Walking back through the Autumn area drenched in saltwater was probably one of the most miserable experiences of my life. I was covered in water walking through an area with freezing winds, I was not happy. Thankfully for me, my satchel was not in the same sopping state as I gingerly pulled out my Neverland map. My wet fingertips still dampened the dry paper. I made the horrifying discovery that the fairies or any land of fairies was not noted my map. Quite frankly, on any of my maps and Hook had given me a good amount. I groaned frustrated and scrutinized over all of the maps making sure I didn't miss anything but alas, not faeries. Not even any mention of fairies. I was wet, miserable, and not any closer to escaping the hellish island that I was grudgingly inhabiting and I was starving. So I did what any logical person would do. I screamed.
I screamed and screamed until my lungs burned and my throat became sore. A mild headache developed on my left temple as I dragged my sopping wet feet through the crunchy leaves. The leaves began to stick to my shoes but I didn't care. The thought of just lying there and have Hook find me didn't seem that bad if someone was as cold and miserable as I was. I fought the urge by taking a quick break by going back to stare at the Neverfish who were still happily swimming through the creek.
Glancing back at my maps, I had to brainstorm where I thought the fairies might be. Hook had mentioned that they changed the seasons so I guessed that there must be a fairy for each different job. Tinker Bell was supposed to be a common fairy who mended pots and kettles maker her a "tinker." So if there were fairies for pots then there must be element fairies.
The charcoal between my fingers wandered over to the Neverpeaks and I looked up to the large mountain in the distance with its snowy peak. The Neverpeaks were located in the Winter area of the island and I was shivering enough not to think of encountering possible winter fairies. I came to the decision that the closest area where fairies could possibly be were either Summer or Spring and Spring was the closest so I headed in that direction
I headed down the opposite road I had originally traveled down and it led me to a winding path into oblivion. I only saw Autumn trees for miles ahead but I knew that the more I traveled down the road the more the seasons would change. My theory was correct thinking back on my voyage to Mermaid Lagoon. The Autumn area did not disappoint with its colorful scenery and fall animals. Moose and deer ran amidst the trees as I walked down the path. Squirrels snatched nuts that had fallen on the ground and scurried away up trees or into burrows. I even saw a small hedgehog rummaging underneath some of the red leaves.
The creek that led to Mermaid Lagoon had followed me down the different path as well. But instead of leading me to Mermaid Lagoon it led me to a giant lake. It was beautiful and glistening in the amber light, reflecting the painting worthy environment around it. The bright red and yellow trees were highlighted by the blue water and I peered over to see my reflection. A scrawny wet asian girl blinked back at me with a white flannel. My rugged appearance appeared out of place in this beautiful environment. I looked away bitterly and tried not to self criticize as I walked away.
The sun had begun to set and a heavy feeling of panic arose. I was pretty darn sure that there were bears wandering around in between the trees and the weather was not going to get any warmer. I was not prepared to sleep in bear infested woods. Cold bear infested woods. I doubted Hook was able to cram a pop up tent or a Pokecenter in my bag or even cared to do so. The pirates clearly didn't think about my night time sleeping activities. Hook was probably hoping that I had already shimmied myself into the Lost Boys hideout and curled up into Pan's arms right now. Hook hadn't planned my sleeping arrangements because he was probably anticipating my sleeping arrangements were going to be with Pan.
Ew, I thought to myself, isn't he like 12? In fact the more I thought about it the weirder and more grossed out I became. If Pan was supposed to be 12 and I was 15 things were not going to go well. There was no way in hell I would try to seduce a 12 year old, I had just barely escaped middle school. Not to mention I was eagerly anticipating high school boys. It was just like Taylor Swift said, Hoping one of those senior boys will wink at you and say,"You know I haven't seen you around before." And I was 15 after after all. I had no desire to possibly seduce a 12 year old flying moron. That was not my plan no matter how much Hook threatened me. I had made it to Mermaid Lagoon on my own I could make it to Spring and find fairies or wherever they were. I glanced back up at the setting sky and hurried down the path
The path wound around the side of the lake leading to the ultimate end of the Autumn path. The path itself continued on but no longer in the Autumn section. Instead of a mangle of trees like earlier, the Autumn section of the island abruptly ended as if there was an invisible line sectioning off the two areas. Spring lay happily in front of me in a giant massive flower field.
Baby lambs frolicked between the flowers and white ducks waddled down the same path I came. Pink cherry blossom petals flew in the now warmer breezes to be smacked in my face. If commercialized Easter was made into a land full of jelly beans and marshmallow Peeps it would be this place. I gagged a little from all the happiness and pink dandelions before stepping into Springtime.
