A Trip To Neverland

I stare blankly back at my grandpa, or whoever he was honestly, unable to get a word out of my mouth.

“Grandpa,” I call out hesitatingly. Is he…?

“Sehun, I’m not your grandfather. I’m actually your best friend, when you were still under the name of Peter. I was one of the Lost Boys, with you. I evaded Neverland with you and we went somewhere we couldn’t be found. Here. But before we went away, the Black Pearl gave me a part of your soul that she got when… Ehem, that’s not very important. But anyways. She gave that to me and once we came in this part of the world, you asked me to kill you, so you could be born another time. We were both 18, because once we reach that age in Neverland, we don’t grow older. But once we came in Korea, we began to age quickly, almost every day, because our bodies were taking in all the years we had lost. So eventually, I killed you and put your soul in a baby at the hospital.”

I look at him, horrified.

“You put my soul in some random baby’s body?”

“What? No! I adopted you, because you had been left in adoption by your parents minutes before. But how ironic, though. In your previous lifetime, you were abandoned by your parents at an orphanage, and in this one the same story gets repeated. I wonder why…” he exhales, staring in a faraway place I couldn’t seem to reach.

“I need to get some air,” is all I can say before I put on my sneakers and run out of the house.

I run until I don’t even know where I am anymore. I’m panicking and my breath gets quicker and more unstable by the minute. What the heck. What is this? Someone explain! What is wrong with my grandfather? He has never acted like that before! I need to sort this out. His story… I can’t believe it. Peter Pan is just a novel for kids like me who couldn’t sleep at night. There’s no way in hell he existed. No way in hell I am Peter Pan. But then again… What’s that voice? Who is she, the woman trying to call me? What does she want? Ugh, I’m so confused. I feel like my brain is going to explode. I continue to walk until I recognize the small park full of toys occupied by kids and their parents. I used to come here with my grandfather, and I usually come here and sit on a swing whenever I’m feeling confused, sad or angry. This place witnessed so many of my happiest memories with Gramps, but now I can’t feel the usual warming feeling in my chest when I look at it. There’s just a cold emptiness, reminding me that nothing’s like before now. And that’s when I realize that…

“Is Gramps still sane?” I ask the wind, but it doesn’t answer me. What a surprise. “Maybe he just lost his sanity. But I didn’t notice any change of attitude with him… Nah, this can’t be it. Maybe I’m the one that’s crazy. Maybe he is just playing a prank on me.” But his eyes…

I shudder as I recall the look he gave me.

What if you were wrong?

Those words linger in my mind as I mechanically sit down on the right end swing and push back and forth with my legs. There has got to be some kind of explanation. I mean… It’s just so hard to believe this, after being told so many times that fairytales are just, and always will be, fairytales. And I’m a grown man. It wouldn’t be manly of me to believe this so easily, especially if it’s a prank. Absorbed in my thoughts, I don’t notice the little girl coming towards me. She wakes me up when she taps lightly on my thigh.

“Oppa, you look just like a prince in a fairytale. Did you know that?” she asks innocently.

I stare at her for a while, then chuckle.

“And you, you’re just like a beautiful princess in real life. Did you know that?” I answer her, smiling gently down at her.

She blushes and calls her mom over. A foreign, young-looking woman comes immediately and bows slightly.

“Oh! I’m sorry if my daughter bothered you,” she apologizes. “As you can see, she’s not very shy.”

“Oh, no it’s perfectly fine. She’s really well-mannered,” I compliment as I give the little girl a wink.

“I’m sorry if this is rude, but I have an older daughter in high school and I wonder if I have seen you before… What’s your name?” she asks suddenly.

“I’m Oh Sehun,” I answer, slightly taken aback.“What’s your daughter’s name?”

“Her name’s Jung Eun Ji. Do you perhaps know her?”

I do remember the cute face of Eun Ji, although I never did talk to her. She’s kind of popular at school because of her face and outgoing personality.

“Yes, I know her. We do go to the same school,” I confirm to the older woman.

“Oh, I’m sorry for being rude, I didn’t tell you my name. I’m Wendy.”

My whole being stops and I feel the worst headache of my life tear my brain apart. My eyes go wide in shock, but the woman must have misunderstood.

“It’s because I’m from England. I know it’s not a pretty common name here, hehe,” she laughs awkwardly before taking her small toddler’s hand and leaving. The child waved me goodbye and I try to answer back but the headache is still going strong. I sit back down and hold my head in my hands as I breathe heavily. Suddenly, fragments of images flash before my eyes.

