Title: Madly in Love
Summary: When Wendy came back from Neverland and started telling people about her experiences, they all thought she was crazy… literally. Can she convince anyone to believe her? And what if they don't?
Author's Note: If you really think about it, everything about Peter Pan and Neverland is truly ludicrous! It's all impossible! If someone came and told me things like that happened to them, I'd tell them to get therapy. That's where I got the idea for this fanfic. hehehe!
"This isn't working, Mary. This is the fourth time," reminded George, and with a great deal of pain. Mary Darling sat with her husband, holding his hand and squeezing it every once in a while. They had been sitting in the white waiting room for nearly an hour now. Each minute they waited gave them even more time to think about how terribly wrong their decision was to bring their daughter here.
"I know it's not working. And I hate it. Every time we come here I hate it!" cried Mary with tears running down her face. George pulled her into an embrace and kissed her on the head while she cried into his chest miserably. "Why do we keep bringing her here? Wendy doesn't deserve this!"
"What else are we to do? There is something wrong with her!"
"She just tells stories, dear."
"And insists that she was there," George interjected. "She thinks she can fly too. She even talks to her shadow!"
"It's harmless child play."
"Well a seventeen year old lady should not behave as such."
"But is it really necessary to take her to this hospital?" asked Mary.
"We're tried talking to her but she still thinks that some boy is going to come soaring through her window and take her away. We've been given no other choice but to scare some sense into her."
"But this is over doing it, George. Don't you see?" Mary let go of him and looked him in the eye, trying to win over his sympathy for their eldest child.
"I've been backed into a corner. We both have been. This is the only way we can help her now."
"Don't say that. Wendy is not crazy. She doesn't belong here," insisted Mrs. Darling and George gave a defeated sigh. He didn't want to argue with his wife but could she not see reason? Wendy was beyond their help. They needed to get someone else to try to reach her.
"If she doesn't have anymore incidences like last time when she jumped out of the window, trying to kill herself, then she'll never need to come back here again," George concluded and hoped dearly that this visit would never have to be repeated another time.
There was a long silence between the two as they remembered the occurrence from several weeks ago.
Wendy had been acting rather peculiar recently. She was becoming very quiet and almost anti-social and she would take to locking herself up in her room. She didn't even enjoy spending time with her many brothers. Her brothers would try to get her to let out at least a giggle but with no success. That night, the parents had awoken in the pitch black to hear Wendy's screams. Immediately, they had both rushed into her separate room to see what the matter was, but she was no where in the room. However, the window was open and the freezing winter air was blowing the curtains about. They dashed to the window and looked down. To their horror, Wendy was below them and crying out in pain with one leg twisted an unnatural way. Mrs. Darling nearly had a heart attack when she saw her child sprawled out on the cobblestone road and blood surrounding her. She could not bear to go down and see Wendy so Mr. Darling told her to call the hospital right away while he went down to see her. They had no idea how long she had been out there but she was clad in just her nightdress in wintry weather. She could be sick along with being injured. Mrs. Darling stayed home with the boys and Mr. Darling followed Wendy to get some help. Once the ambulance came and took her to the hospital, they diagnosed her with simply a twisted leg and a slight cold but nothing more physically. Both of them were expected to heal rather swiftly. The doctor had asked what the cause of her injury was and Mr. Darling reported that she had fallen out of the window.
"Are you sure she didn't jump intentionally?" asked the doctor, putting ideas in Mr. Darling's head.
"Wendy is not depressed or anything absurd of the like," replied George and dismissed the idea.
"Has she been doing any unusual things lately? Acting differently?"
"Well… yes. She's been a little less energetic but that doesn't mean-"
"Mr. Darling, it is not as though I do not respect your opinion, but it is the opinion of a father. You're not going to want to think that your daughter may have a problem. But I think she does," said the doctor in a low voice. George Darling had never questioned his own feelings or opinions before, but now that a situation like this was brought before him, he doubted whether or not Wendy was just a regular young lady. Could Wendy be sick in the head?
The doctor then suggested that she be sent to Bloomsbury Mental Institute for a six week period. There, she would receive around the clock supervision, therapy sessions, and any medication prescribed to help her. George was very hesitant to send his Wendy to an insane asylum, but she had been to it before, just never as a long-term patient. They had taken her there many times in the past to have her examined and each time, the doctors said that it was nothing that she couldn't help. She had no disease or abnormality of the brain, she was just simply immature.
Now this doctor was saying that Wendy should spend weeks there and receive treatment. They no longer thought Wendy was just being silly. They thought she was suicidal. Slowly, Mr. Darling agreed to let her stay there. He knew that he would not be able to look his wife in the eye until she got back, but he had to do this to help Wendy.
"Glad to hear you're willing to help the girl. Now, the thing you must know is that the patients may undergo sedation if they get out of hand. Does Wendy have a problem with shots? Because we could give her pills if the time came," said the doctor and clued in George. At that moment, George stopped breathing. He looked at the doctor in shock.
