My life wasn’t perfect but really who’s is. I guess I could use a little more adventure in my life. That didn’t mean I wanted to go to sleep and wake up in an enchanted forest. At least that’s what I think this place is. I mean, most Forest didn’t have books growing from trees. Yeah, you heard right in this forest books hang from the vines that hang down from the trees. I started walking after I got bored standing in one place.
I figured there was no use in waiting for something to happen, plus I hate waiting. Unfortunately, it just seems to be an endless forest that goes on and on as you walk. I was just about to sit down and take a break from walking when a voice from out of nowhere spoke up.
“You know, usually when people find themselves in an unusual place, they stay put.”
I glanced around, trying to find where the voice was coming from as I responded. “I really don’t care what others do.”
“Hmm, well, let me introduce myself. I’m Fairytale.”
A man with a black mask covering his face appeared out of nowhere in front of me. The clothes he was wearing were a suit made completely out of tree leaves. Each leaf was a different shape, color, and size. His mask had a smiling face on it, but I could see nothing underneath it, not even eyes.
“What the he-heart are you? Wait, heart, I was trying to say he-heart.”
“I’m sorry dear, there are no colorful words allowed here.”
I opened my mouth to say something else, but he interrupted me.
“Anyway Cecelia, or should I call you Cece, you're here because I need your help. What do you say? Will you help me?”
I gave him a blank look. “No.”
“Well then, I guess you’re stuck here. Have a great life, dear.”
On the last word, he disappeared instantly as if he wasn’t there in the first place. I just stood there, shocked, for a second before it registered and I started to yell.
“Hey you can’t just leave me here, you fu-fudge brownie.”
“Why not?” His voice asked, coming from behind me now.
I spun around and saw him bending over three books, examining them.
“Because I refuse to be left here.”
“So you would rather be anywhere but here? Hmm, if you had to choose between Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Tinkerbell, what would it be?”
“Tinkerbell, I guess why does that matter?”
He picked up a book and opened it, completely ignoring my question. “Sign here and I’ll get you out of here.”
“Finally.” I huffed, taking the pen that appeared in his hand after he said the word sign.
I wrote my name down on the line. My signature started to glow a green tint before it started to move. The letters uncurled and broke in half until it spelled Tinkerbell. Then the book started flipping its pages until it landed on a blank page. The blank page started to glow, and I felt a force trying to pull me towards the book.
“What’s going on?”
“You’re the new Tinkerbell.” Fairytale told me right before I was pulled into the book.
Seconds later, I found myself falling through the trees. Branches grabbing at me as I fell to the forest floor. I hit the floor of the forest so hard that I was practically seeing stars. Once I managed not to pass out, I slowly stood up. My whole body ached from the fall, but nothing hurt enough to be broken or sprained. I stretched before looking around me. I was in the forest again, but in this one there were no books hanging from the trees.
It was also much darker and has a more sinister feeling to it. When I glanced up, I could see light shining in near the top of the trees. For some reason, the light didn’t seem to be able to reach the forest floor. The forest was completely silent, something that shouldn’t be possible. There’s usually some kind of sound, whether it’s the animals in the forest or the wind. At the moment, though, it was nothing.
It felt like whatever darkness that was keeping the sun out of the forest was also keeping the animals and the wind out. Out of the corner of my eye noticed something moving and instantly I thought it was a snake. Instead, it was just a vine moving on its own, like only a living creature should. It was moving towards me and instantly I moved away. As if sensing I was about to run, the vine shot out towards me.
“Ayyyyy.”
A war cry sounded out, echoing through the silent forest right before a girl dropped down out of nowhere, slicing through the vine with a sword. At least I think it was a girl I could barely even see her. I’m pretty sure the only reason I even noticed her was because of the noise she made. Plus the sword. I mean, who the hell even has a sword? When I try to actually look at her though all I could see was the surrounding forest.
Somehow, she was completely transparent, which shouldn’t be possible. The vine she cut reared back and slithered away. Leaving the piece she cut off to wiggle around like a cut off lizard tail. Instantly, she turned to me and started patting me down.
“Where’s your fairy dust, Tink? You should have put more on as soon as it wore off. You know Pan would do anything to get his hands on you.”
That’s when I noticed I was wearing completely different clothes from before. I was wearing a shirt and pants with a satchel that was made of what looked to be leaves. She pulled a little pouch out of my satchel and sprinkled some type of dust on me. As soon as it landed on me, I turned completely transparent, like her. She stuffed the little pouch back into my satchel, grabbing my arm and dragging me away.
