The Accident Ch. 4

Tink's Last Day?


Terence was finally let into the room where Tinker Bell had been taken after the lengthy surgery. He sat down next to her bed and held the girl's hand. Her little green dress was gone, replaced by a white hospital gown. She was heavily bandaged around her right leg, left arm, around her chest and torso and on her head. Surprisingly, her lovely golden colored locks had been shorn from her head. The doctors explained the injuries that included several broken bones, cracked and broken ribs, numerous injuries to internal organs and a serious concussion. They had to relieve pressure under her skull to keep her alive, although no one truly expected her to be alive in the next 24 hours.

"It's like this, young man," the lead surgeon told him, "her chances of surviving the night are less than 1 in ten. If by some miracle she does survive, she will have only a fifteen percent chance of making it through the week. You might want to say your goodbyes now while you still can."

"I already did once and she held on," he said. "I'm not making that same mistake twice."

The physician nodded and commended Terence on his optimism. Then, under his breath, he mumbled "Foolish boy," while leaving the room.

The young dust keeper didn't hear it. He kept his mind focused on the girl who lay before him. He leaned over to her and said in a soft and kindly voice, "You'll be fine, Tink. I have faith in you. I'll be right here by your side taking good care of you."

About a half hour later, the first visitors came into the room. It was Queen Clarion herself and she was accompanied by her ministers and Fairy Mary. Mary, seeing how badly Tinker Bell looked, had to turn away. "It's alright, Mary," the queen told her. "You can wait outside if you want."

After a moment to compose herself the tinker guild master said, "No. I'll be fine."

Queen Clarion took the chart in hand and read the healer's report. It was very grim. "How did this happen, Terence?" she asked the young dust keeper.

He explained how Tinker Bell tried out another Pixie Dust Express design. "It went sideways, tumbled out of control and smashed into a log. I went looking for her, but couldn't find her right away. I thought she was playing with me as she always does. That's when I saw her at the bottom of the stream."

Terence retold every event that happened afterwards, including how he thought Tinker Bell had perished, but hadn't. Or maybe she came back to life. "I don't know. I honestly can't be certain because I'm not sure myself."

Queen Clarion put her hand on his shoulder, an act to both comfort and console him. The queen looked over the young tinker and felt her heart break. She remembered when Tinker Bell arrived in Pixie Hollow and the troubles the little one had learning to fit in and accept her talent. All she wanted was to visit the mainland, the queen remembered. Since then Tinker Bell had not only visited the mainland on numerous occasions, but she broke the first barriers between fairy kind and humans when she befriended the Griffiths.

Then she left Pixie Hollow for a time to have adventures with Peter Pan. Queen Clarion had been very cross with Tinker Bell when it came to light that the little fairy had actually tried to kill a human. However, Tinker Bell showed that she had learned her lesson was very contrite and had made amends with the young girl, Wendy Darling. She also played a pivotal role in rescuing Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys from the pirate Captain Hook the queen recollected. Though Tinker Bell deserved so much more for her careless acts that nearly broke one of Pixie Hollow's founding laws, do no harm, Clarion considered everything and only imposed a minor penalty on the young tinker for her assault. Now it all seemed to pitifully trivial as she lay here dying.

Another reason for Clarion's leniency was that Tinker Bell was always trying to improve the lives of everyone in Pixie Hollow with her inventions. Sometimes she would even put her own life in harm's way to do it. A few times Tinker Bell unintentionally put others in danger, but she was always able to make things right. Now her latest attempt to improve the lives of others had brought her to the end of her own life.

I should have been more careful with you, the queen thought. I should have seen how adventurous and stubborn you really were. There should have been restrictions placed on what you could and could not invent and what you could and could not do. Clarion, however, recognized this as useless self-incrimination. Nothing she could have done would have prevented this tragedy.

Fairy Mary walked beside the queen. The tinker guild master started to cry again. "Oh, Mary," Clarion whispered as she put her arm around the tinker guild leader and pulled her close.

"She was so young," Fairy Mary said. "So full of spirit and wonder, I-I can't believe I'll never see her again."

"Tink will be alright," Terence said. As soon as he heard Fairy Mary eulogize Tinker Bell he had to say something.

