I was sent to wander on a (probably, most certainly) dangerous island with nothing more than a smelly satchel. I trudged grudgingly through the tropical terrain looking back every now and then to see how far I had gone from the shore. The old pirate ship began to get smaller as I tripped over twigs and branches attempting to make a path for myself throughout the island.
The heat was unbearable, the humid sticky air hung over me like a blanket as I trudged through the jungle. I had taken off my flannel thanking my smart decision in the morning to wear a tank top underneath. Wrapping the white button up around my jeans, I gazed at the beautiful tropical flowers. The tropical terrain looked exactly like out of a scene from Lost with the mass of trees and exotic flowers. The air smelled damp and felt sticky against my skin and was nothing in comparison to what I had prepared for in Europe. The decision to wear jeans with the cold breezes when I was on my cruise was destroying me in the tropical climate. I wiped off the droplets of sweat off of my forehead as I reached into my satchel.
With two maps in my hands, I glanced back and forth, turning the poor wrinkled pieces of paper while I surveyed my area. On one map it showed the island just like it did in the Disney cartoon. The entire island with all of the different landmarks. The island was covered with the scribbly pen marks with cursive letter sprawled across different areas of the island describing the corners and landmarks to be noted. It did have some of the same names as the movie but different areas were new to me. The traditional Mermaid Lagoon with a little scribble of a fishtail in the water, the Indian camp with the little teepees, and Cannibal Cove, as Hook had pointed out, still fresh with a hole just to remind me of the psychotic old man. But other landmarks I did not recognise. Far off in the corner I saw a large rock formation floating in the maps ocean labelled Marooner's Rock. It looked dark and foreboding with jagged rocks. I thought back onto the Disney movie and remembered Skull Rock, the place where Tiger Lily was taken when she was captured. I assumed this was the somewhat realistic equivalent. Unfortunately, I couldn't think anything was somewhat realistic anymore.
More landmarks I didn't recognise as I gazed over the map, I saw towards the back of the island there was a sad drawing of a tree with a noose attached labelled Hangman's Tree. Another note was what looked like a small tear in the islands corner, allowing the water in and labelled Crocodile Creek. I hadn't payed much attention to the Disney film but I couldn't quite remember if either one of those landmarks was there. I made a mental note to stay as far away from Crocodile Creek as I could remembering the ticking croc from the film.
The other map was slightly different. It had the island's basic shape but the traditional landmarks were drawn but not noted. Instead different areas were labelled. The Indian Camp was labelled as the Neverplains. I thought back at Hook's story on how he said the Native Americans emerged onto the plains. I imagined they arrived similarly to me and James Barrie, through some unseen portal to this accursed island. A group of mountains between the jungle and Hangman's tree were labelled Neverpeaks with a scribble of sad hills that were supposed to be mountains. I squinted into the distance and did see a huge mountain between the tropical canopy of trees. A giant waterfall fell off of the mountain's center, cascading the white water to an unseen bottom.
I bet it's called the Neverfall, I thought to myself bitterly. I didn't understand why everything had to be named Never Something. I contemplated the idea of the name of the island and how it's inhabitants came up with the name.
As in the island where people Never Grow Up? But then again to Hook it would be the island where you can Never Leave. Or Never Age Well. Ugh, nevermind I don't care.
I shook my head and almost tripped over a tree root that was sticking unnaturally out of the ground. Once I steadied myself I gazed back at my second map.
The island had scribbles over different sections, circling certain areas and labelling tropical plants. A small scribble of a weird rock structure off the side of the island was labelled Cave of the Neverbeast with a little arrow pointing into the rock. Another mental note of something to steer clear of. But what I thought was really weird about the map was that different sections were labelled different seasons. Toward the Neverpeaks it was labelled Winter, near the Indian Camp it was labelled Spring. Towards Hangman's Tree it was labelled Summer, and according to that map I was headed straight for Autumn.
That old man has definitely lost it, I thought to myself.
Looking at both maps and my surrounding area I convinced myself that I could somehow escape Hook and get back to the cruise and my family. I had convinced myself that I would be able to figure out a way off the island, swimming if I had too, but there was no way that I would go along with Hook's crazy plan. I knew he had threatened my life and thinking back on the occasion made me shiver but I didn't want to be dragged into his psychotic plan. Now distancing myself from the ship and that crazy incident, my logic was starting to kick in and tell me that it was all just the plotline of some crazed old man who was really into Peter Pan.
Just any crazy old man that wasn't put into a mental ward, I thought to myself with a nervous swallow, avoiding a muddy slip. Just a crazy old man on a ship with a crazy cult following. Yeah, that's it.
I logically thought about the entire story that Hook had explained to me trying to find holes.
If Hook was here during J. M. Barrie's time that means he should be dead not a shriveled up prune. Unless he was affected by Pixie Dust, which doesn't exist, then that would be the only way that he could maybe be alive. But that's not true so he is just a crazy old man that got a hold of a pirate ship and bought an island. A normal, privately bought island.
