by Dash Hoffman
“Hold on, dear one. Hold on. You must stay calm. I know that this is important to you, but you have to remain calm, please. Now, why don’t you tell me what it is that you’re talking about? What happened while you were in the Neverland? Who is Britely?” Callie reached out and held on to Emma’s hand, stroking her finger along the back of it to soothe the little girl and try to keep her relaxed.
“She wasn’t in that place!” Liam snapped sharply. “There’s nothing to talk about! She needs to rest!”
Callie looked straight at him. “If she had a dream about it and she woke up worried, it will probably do her some good to talk it out so she can calm down.”
Liam’s shoulders sank and he nodded. “Fine.” He stood up and set his hands on his hips, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. “Fine. I’m going to go get some coffee. Talk it out. I don’t want to hear it. Just… don’t let her get upset. She needs to remain calm.”
He strode from the room, closing the door sharply behind him. It wasn’t until then that Emma continued.
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she was a little more at ease. She set her chocolate eyes on Callie and began to explain.
“Britely is a star. A baby star. It fell out of the Orion Nebula just after I got back to the Neverland, and we found it on the beach at the Mermaid Lagoon. I named it Britely. We saw that the little star was growing ill, being down out of the sky so far. It isn’t where it should be at all, and that was making it sick. I made a plan for us to borrow Hook’s ship and cover it in pixie dust and sail up to the Neverland sky so that we could put Britely back where it should be, and then it will be well again. Then it will be our Lost Star, just like the Lost Boys, and it will live in the Neverland with them forever. It will be the Neverland star!”
“That’s a wonderful plan!” Callie smiled at her and then gave her a curious look. “Just one question…”
The corner of Emma’s mouth turned up slightly. “How are we going to borrow that vile Captain Hook’s ship?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth.” Callie chuckled softly.
Emma smiled fully then, and lifted her chin proudly. “Well I played a little music on Peter’s pipes, and everyone said that it sounded just like him, so I said that we should trick Hook by playing the pipes on land, just at the edge of the Neverwood. Then Hook and his pirates would follow us into the forest, believing that Peter was playing his pipes in there, and we could take the ship and rescue Britely!”
Callie’s brows rose high. “Did you come up with all of that?”
Emma nodded. “I did. All of it.”
“Hook is never going to know what hit him! You are a very clever girl.” Callie laughed in admiration.
“That’s what Chance said too.” Emma sighed happily. “I just hope I get back soon. I have to get the boys and get the plan going! This is a terrible time to be gone!”
Callie looked sorrowfully at her. “I know just what you mean.” She thought for a moment and then gave Emma a curious look. “What if we did a little work here to practice putting stars up? That way you’ll be all ready when the time comes to take Britely up to the sky!”
“How will we do that?” Emma puzzled.
Callie rose from her chair. “Hang on and I’ll show you. I’ll be right back.”
She walked from the room, but she wasn’t three steps out of the door when Liam stopped her in her tracks.
“YOU!” He seethed at her.
Callie froze for a moment, surprised at his anger. She blinked and looked at him. His hair was wild; sticking out in several directions, his tie was loose and askew, his shirt was unbuttoned two buttons down from the neck, his clothes were severely rumpled, and she knew that he’d been in them for two days. They had both been waiting for Emma to wake up on her own. She’d been too ill for them to wake her themselves; she’d needed the rest.
“You haven’t stopped with the fairy story! I said you could read it to her once! ONCE! She’s got that book next to her all the time and she’s read it over and over again! She’s consumed by it! I told you right from the start that we needed to keep our feet on the ground and our heads out of the clouds, and you just waltz right in here and do whatever you want to! You don’t care at all for my rules! You’re going to have to! I am her father. I said no more fairy stories! That girl is very sick, and she cannot handle the stress and emotional trauma that comes with those fantasy books! She needs reality, not fantasy! She’s got enough to deal with fighting for her health, the last thing she needs is to get all worked up about some place and some people that aren’t even real! Can’t you see that? Can’t you see what really matters here? Or do you just not care?”
Callie struggled to remain calm, but she knew that it was for the best.
“I know very well that she’s sick, Liam, and I care a great deal for her. I happen to love her! I want her well just as much as you do, just as much as Josh, and all the rest of the people here do. I don’t want her stressed out and worried any more than you do. You gave your permission for her to read that book, and to learn about the stories in it, and she fell in love with it! You can’t stop her from doing that. It’s how she feels. It’s important to her. Very important. She doesn’t have many friends here, and certainly none her age, at least that she can see and play with. She’s simply using her imagination to be a strong, healthy girl in an imaginary world where she can be the child she wants to be here, playing with other kids and having fun adventures. She’s missing out on that here. Surely you can allow her to pretend that she’s having that kind of fun, even if it’s only in her imagination.”
Liam closed his eyes and dropped his head, sighing loudly. When he looked up at Callie again, she could see tremendous weariness hanging on him like a mantle of lead. It had shackled him, and he could not escape it.
