Chapter 5

"What do you mean? Where have they gone?"

Lynn tried to hold back the tears. However, looking into Peter's face with his confusion and misunderstanding broke the dam. "They died Peter."

The words, although whispered, were barely out of her mouth before Lynn ran up the stairs and out of the tree that hid the underground hiding home. As Lynn ran the sunny sky that showed the bright morning turned dark as thunder clouds brightened the sky with lighting and their booming voices. The rain poured over Lynn as she continued to run, slipping on mud, cutting her bare feet on the dirt floor, and receiving cuts along her check and arms from branches.

She was unaware of where she was going. Only that she needed to get away from the past. Suddenly she was emerged into the salty water. Resurfacing, she gasped as she realized that she ran right into Mermaid Lagoon. Swimming as best as she could, with the increasing downward weight of her night gown, Lynn made it to the outcrop of rocks in the center of the lagoon where the Mermaids loved to sun bathe.

She lay there panting, the rain pounding upon her back, and the wind chilling her soaked skin. In the distance she could her the distance call of her name. The very sound that has haunted her dreams for years. It was Peter and he was calling for her. Lynn curled into a tighter ball, hoping that she became invisible, or that she would drown before he could find her.

It was at that moment that brown leather shoes and green tights appeared in front of her face. "Lynn are you alright." Peter asked in concern as he bent to touch her.

"It was all my fault." She whispered as she looked deep into his eyes.

Peter sat besides her. "What was your fault?"

Lynn looked out into the horizon, watching wave after wave reach towards the crying sky. Taking a deep breath Lynn recalled the dreaded tale. "Last time I was here. I only stayed to play for a few days. But that wasn't the case. I stayed away for two whole years Peter. When I returned my mother wasn't waiting for me like Jane waited for my mother, or her mother before her. My mother wasn't in the nursery window."

"Hannah would never leave the nursery." Peter stated. That how it was with all the Darling mothers, it all started with Wendy's mother. They all waited in the nursery for their daughters to come home.

"I know, but she wasn't there Peter. No one was. I went looking for them and what I found terrified me. My mother was sick in the hospital. When I hadn't immediately returned home she panicked. She worried that something had happened to me. She worried so much that she stopped eating, and she grew very ill, Peter. She died because I didn't go home like I was supposed to. Because I stayed linger than I was allowed."

"It wasn't your fault, Lynn. Hannah made herself ill not you. But what happened to Jane and Wendy?"

"After mother, they all seemed to slip at once. Lady Wendy was soon after mother, they said it was her old age but Lady Wendy claimed she was as young as ever. At the age of 97 she felt fine. And when she learned all the time I was safe with you, she... she just smiled and said that she was ready for another adventure. She died that night. Grandma Jane raised me until I was ten. Always telling me more stories of her own time in Neverland. I remember telling her how I missed you and how I wanted to return. She told me that we were only given Neverland once, and we always choose to return. We were so angry with each other, that I ran away. I was so certain that you would find me Peter. But you never came. I waited for seven days, and you never came. So I went home. And she was gone. My father said it was a broken heart because I disappeared again." She turned her misty eyes to a now wet Peter. "Why didn't you come for me?"

"You were never lost Lynn. For if you were truly lost, a fairy would have brought you to me." He looked sadly at her. "Where you truly lost, Lynn?"

Lynn shook her head as she sobbed, "No. I was never truly lost. I went to the park down the street from home. I was afraid to get lost. London at night is a dangerous place. So I stayed where I was sure to be found."

It was then that Jane realized that she never truly wanted to return to Neverland, that the only reason she thought of such a thing was to escape what was becoming a terribly sad childhood. "I'm sorry, mother." She wept into his shoulder. Turn to the sky she screamed it again as Peter held her closely.

"I'm here now, Lynn. I promise I'll make it better." Peter whispered into her soaked locks. Placing a gentle kiss to her forehead he spoke again. "All will be well."