A Mother's Love

The blackness faded and Peter found himself in the Neverland he created. He was lying on his back in a soft patch of grass near the Mermaids Lagoon. He sat up and looked around and saw James’s red star and the lost boy’s stars twinkling brightly. They were trying to communicate with him. He tried not to hear them but he was tied and weak from saving Papa Angie. He had enough strength to block out the lost boys but James was too strong to block. James’s star grew even brighter and increased in size. It then started to transform from a star to the face of the boy named James. “Hello, little brother of mine. We finally meet.” a voice said loudly. Peter looked up at the face of James hanging in the sky and it smiled at him. It was a sinister smile that spread across the face, not one of pleasant greeting. “So this is where you’ve been hiding all these years. Very clever little brother.” James said not as loudly as before. The face in the sky was that of an older boy about twelve with light brown hair and dark colored eyes. There was an evilness that seemed to shine from those dark almost black colored eyes that Peter could feel. “Why are you here? And what do you want?” asked Peter in a commanding voice. “We’ve been looking for you now for seven years and you have evaded us quite well.

You are strong my brother, but you have a weakness that we do not share with you.” James said still smiling.” “And what may I ask is that James?” asked Peter. The face that hung in the sky took on a look of shock and disbelief and seemed to grow a little smaller. “How is it that you know my name?” asked James. “As you said James I am strong, but stronger than you think even with this weakness you say I possess. And once again I ask. What is this weakness?” Peter asked again. “If you don’t know your weakness then why should I tell you?” replied James. “Because you’re the one that says I have one. I do not know of any weakness that I can identify of myself. In fact it appears that you have a weakness not me. It appears I know your identity, but you do not know mine.” replied Peter with a confident air in his tone. The face in the sky seemed to grow smaller once again. “I know who you are and where I can find you if I want.” said James. James’s image in the sky now showed a face with a look of anger. The sinister smile had seemed to disappear.

Peter knew and felt that he had the upper hand in this conversation. James was growing angry and losing control of the situation. Peter now knew a weakness of James, he didn’t like to lose. Peter could feel that James had never tasted the bitterness of failure until now and it seemed he did not care for the taste. Knowing this Peter called his bluff and said “Okay James, tell me my name and where I live.” The image of James face again seemed to grow smaller and it wore a look of defeat. “You can’t can you James.” Peter taunted. “I am stronger than you James and I think you know it. Could it be that you can’t handle defeat and that is your weakness?” Peter said taunting James again. The face of James let out a scream and popped back to the dull red star just above the horizon as it was before. Peter had won this time but he knew that James could not let this go without a rematch. He knew James would be more prepared on the next occasion that they meet and he knew he must be ready to take on this threat.

The twelve blue stars of the lost boys in the sky of Neverland started to twinkle. The one on the bottom left of the arc that surrounded James’s star twinkled first. Then in order from the first star that twinkled each started to twinkle until all twelve twinkled in unison. Peter felt an urgency fill his mind to respond. He opened a channel for communication to the lost boys but only heard one repeating message. The message was, “We do not stand with James or the doctor. We are being enslaved and used against our will. Beware the organization Xenograft. We are not as strong as you or James but combined we work as one singular mind. We are kept in a semi conscious state because we pose a threat to them. If we make physical contact with each other are abilities increase with each new member. We pose no threat to you and wish you no harm. We simply want our freedom from this tormented life we live. We need your help.” The message kept repeating over and over again till Peter replied that he will try to help then broke off communication with them.

Even after Peter broke communications with the lost boys he could sense the loneliness and bitter emptiness they felt. He instinctively knew that their message spoke the truth because of the pain and suffering he felt them share with him during the message. He did not know how to help them but he knew he must at any cost. They were children like him that deserved to lead a life of hope, not one of despair. Peter made a pledge to himself that he would find a way to free them from their hell on earth they were trap in. To be the light that leads them out of the darkness of despair.

Lighting streak across the sky between the triangle of stars that were his parent’s and Papa Angie’s and its thunderous sound seemed to call out his name. The stars grew brighter and their glow combined to form one bright light in the sky. The light kept getting larger till it blocked out the whole sky and yet it was still increasing in size enveloping all of Neverland. The thundering sound of his name changed to a harmonious blend of the three voices. They were May, Parker, and Angie and they were calling to him. There was a tone of urgency and fear that reverberated in their beckoning call. The light started to swirl at the center taking on the shape of a cyclonic tunnel sucking everything into its grasp. Peter felt himself being pulled into it but he did not fight its force. He let it take him in and he felt comfort in his hold on him. Faster and faster the light around him swirled drawing him in to its center. He center started to take on the shape of a circle growing bigger as he drew nearer. It was a opaque sky blue color that started to change into an image of Parker and Angie’s faces.

He could hear them calling to him and the sound echoed all around him. Then with a bright flash of orange light and he found himself back in the real world lying on the floor of bakery’s back room.

Parker and Angie on either side of Peter grab one of his arms and lifted him to a standing position.

Parker was on the phone with May telling her everything seemed to be okay and that Peter was responding.

They walked him over to a chair and sat him down and asked him if he was alright. It took Peter a few seconds to respond but he said he was okay, just felt a little weak. Angie knelt down in front of Peter and took his hands in his and said, “Thank you Peter for what you did, but it was wrong. It was my time to pass into the great beyond as God would have wanted it.” Peter looked Angie straight in the eyes and replied “God let me feel your pain so that I could save you as Mom and Dad and you saved me. He was just having me pay back what was due. That’s all. I only did what I felt instinctively. My actions were guided by a divine hand Papa Angie.” Tears started to fill Angie’s eyes and he felt a lifting joy and truth in the words that Peter spoke. He knelt there for a minutes in silence with tears running down his face before he stood and wiped away the tears with his apron. Angie staggered a few steps and Parker grabbed his right arm and steadied him and said “Let’s get you to a hospital and get you checked out.” Angie nodded as he and Parker exited the back room of the bakery.

Peter sat in the chair and wondered about what had happened with Papa Angie and the events that occurred while he was in Neverland. He didn’t totally understand how he was able to fix Papa heart problems.

It just seemed that the knowledge that he needed to repair it came instinctively. As a child of seven he knew very little about the heart let alone restructuring the atoms and molecules as he did. Had he somehow tapped into some sort of knowledge base and processed the information without totally understanding it. He also thought about the message he received from the lost boys and the pledge he committed himself to in helping them. Would or could he even live up to the pledge he gave. James was another matter entirely. He was a threat and danger that peter had to be on constant lookout for. The evil that he felt emitting from James was a thing not to taken lightly. He needed to gather information and try to understand the best way to approach the situation before taking action or meeting up with James again. He needed the advice of and older and wiser person with more worldly experience than he possessed and he knew who to turn to for this help.