"So how is this going to work exactly?" I asked Peter as I tried to make myself comfortable.
"Don't worry. You're just going to sleep and dream and I'll be there with you."
Peter and I were at his treehouse. He was preparing some type of potion and I saw him using that plant that he bought in Agrabah.
"You'll be in my head?"
"Yes. I've been wanting to do this for quite a while."
"Why?"
"As I've said," he took the potion and placed it in a shot glass. The potion was a color red and it smelled like the flower that Peter bought in Agrabah. That really fragrant scent lingered in my head. "You've been having nightmares quite frequently. I'm here to help you get over what's causing this."
"I'm not sure you'll like it."
"Nobody likes nightmares," he quipped. "I think you'll enjoy drinking this since it's in this type of glass." He handed me the shot glass and he held one himself.
I just sent him a playful glare but didn't say anything. Taking in a deep breath, I drank the potion in one shot and fell into a deep sleep.
When I woke up, I wasn't in the treehouse anymore. Peter and I were both on a mountain. The view was really splendid on top. On one side of the mountain, all I could see was green while on the other, it was a vast ocean. I lifted my arms and felt the wind slipping through my fingers.
"Where are we?" Peter asked as he sat right beside me on the edge.
"I have no idea," I told him. "This place looks so familiar, but I can't put my finger on why. This isn't Neverland or the Enchanted Forest is it?"
"No," he shook his head. "As far as I know. I've never seen this in Neverland, but it could be the Enchanted Forest." He looked around for a while. It's like he was looking for something.
"What are you doing?"
"This is your dream or your nightmare, as I had calculated. I'm searching for the monsters and demons that haunt you in your dreams," he told me. "Better not see me in here," he joked. I laughed at that.
"Well," I clapped my hands, "since it's my dream, perhaps I could tell you about him."
"About Newt."
"Yes." I've been trying not to say his name, but there it is. "But first, we have to start from the beginning."
I started to tell Peter about my world. How my world has been scorched by the sun and that a virus, called the Flare, has taken over the world. Then I told him about WICKED, how they took the children who are immune to the virus and tested them. How they put them on trials so that a cure could be found.
"I don't remember all of it," I told him. "Because we were then sent into the Maze and it was a life sized Maze where we had to find a way to get out. It was another test. But the catch is that, our memories are erased and all we know is the name that WICKED gave us."
It was then I told him about the Maze and that I was a Runner. I started to tell him about Newt. How we fell in love in the Glade. I looked at Peter and he looked like he was in some sort of trance.
"Peter, are you okay?" I asked him.
"I can see it," he said.
"See what?"
"When you tell me the story, it plays in your head and I can see it."
"Why can't I see it?"
"It's because you're the storyteller and I'm the listening audience. I see whatever you want me to see," he explained. But just like before, I don't always understand Peter when he's talking about magic. "I finally see why you're such a great warrior and where that language came from."
"Thanks."
"Go on."
"Okay."
After taking a deep breath, I continued the story. I told him of when we left the Maze and was then sent out into the Scorch. I didn't go into much detail with what we all witnessed in the Scorch. I just told him about the Cranks. The poor victims of the Flare. But I stopped when I told him about how the Safe Haven wasn't really the Safe Haven and that there were monsters like Grievers that we had to kill.
"It is too much," Peter said when I stopped. It's exactly what that lady said in Agrabah.
"Should I stop now?"
"No." Peter said abruptly. "I think we're getting close to your source of nightmares. I can feel it."
A chill went up my spine and he was right. We were getting closer to the source of my nightmares because I could feel it too. A strong gust of wind suddenly hit both Peter and I. We looked at the sky and saw that it was now covered in dark and stormy clouds.
"We have to get out of here!" I stood up and was getting ready to get off the mountain. But Peter caught my wrist and he wouldn't let me go.
"No! We have to stay!" Peter had to shout because the wind was getting stronger.
"Why?"
"You have to face this! Soothing potions won't always help!"
"I don't want to face it!" I tried to take his hand away from me.
"Then you'll spend your life in fear! Don't worry, you won't have to face this alone."
With shaky legs, I sat right down beside Peter. But my eyes were still glued to the dark clouds that were getting closer and closer. The thunder could be heard for a mile away and my heart was beating furiously. It was because it was the same thunderstorm that we faced in the Scorch.
"Hey," Peter turned my head. "Just look at me. What happened next?"
"We um- We," I tried to collect my thoughts but the thunderstorm was getting closer. "We were locked up for four weeks. Then they said that it was the final part of the tests when we'd get our memories back. I joined with the others when they didn't want their memories back. But then came the bad news."
There was a flash of lightning that landed just a few feet behind me. It was then I started to understand it. The thunderstorm and the lightning were the ones who were telling me not to tell Peter. They were trying to stop me. Well, they're doing a pretty good job of doing it, but I have to get over this.
"What was the bad news?" Peter asked, even if I think he already saw. He already knew.
"Not all of us were immune. There were some that were taken just to be control subjects. Newt was one of them."
It was then the ground started to shake. Even Peter was getting a little scared, I could see it in his eyes. I looked down at the water which now seemed cold and harsh, unlike earlier. It was then I remembered where we were.
"I know this place," I told Peter. "I remember." Before I told Peter how I know this mountain, lightning then shot right in front of us. "We have to jump."
I took Peter's hand before he could say anything to contradict me, then we jumped into the water. When we were getting closer, I closed my eyes because I knew that we were going to hit dark waters. We were going to hit my worst memory.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the sight that I was avoiding for months. There I was holding the gun with shaking hands while Newt was on the ground, begging me to pull that trigger. I turned around and when I did, I heard the shot. Peter was still watching and I could see sadness in his eyes.
"It wasn't your fault," Peter said.
"I still killed him."
"He wanted you to do it. He was suffering, you ended it."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I scoffed.
"Sometimes that's all that you can think about to feel better."
"You sound like you know what you're talking about."
"Yeah well, I've been around for quite a while."
The knuckles of our hands grazed one another's. Peter turned around and offered me his hand.
"I know that there's a special meaning with this," he looked at his hand, "with you and Newt. I saw that it was a way for the both of you to show that neither one of you are alone. As long as you see me offering you my hand, it means that you're not alone." I lifted my hand and was about to hold his, but I hesitated. "It's alright if you can't take it at first."
Peter and I saw a doorway appear out of nowhere. We both knew that it was time to go. Peter and I walked through the doorway and woke up there in the treehouse.
Peter was right, it didn't hurt. I just felt like waking up from a dream. I even feel like I just got a really good nap.
"Peter," I called out to him.
"Yeah?"
"That mountain that we were on. That was the last place I was in before I got here in Neverland. I jumped towards the water and the next thing I knew, I was here." After that experience I just had, I just realized that telling someone does help with feeling better.
I stood up from my seat and took Peter's wrist. "Thank you," I smiled at him. "Thank you for doing this. For helping me."
"I was trying to get you to feel better. But I think I failed."
"What! No, you didn't. I've been trying to avoid this for months and I know that I haven't fully overcome it, but it's a start."
Peter pursed his lips and stayed silent. We both sat in silence until I heard a tapping on the roof. I looked around in confusion until I saw Peter's eyes filled with mischievousness and his lips forming into a smile. He tilted his head, motioning me to go outside, and that's what I did. I opened the door of the treehouse and saw that it was raining in Neverland.
I turned my head to look at Peter with a growing smile on my face. "Did you do this?" I pointed outside.
"Enjoy."
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