In fact, the more I looked at it, the more normal it became. I felt that if anybody was exploring a new land, this was what it would look like. I was so used to my suburban Southern California neighborhood that trudging through a tropical jungle was so visually different. Not that many people trudge through jungle terrain unless you're maybe Bear Grylls, but just comparing the two environments were completely different and I couldn't recall any occasion viewing anything like it. I didn't remember a time that I had seen so many trees. I was so used to houses and buildings at every block that the sheer number of trees just astounded me. As I gazed among the treetops, tropical birds flew overhead with brightly colored wings, squawking as they went. I mucked through the songy dirt and analyzed everything in a daze. It was just an island. An uninhabited, nonindustrialized island.
"This island is Neverland," I chuckled to myself with a scoff, "like heck it is. This is just some completely normal island with normal," I kicked a tropical tree with the tip of my Converse "trees and plants. And no way in heck is there any way that this could be a magical island, with flying teenage boys and pixies with ageless dust."
I came across a bundle of trees that were entangled together and I continued to talk to myself as I squeezed between the small gap to the other side. Talking to myself made me feel slightly better about exploring a strange island by myself. Just hearing my own voice made me feel a little reassured.
"There are no mermaids, or Native Americans," I said before getting smacked in the face by a tree branch. The tree branch was pushed by a strangely cold breeze considering the humid stickiness of the air I felt before. I batted the branch away trying to avoid a net of vines and a series of beetles crawling over them. "There are no crocodiles with ticking clocks," another cold breeze hit my now bare arms and I shivered involuntarily.
That's really weird, I thought but continued squeezing between two thick tree trunks.
"This is just a beautiful island, with beautiful flowers and-" a large green beetle scuttled along a vine near my face, "-bugs." I swallowed nervously and quickly dodged more bug ridden vines and saw the bright opening between the trees and made a break for it. At this point, the trees were so tightly wound together that the opening was so small that I had to crawl on my hands and knees, trying as little as possible to touch the damp ground. Another cold wind escaped through opening but the breeze was soon replaced by the humid air around me.
"Just an island," I repeated quietly to myself wiping a bead of sweat off my brow, " a beautiful, tropical island." I had finally reached the opening and was beginning to crawl out, squinting at the bright light. "Just a stupid, normal island. This is not Neverland-"
I was finally out of the jungle and found myself in the strangest of sights with chilliest of weather. The tropical trees had changed from Palm trees and Banana trees to brightly colored Maple trees with red leaves, covering the ground in a blanket. The scenery looked exactly like the beautiful background on a new computer, with high definition imagery and vibrant colors. The trees covered each side from the opening, covering both sides of a leafy path covered in the multicolored leaves leading into the distance.
I felt like I had just walked through the closet that led to Narnia. I kept looking back and forth, sticking my hand behind me to feel the humidity and my other hand in front of me to feel the cold.
"This was a normal island," I squicked, "like 5 seconds ago."
Racked my brain for any natural anomaly that could have made this occur but I came up blank. Nothing could explain a sudden change in the temperature and the seasons between a foot. I kept trying to convince myself that this was the cause of global warming or El Nino, anything logical but I could not deny what was in front of me.
That was the moment I realized that everything that Hook had told me was true, that I was on Neverland. I had stopped denying it, the evidence was right in front of me I couldn't think logically anymore. Peter Pan existed. Everything was real. Fairies existed, mermaids swam in the oceans, and people could fly.
I knelt there on my hands in knees, staring for a good 20 seconds just trying to process it all. I pinched myself a couple times and debated whether or not that branch had smacked me hard enough into delirium but knew it was all true. I convinced myself to stand, rising on wobbly knees and unwrapped the tied flannel around my waist. I put my flannel over my now cold arms, as I began to venture down the colorful path. The autumn leaves crunched and crackled under my shoes and I looked at the area with new eyes.
A bright flash of color was caught in the corner of my eye and I glanced to my left in a panic. A rocky creek ran along the side of the path, coming from the opposite direction of the path. I squinted at the clear water and saw a swarm of tiny fish anxiously swimming downstream. The small fish were brightly colored, flickering with a brilliant greens and blues, bolting through the water leaving a trace of light like the affect on your eyes after waving a glow stick. The fish were so beautiful and I couldn't think of any fish in an aquarium that could compare.
"I bet this fish is called the Neverfish." I said with a giggle. I figured that no scientist had ever seen a fish quite like that and I began to think on all the things that I dismissed as not real and wondered whether they actually existed.
"If fairies exist that means unicorns exist," I said matter of factly with a nod. I wandered down the path kicking leaves up as I went, " If people can fly then Santa sure can fit down a chimney and get to all the kids in the entire world."
I pulled out my maps as I kicked up another set of leaves, now understanding the seasons scattered across my map. I looked at the area labelled Autumn and tried to gauge where I should wander next. The idea of escaping now seemed impossible because I actually was on Neverland and not some random island. But I still wanted to get back and I had to figure out a way of escaping without getting involved with Hook's plan ie, meeting Peter Pan. I had to find an another way off the island without running into more unfortunate characters. I looked at my map and noticed that the closest area to me was Mermaid Lagoon. If I could get a hold of a mermaid then maybe they would tell me an alternative way off the island. I thought of the mermaids in the old Disney film but hoped otherwise because if Hook was in the sad dilapidated state that he was, then maybe the mermaids were in a completely different situation as well. And with that hope, I trudged along the leafy path to possibly deal with Mean Girls with tails.