Hooks' men had packed everything under the sun in my satchel except for an ounce of food. I found sextants, books, children's toys and other weird doohickies that I couldn't name, but not even a crumb. Half of the stuff I tossed out looked like it would be in a museum and I'm sure if I had brought it back home with me I could've made a fortune, but at the time it was just weighing me down. I made the resolution to come back later if I ever wanted it, of course in the end I never got to, but I mentally made a checklist of all the things I would come back for. Especially all the ancient looking items that were lathered in gold.
The autumn path split towards the right, allowing me to go in the direction of Mermaid Lagoon. I pranced and twirled in the colorful leaves that descended from the red and yellow trees, gazing at how beautiful the area around me was. It was the most picturesque, Instagram worthy moment that I could have ever imagined. Every teenage girl would have loved to take a dramatic picture in the scenery with an infinity scarf and a pumpkin spice latte with the caption #fallfaves. The scenery I swore could have made me Instagram famous but unfortunately for me, my phone was in my cruise suite, taking a nap on my nightstand.
Now some of you readers are thinking, Why would she leave her phone in her room? Well, for those of you who have not been on a cruise, there is honestly no point to your cellular phone. Why? Because you get no reception out in the middle of the ocean so why the need to carry it around? The real problem is wandering around unsupervised with protective parents aboard a large ship. My mother had devised a brilliant plan for us to keep in contact if we ever split up aboard and it was through the notion of walkie talkies. The reason I never made friends with anybody in the teen club aboard my cruise was because my mother was always trying to contact me through the staticky channel on my walkie talkie.
Jasmine-Erck!-Jasmine!-Click!-Come in!
It was a completely hopeless cause and was just heavy in my small cross-body bag. Honestly, so far the trip had just consisted of my mother scolding me for not answering my walkie talkie.
"It's broken, Omma. I never got your call." I would lie which would create the hour long lecture about safety and how worried she was. Now that I realized that I was actually on the island of Neverland, I debated whether I actually wanted to go home.
To the average person, the idea of going back home after arriving in Neverland probably would not have been appealing. On many occasions, I had dreamed of running away from my strict overprotective parents to probably survive off the welfare of a sugar daddy. But you know, minus the sugar part. Many times I have thought about intricate plots of running away from school, work, and in that sense, growing older with responsibilities. My parents were extremely strict and constantly pressured me about school and what the future would hold and most of the time I just wanted to run and hide.
But once given the opportunity, being stuck on the magical island of Neverland where I could play forever and never worry about a thing, I made the very grown up realization of wanting to go home. My mother stressed me out and my father frustrated me most of the time but the thought of leaving them by themselves especially under the circumstances of vacation made me sad. I couldn't imagine what my mother was thinking at the time. If she was that worried about not being able to contact me in a teen club that was down the hall from our suite, I couldn't imagine what she was feeling right now. I would have loved to play and prance in the strange season designated island, but I knew better. I had to go home, that was what I needed to do. Back into the arms of my worrisome mother and frustrating father. Thinking about it like that doesn't sound very appealing, but to me it caused me to walk brisker to my focused location.
The creek that had the magical Neverfish in it followed the way I was going. I thought that it was leading me to the direction I wanted to go because the creek began to get wider the further I went. I noticed the beautiful autumn aesthetic began to slowly dissipate as the trees began to turn back to the tropical landscape. The salty ocean breezes began to waft towards my direction and I knew I was going the right way. I looked back at my map and thought about how fast I was able to go through the island in my short amount of time. In my bag, Hook had given me a small piece of charcoal that I had been using to mark the direction I was going. It helped me gauge how far I had come and where I would need to go.
About 30 minutes more of brisk walking and I was able to hear the splashing of water. The creek that was beside me had widened even more and led me straight to the end of the path which led off of a rocky ledge. The water from the creek spewed over and through the rocks to a slight drop. I hopped and skipped over some of the rocks and scrambled on top of the largest rock structure that was angled sky high. After checking my jeans for a skinned knee, I stood up from the crouched position to look out onto the beautiful blue green ocean.
The sea breezes lightly blew over my face, wiping off any remnants of sweat that I had. The ocean spread out for miles and I squinted as far as I could trying to find an end or another island but only saw a fog. This ocean literally looked as if after a certain point it did fall off the edge of the world into space. I gazed out onto the ocean and saw Hook's ship in the far distance, the ripped sails battered in the breeze. I looked up at the sun dancing across the sky. The sky could have been out of a cartoon, perfect and blue with the cotton candy clouds. The further up I squinted, the sky turned a darker blue almost in an ombre type of look. This caused a rim on top of the light blue and there, hidden behind a few wandering clouds was the second star to the right.