"Have the doctors told you something different?" the queen asked him.

"No they haven't, but I won't let her die," he said. "I'll make sure she pulls out of this just fine."

He said this with such confidence and authority that the queen was almost willing to believe him.

"I'm sure you will, Terence," the queen told him, humoring the boy. She had known how much he cared for Tinker Bell and assumed that he simply did not want to give up on her. She has a wonderful advocate in that young man. Tinker Bell would be very grateful.

Each of the ministers came to the bedside to pay their last respects to the dying tinker fairy. All of them had read the surgeon's report and each one expected never to see the little girl alive again. Redleaf decided that the best way to honor her properly was an induction into the Pixie Hollow Hall of Legends. Hyacinth wanted to rename Tinker's Nook after her: Tinker Bell Nook. Sunflower wanted to declare an annual holiday in Tinker Bell's honor. Snowflake desired to have her likeness carved into a mountainside.

The young dust keeper watched as each wore a face of unbridled sadness and loss. He couldn't believe that none of them had the confidence that Tinker Bell would survive even these incredible odds. She had always overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges before because of the strength of her will. Tinker Bell refused to give up, her tinker mind always thinking and looking for solutions. She didn't give up at the stream and she won't give up now.

When the queen and her ministers were gone, Terence took note of how many times they said that Tinker Bell was going to die, or made a direct reference to it. If Tink could hear that, she might believe it and give up. He decided that the best way to help Tinker Bell stay alive was to stay very positive in the way he talked to her.

"Don't listen to them, Tink," he told her. "You are going to be just fine. I'm your best friend in the entire world, you can trust me."

Throughout the evening and into the night Tinker Bell's friends and co-workers visited. When they did, he asked them never openly say she was going to die or wouldn't survive the night or make any other comment or allusion to an impending death. "If Tink is going to live you have to be positive," he told them. "Treat her as if she is recovering from a minor injury and will be back to work soon. If she hears everyone tell her she will be fine, she'll believe it and get better."

"Oh, of course we will," Rosetta told him. "We all want Tink to get well soon."

Then she turned to the others and mouthed, "He's delusional."

Fawn shot a withering glare at the garden fairy.

"Yeah, he won't give up on her, it's sad," Silvermist whispered.

"If it can help Tink we need to do it," Fawn said.

"Yeah, she'll be okay with a little help," Silvermist amended.

"Sil, pick a side and stick to it," Iridessa scolded.

"Okay…, which side?"

"Ugh, let's just go inside, already," Vidia chided.

As soon as they entered the room, each of the fairies stopped cold. Tinker Bell had never looked so…, helpless. The sight took even Vidia, the resident bad girl and tough nut, aback. Fawn and Rosetta embraced each other for support and solidarity. Silvermist started to weep. Iridessa found that Vidia, her polar opposite in many ways, had grasped her hand. It was shaking badly. Not one of them could remember Terence's advice. He didn't hold it against them. Tinker Bell's current state was a shock to anyone who knew her.

When Bobble and Clank arrived, the first of the tinkers who filed into pay their last respects to their fallen comrade, they had to leave for a moment. It was too much for them to bear all at once. They were the first tinkers to greet Tinker Bell when she arrived at Pixie Hollow. The two gave her a tour of the grounds, and introduced her to Tinker's Nook and helped her to learn their trade. Next to Terence and the girls, they were the closest friends Tinker Bell had.

Soon, one by one, every tinker from Tinker's Nook came in to the room and said "goodbye," or "we'll miss you," or "you were so special." It made Terence flinch every time. Tink heard it so often he wondered if she would just give up before morning. He was only one voice assuring her she was going to get well against hundreds of voices telling her she was going to die.

"You'll be okay Tink," he kept telling her between visits. "Don't listen to them; you are going to be just fine. When you get out of here, you're going to lick that problem with the Pixie Dust Express. On its maiden voyage, I want you to be my first passenger. Just the two of us, taking a boat tour of Never Land. Because I love you, Tink. I love you more than anything."

He just hoped she was listening.


To help Tinker Bell make through the night, clap your hands and say "I do believe in fairies." Thank you for reading.