“We have to get out of here, Tink. Pan has too much control over this part of Neverland for us to be safe here, even with your fairy dust.”
She ran, pulling me to a destination she thinks I must know, given she keeps calling me Tink. Usually, this would be the time I would tell her to wait and demand answers from her. I had a feeling though that something or someone was watching us and I really didn’t want to stay here and find out who. At the moment, all I really want to do is get away from that feeling.
So I let her drag me and I did my best to keep up with her. As we ran, vines appeared in our path, trying to stop us. She cut them down easily with her free hand and just kept running. Soon enough, we burst out of the shadows of the forest right into a sunny meadow. The vines that were trying to stop us refused to move out of the shadows.
“Shadow vines. Like you said, they can’t leave the shadows. That’s why Pan keeps it so dark in his forest.”
She let go of my hand and stopped down on the ground three times. “Hey guys, I found Tink. She took a nasty fall, and she needs a check.”
Before I could say I was fine, the ground opened itself up, revealing a hole leading into the ground. She jumped in and I decided to follow her, not that I really had much of a choice. It was just better than being out there. What I thought was just a hole was actually a slide. I slid down the slide right after the girl into a room full of people. All of them were looking at me as if expecting me to say or do something.
Finally, the girl who brought me here decided to speak up. “So, Tink, did you find it?”
I had no idea what she was talking about, so I decided to play into that. I had a feeling that telling the truth wouldn’t go so well.
So I decided to say. “Who are you guys?”
Shocked looks went through all of them before a male approached me and shined a light in my eyes.
“She probably hit her head a lot harder that you thought Tiger I’m taking her to the med bay.
The person I now know as Tiger threw me a concerned look. “Alright, keep us posted.”
I was escorted from the room, then down the hallway to the second door on the left. I know remembering the path we took really wouldn’t help, but it comforted me. He settled me down in the closest bed to the door and started to examine me. He checked my head for any injuries before moving around my arms and legs. He asked me if anywhere hurts and I told him the truth.
“Everything hurts, just not enough to be sprained or broken.”
He nodded. “Well, I recommend a proper meal and something to drink before you get some rest.”
I bit back my response on how none of that would probably work since I’m not whoever this Tink person is. Instead, I just nodded, and he finally left me alone and sat down at the desk on the other side of the room. I glanced at the door to make sure no one was there as I said one word.
“Fairytale.”
A whole minute went by with nothing happening, so I figured he either couldn’t hear me or he was ignoring me. That was until a voice from the bed next to me said.
“You called.”
I turned towards it and there he was, sitting on the bed, facing me with his chin in his right hand.
“They.” He uttered for some reason.
I just stared at him. “What?”
“I hate hearing ‘HE’ in your thoughts, identify as they/them, not he or she. Or you can just call me Fairytale.”
“Wait, you can hear my thoughts?”
He, I mean Fairytale chuckled. “Of course I can read the thoughts of everyone in my fairy tales.”
I nodded silently, processing that information. Then I pushed it to the side because that really didn’t matter at the moment.
“Mine to tell me where I am.”
“You’re in Neverland, the place where dreams come true. Well, at least it used to be.”
“Cut the cr-cupcake all right. That’s really starting to annoy me.”
Fairytale sighed. “All right, I’ll explain. Something went wrong. I do not know when, why, how, or even by who. But I do know what went wrong. The fairy tales we wrote themselves and if that wasn’t bad enough, characters essential for the story to keep going has been going missing from the stories. So I decided it was best to bring in people to become the new Tinkerbell, Cinderella, etc.”
“So I’m the new Tinkerbell?”
“Yes, and well, you keep the story going. I will be finding the answers to when, why, how, and who. Hopefully, I will be able to nip it in the bud in this story.”
“Wait, so I’m stuck here until when?”
“You are stuck in a story until it reaches its happily ever after. Once it does, you can leave the book and go home.”
I just stared at Fairytale for a second before responding to what they had just said. “No, I want to go home now.”
“Unfortunately, dear, you signed the book.”
He held his palm out and a book just big enough to fit in the palm of his hand appeared. He turned the book around, showing me my signature, the one that had turned into the name Tinkerbell.
“Once you sign the book, you have to finish the deal.”
“That’s because I thought signing the book would take me home. That’s what you told me.” I practically yelled.
