Phantasmagoria
The Never From Neverland

''Hello?Are you alright?'' I ask the strange bandaged man. It might help if Iseem friendly; maybe he won't attack me or something. I wait a whileto see if he is going to respond, but he is deadly silent. Not apeep.

''Whoare you?'' I ask another question. I wait again, but he seems to keep'looking' at me. Maybe I should try and shake his hand? I move closerto him, slowly, and stretch out my hand towards him to show him Imean him no harm. Hopefully, he will reciprocate.

''Hey,I'm Nash, Nash Williams,'' I introduce myself with a smile as Iextend my hand to him. I can see by his eyebrows that he seemsquite...cross.

Did Ido something wrong?

Ifollow where his line of sight is, and I watch him carefully as helooks down at my hand. Oh, no wait, at the ground. Oh, at the rabbit.Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about the rabbit. I watch the man stare atit in a weird way, and then all of a sudden, in quick movements, hepicks it up, holds it behind in a stance as if he is ready to throwit, and...

''No,wait, don't!'' I shout at him but it's too late. He chucks the rabbitclear over my head and I watch it helplessly fly through the air. Iknow it's going to hit a wall or something, and I begin to look down,not wanting to see its demise. But as I begin to hang my head, I seea flash of light sparkle above my head, and then I look in amazementas I see where I was once standing in a place of darkness illuminateand reveal a grand looking room.

It isa library, I think. There are tons of books lined up everywhere onshelves around me, and the ceiling is covered in wallpaper. A whitewallpaper patterned with blue rabbits.

Thesame rabbit that was used as a projectile a moment ago.

Well,at least he didn't die in vain.

Thefloor beneath me is carpeted in a burgundy, floral design. You know,the type you see in English Victorian era shows. And there is amahogany table to my left. It has a chair facing backwards, and itlooks as if someone is sitting in it. The strange blind-seeing mancatches my attention again as I see him stride over to the table andnod to the back of the chair. I stand and watch carefully as thechair swivels around to reveal a brunette-haired woman sitting inthe chair, her wavy hair tucked to the side in a Hollywood actressfashion. She looks like Jessica Rabbit.

''He'sa Never,'' the woman speaks in a formal English accent. I notice hereyes have golden irises. They sparkle when she speaks. I realise sheis referring to the weird man with bandages. The man turns to faceme. I nod in acknowledgement.

''What'sa Never?'' I ask the mysterious woman.

''Neverscome from Neverland,'' she answers me. I didn't ask where they camefrom, I asked what they are.

Wait,she said Nevers.

Thatmeans there's more than one of these guys.

''Arethey dangerous?'' I ask her. She smiles at me with that same smileMathilde and the twins would give me when they knew somethingsecretive and didn't want to tell me.

''If Iwant them to be,'' she responds.

Great,so she controls these 'Nevers'. I'm ready and waiting for when thisone pounces then.

''Whathappens now?'' I ask her. Obviously there's a challenge involvedhere. The woman looks at me intently, pushes her seat away from thetable, then gets up slowly and walks around to the front of it. I seeshe's wearing a dark brown strapless dress that reaches the floor. Ithugs her figure as she moves. She's wearing heels, but I can't seethem. She's obviously made herself like this to entice me. But itwon't work.

She'snot real.

Hannahis.

''Youget to decide what happens now, Mr Williams,'' the woman says.

''Ido?'' I ask her, slightly astounded.

I havecontrol of the challenge now?

''Ofcourse, Ihave control of whereyour challenge takes place, but it is youwho decides whatyourchallenge is, and howyou winit,'' the woman explains. I get to decide what I do? And how I do it?Well, I'm glad I get more freedom. I hated doing that stupid VerbalCompendium.

''Whoare you?'' I ask her, as a final question. She stares at me, and thenshe begins to come closer to me. She comes right up to my face, and Ifear she may kiss me. I purse my lips together so that she gets themessage.

''Youknow who I am, you just need to take a closer look,'' she says as shearrests my eyes. She forces me to look deeper into her golden eyes,and as I look closer, I can see two small girls waving at me. Theright eye has a girl with a red ribbon in her blonde hair, and theleft eye has the same girl with a blue ribbon...

Oh,it's the twins.

Thiswoman isthe twins.

''You'reMarigold and Marzipan...in one?'' I ask to her.

''I'man avatar; so we can be whoever we want to be,'' the woman says witha smile. These girls are way scarier than Mathilde.

Theavatar rests her head to the side, looks at me, then looks out of awindow to her right.

''Oh,look at that! It is time to start your challenge!'' the woman says asI join her gaze and see that Mathilde's put up the countdown already.

''Takehim to Neverland,'' the avatar announces as she goes back to sit downin her chair.

Mychallenge is to get the Never to Neverland? I'm confused.

''Idon't know how to get there,'' I tell her.

''Iwasn't talking to you, Mr Williams,'' she says to me.

Oh, Ithought she was.

Shegives a look of command at the Never, who nods in response and turns.He walks over to me and forcefully grabs me by the arm.

''Hey,you're hurting me!'' I yell at him as he drags me towards the window.I glance at the countdown and see it is already down to 3 seconds.

''Havefun, Mr Williams!'' the avatar waves and smiles at me before theNever shoves me through the large window.

''AAAAHHH!''I scream as I burst through it.

Ishould be used to this now.

Fallingdown.

But Istill get tense.

Andscared.

Andlonely.

Down Igo.

Waitingfor impact.

Waitingfor Neverland.