Chapter 1: Do You Believe in Fairies?
"Sir…Madam…Mr. and Mrs. Darling…"
Mary clenched her husband's hand. George clenched his wife's. Both awaited Dr. Vincent Coal's, senior psychiatrist, verdict.
Dr. Coal sat. He looked up with eyes callous as his diagnosis. "…your daughter is insane. I recommend institutionalization. Immediately. "
Mrs. Darling gasped. Mr. Darling took her shoulders, holding her back. "Sir! Surly not!" he protested, fumbling under the doctor's cold gaze. "You must be mistaken! Wendy – "
"—is suffering from a decaying psyche." Dr. Coal interrupted, white fingers steepled on the black desk. Irritated, his eyes flicked to Mrs. Darling, "A madness of the mind. French psychiatry calls it folie créatrice: creative madness. Tis an uncommon diagnosis, but stated in terms that even you, Madam, could understand, the patient – "
"—her name is Wendy!—"
" – is living in two worlds. This one – the proper one – and the imaginary world she created."
"Neverland?" asked Mr. Darling. Interested, he leaned forward, adjusting his glasses. "The story she's been prattling on about? Neverland?
Dr. Coal bristled. "Yes….Neverland."
"Tish tosh! Harmless! Wendy is harmless."
Dr. Coal turned. His head swiveled, seeming bizarrely unattached to his stock stiff body as Mrs. Darling spoke.
"Wendy is harmless. Completely harmless I tell you. Sir – you must understand…" earnestly, Mrs. Darling placed her hands over the desk. "…Wendy loves to tell stories! She tells them to her brothers, every night in fact. But that's all they are! Stories. She is a clever girl with a good strong head and lovely imagination –"
"—marry a good strong head, lovely imagination, and obsessive story telling…" Dr. Coal interrupted, tapping his medical report, "…and I give you a girl who thinks she can fly to a place called Neverland where children never grow up. Textbook diagnosis, Madame: folie créatrice."
"Dear me." Mr. Darling mused, cutting of his wife. "Doctor. Please. What can be done?"
Dr. Coal closed his eyes. Painfully he searched for patience. "I repeat: institutionalization."
"Insti…? George! George no!"
"Well Mary, really…" Mr. Darling beseeched his wife with an indiscrete hush. "Mary how long can we go on like this? It's been three and two quarter months without pause in her insistence that Crook-Hook, Tinker-smell, Peter pirate, and all the rest of those Neverland riff-raff are real! It's getting so our friends won't come to call! Mary…people – important people – have started to talk!"
"And I might add…" Dr. Coal quietly said, "…how uncharming insanity presents to potential suitors."
"Suitors?" Mary clutched her chest. "Sir! Wendy is not yet thirteen! She is just a little girl!"
Dr. Coal raised a thin brow. "Enrolled in school?"
"Not for long, Lord save us!" Mr. Darling stood, wiping his brow. "By the saints I swear Wendy's teacher sent her home with a note! Said Wendy was daydreaming during grammar – drawing obscene pictures of boys half clad in leafy suits! And by jove - they tell me she plays pirates-and-Indians with little ruffians during midday break!"
"Pictures and role play?" Dr. Coal mused. Unemotionally, he jotted several notes on his medical report. "Interesting."
"I could have died!" declared Mr. Darling.
Mrs. Darling shook her head. Tears welled in her soft blue eyes. She was losing the argument. Swiftly. And she felt powerless to help her little girl. Desperately, she implored the gentlemen. "But…but why institutionalize? Why keep Wendy here? In…this…" thoughts darkening, Mrs. Darling shuddered. "…this asylum?"
"Mental hospital." Dr. Coal tartly corrected. "Versed with the finest staff trained in the most recent scientific and therapeutic methods, from Dr. Freud's psychoanalysis to soporific restraints – "
"—restraints? George!"
"—I assure you!" Dr. Coal snapped, glaring as Mr. Darling attempted to sooth his wife. "That the patient will be treated to our exceptional standards. She will remain safely within the facility. More importantly, your family and acquaintances will be safe from her."
Mrs. Darling rose. Indignantly, she hissed at the doctor. "I beg your pardon? Safe? From my own daughter?" Eyes flashing, Mary Darling rounded the desk. "What manner of a doctor are you, Sir?"
"Mary! Good gracious!" Hurriedly Mr. Darling redirected his wife. Dr. Coal observed their interaction placidly. "Mary! What in the name of St. Joseph and the Queen of England has gotten into you? Dear – this man is a doctor! If he says we are unsafe – "
"—Wendy is a child! A child – she's just a baby!" Angrily, Mrs. Darling lifted her birdcage veil. Tears caught on the pale pink netting. "—and I will not, George Darling, will not allow you or this man to abandon my daughter in this cold, horrid, dreadful asy – "
"—you have two sons? Have you not?"
The Darlings turned.
"Yes." stammered Mr. Darling, still startled by his wife's outburst. "Quite so. Younger. John and Michael."
Slowly, Dr. Coal blinked. "Have you considered their safety? Your daughter has tried to involve them in her fantasies. They are part of her story – characters in her make believe world."