“Look. I know you care about her. I’m sorry I said that. It’s just that as you’re well aware, I never allow us to lose sight of what’s really going on here; of the problems and challenges we’re all facing right now. We have to stay focused on getting her healthy, and nothing can get in the way of that. I am her father. I cannot let anyone or anything hinder her healing. I have to be the one to make sure that she comes out of this fully recovered. You have to understand that. I know how much she wants to play and run around like a normal kid. I get it. I do. But she’s not a normal kid right now, so unfortunately she can’t have that!”
“Not even in her imagination?” Callie asked quietly.
“Not when it makes her so emotional and upset!” Liam insisted.
“You know, it also makes her happy. Happier than anything else that I’ve seen. I know you’ve seen that too.” Callie’s tone was filled with kindness. She knew that she was going to have to reach Liam’s heart to help him see more clearly.
Liam opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking away. After a long, silent moment, he sighed quietly, and nodded.
“Yeah, I guess I have seen that.”
“All we’re doing is playing. That’s it. It’s just her way of playing, since she can’t really play any other way, especially since she’s gotten worse.” Callie hated saying it, but it was true. Horribly, awfully true.
Liam closed his eyes and nodded again. “Yeah.” He was quiet for a long minute. Finally he lifted both of his hands and raked them through his tangled mess of hair.
“Fine. I’ll let this go. Just be sure you keep her calm when you talk about that… that ridiculous place. Please. We cannot afford for her to have any kind of problems at all. None.”
Callie gave him a smile and set her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way. “I do understand, and Liam, I cannot imagine what you’re going through, but I am here now, and I’m going to continue to be here to support you both. I am her friend, and even if you don’t realize it, I am your friend too.”
He looked at her in silence, blinking back tears and then wiped his hand over his eyes.
“Thank
you.” He stepped away from her. “I’ll… I’ll be back in a bit.”
Liam turned and walked swiftly down the hall, and Callie let him go. She turned and went to the arts and crafts supply closet, to see what she could find for Emma and their new project.
Minutes later, she was back in Emma’s room with her hands full. She set everything down at the foot of the girl’s bed, where her feet were too short to reach, then she pressed the button to raise Emma’s bed up to a sitting position. She knew that Emma didn’t have the strength to sit up on her own for very long.
“Wow! What’s all that?” Emma craned her neck as much as she could.
Callie began to set it all on the rolling table that fitted over Emma’s bed.
“Scissors, paper, string, tape, markers, glue, tacks, and… some glitter.”
“What are we doing with all of that?” Emma reached her thin fingers out and delicately touched the paper and markers.
“We’re going to make stars to hang from your ceiling. That way you’ll have some practice for when you take Britely back, and there will be beautiful stars all over in here, to watch over you as you sleep.” Callie winked and gave her a big smile. Emma grinned.
“I love this idea. This is a good idea.” Emma replied happily, struggling to reach for a marker. With great effort, she drew a star on one of the pieces of paper and decorated it prettily. Then she cut it out and poked a hole in one point of it.
Tying an end of string through the hole, she doled out a few feet of length of the string, and then cut it.
Callie did the same, and they worked a while, creating stars of different shapes and sizes, tying them to various lengths of string.
“We’ve got so many stars that we’re running out of room here on your table!” Callie laughed, picking a few of them up. “I’m going to hang these while you keep making more.”
Emma looked up at her and paused in her cutting. “How many can we make?”
“We can make as many as you like, or as many as we can until we run out of paper. Whatever happens first.” Callie carefully laid several strings of stars over her shoulder as she moved her chair to the end of Emma’s bed.
Climbing up on it, she took one string and slid a tack through the end of it, and then pushed the tack into the ceiling. The string hung down three feet, and the star twirled and danced in the air as the string adjusted itself.
Callie moved to another spot and reaching up, she hung another star. So she went, moving her chair all over the room from one spot to another, pinning stars to the ceiling.
When she went ran out of her first batch of stars, she went back to the little table that Emma was working at. It was half filled again.
“Wow! You work fast!” Callie picked up more stars and strings.
“Wait!” Emma stopped her.
Callie looked back at her. “What is it?”
“This one is special. It’s like Britely. It’s the same size, and I tried to get it the same color, but I can’t really do that because Britely glows such a pretty shade of gold.”
In her hand, Emma held a small star that just fit in her palm. It had a long string on it, and it shimmered in the light, reflecting the glitter that covered it.
Emma touched it gingerly and then handed it with tender care to Callie. Callie smiled down at it. “Where shall I hang Britely?”
Looking around the room, Emma finally pointed to the ceiling very close to where their shadow of Peter Pan was taped to the window. “There, by Peter. They both belong in the Neverland.”
Callie moved the chair again and took great care in meticulously pinning the paper Britely’s string to the ceiling. The small star spun and sparkled in the light. Emma beamed.
“How does it look?” Callie asked over her shoulder.
“Perfect! It looks perfect. I love it. Thank you.”
Callie moved the chair and was pinning up another star when Liam walked into the room and stopped four feet in through the door.
He looked up and his eyes narrowed. “What on earth is all this? What are you doing?”
Callie went to him and handed him a star on a string.
