The tepid seas spanned out into the horizon, broken only by a small green speck of an island off the starboard side. The night sky threw a quilt of stars above the ship and off the port bow was a tremendous roar of waves tumbling free into an abyss at the edge of the world. The boat had skirted the edge for the past fortnight, although escape had been sought before with the same results, for recent events the Captain had hoped he could find an escape once more. He did not understand how he had sailed into this place many years ago and could not find his way out. But alas, he had failed again to find an exit off of this plane of the Neverseas.

With one white knuckled hand gripping the darkened wood of the helm and the other a haunting two pronged hook like the talon of a predatory bird, he turned the wheel back toward the silent green speck of land. The Captain however knew that this small island was nothing but silent, although skirted by these beautifully pristine waters, the land ahead housed his one true enemy. A boy, no less. A child who not only caused him physical harm in the loss of a limb all those years ago, but also more recently the torment of his will.

Old. Alone. Done For.

It had shattered his very soul. For what was the reason he came to this land in the first place? Treasure, glory, praise and eternal youth.

Yes, he had attained these things but at what cost? He was trapped here for eternity and was unable to spend his endless gold anywhere but at the Pirates Cove. Glory and praise were recieved from his crew and those that inhabited the small pirate town, but he would never again see those from the 'real world'... He would never see his peers in better society after a life of degrading piracy. And eternal youth... well, it was only granted to those that arrived here in their youth. He had come to Neverland too late. In his early fourtys, an age considered 'old', especially in his time. He was to live forever, indeed, as everyone else in the land would, but he would never regain his better years. Not even magic could turn back the ticking of time. That damned ticking that shook him to the core.

So he coincided. Yes. He was old, alone and done for.

His peircing blue eyes flicked up into the heavens, their colour washed out and his eyes shone with a dampness that many a soul would never see, lest be found bloody and dead. The flickering lamplight beside him mirrored the twinkling stars overhead. Hook could not stand the stars above taunting him as they refracted through the moisture gathering in his eyes, sending halos of light around his vision. He looked down to his boots, letting a single salty drop of water fall from his cheek and in a hushed whisper he spoke to himself. "I wish I didn't have to be alone for all eternity... forever is an awfully long time."

Little did James Hook know, with his head downturned in sorrow, that a bright star whipped itself through the clouds leaving a white scar across the sky for a split seccond and then dissapeared without a trace.


"GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU BASTARD!"

It was the typical sight you would see in any bustling city street. Road rage and incompetent drivers clashing together into a stew of hate. Those who were slow and unsure and others who were absolutly done with their shit. Horns ablase from every intersection. Taxis rushing past, ignoring the road rules. Motor bikes splitting lanes as the traffic stopped and started between every intersection.

Hanging out the drivers side window of a diesel guzzling jeep, as she passed the offending vehicle, was a young woman yelling at the top of her lungs. She was like any other person in this highrise city. Working a monotonous desk job and just like everyone else she had studied something completely diffrent. Autumn Falls was her name and just like the hippy mother that named her, she was an art and philosophy major, for all the good that sort of wishy washy degree gave her in this century. It had however managed to land her in a job as a marketing officer for some evil corporation, the sort of soul sucking job that praises those who can spin words in a way that makes even the most toxic company look like saints.

And so, every day she would battle the traffic into her boring job and then leave in the afternoon to tackle the same cars filled with others just as tired, fed up and full of rage as her. This was not the life she wanted to live, but what other choice did she have in this day and age? It was a miracle that she even managed to get a job in the oversaturated and practically impossible to enter job market.

"GET OFF YOUR PHONE DOUCHEBAG!" Her arm waved out the window as she barreled past the inconciderate driver.

Oh, what she would give to move away from this city and never come back. To become an artist in a little cottage in the countryside, it was her biggest dream. But, she would always push that dream aside. Not only was it almost impossible to get a job, but once you did have a job, other things started to pile up. Bills, taxes, rent... just a few of the major reasons she could never save up money. Living paycheck to paycheck was the bane of everyones existance, especially hers. She would never be able to save the money to buy a house... and so she gave up on her little dream. 'It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live.' It was a quote that she had read, something hard to digest when there was nothing to live for in this cruel and cutthroat age.

So, on she drove through the maze of city blocks, passing the same four franchises around every corner. A coffee shop that sells the worst coffee she had ever tasted. A fast food resturant that exploits the cheap labour of teens. A sandwich shop that sells more cookies than sandwiches. And finally a convenience store that is more inconvenient than need be. In her mind, the world she lived in was horrible. Just a motonous life of the same copy-pase garbage. Day in and day out was the same.

Autumn missed the creativity of her youth... it did not seem that long ago when the world was not so bland. A time when creativity and individuality were praised. When everything was the product of a proud craftsman or the expression of an artist in love with their medium. Perhaps it was just the wonderlust of childhood, the nostalgia that coloured her memories in a rose tinted hue. But in times long past, when she was half her height, she remembered adults her age now being happier.