“I said no such thing. Actually, I just remember you saying I refuse to be left here, then I asked you would you rather be anywhere else than here. That’s what you said. You didn't say you wanted to go home in that conversation, not even once.”
I want to argue, but fu-fudge it, he is right.
I gave him a look of irritation. “Really, in my thoughts, too.”
“Yes, now stop calling me he is it offensive to call someone something they are not, especially when they have asked you not to. I forgive you last time because you didn’t know, but if you continue, I will take away your voice.”
Before I could respond, Fairytale disappeared from sight right before Tiger walked in with a tray of food. Or at least I think it was supposed to try a food, it was completely empty.
“Um, Tiger, where’s the food?”
Her face had brightened at my use of her name, but instantly went dark at my words. An emotion akin to fear was on her face.
“Come on, Tink, you’re joking, right?”
When I said nothing, she practically flinched. “Well, Tink, you might not remember, but Neverland relies on imagination. Someone without it will not be able to see things like food and drink.”
I stared at her for a second, expecting her to burst out laughing and come in with some actual food. Instead, she remained completely serious and before long, when neither of us said anything, she started pacing.
“This is bad Tink. You have never lost your imagination before and have always been there for people that lost theirs. If people figure out you of all people have lost imagination and will not end well.”
The person who did the checkup earlier walked back into the room, making me wonder where he was. Before I talked to Fairytale, I had seen him at his desk and now he was just walking back into the room? Before I could dwell on it, he asked Tiger.
“Why are you pacing? Did something happen?”
She’s spun around and gripped him by the shoulders. If you ask me, I think she was being a bit dramatic.
“It’s worse than we thought, Tonic. Tink has lost her imagination.”
His eyes became wide as he looks between me and Tiger. “Are you sure?”
The way they were acting was now causing me to worry.
“She can’t see the food.” Tiger whisper yelled.
“Fairy dust, that isn’t good.”
Tiger scoffed. “I’ll say Wendy is already using Tink’s amnesia to spread discord through our people. What do you think would happen if she gets her hands on this information?”
“Who is getting whose hands on what information?” A sickly sweet voice asked from the doorway.
I look to see a brown-haired girl wearing only a nightgown. Her skin was completely pale, and she had an innocent look to her. She is the first one wearing actual clothes, even if it was a nightgown. Completely different from Tiger, who I just now realized I can completely see. Whatever that fairy dust stuff she was talking about earlier must have worn off or she took it off herself.
She had on animal skin clothing and I couldn’t tell if her skin was tanned from the sun or if she was just that color. Where Wendy had an innocence about her, Tiger had a fierceness.
Tiger turn to her with a smile so fake that even I could tell. “Wendy, what are you doing here?”
This Wendy girl practically beamed at Tiger despite all the hostility she got from her. “I heard Tinkerbell was hurt, and I wanted to see her.”
“Sure you did,” Tiger muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Wendy rushed to my side and pulled me into a hug like we were old friends. As she hug me, she whispered in my ear.
“I know what you are. I’m just like you.”
She let me go, looking at me expectantly, and I needed some help. Something told me that I shouldn’t get it from her. If what she said was true, then why didn’t Fairytale tell me about her? I needed more information before I made a decision like this. So I looked her straight in the eyes and said.
“I do not know what you’re talking about, and please refrain from hugging me.”
For a second, the innocent facade that she was wearing disappeared as she stared at me with rage. That only lasted for a moment before it was back, and she gave me one of her best smiles.
“Ok, I hope you feel better soon, Tinkerbell.”
Then she walked out acting as if our exchange didn’t just happen, though I had a feeling she would be back. I debated with myself whether I should call for Fairytale again and ask them about her. I decided against it for now since I literally just had a talk with them, plus I did not know if they would be able to come every time I call. Tiger stared at me for a second, probably wondering what that was all about.
“What did she say to you?” She asked, confirming my thoughts.
“Nothing of importance.”
She stared at me for a second longer before she turned to Tonic. “Do you have any everberries stashed away?”
“Of course, Tink gave me some for an emergency.” He said hesitantly.
“This is an emergency Tonic. Go get them.”
At her words, he rushed to the other side of the room where his desk was before slipping somewhere completely out of sight. He came back with a package with pure black berries.
He handed me the package. “These are everberries the only type of edible berries in Neverland. Any other berries growing on Neverland would kill you if you so much as touch them.”
Talk about poisonous berries was making me not really want to eat anything he gave me. Unfortunately, I was hungry, so I hesitantly put a berry up to my mouth.