"They practically tranquilize the patient like animals!" he thought and was suddenly very afraid for Wendy. He then said out loud, "Could you repeat that?"
"I said they may be given a quick shot to settle them down if they get out of control. But it's only used on extreme circumstances. It's more than likely your little girl will never even have to deal with something like that, but if the situation arises, which should we give her: a shot or a pill?" said the doctor again.
"Pill, I suppose," responded George shakily. What had he done?
He went back home and told the boys that Wendy was to stay in the "hospital" until she got better but she couldn't have any visitors. Then, when the boys were tucked in again that night, he had to confess to Mary what he had decided.
"You did what!" she exclaimed.
"It's only for six weeks, dear. And the doctor said it might really help her!"
"We've taken her to a psychologist before and they've said that Wendy was fine, dammit! Why the sudden change of mind! That is our only daughter that you've just sent to the loony bin!"
"I know, Mary. Calm down. But if you had been there and heard what the doctor told me then you'd understand why I did it. They think that Wendy could be slightly depressed and they also think that tonight's accident was really a suicide attempt."
"Wendy was not trying to kill herself! We know her! These doctors don't," said Mary and she sat down on the edge of their bed and covered her face with her hands. George went over to her and wrapped on arm around her tenderly and tried to comfort her.
"You know I love Wendy and would never do anything that wasn't in her best interest."
"I know. I really do know. I just feel like a terrible parent. If it's really true and Wendy was wanting to die, I feel like I should have done more; like I could have done more. I feel so insufficient. And what if it wasn't and she just fell out? Then we'd be sending her to a mental institution for no reason."
"Don't worry, dear. We'll have her back in six weeks. And maybe this really will help her."
Now the time had come when they could bring Wendy back and they waited very anxiously for the receptionist to tell them that they could go see Wendy and take her home.
"George and Mary Darling?" called the woman. The two stood in response to their names and the woman directed them through the doors, down the hall, and outside of room 43 where Wendy resided. They thanked her and she left them to go back to the front desk. They both stood there in front of Wendy's room. The door had one small, square window at eye-level that was just big enough to peek inside the room. What they saw, was a trembling figure dressed in a blank, white dress sitting in the corner with her knees hugged to her chest. There was hair dangling in front of her face but they both knew it was their Wendy. The adults opened the door carefully and slipped inside. Without even looking up to see who the visitor was, Wendy mumbled, "I want to go home. Let me go home."
"We've come to take you back, sweetheart," assured Mrs. Darling and she scurried over to Wendy and kneeled down to look her in the eye. Slowly, Wendy raised her head and gazed sadly at her mother. What Mary saw, in that instant, brought tears to her eyes once more.
There on the floor sat a thin, pale girl with dark circles lining her weary eyes. The hair was greasy and disheveled as well. But it was her eyes that made Wendy look truly miserable. The light that once twinkled and shined in her eyes had extinguished, leaving only blue pools of pain and suffering. Like a soulless and lifeless shell, Wendy looked out from behind thick lashes. Her eyes held not the wonder that they used to, though. The world was no longer amazing. Almost as if she really had lost the will to live, she no longer saw the beautiful fascination that she once saw life as. Any normal mother would feel terrible when they saw this but Mr. Darling could feel her heart break.
"No mother should have to see this," she thought. She held out her hand to Wendy and waited for her to take it.
"We're going home now," said Mr. Darling happily, even though he saw the same pain in her eyes. He half forced a smile onto his face to lighten the mood a little. Wendy grabbed her mother's hand and, with her help, stood and the started walking towards the door. She stopped abruptly, though, and turned on her heel. Right away, she rushed to her mother and father and hugged them closely. They did the same in return and they all cried happy tears and smiled genuinely, even Wendy. Especially Wendy.
"I'm going home again," said Wendy in realization. She sighed in joy and let go of the two. All of them walked out of the building while receiving several glances from strangers who were passing them. With Wendy in just the medical dress and slippers (at 6 o'clock in the evening) and her parents leading her by both hands, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the adults had just picked up their child from insane asylum. Yet none of the three seemed to mind the staring. They just hopped into the coach that was waiting outside for them and rode merrily home.
When Wendy walked through the door, all of her brothers (lost boys included) came stampeding down the stairs and tackled her to the ground. And for the first time in months, Wendy laughed. She laughed so hard and so long that she could barely breathe.
"It feel good to laugh again," she thought and wrestled her brothers off of her.
"I'm so glad you finally came back! I've been so bored without you, Wendy!" said Curly and all of the other boys agreed.
"You look tired. I think you should go to bed early," recommend John and he pushed his glasses a little further up the bridge of his nose.
"I think I just might do that, John. But in a little bit," said the girl and she brought her attention back to her other yakking younger brothers. George and Mary looked at each other and smiled.
PLEASE READ!
A/N: Alright, so for this fanfic, I can either leave it the way it is, since it could work as an ok one-shot, or I can keep going with it (since I do have some more ideas in mind). But I'm not going to continue it unless some people are interested. So review and tell me what you'd like me to do.
