Peter Pan
A Different Wendy
Chapter Eight
Marie smiled, she was so glad their little spat had finally ended, and she hopped up, picked up Violet so unexpectedly that the poor little girl barely had time to realize what was happening before she was spun about in the air, and placed down on the bed. Violet blinked several times and gasped, "Marie, you scared me!" and then began to laugh.
"Sorry, Vi." Marie smiled, and tackled Ethan from behind because he was still talking to Whittle and Curly. "Time for bed, Ethan."
"Whoa!" Ethan said as Marie dragged him to his bed, right next to her and Violet's. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing, what do you mean?" Marie smiled devilishly as she tucked him under the tattered, but cleaned, cotton sheet and fuzzy green blankets laid out on his bed.
"Oh, I get it, it's late, and you get a little tipsy when it's late." Ethan shook his head. "Goodnight. I love you." He smiled and shut his eyes.
"'Night. I love you, too." Marie kissed his forehead and hopped into bed with Violet.
"Did you make up with the secret past Lost Boy?" Violet whispered so only Marie heard her.
"Don't call him that, but, yes, we did." Marie whispered again.
"Oh how I love these things!" Violet shivered with excitement. She was always happy about everything, unless it was something truly awful.
"You're so funny, Vi." Marie pushed Violet's soft curls out of her eyes and behind her little ear.
"I know." Violet agreed, "Well, I guess I should go to sleep now, because I don't want to be a grouch tomorrow, like you always say I act like when I don't get enough sleep."
"Okay, sweetie." Marie pulled the blankets up and cuddled them around both her and her little sister.
"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Violet yawned.
"I guess we're scoping out the Boys' new place unless you want me to take you to do something else." Marie saw the look on Violet's face, "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing." Violet hid her smile under the blankets. "We'll talk tomorrow. Goodnight, I love you, see you in the morning."
"'Night, love you, see you in the morning." Marie gave Violet a little kiss on the cheek and rolled over to sleep. A minute later she heard a chorus of goodnights from the Boys:
"Goodnight, Lost Boys." Peter said.
"Goodnight, Peter." The Boys called back.
"Goodnight, Marie and Violet and Ethan," Peter added.
"Goodnight, Marie and Violet and Ethan," The Boys said too.
"Goodnight, everyone." Marie and Ethan and Violet called back.
Marie rolled over, hanging an arm over her little sister's waist as she always did when Violet had had a bad dream back at the orphanage. Marie fell asleep finally, after a while of lying awake and staring into the darkness, thinking, about nothing in particular, but thinking all the same. About the kitten she found and wanted to bring home as her very own pet when she was eleven, but being denied by Ms. Winglet. And about the time she tried to run away, with Ethan and Violet last year, and join the circus as a singer, or dancer, or story teller, or even an acrobat if she could've learned, but they decided just to watch the circus and not join it so they could eat dinner later that night instead of being deprived for their lack of good judgment. And last, just before she drifted off to sleep she remembered the box she brought that had belonged to her mother, and how she always used to try and sneak a peek at what was inside, but could never open it before Ms. Winglet caught her. Well, now she had the box, and she would open it as soon as it was morning.
Marie awoke only a few hours later from the whining and moaning of her sister. She tried to shake her awake, but Peter was by her side and grabbed her arm to stop her. "Shh." He whispered, "She's having a night fright."
"I know that, that's why I was waking her up." Marie explained.
"You can't. This isn't an ordinary nightmare, it was sent to her by the evil person who's trying to find us." Peter said.
"Why would he be sending a bad dream to my sister? I mean, we just got here, how does he know who we are?" Marie looked worried.
"He sends it to a place, not a person, but it just happens to start with the youngest first. They have a vision about something, I'm not quite sure, no one remembers when they wake up, they only remember seeing blurs of people, children, I think."
"Wait, so this has happened before?" Marie wondered.
"Yes, every night for the past two days, that's when they started. First to have one was Quickie, and next the twins, and then Whittle, Curly, Tootles, Nibbs, Slightly, and me. So we guessed about it going from youngest to oldest."