It was so distant from anything else in the sky, almost trying to squeeze itself in a corner next to a smaller star to it's left, but it was impossible not to spot. The star shimmered like a sparkling diamond, putting all the other stars to shame in a dazzling white light. It was noticeably larger than the other stars as well, outshining and outsizing all the others. The Disney cartoon had fallen incredibly short depicting the beauty of it. I wanted to stare giddily at the star for longer but was interrupted by a series of giggles and splashing below me.
Below me, the water coming from the creek developed in a small waterfall cascading into a beautiful blue green lagoon. Flowers and colorful plants that I had never seen before decorated the lagoon, sprouting out of the water and garnishing rocks. Low hanging trees provided cooling canopies, giving the perfect shade. The sandy pebbles that led the land into the water were bright pink and electric blue, causing the water to mimic those colors against the shore. Strangely shaped shells were scattered along the shores and rocks. Some looked like they could have been strange hair combs and while others looked like water holders or dishes. Rainbow bubbles floated off of the water and spewed from the different small waterfalls that bounced off different rocks. And in the midst of this fantasy location were the mermaids themselves.
Some of them swam around playing with a large rainbow bubble, smacking it with their tails in a strange water volleyball while others combed and braided their hair. They gazed at their reflections in the water and gave catty smiles at the others like they were runner ups in a beauty pageant.
I am already regretting this decision, I thought to myself with a nervous swallow.
All of them were beautiful with long colorful hair. One would think that after swimming for hours their hair would be gross and frizzy, but alas, the universe is a cruel bitch. Each mermaid had salon worthy hair in bright rainbow hues that cascaded down their backs in twirls of sea stars and shells.
Their skin glistened and had traces of colorful scales scattered over different portions of their bodies. From their waist down you could see a large scaly tail, kicking in the water with a ruffled fin. But from their waist up, their bodies could have made a Victoria's Secret Angel cry.
I mean, they had boobs. Gigantic boobs. Like people paid lots of money to get breasts even close to the perfection of the racks these mermaids owned. Some of them wore skimpy seashells or starfish in a failed attempt to cover their chests but most of them just swam freely, allowing their long hair to somewhat cover them.
Looking down at my surfboard of a chest, I knew that the incoming interaction was going to be self esteem lowering. I was aware that I was lacking in the curve department and was still praying for puberty to hit but the magical wave of boobs and a butt was not going to hit me at that very second. Taking a deep breath, I began a shaky climb down the rocks to the lagoon.
The mermaids didn't notice me (thankfully) as I horribly fell down the rocky side, developing a series of bruises and cuts. My jeans and flannel were soaked by the time I ended up at the bottom of the rocks. The mermaids only noticed me when I reached for the last rock at the bottom and disastrously slipped, landing my butt into the shallow shore.
A gasp emitted from their perfect lips and gawked at me for a few seconds before erupting into a series of splashing and screams. Swimming in every direction, trying to hide as fast as they could to avoid me.
"Wait!" I hollered trying to get my soaked rear onto a dry rock, "I'm not going to hurt you!"
But it was too late, they had all disappeared underneath the clear green water.
"Please, I just need to ask you a question! I really need your help!" I shouted into the water with no avail. I angrily kicked a series of pink pebbles into the water with frustration.
Disgruntled, I squeezed my butt pockets trying to get all the water out of my jeans and tried to pat them off all I could but my underwear was drenched and could not be salvaged. I was wet and cold, with no mermaids to even try to aide me. I daintily tried to sit back on the rock but the cold sea water was already sinking into my skin. I gave up and crossley sat on the rigid rock, allowing my soppy underwear to stick to my skin. My bitterness was incomprehensible, I was soaked for no reason and the salt water was starting to sting my fresh cuts. I had trudged all this way to get snubbed by a bunch of mermaids and now could not think of a possible way home. A salty tear snuck out of the corner of my eye and I sniffled at the prospect of not being able to go home and my wet underwear. I wanted to cry a river out of my frustration thinking back on all that had happened. Falling off of my cruise, being threatened by Hook, exploring a weird island by myself and getting bruised up. It was childish to cry and I knew it, but there was nobody around to see so I figured it was ok.
"It's just a little girl," I heard a singsong voice usher. I quickly wiped my tear away to see a mermaid with bright green hair peeking over a large rock near me. At those words, the mermaids emerged from their hiding places, looking over rocks and from underneath the water.
"A girl? What's she doing here?" Another one sang. The words were supposed to be said with venom and in a bitchy tone but the way the mermaids spoke was hypnotic, alluring. No wonder men threw themselves overboard just to be nearer to them. More mermaids swam closer to me, peering at me with beautiful eyes.
"A girl?" They all gawked.
