What is Time? | Teaser

What is Time? | A teaser

Sliding down the water-slide. That's exactly how she felt. Pictures flew past her like the rolling on a TV screen, the credits of a movie. Images... None of it made sense. Pictures... Images... words... places...

No, no it made sense. It was a scene. She was walking down the hallway, head down to the floor counting... counting tiles? Shoes? And those dirt-stained pants looked familiar. The back of the kid's head looked familiar. She was following him. Following him. Him while he talked to that stupid, brown haired, British girl who dared step between her and her best friend.

A hand on her shoulder, fingers around her wrist. Someone tugged her back into the lockers. No, no, no. Not this. Never this. She couldn't deal with this. Captain James Hook was touching her, running his hand down her body, over her sides and under her shirt and he was whispering... whispering... Well, she didn't know what it was but she screamed all the same.

Did she scream? She felt like she screamed. Because suddenly it wasn't Hook. Suddenly it was her foster dad all those years ago touching her. Suddenly she wasn't at school. Suddenly she wasn't walking to class. Now she was backed up to a wall, barely tall enough to climb onto a bar stool herself and she was in trouble and it hurt... it hurts... everything hurts and...

"Help her, Peter!" A voice. A British voice. Was it her? Who did she think she was? Waltzing her hot little self into her life and stealing her best friend. Why did she care? She doesn't care. Not her... not her... definitely not her.

And then she's back. Back at school. Back in the hallway. Back in... back in her arms? Why was she there? Why was her Peter not there? Not there for her? It doesn't make sense. None of it makes sense. Her Peter was on the floor, wrestling with that stupid, adolescent drug-addict's kid who dared touch her. Her Peter was there to save her. He was always there to save her. Snapping, telling Hook not to touch her again or he'd regret it. That's her Peter.

She hides her face in her chest and suddenly, her Peter's gone. Her Peter's not there anymore. But she's still in Wendy's arms, still hiding her face in her chest. And now Wendy's protecting her, snapping at Hook to leave her alone. Get away... get away... get away... now now now.

Make it all stop.

She dares to look up from where she was hiding and she's with Wendy and they're not at school. They're not at school and it's strange and Hook's crew is around them and suddenly she's scared. She's more scared than she was before and she just wants it to stop.

"Peter..." She cries weakly but it does nothing. It does nothing and her Peter's not there.

"It's okay... You're okay. You're safe..." It's someone new. It's someone she doesn't know and they lie. They lie because it hurts. Everything hurts. She's not safe. She's away from Wendy and Hook's above her and he's laughing. He's laughing and he's crying and where's Peter? Where's her Peter? Where's her Peter and why is he not saving her yet? Peter always saves her and it all hurts and she wants to make it stop.

"You're okay... You're safe... He can't hurt you..." It's Wendy but Wendy lies because she can hear Wendy crying too. Wendy's crying and Peter's not here. Peter's not here to save her. Not here to save both of them. And Wendy's crying. And she's screaming and she knows she's screaming now because her throat hurts and Hook's laughing and he's crying and everything hurts.

Wendy's crying. She's screaming. Hook's laughing. And now she's back in the bedroom and her father's there and he's mad and he's screaming and she's crying and something hits her again and it hurts. And now she's back in the bedroom and her foster dad's there and everything hurts and Peter's not there because Peter doesn't know and Peter doesn't need to know but it hurts and all she wants is him because Peter isn't painful. Peter doesn't hurt. Peter doesn't feel like everything in her is going to tear apart. And then it's back and Hook's there and he's fighting and it's Ty and she's okay. She's okay because it's Ty.

"You're okay, Tink. You're safe. You're safe because we're here." It's that new voice and that voice lies because he doesn't know. He doesn't know that she's not safe. She's not safe even though she's with Slightly and Slightly's safe but this isn't safe because she's screaming and Wendy's crying and Hook's laughing and Peter's not there. Peter's not there because he won't grow up. He won't grow up because he stop himself from growing up. And Slightly's safe but Wendy's crying. Wendy's crying and she's screaming and Ty's fighting and now they're back at school. They're back at school and Hook's in trouble because she helped. She helped because Hook stepped out of line and it was only fair. It was only fair because she's not sleeping and Peter's not there and he won't hold her and make everything better. She's not sleeping and the fairies aren't in the yard and she's scared and home's scary and Hook's laughing and-

"Tink, can you hear me?"

"Peter, stop. Please just stop." It's Wendy because only Wendy has a British accent. It's Wendy and Wendy's safe and she falls into Wendy's arms, sobbing. And Wendy's crying and she's screaming and Hook's laughing and Ty's fighting and Peter...

Peter's there. It's Peter.

Peter.

But not her Peter. It's not her Peter. Never her Peter.

Not anymore.