I was falling, falling. The garden rail lay below, its spikes protruding from the cold earth. I was almost on top of them now. Then I would be dead and nothing could prevent that. I waited for the blow but it never came. Everything went black.
I woke up in a room that was not my
own but was one that I felt I belonged in. The bed was warm and
comfortable, the furniture made the place feel cosy and I was
prepared to stay here until the owner of the bedroom should walk in
and find me as I had no idea what had happened just before I arrived.
I heard a dog barking softly outside and looked around the nursery,
swords from bedtime battles lay, cast on the ground. Bow and arrows
littered the floor also. The room obviously held boys. Two other beds
were on the other side of the room.
Suddenly I remembered my fall
from the roof and realised that I should be dead now. Was I dead? No,
I was probably dreaming, dreaming of the room from a hospital bed,
waiting for surgery. It probably wasn't a great injury. With these
positive thoughts in my mind I sat up and found myself looking
straight into the eyes of a boy, no older than me, who seemed to be
flouting in midair in front of me.
'I'm really very sorry,
you see I fell and…' I began but he shushed me and beckoned for
me to follow as he led me to the double windows, one side was already
ajar. He motioned for me to do as he did. He screwed up his face like
he was thinking very hard. I copied. He slowly started to rise. I
didn't. He said the first three words I had heard him say, 'Think
happy thoughts'. To my uttermost surprise when I did just this I
too began to rise. I could fly! This was the best dream I'd ever
had! He flew out of the window. I followed.
We flew for a long
time until I could see a place with forests and lagoons and rivers in
the sky below me. Suspended above Earth like one of the stars. Once
we got closer I could see mermaids in the lagoons and dodos lumbering
over patches of grass. This was paradise, this was…
There's too much blood loss… no its not safe to move her… she's on a rail spike for God's sake… were losing her… hang on…someone give her mouth to mouth… Dear God no… Wendy don't die… she's gone…
That was when I realised where I was… my father,
for that was definitely the man I had heard, had not called me
Rebecca or Becky or even Beck… He had called me Wendy. I knew then
what, in the back of my mind, I had known all along. I was dead and
going to heaven with this strange boy…no not heaven…
'Welcome
to Neverland!' said Peter.