"LEARN TO DRIVE DICKHEAD!" She screamed again as she approached the traffic lights. Her mind, still half a world away, drifted back to her dream of going to a far away place. To live free of worldly worries as the artist she was. To paint and draw while she laughed her days away in bliss. Oh it was a dream that many had but unobtainable in this time.

Autumn sighed as she drove onward along the road, swerving to avoid another asshole. Often times she would talk to herself, to give herself a pep talk or some positive affirmations. But, at this time all she could say was something she had read in a book.

"Dreams do come true, if only we wishhard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it." She breathed out another sigh. This time it was not of self pitty but of the incredulousness of the quote. "Alright Peter Pan, if that's true then I wish I could go to Neverland"

She hadn't noticed her eyes close to make the wish, but when they opened back up she could hear a nagging noise to her right. Her head snapped toward the noise. "Shit..."

It was a truck horn. In an instant the side of her car erupted with a bang. Glass flew accross the cabin. She however didn't feel any pain in the last moments. It was as if time was held still. Autumn knew she had fucked up, going through a red light like that was stupid and now she was going to die. She knew it for sure. She saw stars from the impact... for a moment she was confused. These weren't the stars you would see if you stood up to quickly or lost your breath coughing. No... These were literal stars. Outside the car. It was as if everything around the car had melted away into a stary night sky. Stars so bright they would rival those of Van Gough.

Something else was odd, she felt weightless. She didn't just feel weightless, she was rising in her seat, only held in place with the seatbelt. If not she would have floated right out the top of the jeep.

So, this is what death was like she concluded. A hallucination caused by chemicals rushing through her bloodstream to calm her brain while she breathed her last breaths. This would be over soon enough. She told herself. It would all fade to black and she would finally be dead.

But it didn't.

The jeep tilted forward and over the hood she noticed a small island as it came into view. The green paradise was surrounded by an endless dark sea that reflected the galaxy above like a huge mirror. Not only was this out of the ordinary, hell everything happening to her right now was out of the ordinary, but the island was coming closer. The car was falling... fast. Falling from this far up would be certain death. But wasn't Autumn already dead? That didn't hault the terror that gripped her tightly. Heights were the one thing that she was shit-scared of. Autumn wasn't scared of much else, not spiders or snakes, but the fear of falling from a height like this caused her to seize up. Her pearly eyes blown out wide and the pupils within were like the tip of a pin as the island came closer and closer into view. The speed she was traveling toward the landmass was exponential to the racing of her heart. She hoped above all hope that she would fall past the island and into the sea, but from the tradgectory the vehicle was taking it seemed she was going to land directly in the middle of a huge towering forrest. She saw singular trees come into view and then rushing past the car windows were the snapping branches of trees. Whipping her arm as they flicked into the broken windows. The ground was so close now, she could see it. Then the car haulted abruptly amongst some thicker branches. She hit the wheel with a thud. Pain started to resinate from her chest where the wheel had impacted.

Autumn opened her pearly eyes to see through the broken windsheild that the car was suspended in the trees. She was facing down toward the ground and could make out the leaflitter and mushrooms growing amongst it on the forrest floor.

The tree groaned at the impact and as she thought the worst was over the thick branch snapped. The jeep plummeted into the ground a moment later and in the same fell swoop her head hit the wheel as the car righted itself onto all four wheels... or what was left of them.

Her vision faded to black. Death took its damn time to finally take hold, she thought as her mind faded into nothingness.

And the nothingness felt like it lasted for all eternity. Yet she was still there. Something was still present within her. A small consiousness remained as her body lay motionless in the drivers seat.

She heard chattering and chirping of birds, frogs and all sorts of insects arround her. It sounded almost like words and whispers as the noise amalgamated in the humid air. Now, this frustrated Autumn. She thought she had finally died after the whole ordeal. Maybe this was a good sign, maybe if she opened her eyes she would be in a bloody mess at the side of the road, still alive but barely breathing. Something tickled at her nose, like an itch she couldn't scratch without lifting her pained arms. Her eyelashes fluttered open and instantly she was blinded by a light infront of her eyes. This was the sort of thing paramedics did when seeing if someome was still alive... right? She blinked a few more times and it seemed to have gone away.

Of course she was still in her banged up car. And definately had a broken rib or two. Her head ached like it had been concussed and she didn't trust what she saw around her. Instead of the city she expected, it was a dense forrest with trees that towered up into the morning sky. The forrest floor was overrun by toadstools and mushrooms that were much too brightly coloured to be safe for consumption. And again that blindingly bright light shone back into her face.

"Stop playing around, I cant see!" She thrashed at the light and it fluttered away. What she thought was her brain still hallucinating close to death, she swore amongst the light she saw a face, was it a fairy? It must have just been a firefly. She looked around herself and unbuckled the seatbelt, pulled herself out of the vehicle and fought through the pain to brush the debris off of herself.

