Finally I heard them. Those two words I had been waiting for the past six days: Land Ahoy!
I quickly got up and looked through the porthole. And there it was: Neverland! I could barely see the island`s outlines through the fog that had surrounded us for the past few days. But I somehow knew we had found it. It had something magical to it. I stared for another few minutes and then crawled back behind the boxes that had been my hiding place for the past week.
I somehow had managed to not get caught. Well, except for once: It was my second day on the ship and I was starving. I hadn`t eaten for 24 hours so I decided to try to look for the kitchen. It wasn`t hard to find. The problem was that there were always other people there. As soon as one crew member left, another one came. And then there was the cook of course. She didn`t even leave to go to bed. Except for the time that she was called for by the captain. Apparently there was something wrong. I seized the opportunity and dashed towards a counter to grab a piece of bread and some water. When I turned round I froze. There was a girl standing right in front of me. She seemed just as surprised as I was and at the same time she looked terrified. She was about the same height and age as my but she looked kind of ill. Her blond hair was hanging down in wisps and her blue eyes were swollen. It was obvious that she was treated badly and that she had been crying a lot. Even so she was quite pretty.
"Who are you?" She stammered.
"Uhm..." I said. Not sure how to handle this situation. "My name`s Amelia. But you can call me Amy." If I tried to act normal maybe she would think I belong here...
"What are you doing here?" She said, crossing her arms. But I could see how frightened she was.
"I was hungry." I said smiling at her.
"No. I meant what are you doing on this ship?" My plan obviously hadn`t worked. "Just... helping out." I said starting to get a little impatient. I had to get out of here before anybody else saw me. But I couldn`t just go otherwise this girl would probably fink me.
"No. You aren`t part of the crew." I rolled my eyes. Great. "What`s your name?" I asked taking a step towards her. She took to steps back. "Wendy." She was now stammering again.
"Listen, Wendy. I need your help." I said slowly, taking another step towards her. "Don`t worry. I`m not going to hurt you. I just need a place to hide."
"Why should I help you?" She asked. "Because if you do, I will help you, too. I will get you away from these people; find you a safe place to live where you can be happy." I had no idea how I would do that but I had no other chance.
"How do you..." "It`s obvious." I interrupted her. "How do I know you are not lying?" She had crossed her arms again but I could see that I had already convinced her. "You`ll just have to trust me." I said smiling again.
She nodded. "Come with me." And I followed her.
She found me a place to hide and came to visit me every day. She even managed to sneak some food and water out and gave it to me. It wasn`t much but I survived and I was very glad that I had found her. We became close friends and she told everything I asked her. She trusted me completely. A little naive I thought but on the other hand she had nobody else she could trust.
When she was twelve, her father had died and her mother had married a new guy. His name was Adam and he maltreated Wendy and her two brothers (whose names I have forgotten as she only mentioned them once very briefly) and when her mother died sold her as a kitchen made. That`s how she ended up here.
Wendy also told me that this ship was under the order of the British king who had sent us to find a kind of plant. She didn`t know any more about this plant, except that the king had already sent ship to find the plant some ten years ago but it never returned.
When she asked me why I was on this ship I just said I was running away from someone and that I needed to get away from England. "Who were you running from?" She asked curiously. "Your parents?" "Yes." I lied. "Did they treat you bad, too?" I nodded and looked away. This in fact wasn`t I lie but I didn`t want to think about it. She understood and quickly changed the subject.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard footsteps. "Amy!" Wendy whispered. "We are nearly there. You need to hide somewhere else. People are going to come down here to get... well the stuff they stored here. Have you got a plan?" She asked while stepping into my hideout. I nodded. Of course I had a plan. I mean I had nothing else to think about for the last 120 hours. "Wendy. I need you to act normally. I will hide in the crate that I came here with. When it`s dark you will have to let me out and we will escape together. Can you do that?" Wendy hesitated but then she nodded. I smiled and got inside the large box. "Are you sure about this?" "Positive." I said with a broad grin. Wendy nodded again and closed the lid. Then everything went pitch black again.
I wasn`t sure about my plan at all. There were so many things that could go wrong: Somebody else could find me before Wendy did, somebody might see Wendy sneak out of her room, we might not be able to escape at all... even if we did... where would we hide? I am pretty good at surviving on my own but in the woods? I mean, I`m not exactly a scout...
I waited in my crate for... it felt like forever. I had almost given up hope when I heard footsteps. Please god, please let this be Wendy, I thought. It was. She was smiling triumphantly when she opened the lid. I let out a sigh and smiled. Thank god. "Amy..." she started but I put a finger to my lips and she went quiet immediately. I signalled her to follow me and we tiptoed through the narrow corridors of the ship und up a flight of stairs. I had never been up here before so I looked at Wendy who pointed me to the right. We sneaked round a corner and then there was a door leading to the front of the ship. It was open but there were two men standing outside. Shit, I thought. "What do we do now?" Wendy whispered. "Wait here" I whispered back. My heart was beating surprisingly fast as a quietly walked toward the door. This wasn`t the first time I had to sneak out of somewhere, but I felt weirdly lost and weak. I could hear the men talking. Something about a boy and a... pan? I couldn`t hear properly as they were standing too far away. I took a stone that was just randomly lying there on the floor, aimed and through. It hit a lamp on the other side of the deck which broke with a loud clatter.
"What the hell was that?" One of the men exclaimed. "Dunno." Said the other already walking toward the broken lamp. The second one followed him.
"Who`s there?" He shouted.
Jesus. That was just too easy. The noise had obviously woken other crew members as I heard several footsteps and voices coming closer. I turned round to find Wendy standing right behind me. "Come on!" I Whispered. I took her arm and we quietly ran through the door and over a platform of the ship. We ran over the wet sandy beach towards the safety of the trees. I was dragging Wendy behind me. Suddenly she slipped and let out a cry of pain.
"Who`s there? Show yourself!" A man`s voice was shouting. Damn it! I grabbed Wendy by the arm and pulled her to her feet. She was crying. "Come on!" I said. "I can`t. She whimpered pointing at her foot. It seemed she had sprained it. I pulled her arm over my shoulder and carried her. She was heavier than I had expected. When we reached the forest Wendy stopped. "Please. Can we rest?" She sobbed. "No just a little further."
I dragged her through some bushes until I found a place where we could hide. I put Wendy down by a tree and then sat down beside her. Tears were now running down her face. I felt sorry for her. "It`s ok, Wendy. We did it." I said reassuringly. "We did?" I nodded. She smiled.
Luckily, nobody had followed us. I took care of Wendy`s foot as best I could (it was sprained) and then she slowly fell asleep.
I shouldn`t have brought her with me. She would have been safer with those people, I thought before closing my eyes and nodding off.
