A loud clap of thunder and a flash of harsh, white lightning jolts Wendy upright in her bed. This was the third night in a row that the storm was hitting Manchester, with no end in sight; Wendy was exhausted from the lack of sleep she was getting. With a sigh, she rolls over away from the window, her pillow covering her ears, but it was no use against the roaring rain outside. Perhaps a glass of water will help put me to sleep, Wendy thought, rising out of bed to get a glass of water down the hall from the dormitory kitchen. Using a hand to trace the walls of her hallway, Wendy guided herself back to her room, the sporadic cracks of lightning guiding her way.
Turning the corner into her room, Wendy gasped—the window in her room was ajar, with rain gushing into a puddle on her floor.
"Oh, no, no no!" she exclaimed, quickly shutting the window and scrambling for a nearby towel to sop up the mess. How did the window get open? she wondered. It was quite late, perhaps she had forgotten to shut the latch in her tired state earlier that evening. Exams were quickly approaching and Wendy had been studying ferociously into the wee hours of the night, despite her lack of sleep over the past few days due to the horrendous storm.
"I'm sorry for the mess, Wendy.", a quiet voice in the corner muttered. Wendy yelped, and in the same moment, an intense bolt of lightning struck outside, temporarily illuminating the room to reveal a tall young man looming in the corner. For a moment, Wendy is terrified at the mysterious man, but then a pang of realization hits her. The reddish hair, the sly grin—could it be? she contemplated.
"Is that you, Peter? Peter Pan?", she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The figure stepped forward, a sliver of moonlight lighting his face to reveal a handsome and rugged man.
"Yes Wendy, it's me. I'm so sorry for the intrusion, but I didn't know where to go. I know its been almost a decade since we last saw each other, but I had to see you.", Peter said, inching closer to Wendy.
"As you can tell, I am no longer a young boy; I'm a man now. I've been aging, despite remaining in Neverland", he uttered.
Wendy, still shocked to find Peter in her room, could barely gather her thoughts, saying, "Well, yes that is obvious. Um, Peter, why are you here?"
Peter looked at the floor and was silent for a moment. He looked up and gently said, "Wendy…I realized soon after you left that I began to age when you came to Neverland. I tried to ignore it and continue with my life, but it was clear that I soon wouldn't belong in Neverland anymore, that I had a purpose somewhere else."
"What do you mean, purpose somewhere else? You've always been in Neverland, that's your home! Why should you be anywhere else?", Wendy questioned.
Peter continued gently, "I think I started aging when I found my purpose; the clock began to count down because I was meant to start spending my life fulfilling it with the person I was meant to be with."
Wendy's head jerked up to meet Peter's gaze, her mind putting together what he was insinuating.
"Wendy…I think you and I are soulmates."