But the light returned to bug her again, and more revealed themselves from their hiding places. Before she knew it, Autumn was surrounded by hundreds of bright coloured insects. They fluttered their little wings fast like dragonflys... but these definately were not dragonflys. They had little human bodies between these powerful insectlike wings. But this was impossible. Fairies were make belive. Still her curious mind got the best of her. She started to approach the little white fairy that had woken her up. With outstretched arms and her palms open toward the creature, she slowly approached as not to scare it away. Her fingers cupped below the fairy and she held it in her palms like a glowing ball of light. It was beautiful, something from a fairytale... pun intended. Ironic that in her own hallucination, the only way she could describe the exact experience was with that of childlike make believe.

"What is your name little one?" She asked with the tilted head of a curious puppy. She didn't recieve any verbal reply but the little creature mimicked the head movement. "Look at me, talking to a trick of the eye. I must be going loopy."

The other little creatures around her drew in closer. Their own curiosity getting the best of them. For the fairies of Neverland had never seen a human arrive from the skys before. They thought she was a princess from the heavens arriving in a fireball from the stars. But... they were wrong.

"This is impossible." She looked around herself in wonderlust. "Fairies aren't real..."

Autumn watched as the fairy in her palms faded and dropped from its flight into her hands. Dead. Her brow crinkled together in confusion. "Little fae, are you alright?" She asked in vain.

She didn't notice but the winged creatures around her growled. Their teeth sharp and their eyes filled with rage.

In a flurry of movement she was swarmed. Gnashing teeth and stinging bites. They were like vicious wasps defending their nest. Around her face and ears they stung her. She dropped the lifeless form and her arms flailed about her head trying to swat the little creatures away. They were relentless with their attack. Bombarding her eyes with red and black dust that stung like pepperspray. She couldn't fend them off. So, she ran. Ran far into the forrests and away from their attacks. Her eyes were filled with tears and almost running into trees she had to feel her way through the forrest as the last few continued to bite her and attack. One particularly ravenous creature had a hold on the cartilage of her ear and it hurt more than a peircing gun. She recoiled from the pain and with her hand brushed the little bug off its deathgrip to the ground.

The fairy lifted itself off the fallen leaves at the forrest floor and flew back up to watch the woman running away, yelling cursed profanities of course, to the edges of the Neverwood. He taunted her with his tongue stuck out and left to return to his fallen sister.

Autumn found herself out of the forrest soon enough, the land around her had changed to a more tropical landscape. Ferns and Palm trees started to spring up around her and the moist forrest floor was begining to become sandy. She could not yet hear or smell the sea but she knew from the landscape that she was closer now than before. Back at her car... She didn't know if she would ever be able to find it again in that deep dark place, she had left everything but the clothes on her back and the phone in her pocket. Not when it was guarded by those little devilish creatures. She was reminded of the pain around her eyes and ears. Their little teeth had been daggers and she felt a lasting sting as if they had venom like fire ants. She thought by now the little buggers had left her to run away and she saught out a rock nearby to nurse the wounds from them and those she had gained from the crash. Her ribs and head ached internally. Pains that would have to heal on their own. Her arms covered in cuts from the shattered glass and little teeth marked puncture wounds covered her upper body.

She wondered again how she had come to this place. It was as if the universe had decided to grant that stupid offhanded wish. She didn't even put meaning into it, so how could it come true? To think she was even considering that the words she had said could cause some magical rip in space and time... No, she concluded. This was just some fever dream or drug induced coma as she was laying in a hospital bed. Perhaps this was the afterlife, some form of hell or purgatory. All of these possibilities rushed through her mind. To create some form of understanding. To assure herself that she wasn't going crazy. But everything felt so real. Especially the pain.

The bushes off to her left rustled. Her head snapped to attention. Crazy indeed. She swore she saw something in the corner of her eye, but now it was gone.

She pulled from her pocket a little metal and glass object. It was obviously her mobile phone. The screen switched on with a flick of her thumb.

No Service. No bloody service!

"You have got to be kidding me!" Why did the world hate her. In the one moment she was lost in all her life and there was no service. No rescue helicopter. Nobody to come save her.

The bush rustled again. This time was diffrent. She saw something between the fern leaves.

"'ello, Poppet..."

She shuffled back in shock. A beastly man with one eye and an overgrown greying beard pushed the shrub aside. Both his fake eye and teeth glistening with gold. Her pearly eyes glanced from his menacing grin down to something glinting from the ground. His hand on the sandy soil clutched a shining cutlass.

As he sprung up from the ground, Autumn dropped her phone and started to run. If she knew so far, everything was hostile, especially a man with a sword.

He started on his pursuit after her. Foot colliding with the delicate glass screen of the smart phone. It was left in his wake. Disturbed soil landing like snow around the broken device as the two rushed off into the palm jungle at speed.

A small boy, who had been tracking this woman from her flying machine, revealed himself from his hiding place. His hands reached down to the little cracked glass mirror. He had seen it light up before. This little magical device found its way into the pouch at his side for he would tell stories to the others of a woman from the skies, who kills fairies and talks to a magical mirror.