“We’re playing, Liam. Why don’t you play with us? We’d love for you to join us.”
Emma stared wide-eyed at her father, breathlessly waiting to hear his response. He looked from Callie to Emma, and gazed at her sunken eyes and frail body.
With a heavy sigh, he nodded almost imperceptibly.
Callie and Emma shared a secret grin as Liam climbed up onto the chair and pinned the star to the ceiling. Callie handed more to him, and he worked silently until he’d hung the ones they had. Then he turned to them expectantly.
“Now what?”
Callie tipped her head toward the table over Emma’s bed. “You could come help us to cut out more stars.”
Liam looked away for a long moment and then nodded. Emma’s grin stretched all the way across her face as her father picked up the scissors and began to cut out a star.
The door opened again, and they all turned to see Joshua walk in. He stopped short in the middle of the room and burst out laughing. “That looks amazing! I love those!”
Emma smiled at him. “I love them, too. Would you like to make some with us Dr. J?”
“Oh definitely! I’d never pass up a chance to make stars! These are the best!” He pulled a chair to Emma’s bed and sat at her side.
“We have just enough time to get the last of the paper cut up into stars before I need to take you in for your tests and treatment. This is perfect timing. You couldn’t have planned it better.” Joshua chatted happily as he reached for scissors to cut out the stars he’d already drawn.
When Emma and Joshua were out of paper, and both of them had fingers sticky with glue and covered in glitter, Callie gave the last of the stars to Liam, who hung them.
The entire ceiling was covered. They looked up together, taking in the multitude of stars; some decorated with marker or crayon, some caked in glitter, some with four points, some with five, some with more than that. Many of them were in different colors and a few had all the colors together in a rainbow.
“It looks like magic! I love it.” Emma sighed blissfully, gazing at them.
“It really does look fantastic. I’m so glad you did this. You know Emma, your room is quickly becoming the best room on the whole floor.” Joshua gave her a nod of approval.
“We did such a great job!” Callie clapped her hands together proudly.
Emma turned her eyes to her father. Liam looked at each of them in turn and a small smile lifted at the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, I guess we did. That was… that was actually pretty fun, and it looks good.”
Callie and Josh both worked to conceal their surprise with big smiles, but Emma was the happiest to hear her father’s words.
Liam went to her and took her hand in his, then kissed her forehead. “You like it then?”
“Yes!” She crowed, though weakly.
Joshua moved a wheelchair to her bedside. “Now that we’re done making and hanging stars, we need to get cleaned up and go take care of medical business. Okay?”
With a quiet sigh, her shoulders drooped, and she nodded. “Okay.”
When their hands were clean, Joshua wheeled her from her room, and Callie found herself alone with Liam.
“Tea?”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
They went in silence to the cafeteria and found a table.
“Thank you.” He murmured, wrapping his hands around his cup.
“You’re welcome.” She answered quietly.
They did not speak for few minutes, and then Callie looked at him.
“Can I ask you something?”
“If you want to.”
“Why are you so against Emma enjoying any kind of fantasy thing?” Callie’s voice was even, and kind.
He sighed, meeting her gaze. “Because we are in a very serious place working together on a very serious situation, and neither one of
you seems to get that. Neither one of you wants to acknowledge it or pay it the due respect it deserves. This is no time and certainly no place for silly shenanigans. We have an obligation to keep our wits about us. To be sensible. Games and daydreams are for playgrounds and nurseries, this is a hospital for sick children, and it is absolutely not the atmosphere or proper place for any kind of lighthearted fantasy. There is gravity in this situation, and we must be ever mindful of it. The truth is the only thing that we can trust. Reality is the only thing we can trust. We can’t put our faith in anything else!”
She let him breathe for a few moments, and take a sip of his tea before she replied. “Well, I know it was a stretch for you to join us in making the stars, but I’m really glad that you did. It made a big difference for her.”
He raised a brow and stared at his tea. “I saw that. She was so… so happy. Nothing else here has made her that happy.”
“I think it was even more fun for her because you were a part of it.” Callie set a hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sometimes, even when things are very serious, and perhaps even moreso then, it’s good to find some relief in playing, in laughing, in little, simple joys.”
Liam nodded slightly. “You might have a point about that, I suppose.”
Callie didn’t say anything, but she smiled as she slipped her hand into her pocket. Her fingers brushed over something hard, and she remembered suddenly that Emma had given her the Neverland Compass to hold while she was off being tested. Callie pulled the compass out and held it in her open hand.
She turned it this way and that, mesmerized by the green sand that shifted and danced about with the movement. The wooden arrow turned slightly, always changing to point to the second star to the right.
Callie became lost in thought and didn’t notice that Liam was watching her.
“What is that thing? I’ve seen Emma wearing it almost constantly. She hardly ever takes it off, even when I try to insist.”
Callie smiled and handed it to Liam so he could see it properly. “It’s a compass.”
He frowned, squinting at it. “It doesn’t look like any kind of compass I’ve ever seen. There aren’t any kind of directions on it at all! How could this possibly be a compass?”