"If it's only happened a few times, how could all of you have had one?"
"It sends it from one person to another. You'll see, soon Quickie will be squirming."
"When will it stop?"
"In a minute, don't be scared."
"I'm not." Marie began. "I just don't understand."
"Neither do we, but I plan to find out soon." Peter promised.
Violet started whining again, she made a muffled scream and began to cry softly. Marie looked at her and back to Peter, "Why is she crying? What is happening to her?"
"She's going to wake up in a second, you'll see." Peter said. And sure enough, a few seconds later Violet stopped wiggling around and opened her eyes.
"I had a bad dream, Marie." She whined, sitting up and burying her head in Marie's chest.
"Shh, baby, it's alright now." Marie was petting the back of Violet's head, hushing her sobbing. "Now tell me what happened in your dream?"
"I don't really know." Violet lie back down and put her head on her pillow. She closed her eyes again, "I remember it being cold, and I felt the wind blowing outside. I was inside, I know that, but the walls were paper thin, like, there was no use of them because the wind came right through. And there were tons of children. They were crying and moaning of hunger. They looked like they hadn't eaten in days. Then I heard footsteps coming and I pretended to sleep like the others did, huddling around the rest of them to keep warm. A bad man came in, you could feel the evil radiating off his skin, he was scary, Marie, really scary. He pulled a few of us out of the room and into this darker, even colder room than before. He made us sit down in these chairs with hand locks, but the ties were so big we could pull our hands right out, but we didn't because he would have hurt us. And then he left us locked in there, I don't know what for, but he left. And then I woke up."
"She's the first to remember all of it. Some of the others remembered bits and pieces, but never that much." Peter commented.
"Yeah, well, I would rather her forget this than remember something that awful." Marie hugged Violet and told her to go back to sleep, that the dream was over, and she would have a good dream now. Then she heard a cry from across the dark room.
"That must be Quickie." Peter said. "Now we have to listen to all their crying for the rest of the night. There's no use in trying to get back to sleep because I have to be there when they wake up, or they'll come and wake me up." Peter was complaining.
"You go back to sleep." Marie pushed him back to his own bed. "I'll take care of the poor guys."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked.
"Yes." Marie nodded. "Just go to sleep, Peter."
"You sure act like a mother." Peter smiled.
"Someone has to, you Boys need a mother." Marie said and walked quickly to the littlest Boy's bed. She sat by his side and waited until he woke up. "Are you okay, Quickie?"
"I just had a bad dream, that's all." Quickie said. "Where's Peter?"
"I told him I'd take care of all of you. He told me about the dreams." Marie said. "Go back to sleep, now, everything's fine."
"Okay." Quickie curled up under his blankets and fell back asleep.
Marie went around from Boy to Boy, comforting them when they awoke. The only real challenge was when the twins had their nightmare, because one had his head at the top of the bed, and the other had his feet there, so Marie went back and forth from Barky to Hoppy. Whittle was easy, but next came Ethan, and Marie wanted so much to wake him up so he wouldn't have to see the bad dream. She knew it was selfish just to feel bad for her brother and sister, but she did want to wake up all of the Boys too, she knew Peter would get angry though, and she wasn't sure what the Boys would do yet.
Ethan woke up and hugged Marie, "I had a nightmare, Marie!"
"I know, honey, but it's alright now." Marie said, "Try to go back to sleep." Ethan nodded and went back to bed.
Then Curly started his bad dream and Marie rushed to his side. She was getting drowsy from all the running around. She waited until he awoke. This one didn't go very well. He turned red when he realized she was next to him. "Sorry, Curly, I know you're shy. Are you okay now?" He nodded silently. "Well, I'm sorry to embarrass you, but I wanted to let Peter sleep."
"It's okay." He whispered. "Thank you."
"Oh, you're so sweet. Goodnight, Curly." Marie touched his forehead and headed to Tootles's bed.
While sitting beside his bed, she hoped he wouldn't react the same way. If Curly and Tootles were embarrassed to see Marie when they woke up, what would Nibbs and Slightly and Peter do?
