Carter jerked awake, pulling his face off the desk in his great uncles study. A desk lamp was illuminated beside him, and a beam of moonlight cut through the window, spreading across the floor.
Otto purred beside him, licking his paws lazily.
"Otto?"
The cat looked up, cocked its head, then began licking himself once more. He looked around, papers and books were scattered around him, and a pen was clasped in his hand.

Ms Carson opened the door slightly.
"Oh, you're awake." She smiled. She wandered over and helped him out of his chair. "Now, off to bed with you. You were passed out on the floor by the window when I found you, and you can't expect me to carry you to the bedroom can you?"
"N-No ma'am." Carter mumbled. He spun around. "Where are the others? Did it work?"
The maid looked at him concerned. "The others dear?"
Carter looked around the desk. "The twins. And-and Felix and the Looking Glass."

Ms. Carson smirked at him. "I think you've been reading to many of your great uncles books before bed."
Carter stared at her for a moment.
"It was just a dream Carter." She said, taking his hand and leading him out of the room. "I can assure you there's no Looking Glasses around here. Unless you count the pair I use for reading."
She chuckled to herself, fondling with the glasses around her neck. After leading him into his bedroom, she turned around.
"I'll see you in the morning dear. Now get some rest."

Carter sat down on his bed.
"Just a dream." He muttered to himself. "It-It can't have been a dream."
He lay down, and Otto crawled onto his chest.
"You remember don't you?"
The cat stared at him with slender like yellow eyes.
"You could talk remember? Although I'm not sure that was a good thing."
Otto curled up in a ball on his owners chest and fell asleep. Carter gently lifted him off his chest and crawled under the sheets. Carter drifted off to sleep, his mind filled with the faces of people he longed to see again...

***

Carter awoke late the next morning, Otto still sleeping at his feet. He stumbled out of bed and slipped into some fresh clothes, remarking that the ones he was wearing seemed the same as the ones he'd left in, if a little bit dirty. Pushing open the door, he watched as his grandfather slid down the banister onto the landing at the bottom of the stairs. Shaking his head, Carter made his way down to the kitchen.

"Good to see you again." John said over his cup of tea.
"How um, how long have I been gone?" Carter asked, fiddling with his fork. John put down the newspaper.
"Gone?"
Carter swallowed. "You know. With the fireplace..."
John laughed. "What, when you fell over and hit your head? And quite a nasty cut you got on the tiles as well, I must remember to replace those... Still! Nothing some of Ms Carson's stitching won't fix!"
Carters hand moved to his face. Stitches were still holding his healing skin together.

"Bit-But I was gone for months." Carte insisted. "I spent one on the Jolly Rodger at least!"
John choked on his tea. "The Jolly Rodger?"
"The boys been in your brothers study again." Ms. Carson muttered, piling some pancakes onto Carters plate. "Fell asleep on a couple of his books."
John didn't look convinced, but made a -tsk tsk- sound. "Maybe it wasn't the best idea to have shown you that in the first place."
Carters grandfather wouldn't meet his eyes. Finally giving up hope, Carter ate his breakfast in silence.

A few days passed. Then a few weeks. Carter watched the calendar as his parents arrival grew ever closer. After that he could be taken back to the countryside for more homeschooling.
Yay.
He thought, staring into the burning logs of the fireplace. His eyes made their way back to the notepad he was clasping. The recently coloured in button eyes of Felix the scarecrow shone up him from the page, the ink from his pen still wet. Carter sighed. After all this time, he couldn't quite get his drawings to look right. He was by no means a good artist, but they all came just short or their real, or not so real counterparts.

John sat down. "The scarecrow again?" He asked. "Or the girl."
"Fe-The scarecrow." Carter sighed. He scribbled a small spiral at the bottom left corner. Tilting his head slightly, he scribbled beside it- Rabbit hole.
"You said it to me earlier." John said, bringing Carter back to reality. "The idea such places could exist is..." He paused, looking at his feet. "Pretty crazy."

"But it felt so real." Carter continued. "I can remember it all so vividly."
"Maybe that's a good thing." John sighed. "A dream of a another land that you can use to escape reality."
Carter looked up. "But, you've been there haven't you? To Neverland?"
John looked at his grandson. "It-It's just a story Carter."
"You don't sound convinced."
Before John could respond, there was a knock on the door. Carter stood up.
"I'll get it."

He looked through the spy hole to see nothing but the street outside. There was a brief movement just out of view. Closing his hand around the lock, Carter opened the door.
"Can I help you?"
A large black silhouette stepped forwards trying to enter, before tripping over the doormat. He hit the floor with a soft thud. The figure rolled over. Carter looked from his sketchbook, to the figure. The same button eyes stared up at him.
Felix smiled with his ripped stitch mouth.
"Did you miss me?"

To be continued...