No one from their small group slept very well that night.
The night after the revelations that they heard from Dr. Junaid in her house situated near the hospital, were very strange. Even if they had a comfortable bed that Dr. Junaid shared with the girls, a couch (on which the twins curled up) and mattresses covered with warm blankets where the rest could sleep, they still had a hard time falling asleep. They were used to Spartan conditions so even if they were to spend this night on the cold floor, they wouldn't have minded as much but in this situation falling asleep seemed one of the most difficult things they would have to deal with. They kept tossing and turning, though the day was very tiring and one could expect that as soon after they pressed their heads into the pillows, they'd fall into the arms of Morpheus. But they didn't and you couldn't blame them on this. How could even the bravest heart not shudder when facing the final curtain? Facing the vision of the ultimate end? The destruction that awaited them?
Dr. Junaid, who proposed to them to call her just by her name – Salima - had a lot to say about the fate that was awaiting them and they had no reason not to believe her that the life of "Jimmy" was getting near its inevitable end. She had seen many patients before and was familiar with the signs. "Jimmy's" body was preparing for its ultimate end but the same thing, as it seemed, was happening also to his mind. Yes, the products of his mind, his fertile imagination where the boy-man was able to create an alternate reality which became an exile of his from the harsh reality of the hospital bed, were dying together with their creator. Salima Junaid warned them that the end of the life of James Barrie could take place practically in any moment – she didn't give them hope the old man would survive more than a couple of weeks… months maybe at best. At the very, very best. They believed their new friend's intuition about this. Didn't she live for some months as someone else having been met with an accident so similar to the one in which young Barrie endured? And what happened to her Anne, her alter ego, when young Salima finally managed to find her way into her world? Anne, the girl living in the past and in another country, in the same way as Barrie's creations lived in a different location and time than he did, vanished without a trace, like a candle in the wind.
This was what Salima didn't need to repeat to them one more time before they went to bed. Salima fell asleep as soon as her head adorned with long, black hair touched the impeccably white pillow – she must have been very tired after her work indeed – but the young exiles from Neverland, as much as they would like to, couldn't follow her example. They were glad they couldn't talk so as not to wake their friend – it gave them a good excuse not to raise the unpleasant issue of Jimmy's failing health, which, though they didn't want to even think about it, kept forcing its way into their minds. It was as if they had an achy tooth, which still hurt, although they didn't dare touch it with the tips of their tongues. This pain can be mild and distant but it is there. Well, this very worry couldn't be called mild or distant though. It was on their minds for the whole night, until the very morning before the dawn, when they managed to fell asleep, as tiredness finally overpowered them.
Now, sitting in the living room of Salima and dressed in the clothes she gave them before she had left for the hospital, they didn't remember this night well. The clothes she told them to wear used to belong to her brother when he was a child. Tiger Lily and Wendy wore clothes Salima herself used to wear when she was their age. Tiger Lily, now devoid of her Indian attire and Wendy Darling, not dressed in her blue Victorian dress any more looked like ordinary little girls, wearing a bit old fashioned but still decent looking skirts and blouses the original owner of whom had grown out of a long time ago. Their male friends also replaced their animal skin clothes by casual shirts and jeans.
Today was the day when they were to meet the mysterious friend of their creator, the one who contributed to their being "born" by his deed of pushing young Jimmy Barrie on the ice. The mysterious man who dreamed about Neverland too. The man thanks to whom they got to live. It was still hard to believe this. All those adventures in Neverland – swimming in the lagoon before it turned into disgusting mud, fighting pirates (who were just a memory of Jimmy's pirate ship in the bottle turned real by the power of his imagination) and visiting fairies (mere plush toys) – were made up. Pleasant and wonderful – but not real. Being just a result of a boy's misdeed from many years before. They didn't know if they should be grateful to him for this or not. Yet, thanks to him they could taste life but if they weren't alive, they wouldn't have to face the danger of annihilation now. But… on the other hand, they at least had his chance to come to exist. Is it better to exist, even if for a short moment, or not exist at all?
Salima left in the morning after she had made breakfast for them, to prepare Mr. Barrie's friend for the meeting. She felt – and the Neverlanders agreed with her on this – that she owed him this. The old man, tormented with qualms of conscience, deserved the truth about his childhood friend's cheerful life spent in this magic land which was known by its inhabitants as Neverland. Salima knew he'd easily believe her – he had those dreams. He was an old man getting near the end of his life, in a similar way as Jimmy. He deserved the truth.
When Salima left, the children and their fairy friend which used to be a mere plushie sitting on the table in Jimmy's hospital room, started to explore the house. It was not a big house and for such a large group it seemed even smaller. But it was fascinating. Neither the Darlings nor their Neverland friends had ever seen anything like it. Before she had left the house, Dr. Junaid about some of the things that she owned and now the inquisitive bunch set about to explore them. The computer. The TV set. The mp3 player lying on the desk. They watched TV for a short time, surprised at the images they saw. England had a new queen now; she was an elderly woman, named Elizabeth. They roamed the rooms of the house, as Salima told them not to come out. But something was wrong. They didn't know if it was the result of the sleepless night or some new, ghastly symptom indicating that their creator lying in his hospital bed got worse. Or even… No, it couldn't be it; they were just getting weaker all of a sudden and their sense of reality was failing. They felt like sleeping; a strange feeling which seemed to have little to do with normal sleep. A strange feeling which was especially felt by John, Nibs and Peter, who complained the most. The rest didn't feel much better. Drowsy and tired in a strange way, they waited for Salima.
They didn't need to wait for too long. Barrie's friend lived quite close and although Dr. Junaid didn't have the magic pixie dust which would allow to fly to him, saving a lot of time, she didn't spent too much time out. Soon, the children heard the sound of a key in the lock and they hurried as fast as they could despite their drowsy state to see her and meet the man who was partially responsible for their creation.
Dr. Junaid was taking her coat off to hang it on the hook on the wall. Behind her, there was the man she was going to introduce to her new young friends. A tall, thin man with grey hair and angular features. Having heard the voices of the children coming out of the room, he raised his head to take a look at the owners of them as they crowded into the hall. Then, their glances met. The children's faces reflected for a moment some strange mixture of feelings – surprise, curiosity, sudden recognition as they all shouted in unison.
"Hook!"