Marie shouldn't have even worried about Tootles feeling awkward, he awoke looking a little frightened, but when he saw her face he smiled, "Hello, Marie. Taking Peter's place for a while?"
"Yes, I thought I'd take care of you guys so he could sleep." Marie nodded.
"That's good. He needs some help. You can't be a father without a mother, and we haven't had one since Wendy was here. Are you going to be our mother, too?" Tootles asked. Marie looked at him, and started breathing like she couldn't catch her breath. "Oh no," Tootles sat up.
"What's happening?" Marie's head started to spin, and she felt like she was going to faint.
"You're next for the dream, and you aren't asleep." Tootles looked worried.
"What – does – that – mean?" Marie forced herself to keep breathing.
"It happened to Peter before. Don't worry, you're just going to pass out and have the dream, and then wake up again. I don't think it hurts too much more than having a normal dream." Tootles said, still looking worried himself, which made Marie worried. "I'll wake Peter and the rest of them."
"No!" Marie shook her head; she could feel herself leaving the room. "Don't wake anyone else up, just let them sleep, and…and, well don't wake anyone else up. I'll be fine."
"Alright, I won't wake anyone up." Tootles said, and that was the last thing Marie saw, before everything went dark.
The dream was the same as what Violet described in the beginning. After the man came in, Marie tried to fight him, she tried to pull away so she wouldn't have to go in the dark room, but he kicked her in the ribs so she fell and the side of her face slapped the ground hard, and then dragged her into the room and locked her up in the chair. Marie had been brought alone. She thought she was going to die, but then the man came back and started asking her questions that she refused to answer. She looked at her feet, and saw that they were her own, she was still her, but in a different place. The man grabbed her face roughly and pulled hers close to his own; he stank of alcohol and sweat. He asked her the question again, but Marie couldn't hear what he said, she only saw his lips moving, but no sound came out. She shook her head, and the horrid man pulled her hair so hard she thought he was ripping her scalp from her head.
Marie screamed and woke up, breathing in short, gasping breaths. Tootles was kneeling beside her, and he looked relieved when she sat up. "You were gone for longer than usual. What did you do? Why did you scream?" he asked her.
"I was? Well, I fought that disgusting guy, and he hurt me, so I screamed, but I didn't know you could control what happened in your dreams. I thought it just happened the way it was going to happen. I mean, all of you had the same dream," Marie tried to understand what happened.
"I guess you're different." Tootles suggested. There was the sound of sheets being rumpled and Tootles looked over, "Looks like Nibbs is all ready for you." He smiled and got back in his bed. "It's not the best dream, and I guess yours was even worse, make sure you tell Peter about it later, but now you know it's best to go with it and get it other with."
"Yeah, you're right." Marie said. "Well, I better go see Nibbs."
"Goodnight, Marie."
"Goodnight, Tootles." Marie went over to Nibbs to wait for him to awake from the nightmare. Now that she knew how they felt, she wanted to be able to wake them all up, but then they would just pass out, and that was far worse, so she sat through Nibbs's whining and tried not to listen too much.
Nibbs soon woke up, as did all the rest before him, and Marie thought she was beginning to get the pattern. He looked at her and frowned, looking confused, "Marie?"
Marie looked behind her and back at him, "Yeah…"
"Sorry, you looked different for a second." Nibbs looked closer at her face, "When did you get that huge bruise on the side of your face? I don't think I saw it before."
"What?" Marie touched the left side of her face, her eyes going wide.
"What's the matter?" Nibbs asked.
"Well, in my nightmare, I fought back, like the rebel I am, and the man kicked me to the floor, and I smacked my face on the stone floor…but that was…just a dream…it can't be the reason I have a bruise. That…doesn't make any sense." Marie shook her head. Her hand was still resting on her left cheek bone. Now that she thought about it, she did feel it throbbing.
"That is weird." Nibbs agreed. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Marie guaranteed. She heard a sound of despair from the bed next to Nibbs.
