Chasing the Hook

I am the crocodile of Neverland. Not many remember me, and perhaps it’s better that way. I exist in the shadows, unnoticed, until the ticking begins. The never-ending infuriating fucking ticking.  It wasn’t always like this. I was a man, a sailor, a wanderer who traveled far and wide across the seas, seeking adventure, and riches. Like all things in Neverland, it seems my fate was written long before I had any say in the matter. 

As the storm falls behind and my ship settles in the Neverseas, the silence is deafening. The waves, once violent and furious, now calm, like a breath held in suspense. I stand at the edge of the deck, the salty wind tugging at my long dirty blonde hair. Cheers from my crew break the silence as they dance and jump around. “ Captain Magnus you did it! We made it to Neverland!” I've never seen Sammy so thrilled to be anywhere. A smile fills his face, something rarer than any treasure we've ever sought.  I can't help but grin, feeling the rush of accomplishment. Neverland, it's more than just a place, it's the accumulation of years of searching, countless storms, and a thousand close calls. But here we are.

"That’s it, boys!" My voice cuts through the noise, rallying them to attention. "We’ve earned this moment. Let’s make it count!"

The crew quiets, still grinning, ready for the next chapter. Sammy, usually the quiet skeptical one, slaps me on the back. "Never thought I'd see the day." His voice filled with awe. The force of his slap catches me off guard, throwing me off balance as I stand near the edge of the deck. Before I can regain my footing, I tumble over the side and into the waters below. The cold saltwater wraps around me, pulling me under, as if trying to swallow me whole.

I push myself up from the depths, gasping for air, only to see my crew leaning over the edge, their faces painted with fear, eyes wide as they wait to see if I’m alright. The tension breaks as we all burst into laughter. But the joy is short-lived.

"Captain, look out!" Sammy screams, his finger shaking pointing to the right of me.

I turn just in time to see an enormous crocodile charging toward me, its eyes locked on me.  I thrust my arm out, hoping to fend it off. But the beast is faster, its massive jaws snapping open just before it clamps down on my hand, sinking its teeth deep into my flesh. Pain erupts through me, and for a moment, all I can do is grit my teeth. The crocodile twists, its immense strength tearing through my wrist as it rolls, dragging my body with it. The water, once the purest shade of blue, now shifts to a deep crimson, my blood mixing with the ocean as I struggle to stay conscious. I’m falling in and out of the murky red, every breath a fight, my vision fading as I try to hold on to the last threads of life. The air fills with the sharp crashes of gunshots, the sound of bullets ricocheting off the water like angry bees buzzing past my head. 

He swims off but not before taking my hand with him. I fade into the darkness of death leaving behind my crew, my purpose. All the time wasted trying to emerge from the bottom is stolen from me just like that. 

At least that’s what I thought. 

A strange tug in my chest brings me back. The cold, dark depths of the sea aren’t where I expected to wake, but here I am, in the shadowy void of something that doesn’t quite feel like life. The pain from my severed hand is gone, replaced by an eerie calm that sends a shiver through my being.

I open my eyes to find myself floating just above the surface of the water, bobbing like a buoy. The world around me is muted, bathed in a strange, unnatural twilight. The horizon stretches endlessly, neither day nor night, with no stars to guide me.

What the…?

Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The sound pierces the silence like a knife. I twist frantically, searching for the source of the incessant ticking. It’s faint at first, then louder, reverberating through my skull. It gnaws at my sanity, each beat more insistent than the last, like a clock winding down to some terrible conclusion.

I thrash, disoriented, trying to make sense of my surroundings. As I move, something enormous slices through the water behind me—a tail. My tail. It lashes violently, sending shockwaves rippling across the surface.

Panic grips me. My body feels foreign, heavy, and unyielding. I lurch back, the motion triggering a massive splash that erupts around me, larger and more forceful than anything I should be capable of. The surface of the water trembles, ripples distorting the image beneath.

And then I see it.

It’s me.

But it’s not.

The reflection staring back at me is a monstrous creature. Jaws lined with jagged teeth gape open in confusion. A cold, reptilian gaze peers out from sunken eyes. The crocodile’s form is unmistakable, but the horror within those eyes—that’s mine.

No… this can’t be.

I thrash again, hoping to wake from the nightmare, but the creature in the water moves with me, perfectly synchronized. A roar escapes my throat, though it’s no longer the voice of a man—it’s a deep, guttural bellow that vibrates through the sea itself.

I’m a crocodile.

The very creature that ended my life.

Neverland gave me a second chance, but why? Why curse me with the form of the beast that killed me? My thoughts race, tangled with panic and rage.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

The maddening sound grows louder, more insistent, as though it knows my fear and feeds on it. The noise isn’t just around me—it’s within me, echoing through my mind, my bones, my very being.

It drowns out everything else: the sea, the wind, even my own thoughts.

I’m trapped in this monstrous body, bound to this eternal ticking.

What is this place?

What have I become?