A bright smile. “Peter, let’s go!” The desperate but familiar female voice. Dark, entrancing eyes staring directly at me with an intensity I’ve never seen before. Long, wavy black hair bouncing in front of me. “Wendy!”

My eyes open slowly as the pain seeps away.

“What was that?” I ask to myself.

I then realize everything. My legs automatically begin to run, once again, towards my house. Gramps, whether I want to or not, is right. His story isn’t just a story. But what do I do next? I have to talk to him. Once I arrive on our doorstep, I bolt through our door.

“Grandpa! I just remembered something-“

My voice is cut as I notice that everything is a mess. The table is turned over, our couches are all ripped, and there are claw marks everywhere on our walls. The chairs are all broken and the windows are busted in some places. Fear washes over me as I climb the stairs at the speed of light. The beds, blinds and carpets and also all torn apart. My heart sinks as I realize that I’m all alone in this ruined, cold house. Shivers run down my spine as I walk downstairs and try to fix the things that I can, which aren’t much. I glance towards the living room and notice the pile of books that is still perfectly fine. Curious, I walk towards it and search for Peter Pan. As I can’t find it, anxiousness grows within me and I frantically rummage through the whole house, but no can do. I sigh and close my eyes, trying to regain control of myself.

“Let’s think rationally here. Where could have Grandpa put it? What place in here did he like the most?”

I immediately think of the living room. He could spend his whole day in it, sitting comfortably in his old, overused couch…

“That’s it! The couch! Why didn’t I think of it before?” I snap my fingers as I head towards the object in question.

Not wanting to waste more time, I simple throw it on the floor and tear the fabric apart until there’s nothing left of it. I’m sorry Gramps, but it was already ruined anyways. I just… Finished their work, whoever “they” are. I look in every single corner of the furniture but I can’t find anything resembling a book. As I’m about to give up, I feel something harder than the soft foam I’ve been feeling for the past minutes. I grab on to it and pull until it comes along with a swift, sharp noise of a letter being teared. I look down and find an old-looking folded piece of paper. The fabric had turned slightly yellow from age and it had begun to be crispy. I unfolded it, curious and hopeful that it would lead me to some clue as to what the heck happened while I was gone.

“Dear… I don’t know how you prefer that I call you. Peter, or Sehun? Anyways.
If you’re now reading this, then that means that they came to catch us, but you managed to escape. I trust that you have now retrieved a part of your old memories and you wanted to tell me about it. You probably also thought that everything was a prank I tried to pull on you or that I was insane because of my old age, but I assure you of the contrary, and here’s the proof. Hook came back to get us, to get you, and kill you. Luckily, he didn’t find you nor this letter, or else you wouldn’t be reading this. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you any longer, but it’s not like I had the choice, right? I don’t have much time left until you come back from school and I have to go back to being your old grandfather instead of your best friend, but I want, no, need you to know the following information: Do not come back to find me unless you have begun to hear the Black Pearl’s voice in your dreams. Then, you have to find a way into Neverland without being noticed. I insist on this because the second Hook finds out you’re there, you can consider your life has ended. Although you did manage to escape him once, you won’t be able to do that a second time. You might wonder why, and there’s a simple answer to that: the Black Pearl won’t be there to help you, this time. Oh, you might also wonder who that is, but I can’t tell you that. You have to figure that out yourself, with the help of your memories. Lastly, if you want to find a way in Neverland, I might as well give you this piece of advice: Foreigners will always provide you with help, if only you can distinguish the right ones.
With this, I trust you may understand some things that seemed obscure before, being the clever boy that you are. Make the right connections and in less than a few days, you will be on your way to save her, maybe me, and your people back in your previous lifetime. But don’t worry, in this lifetime also, you are, and always will be, considered as Peter Pan.
-Your best friend, Jacob (or Grandpa Suho, whatever suits you best)”

I stare blankly at the piece of paper, trying to process all the information I just read. Suddenly, I just know what to do and head upstairs, stuffing the letter in my pocket. I take out a suitcase in my closet that wasn’t too broken and put all of my clothes, my toothbrush and a pair of sunglasses in it. After second thought, I take out most of it so I would only have 4 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts to make the suitcase weight less. After having thought up my plan once again, I go outside and walk confidently towards hope, and answers, with a little bit of luck.

Notes

Hey hey hey! How are you all doing? I'm great, thank you :)
I hope you like this update, I spent such a long time trying to find the exact right words, but even then it may or may not be good yet... But yeah. At least I tried!
Please don't hesitate to comment or vote your thoughts on this story, feedback is great, you all know that by now ;)
Thank you so much for reading, it means a lot to me. After all, I'm doing this to entertain you!
Saranghae :) <3<3<3<3