"That'll be Slightly." Nibbs rolled his eyes. "Listen to him." Marie listened to him, it sounded like he was struggling. Nibbs looked back at Marie, "I think he fights back, too. Maybe I should do that, it sounds like he's having a lot of fun!"
"Go to sleep, Nibbs." Marie pushed the shirtless Lost Boy's head back down on his pillow.
"What did I do?" He laughed.
"Just go to sleep," Marie joined in.
"Alright, alright, I'm sleeping, see?" Nibbs put his head down and pretended to snore obnoxiously.
"Shh!" Marie giggled. She went over to Slightly's bed and waited for him to wake up.
Marie was having second thoughts about this, but she didn't know why. She was sitting on the edge of a boy's bed. The only people she's ever done that for was the boys at the orphanage, but all of them were younger than her, and here she was sitting on the bed that belonged to a boy who was older than her, who also happened to be having a nightmare at the moment. If this wasn't weird, she didn't know what was. Maybe she should just let him wake up on his own and sneak back to her own bed. He probably wouldn't care, they have been living on their own for their whole lives, and they were used to it. But she'd feel bad if she did that to him, so she sat there biting her lip, trying to figure out a way for this not to seem weird. What had made her comfortably sitting on Nibb's bed, and not on Slightly's? Marie glanced down at him and sucked in her breath. She ran back to her bed.
Violet woke up when she jumped on the bed and asked sleepily, "What are you doing, Marie?"
"Nothing," Marie replied.
"Have they all finished having their nightmares yet?" Violet sat up on her elbows.
"Um…yeah." Marie lied, looking back to the shadows where Slightly's bed was.
Violet stared Marie down, "You're lying, and I know it. Slightly is still having his nightmare." Marie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, I'll go with you." Violet shook her head and stood up. She took Marie's hand and dragged her back to Slightly.
Marie stood, oddly out of place, at the corner of his bed, while Violet, on the other hand, was sitting near his head and looking down at him. She looked back over and Marie looking scared, "Why is he breathing so weird?"
Marie frowned, "I don't know."
"Come here." Violet waved. Marie went over and bent down to hear him breathing. He didn't seem to be breathing weird to her. Violet pulled her closer to his face and said, "Listen."
"I am listening, honey, and it sounds perfectly normal to me." Marie said just as Slightly opened his eyes. Her face was only a few inches away from his, but she was looking at Violet and she didn't know he was awake yet. Violet smiled and ran away. "What?" Marie asked.
"What are you doing?" Slightly questioned and Marie jumped back a few feet.
Marie thought about this for a second. If she told him the truth he would think she was weird, but she didn't have anything to lie about, so she said, "I…was just trying to see…well, hear…you…breathing?" She ended it like a question.
Slightly sat up, "You were seeing if I was…breathing?"
"No, I mean, I knew you were breathing, but Violet said you were breathing funny and she told me to listen, so that's what I was doing." She paused and looked up at him, as if hoping he would just understand what she said, because she certainly didn't.
Slightly blinked, "…Oh…I see…"
"Yeah, well, you seem fine, so…I'm gonna go back to bed now." Marie said walking away, "'Night." She ran back to her bed and grabbed Violet's shoulders. "You are such a brat, Violet! You did that on purpose? What was that supposed to do, huh? I hate having a little sister!" Marie yelled at her. She was sure she'd woken every one of the Boys up so she yelled at them too, "Just go to sleep!"
Violet started crying and when Marie tried to say she was sorry, Violet screamed, "I'm sleeping with Ethan!" and ran to his bed.
"I'm sorry, Vi," Marie spoke to the darkness. Then she heard a shout of pain and she jumped up. She'd forgotten all about Peter. She ran over to his bed to find him panting and wet with sweat. "What happened?" She asked him when he looked up at her.
"I…he…" Peter stopped for a minute. Slightly came over, followed by Nibbs and Tootles, but none of the others came over to see what was wrong. When they saw Marie kneeling beside Peter, they stayed back a few feet.
"Go on, Peter, tell us what happened." Tootles encouraged.
"He…" Peter looked astonished, "killed me."