He never moves, just continues to stare back at me. Broken. Hollow. A shadow of the boy I left a week ago in Neverland.

“Peter,” I whisper, then watch as he flinches at the mention of his name. “Why are you still standing there? Quick. Come inside.”

But he doesn’t respond. Just stares at me, almost as if he’s staring through me. Lost. For the first time since I’ve known him, he looks so lost.

I desperately try again. “Peter…”

“You left without saying goodbye.”

His voice, the way he says the words, it’s more chilling than the night air around us. He grips the window tightly in his hands as he leans in towards me. His breath hangs heavy on the cold wind as it wraps around the two of us. He stares me in the eyes with such intense heartache it begins to sicken me.

“You left, without letting me kiss you goodbye, Wendy.”

He moves forward so quickly I barely have time to step out of the way. Jumping down from the windowsill, he turns and closes the window with a loud bang. I glance quickly back over my shoulder, worried that someone might have heard. My heart beats out of my chest as I hear him take a step forward.

“Darling,” my name falls from his lips with a hiss. A madness I’ve never heard before. Looking back his way, an uneasy feeling spreads across my skin, leaving goosebumps as it goes. His eyes turn dark, unreadable, making me grow nervous as he takes another step forward. “Darling, I hate goodbyes.”

“It wasn’t…” But I stop speaking as I hear the sounds of the nurse checking on Michael in the other room. My eyes dart to the jack and jill bathroom and I rush to close the door, locking it quietly once it closes on its hinges.

With my back still turned to Peter, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It wasn’t supposed to be goodbye. When I left almost a week ago now, I had every intention of returning. But, with Michael’s extensive wounds, how could I ever go back?

I feel his presence at my back and startle. His hand lifts and he brushes my hair off my shoulder. Leaning in, he presses his lips to the side of my neck. I grip the doorknob for balance, my knees growing weak, my body desperate for more of his touch as his soft, warm mouth grazes up to my ear.

“It wasn’t what, Darling?” His voice is barely a whisper. His breath is hot as it feathers across my skin, making a tingling feeling rush up my spine. “Goodbye?”

The word comes out broken. I open my eyes, stare at the door in front of me as my throat closes tight and tears threaten to fall. I can’t lie to him. I can’t lie to myself.