Just when I think we’ve run out of hope, just when I swear we are about to plummet to the bottom of the forest, my hands hit a knot in the vine giving me the extra support I need to grip it just a little bit tighter and I use the weight of us to swing both of our bodies to the left. To safety. To a hidden cave entrance, I used to love to visit when I could still fly.

Releasing the vine as we coast through the entrance, we tumble to the floor, rolling a few feet into darkness. Gravel pierces our skin. I hear Wendy’s night dress tear. The leather of my left pant leg hits a snag and rips down my shin. At the last second, I shield Wendy’s head from a boulder as we come to a stop, my body framing hers as I lay on top of her soft, delicate figure. Several rushed breaths leave both our lips as they hover mere centimeters from one another. Her heartbeat seems to skip, before it starts racing surprisingly faster than mine. Staring in her eyes, I examine her face best I can to see if I notice anywhere she’s hurt, turning her face gently in my hands to make sure there isn’t even a scratch on the most important thing in my life.

“Peter,” she whispers after a moment.

“Wendy?” My questioning eyes find hers in the dim light.

“I can’t breathe,” she huffs out still trying to catch her breath.

“Do you feel faint?” I smile, sucking in sharp breaths myself while also trying to come back down from the intense high we’ve both just experienced.

She shivers. Her memory takes us both back to a time when the way we felt for one another was not covered up by lies. By secrets. By a truth we’ve both been running from in our own stubborn ways.

“I’m ok. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re not.”

Her jaw sets into a harsh defiance. “Don’t pretend to know what’s best for me. Don’t make-believe you know how I am feeling. You don’t!”

I open my mouth to speak but the sound of bells in the distance has me quickly shutting it. She glances to her side in horror as I hold her hostage under my large frame.

Fucking Tink.

Ignoring the sounds as they close in, my thumb gently caresses her cheek as I stare her deeply in the eyes, studying her, watching as the innocent, shy girl I fell in love with surfaces, just for a moment, in her gaze. Her words hurt because I always knew what was best for her. Always knew how she was feeling and how to fix it. How to breathe her back to life. I have to know what’s changed.

“Tell me, who did this to you, Darling?”