"Go away!" Some shrieked making shooing motions at me.
"How did she get here?"
Some did not want anything to do with me, angrily splashing and making rude faces at me while others were curious. The curious ones began to get really close to me, no longer afraid once realizing that I was not a threat. They began to poke me, tugging at my jeans and pulling at my hair. Once upon closer inspection, I noticed that their teeth were sharp like a shark's and in many rows. When they smiled it was like a scary bitchy shark.
"She doesn't look like the last one-"
"Why is she so pale?"
"And her hair is so dark-"
"In my culture that's actually very attractive," I managed to say as another reached for my face.
"Why is her hair so stringy?" One said pulling on my straight black hair.
"It's just like dried kelp!" Another gasped.
"How ugly!" The others giggled.
"Hey, at least I know what shampoo is!" I spat batting away their now pawing hands and curled up on my rock. The incident reminded me of the scene from the Disney movie where the mermaids tried to drown Wendy. I didn't know if that scene actually happened but I didn't want to risk anything.
"Why are you here?" A mermaid with electric blue hair asked me as she pulled on the end of shoelaces, unraveling my knots.
"Well, I have a-" I was cut off by a shriek from a distant mermaid.
"She's here to take Peter! Remember what the last girl did to him!" A mermaid with orange hair cried and the others gasped. Those words caused a flurry of screams and giant waves of salt water began to get splashed my way.
"Go away!"
"Stay away from Peter!"
"Shoo! Shoo!"
I coughed and choked on the sea water and stood up, trying to cover myself from the water battering my bruised body.
"Hey, wait-" I sputtered coughing. I tried to open my eyes but the sea water stung my eyes and my puny voice could not be heard over the racket. "Hey!" I screamed loudly finally shutting up all the uproar and managed to spit out a large amount of salt water.
"I don't want anything to do with Peter!" I shouted. The mermaids now looked quite puzzled and in disbelief, many of them just had a grumpy frowns on their pretty faces. "I just want to go home!"
"What do you mean you don't want anything to do with Peter?" One with purple hair questioned.
"Everyone wants Peter." Another with bright red hair purred baring her sharp teeth at me.
"No, I just want to go home." I said exasperated, "I just want to go home."
This seemed to ripple through the mermaids as they all looked at each other whispering to each other quietly until one finally spoke up.
"That's what she wanted." Orange hair whispered.
"She?" I speculated, "Oh, Wendy." And at her name, just like Hook, the mermaids acted strangely, rumbling back into a flurry of frustration.
"Wendy!" They shrieked.
"Don't talk about her!"
"Ugh, she wanted Peter!"
"She thought I had bubbles in my brain!"
"She's going to want to take him! Just like Wendy did!"
"Don't tell Peter!"
"No no no!" I shouted over the splashing. "I want nothing to do with Peter Pan. Hell, I haven't even met him! I just want to go home!"
This seemed to pacify them slightly but they were too riled up I had to scream again to get their attention back to me.
"I just want to know a way off the island." I said taking off my now drenched flannel to wring it out. "And I really don't want to interact with Peter so it's easier for me and you. It's a win win."
At the mention of me not wanting to meet Peter, they all looked at each other whispering quietly now wanting to support my cause.
"That's easy," Orange hair sassed with a giggle, "the only way is to fly."
"Well, no it's not easy. I can't fly. And I really don't want to fly because I'm um, I'm like really afraid of heights." I said to the mermaids. At these words a lot of them erupted into giggles and happy laughter. Apparently the notion of not flying out of Neverland was hilarious to them. There had to be another way, I needed to go home but I did not want to fly at all. There was a specific reason why my family was traveling by cruise, my fear of heights was incurable. I couldn't even get on a rollercoaster because I would break out into a cold sweat and a fainting spell. I had lived in Southern California all my life without any desire to ever visit Disneyland with the grand fear of California Screaming and pretty sure that going on Tower of Terror would give me a stroke. There was no way in hell, that I would get out of Neverland by flying.
"No, I don't fly." I said stubbornly jutting out my chin to prove my point.
"Then sorry," Blue hair giggled, "Can't help you there. There's no other way. You're on your own." And with those words the mermaids began to dive back into the water, leaving me in my sopping wet state.
"Hoes." I said underneath my breath bitterly, "Thirsty hoes." I laughed at my own irony as I watched them dive back into the water. "A real help you all were!" I yelled back, squeezing water out of my hair. A few turned back to give me a bitchy shark toothed smile while others ignored me. But purple hair turned back to me and spoke.
"Go to the fairies," she nodded, " they have been here the longest. They know everything that has ever happened on the island. They should know." and with that she dove back underneath the green water leaving me soaked.