The path took a winding turn leading me straight into flower fields. I will never be Snow White singing and attracting every animal that ever existed and being there made me realize that. Bees and hummingbirds happily flocked to each flower fluttering close to me and I tried everything in my power to swat and bat them away. A white rabbit hopped out of a nearby burrow and bounced over to my foot. The animals there clearly had not encountered anything negative considering the bunny happily curled up on my ankle. My first thought was rabies and delicately attempted to shake off the rabbit who then happily bounced back to its burrow. In fact, all the animals reminded me of the pigeons you meet at the beach that aren't afraid to bite you for your hot dog. Except these animals were not going to bite your head off. I avoided a few baby dears who tried to initiate contact and quickly hurried down the now cherry blossom infested path. Every shoujo anime could have been put to shame if it saw how many pink petals covered my walkway.
The area was warmer by a lot in comparison to the Autumn area but I still needed a place to sleep. I was pretty sure a wandering duck family would try to keep me warm but I was in no mood for the possibility to get bitten by a flea. Avoiding a few more rogue piglets, I saw a large tree in the distance. But this tree was not like any of the other trees that I had seen or in the area. This tree was emitting a golden light between its branches and at its trunk. A sparkling golden hue that shimmered and could be seen from all around.
Don't tell me Disney's Pixie Hollow actually exists, I thought to myself bitterly. I lifted my foot to take another step but barely missed the tiny house that I almost stepped on. A tiny house that could have been made for a Polly Pocket was nestled underneath the pink cherry blossoms. It could easily have been mistaken for a large mushroom because that's what it was made out of with half or a nut for a door. I crouched down and stared for a long time, it was straight out of a fairytale. Every 7 year old girl dreamed about stuff like this and I had finally hit fairy nirvana as I looked down the road and found more mushroom houses. I carefully stepped as I walked down the path and followed the houses which led to the magical tree. As I got closer to the tree the amount of tiny houses increased. They became more elaborate with bundled leaves for roofs and bound twigs for doors. Some were made out of pine cones and others were made from series of flowers that blended in with the flower fields. And as I looked closely I realized that many of the flowers themselves had small hut like structures in their centers. Near the tree were more houses and it looked like a little city with the tree being its center. The houses went all the way to the tree even winding up the trunk on mushroom stools. Suddenly I heard it, the tinkling and the chimes.
If a million wind chimes went off at once it would have been the same sound. A jingling of a bell and a blur of light. The fairies. I could see them, as shimmering waves of light in a flash that would leave white spots under your eyelids when you blinked. They had the same golden light as the tree and they flew around the tree in fluid arcs in every direction.
The closer I got the more of the fairies I could actually see. They were tiny, the tallest being about the length from my palm to my fingertips. There were male fairies and female fairies clothed in leaves and flower petals. Many of the males had acorn top hats and they communicated with each other with a a series of tinkling and chimes. Even though the sun was going down the fairies did not stop their work. They all were in a flurry carrying flowers and twigs busily hustling with their jobs. There were different fairies for each job just as I had imagined. Some were holding sprouts while others were holding nuts. They were moving things with little wooden wagons attached to mice and little birds. The animals in their care were being pampered and fluffed. No wonder the animals had no fear if the fairies pampered them.
I remembered my experience with the mermaids and decided to approach the fairies with caution. I slowly crept down the walkway and gazed at the shimmering tree. This time I wouldn't try to sneak up on any more mystical creatures and try to forewarn them. Not like I had tried to creep up on the mermaids I just fell. But I had to try and be nice.
" Um, hi?" I called out softly to the area. The fairies were not at all bothered by my acclamations in fact they all halted what they were doing and flew in my direction. At first I thought I was going to be attacked by their tiny bodies but instead their swarm came to welcome me with open wings. Petals were showered onto me with a flower crown and many went to my backside to push me towards the tree. I was so surprised at their happy reaction towards me considering I was a giant in comparison to them. If the mermaids had freaked out at the sight of me why weren't these tiny pixies?
They escorted me past the tree far off into the flower fields. At first I thought they were trying to get rid of me, (which was reasonable because I smelled like an antique ship and seawater) but in the distance I saw a small wooden house. It was made of twigs and branches and reminded me of the playhouses you have as a child. The roof was made of thick leaves and were bundled together tightly to keep out any rain. The house itself looked structurally solid but not symmetrical at all as it heavily leaned to one side.
I was hustled inside by the fairies and the inside looked quite homey. Once entering the house the fairies swirled about, lighting small lanterns both inside and out of the hut. It had one room that was filled with a small bed with a cotton puffed mattress. Poorly made shelves and cabinets lined the wooden walls. An old wooden chest lay rotting in the corner and looked older than anything in the room. It lay ajar to reveal a dirt ridden teddy bear slouched to its side. I immediately reached for the stuffed animal, gingerly picking it up and dusting it off slightly. The teddy gazed at me with black bead eyes and the fluff inside was spilling out of one of it's ears.