As the realization sinks in, I stare into the water, my reflection staring back with unblinking eyes. The ticking doesn’t stop—it never stops. It hammers away, relentless and cruel like a clock counting down to a fate I cannot escape.

I am the crocodile of Neverland.

And I am cursed.

***

A month has passed, and I feel my sanity slipping away. The ticking gnaws at me, relentless and maddening, drowning everything else out until I can no longer tell where I end and the sound begins. I don’t understand any of this—why I’m here, why I’ve become this… this thing. My mind, once sharp and clear, is now clouded with confusion, unable to grasp any answers. My thoughts spiral into darkness, consumed by questions I can’t answer.

The sound of my own breath is drowned by the ticking. It’s in my bones, in the very marrow of my being. Tick-tock, tick-tock, like the winding of some twisted clock. I can feel the rhythm of it in my scales, pulsing in time with the hollow thrum of this strange, cursed existence. The days blur into one another, each one indistinguishable from the last.

As I glide through the waters, something catches my eye. My heart—or whatever remains of it—stirs with an unfamiliar sensation, something between dread and hope. There, cutting through the mist is a ship. Its outline is hauntingly familiar. It’s my ship, or at least it should be.

The memory of my former life floods back—of the creaking timbers beneath my feet, the salty air filling my lungs, the familiar faces of my crew, and the thrill of command. My ship, my crew, my life... all gone. Taken from me. My heart twists as the image of the weathered hull materializes before me, dragging memories I had buried or tried to. But it’s not just the ship that stops me in my tracks.

No, it’s the figures standing on its deck that freeze me.

There, at the helm, stands a man with a hook for a hand, his long black hair whipping in the wind. He stands tall, commanding, his back straight, his eyes sharp. The authority he exudes is undeniable. But it's wrong. It's wrong. This was my ship. My place.

I don't have to search far before I see him, Sammy. My first mate. My ally. My brother in arms. He stands beside the man, a man I know all too well now. The world tilts beneath me. Sammy. He’s here. He’s on my ship. At the side of another captain. Betrayal cuts through me, deep and savage, twisting inside me like a knife.

“Captain Hook,” Sammy says, his voice steady and confident, “Pan is on his way here. What do you need me to do?”

Captain Hook. The name rings in my ears, hollow and distant, drowned out by the ticking that still beats through my mind like a drum. My blood boils. The world narrows down to a pinpoint of rage.

It isn’t just my ship he’s taken, it’s everything I was. My crew. My legacy. My very soul. The ship was more than wood and sails to me. It was my freedom, my future. Now it’s his. It’s all his. And I’m left with nothing but this maddening, cursed body, this crocodile shell that holds the remnants of what I used to be.

Rage bubbles up from the depths, primal and unrelenting. I sink lower into the water, my body rippling with fury. My mind churns, a torrent of grief and anger. What has Neverland done to me? And what am I now, if not the captain of my own ship? What is left of me?

Hook’s attention shifts. His gaze tears away from Sammy and lands on me, a look of recognition. Or is it terror? His eyes widen in horror. A high-pitched scream rips from his throat as he stumbles back, pointing a trembling hook in my direction.

He can hear it too.

The ticking.

"No! I’m not going back!" Hook’s voice cracks with desperation as he stumbles back, his panic so palpable that it nearly drowns out the ticking for a moment. “You can’t make me!”

Go back?

The words hit me like a thunderclap. Confusion crashes into my rage, and I feel something snap inside of me. What does he mean, go back? And then, it hits me. The realization slams into me like a tidal wave.

He did this. He was the crocodile that bit me. That man stole my life, and now I’m cursed to live as the very beast that ended it. His voice, his fear—it rips through me like a blade. You son of a…

A deep, guttural roar rips from my throat, drowning out the sound of the ticking for a moment. The water churns around me, swirling violently as I surge closer to the ship. My fury is a storm, a fire that courses through me, my mind ablaze with the realization of what’s been stolen from me. My vengeance is now the only thing that matters.

The ticking still pounds in my ears, relentless. But now it fuels me. The sound of it becomes the sound of my rage, the beat of my heart as I close the distance between us. I don’t know why Neverland brought me back, but one thing is clear: this man, this captain, stole everything from me. He took my ship. My crew. My legacy. And now, he’ll pay.

Day after day, year after year, I’ve waited. I’ve watched. I’ve hunted. But still, I remain one step behind. Every time I think I’ve closed the distance, every time I think I’m within reach, he slips away, mocking me with each narrow escape.

The waters have become my prison. The ticking is my only companion, a constant reminder of my failures, my fury, and the cursed existence I’ve been forced into. I’ve torn through storms, sunk ships, and terrorized these seas in pursuit of him, yet it’s never enough. He knows I’m coming. He always knows. And still, I can’t stop.

I’ve lost track of time. The days blur together, the years fade into endless tides. The hunt is all that remains—an obsession, a thirst for vengeance that gnaws at me like the ticking of the clock.

I’m always one step behind. Always just out of reach. But I swear, someday… someday, he’ll have nowhere left to run.