Free Captain James Hook and the Curse of Peter Pan by Jeremiah Kleckner, Jeremy Marshall Page A

responded.   “He says he’d seen the croc.”   The boys gasped all at once.   I decided to ignore their foolishness and turn my attention back to my old schoolmate.
    “Donald, you were in my class at Port Royal.   You disappeared over a year ago.”   He looked to Nibs and then back to me.
    “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, shaking his head. The boys looked to one another and kept their sharpened sticks and knives pointed at me.
    “Your father is a doctor in town. Mine is … was a captain.” I searched for some recognition in his eyes, but found only pools of emptiness. “We looked for you.”
    A stifled “thank you” and a shrug was the best he offered in response.   Maybe he had some sort of accident or a bump on the head has affected his memory. I decided to use another boy as an example.
    “Nibs, where are you from?” I asked.   His face twisted as though it were an odd question.
    “What do you mean? I’m from Neverland,” he said.
    “I mean before Neverland. You had to have come from somewhere.” I saw that I was going to have to guide him to the answer I was looking for.   “You know how I came through the cave?   If you didn’t come through the cave, then how did you get here? How did you get to Neverland?” His eyes lit up and he puffed his chest with confidence.
    “I was brought here,” he said confidently. He then made a broad wave towards all of the boys and said, “We all were.”
    “Brought here?” I asked. “Who would bring you here?” The answer came to me before any of the boys could speak.   Memories of endless fields of stars and moons flashed before my eyes as I said the name of the only boy I knew who was capable of bringing a child across creation, “Pan.”
    A wind from the shore cut through the trees and shook tired limbs. Countless jostled birds took flight, blotting out the sun. Among their cries, I heard a rooster crow followed by the patter of two nimble feet landing fast between the boys and me. They all gasped again, lowered their weapons, and stared in amazement.
    “Wow, you’ve found me,” Peter Pan called out. “I am so happy. Now we can play all we want, forever.”
    “Forever?” I asked him, still stunned by his sudden appearance.   With the birds gone, the sun lit up his hair and features.
    “Of course, forever,” he told me, “and besides, I’m tired of just playing with Tiger Lily and her Indians.”
    “So this truly is Neverland?” I asked him.   Pan looked at his boys before they all doubled over in laughter.
    “But of course it is,” Peter said, still rolling on the grass. “Where else would I be, silly?”
    The question was a bit naive after everything I’d seen. It just seemed that since the first night we met, Pan had shown me the impossible.   If I’d only been able to fly that first night, perhaps I’d have seen many more wonders.
    At that moment, my eyes caught Donald’s gaze.   Again, I searched his face but there seemed to be nothing left of my friend behind those eyes. My mind raced to the only possible conclusion.
    “I don’t know, perhaps taking children from their homes?” I sneered.   The question took Peter by complete surprise.   His face grew stern as he rose to his feet.   I pointed to Donald.
    “His name is Donald Sotheby and he was my schoolmate,” I told him.
    “Curly?” Peter asked, annoyed.
    “He disappeared the night we first met,” I continued.   “You took him because I couldn’t fly, didn’t you?”
    “His name is Curly and he wants to be here,” Peter said, now hovering inches off of the ground.
    “He wants this, does he?” I asked. “Mindless? Dirty? No memories? Is this what you would have me be, Peter? These boys have families. They have mothers and fathers.”
    “What’s a family when you have Neverland?” he said, soaring over our heads. The boys, Donald included, watched in wonder. “Battles and adventure! Treasure and games! It’s an eternal