Imperceptivity, Dr. Coal leaned forward. His fingertips gripped the desk like spiders. "What if she tries to take them back to Neverland? What if, in an innocent, lovely game of pretend…" Dr. Coal's eyes wavered. They rested on Mary Darling. "…she tries to make them – all of them – fly? From the nursery…out the window…" Dr. Coal's jaw stiffened. "…onto the pavement."
Silence.
Mrs. Darling's hands shook. Her chest fell up and down. In the quiet room, one could almost hear her beating heart.
Then, Mr. Darling cleared his throat. "You…you think…it possible? Doctor? Truly?"
Dr. Coal gazed. Again, he looked at Mary Darling. "Truly. I think it…unavoidable."
"Well…well then." Crisply, Mr. Darling donned his top hat. Taking Mary's arm, he tipped the doctor before guiding her out the door. "Take care of her then. Doctor."
"So…you believe in fairies?"
Wendy looked. The attendant smiled, winking every moment, but Wendy knew he was teasing.
Folding and unfolding hands in her lap, she stared at the cold, white walls. She tried to ignore the hospital residents, goggling at her with dry, fishy eyes, and groping for her with withered, skeletal arms.
"Yes." she softly answered. Her heart was beating. Where were her mother and father? They must be finished with the doctor by now. "Yes. Fairies are lovely."
A man strapped to his chair gargled and spit at her. A woman twitching uncontrollably tried to rip out her own hair. Wendy closed her eyes. Thinking of happy thoughts, she spoke just for the sake of speaking. It made her feel better. "Fairies are born when a child laughs for the first time, you know. They have wonderful powers…they can make children fly. I flew. It was lovely. Peter Pan taught me how. With pixie dust. Pixie dust looks like glitter but feels like – "
The attendant laughed. Kicking a baby bottle at its owner, he crossed an arm over Wendy's shoulders. Wendy stiffened. She shifted away. The attendant scooted closer, tickling her ear and pulling wisps of hair. "It's always the cute ones that are maddest! And you're a pretty little kooky pluck, t'arnt you lassy?"
Wendy clasped her hands, mortified. Then, suddenly, she stood. "That's not right." she stammered, backing away as the attendant leered. "That's not right or proper or…mother?"
Down the hallway, overcoats buttoned and gloves donned, were her parents. Wendy stared, confused. Were they leaving? Had someone told her, but she hadn't heard. Was the attendant supposed to have let her know?
Wendy turned. After a poisonous glare at the attendant, she made for her parents. "Mother. Father. I'm coming. Mother? Mother?"
Mrs. Darling turned. She saw her daughter.
And Wendy knew…something was wrong.
"Mother?" Panic hit her like a pirate's cannon. She started to run. "Mother?"
Dr. Coal turned. Swiftly, he gathered Mr. and Mrs. Darling and ushered them out the door. Mrs. Darling fought, but was blocked by the doctor. "Quickly. Tis better done without goodbyes. The emotional influx could further decay her damaged psyche."
"But – but she's my baby! Wendy!"
"Mother?! Mother! Father! Wait!"
Wendy ran harder. White walls and diseased faces streaked by. The attendant was running behind her, breathing down her neck. "Hold on little kooky! Mummies and daddies don' want insane little girlies that make up fairytales!"
Fairytales? They….didn't want her…because…of fairytales?
Wendy's heart exploded. "Mother!" she screamed, tears flying off her cheeks. The door was closing. Her parents were disappearing. The man in the white coat was turning. The attendant's fingers touched the blue bow in her hair. "Mother! Father! Mother! No! Please! Believe me! Believe me please! He is real! Peter Pan is real! Mother!"
Mary Darling turned. "Wen – " Then, she disappeared. The door locking behind her.
"NO!" Wendy slammed into the door. Blinded by tears, she felt hands grabbing every part of her, dragging her back into the asylum for the insane. "MOTHER!" Wendy cried. She reached for the door as the doctor directed the attendant to take Wendy to her treatment room. Cheerily, the attendant complied, dragging Wendy into the heart of the asylum. "MOTHER! PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"In ya go!"
Wendy fell, slamming into a cold room, empty save for a bed. There were no windows.
The attendant laughed, pushing Wendy back as she raced for the door. Picking her up, he dropped her onto the bed.
"I'll be back for the clothes!" he grinned, ruffling her hair. "Bow n' all! Nighty- night fairy princess!"
Tears streaming, Wendy scampered off the bed. She sprinted across the room. She slammed into the door as it shut. And locked.
"No!" Wendy cried. She hit the door, over and over…
…and over…
…and over…
…until at long last, deep into the night, she collapsed. There, cold and alone, she cried.
Then, laying upon the ground, she whispered a prayer to the only one that could help her.
"…if you can hear me. Please. Please…"
Wendy held her chest. Her heart was throbbing. It hurt so much, she failed to hear the strangest noise just outside….like a wheezing dragon.
"…Peter…" Wendy breathed. "…save me…one last time."
A tear dropped from Wendy's eye. It twinkled on her hidden kiss.
Then, the door opened.
