Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan or any other characters created by J.M. Barrie, and neither do I own any characters or plots from the movie Hook, whose director's name escapes me at the moment. Sorry!
Opening my eyes, I find myself on the deck of the pirate ship wearing nothing but a cotton nightgown that I had never seen before in my life, and I groan inwardly. My eyes drift upwards to rest on the full moon in the sky, and my shoulders droop.
"Not another dream," I moan, when suddenly I feel a strong male presence behind me. My heart sinking in my chest, I turn around with a gulp.
Standing before me, like a dark angel in the moonlight, is Hook. He looks down at me with a leer, his teeth pale ghosts hovering in the darkness in a wicked semblance of a grin, and I let out a small shriek and spin around once more, diving into the first open hatch I see.
When my eyes adjust to the new level of darkness I find myself in a long corridor, with no end in sight, and I start to run, hearing my own breathing in my ears painfully loud. Also, as a harsh pounding in my head, I hear Hook's footsteps thudding down the companionway behind me.
I start to hear the faint notes of a song in my head, and unwillingly my mind dregs up the lyrics that go with them.
'Wake up in a dream
Frozen fear
All your hands on me
I can't scream
I can't escape the twisted way you think of me
I feel you in my dreams and I don't sleep...
You belong to me
My snow white queen
There's nowhere to run,
So let's just get it over
Soon I know you'll see
You're just like me
Don't scream anymore my love,
Cause all I want is you.'
When the last haunting notes fade away I find myself at a dead end, with no doors anywhere. I turn around in terror to see Hook standing right in front of me, his grin replaced by a hungry, predatory look and his chest heaving from exertion.
With astonishing speed only possible in a dream he pins me to the wall, his hook trapping my right wrist and his hand trapping my right. He leans in closer to me and retrieves his grin, his gaze boring into mine with an intensity that frightens and at the same time excites.
He crowds me against the wall and I let out a whimper, and just as his lips are about to press against my own...
I wake up in darkness with my legs tangled up in the comforter I had been sleeping on and something warm lying beside me and my heart starts pounding at the same time that my body stiffens.
'What the hell?' I think, trying in vain to squirm away only to find that a strong pair of arms is holding me in place. Suddenly a silky smooth voice purrs from the darkness beside me, "Good morning, my dear. I thought you would never wake up."
I turn fearfully, dreading who I'm about to see, and find myself looking into Hook's bright blue eyes. A shriek rips itself from my lips, and I thrash frantically in an attempt to free myself. With a muttered curse Hook flips over and pins me beneath him, and I blush at the sight of his bare chest above me.
Wiggling upwards quickly I manage to get myself into a sitting position with my back against the headboard before Hook moves closer, placing his knees on either side of mine with his face barely an inch away from my nose. He exhales, sending a puff of warm air into my face and momentarily stunning me. Smiling, he braces himself against the headboard by leaning his forearms on the wood beside my head.
"Did you get a good night's sleep?" Hook asks, removing his left arm from the wall and running his one good hand along my side, eliciting a shiver from me as it moves up and down over my shirt. "I felt it would have been rude to wake you last night after such a trying day, so I graciously allowed you a few moments extra rest." He stares intently at me and I gulp. "I think an action as unselfish as that deserves a reward, don't you?"
I shake my head wildly, gasping out refusals, and Hook tuts at me. "Now, now, I've been more than gracious thus far, my dear, but my patience is wearing thin." With this he leans in towards me, causing me to shrink backwards against the headboard.
My mind going into full blown panic-mode, I reach out an arm and slap Hook across the face, leaving a bright red handprint that reaches from his temple to the corner of his mouth. It's only after Hook recovers from his shock and whips his head around to fix a look of absolute fury on me that I realize what a stupid thing I had just done.
I had just pissed off the one person that held power over whether I lived or died, and from the look on his face he wasn't going to simply forgive me anytime soon.
"Oh, shit." I mutter, cursing my temper and lack of self-control. Hook towers over me, his eyes gleaming red in the darkness, and I tear out from under him and out of the room as fast as I can. As soon as I find my way out of the bedroom I slam the door behind me, my chest heaving in terror and adrenaline.
From behind me I hear a growl, pure animal and filled with menace, and I bolt across the room and yank on the door, blinking in amazement when I find it open. I hear the bedroom door crash open and race up the companionway, hearing Hook roaring from behind me, "Maggie!"
I shiver in delight at the sound of my name coming from those perfect lips, followed by another shiver of fear at the anger in his voice. I burst onto the deck of the ship and squint in the bright sunlight, freezing at the sight of the entire crew turning to look directly at me.
I have a quick internal debate at whether to take my chances on the ship or in the water lapping against the hull, but another roar at my back makes the decision for me. With a quick mocking wave to the crew I dash to the gunwale, leaping over the railing and into the clear blue water.
As soon as I pierce the surface I let out a sigh, plunging deep into the surprisingly warm water and doing a few flips for fun.
'Now this is more like it,' I think, kicking back to the surface while at the same time moving away from the ship. 'No rules, no worries, no handsome pirate captains trying to take advantage of you...' Having reached the surface, I start to kick towards the mainland while still enjoying the sun on my face and the angry shouts from the pirates back on the ship, none of them apparently being able to swim. I blush at the memory of what I had escaped from, but feel oddly regretful at the thought that I would never see Hook again.
'You idiot!' I scold myself, kicking harder in an attempt to distract my brain. 'You are not supposed to fall in love with the man who kidnaps you and locks you up for hours! Only idiots do that!'
Suddenly from behind me I hear a large splash, and I realize that for the past minute I had simply been lying on my back staring up at the sky. Treading water, I look back towards the ship and gasp, seeing a jollyboat being lowered into the water with at least six men as oarsmen and the Captain himself standing in the bow urging them on.
I quickly flip onto my stomach and start stroking, thanking my swim coach back home for working me so hard during all of those after-school practices. I hear, with some satisfaction, one of the oarsmen say, "she swims like a bloody fish! How're we s'posed to catch 'er?"
My bubble of confidence popped at the sound of Hook's voice ringing over the water. "She'll tire, boys. Just pull hard and we'll catch her! Mark my words!" I look back at the boat and realize with no small amount of dismay that he's right. They are catching up to me!
I lay on the speed then, pulling as hard as I can and kicking for all I'm worth. Still I can hear the men getting closer to me, their grunts like death knells in my ears. I can see the shore, not forty feet from me, but I realize that even if I went twice as fast as I'm going now I still wouldn't beat them there.
Still I try, stroking and stroking until my arms feel like wet noodles, but when I feel a hand grab the back of my shirt I give up, panting, knowing that it's over. I'm dragged onboard the jollyboat feeling like a wet cat, sodden and disheveled at the Captain's feet. He smiles down at me with cold, cold eyes, the shadow mark of my handprint still on his face.
"That was a very stupid thing you just did, Maggie." Again I shiver when he says my name, but Hook simply takes it as a shiver of cold and goes on. "No one ever leaves my ship unless I say so, and I don't recall ever giving you permission." Suddenly he turns to glare at the crew.
"What are you looking at? Row back to the ship before I keelhaul1 the lot of you!" Hook turns back to me, and I freeze in place. "Five lashes should teach you your place, girl. And maybe put some sense in your skull."
1 – a particularly unpleasant form of punishment on the open sea in which the person has a rope tied around their waist and is thrown over the bow of the ship, causing them to be ground against the hull before they are pulled up at the stern. Most people subjected to this punishment do not survive.
