-Baptiste politely looked the other way and it soon dried in the heat.

I had no idea were on Neverland we was, or were we could find Peter, but I remember how fond he had been of my stories. So when we found an open space, with a nice stone to sit on, I decided it was time to let Peter find us. I seated myself on the stone and Jean-Baptiste lay down in the grass. It was so wonderful to be on land again, to feel the breeze and smell the flowers growing all around us.

I sat up very straight and said in a very clear voice;

-"I am Wendy Darling and I have come here to tell a story for Peter Pan." Then I started to tell a story, one that I had never told Peter before. I told it very slowly and clearly, taking care to make it exiting. When I reached the end of it I was sure there was someone in the three behind me listening, as I could here rustling and small branches that snapped. So I said loudly;

-"Now I have told a story, but Peter is not here. I don´t think I will tell another."

-"Oh, please, just another one!", Peter said and came into sight.

End of Chapter 6