The fairies chimed and swirled tugging me to sit in a wooden rocking chair in a corner. They lay a woven fleece blanket entwined with flowers on my lap before swirling onto the dirt floor. Another swarm of fairies followed after the first, flying through the door bearing fruits and vegetables and other yummy things. Apparently my growling stomach was another hungry animal that they could take care of.
Their food was not the all-you-can-eat buffet that I had been experiencing on the cruise but it was still delicious and probably the only salad I had eaten the entire year. My unhealthiness was not appreciated by anybody but myself but my hungry belly happily consumed the pieces of greens. After I was efficiently stuffed, many of of the fairies brought strange flower instruments and noise making insects that performed little shows for me on the cottage floor. Many of the fairies danced to the music, twirling in the air and I couldn't help clapping along to the melody.
This was when I noticed the dust. The pixie dust. It cascaded off of their wings t=giving them the golden glow. It was the same gold that had come from the tree and I wondered if the pixies had made a weird pixie dust bank there. It was the magical dust that made the children fly in the book and it was the same dust that caused agelessness. The fairies carried it in small pouches attached to their hip and some took handfuls and threw it over their wings. Other used the dust in an elaborate display, causing shapes and patterns to glow into the air like fireworks.
They were all too jolly to accommodate me it was almost creepy and I wondered if it was all a set up. The sun had finally set and the island was covered in darkness that was now only illuminated by these fairies and their lanterns. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to run away from these magical prancing pixies. I had to say my next words with caution I honestly didn't trust them enough to be completely happy-go-lucky. They could've been man eating monsters I didn't know.
"So um, thanks a lot for all this. It's really sweet and I really appreciate it but um- why?" I questioned a prancing pixie in a petal dress near my foot. She spoke to me in tinkles and chimes but I couldn't understand a thing she was saying and shook my head saddly. She smiled at me sweetly and looked at her other fairy friends who nodded and cleared the floor space for her. We then played an elaborate game of charades with her pointing to different things and herself as she made wild motions. She kept pretending to wander and look underneath something.
"You're looking for something? You're gone you're lost- lost!" I exclaimed happily when she looked at me and nodded eagerly. She then pointed at the stuffed animals and the other fairies joined it seeing my apparent struggle. They all pretended to play happily and acted jolly but I couldn't put it together.
"Playing? Having fun?" the female fairy kept pointing to the stuffed bear. "Toys bears… Toy bears…." I was stumped and all the fairies tried to make something out of the dust. The dust kept forming people playing. "Playing, playing with toys? I don't know." Then I realized they were children playing. And it was a children's toy.
"Children?" I questioned and all the fairies happily tinkled and the girl fairy looked at me with pride. "Lost Children." I clarified and the fairies jingled again in agreement. They then made rocking motions with their tiny arms. "You care for Lost Children." They all jangled happily and made the rocking motion. "You care" the motioned toward outside and behind me, "past, past me? Oh, you cared for-" Then the little fairy put her hands on her hips and puffed her little chest out proudly. The motion was oddly familiar and she put the icing on the cake when she pretended to play the pipes.
"Peter Pan?" I asked questionably. She nodded happily and the other fairies cheered happily. "You cared for Peter Pan?" All the fairies flew in a frenzy with chimes and jingles. The answer was yes and they were proud of it. "So, you want to help me?"
Petal dress nodded eagerly. I guess they weren't the man eating fairies I feared of.
"Ok, well then if you want to help could you help me off of this island. I want to go home. But I can't fly. I don't want to fly. I'm too scared to fly. Is there a way off the island without flying?" I urged the fairies who looked at each other in slight confusion but Petal dress knew what she was doing. She dove for my satchel and dragged out one of my many maps. I helped her uncurl it and she danced across the map landing the Native American camp.
"The Native Americans?" I asked and she tinkled with a nod. "They can help me? They know another way?" She nodded again making a small X with the tip of her two over Native American territory. I thought back onto Hook's story and how he said that the Native Americans emerged onto Neverland without any real explanation of how they got there. They had to know another way because they clearly hadn't flown.
"Thank you." I said to Petal dress who did a little curtsy. I turned to all the fairies and smiled. "All of you thank you for this it really helps." The fairies lifted my blanket off of me and urged me into the bed. My weary and damp body lay on the cotton grossly and I took off my flannel and jeans in an effort not to stay damp. The fairies whisked my clothes away without a noise but I had no fear of it not returning and I was too tired to care. I figured they were going to intertwine the belt loops on my jeans with flowers and make my flannel smell daisy fresh. The bed was extremely comfy and my worn out body lay motionless the moment the fairies lay the blanket over me.
"Hate to be a bother again," I said to Petal dress who was jumping on my pillow to make it softer, "but you guys wouldn't know where a good shower is. You know a spring or somewhere I can bathe myself because I feel gross." Petal dress smiled at me but followed the other fairies out the door closing it behind them. I slept happily with the scent of fresh flowers all around.