Pain; complete and utter agonizing pain was all that he could feel, it pulsed in his veins and sent white hot spikes up his spine with every slight movement. Felix groaned into the dirt beneath him. He struggled to open his already swelling eyes, but quickly gave up when it sent another wave of pain through his body. Felix was used to the punishments his father dealt. He deserved to be punished, he was a freak and it was only natural that his Father punish him for being the way he was, but there was always a small voice in the back of his head that told him this was wrong but Felix was quick to stomp down that pitiful thought. Those thoughts always brought out defiance in him, it would make him talk back to his Father, make him say things he knows he shouldn't and in retaliation his Father would try to beat the defiance out of him. He would always think of new and brutal ways to torture Felix, every punishment was always worse than the last. He doesn't know how much more of this he can take, he just wants all the pain to go away. He wants his Mother to hold him close and run her fingers through his hair and tell him everything was going to be alright, but she wouldn't even look at him anymore, Felix didn't exist in her eyes.
A sob ripped it's way from his throat. He bit down on the pale flesh of his knuckles, trying to stifle the sound encase his Father was to hear his pitiful cries and come to punish him further. "Well aren't you a mess," a chipper voice said with glee. Felix head shot up but he couldn't make out anything past his eyes that were now swollen shut. The movement caused yet another surge of pain to race through his body. Felix whimpered from between clenched teeth. It sounded pitiful even to his own ears. "Oh, you're in pain, here let me help." A gentle hand came to rest upon his cheek. Felix flinched under the sudden touch, he tried to scurry away, whimpering in fear at the pain that was sure to follow the touch. No one touched him anymore, not unless he was receiving a beating from his Father or one of the village men had taken a liking to him and they paid for his services. Their touches always made him sick. They were rough and demanding, they touched him in places that made him shiver in disgust and stretched him open without a care; they didn't bother with his pleasure, they just took whatever they could and threw him away like trash when they were done. There were nights when he could not move. Blood caked the insides of his thighs, it stained his pants and clung to his pale skin as he struggled to walk home, knees buckling with every step. Nothing, not even his Fathers beatings could rival the agony the village men inflicted on him once he was locked inside their houses under the cover of darkness.
A soothing voice shook him from his thoughts. They were humming, low and gentle as their fingers traced soothing patterns against his swollen cheek. A tingling spread along his cheeks and down throughout his body. The aching slowly died away, replaced by the gentle tingling. The swelling on his face soothed, becoming nothing but numbness that settled across every inch if his face. Felix blinked uncertainly up at the strange boy who was crouched down over him. He had shaggy brown hair, pale skin and green eyes filled with such wonder. Felix reached up a shaky hand. He dragged his fingers along his unmarked skin, there were no more bruises or swelling, nothing to show the torture he had just endured. "Who are you?" he whispered brokenly. There weren't any doctors he had heard of that could heal like this boy had. Felix whimpered at the realization that this boy could do more harm to him then any of the villagers ever could. "The names Peter Pan," he grinned. His gentle hands left Felix face and the boy, barely older than he fell back into the dirt beside him. His skin felt cold without the warm fingers tracing his skin, he tried to squash his vulgar thoughts down, reminding himself that this boy could kill him. "I-I am Felix." Peter hummed dismissively.
Felix laid there in silence beside the boy; Peter, staring up at the night sky, the twinkling stars looked like a thousand tiny gems shinning down at him from above. "Aren't the stars beautiful?" Peter said, is words echoing Felix's thoughts.
"Yes," he answered simply.
"You'd like where I come from, I'm from a place far, far away from here where the stars shine bright all day long and you never ever have to grow old," Peter said rolling onto his side. He gazed down at Felix with wide eyes. A smile began to creep along his pale skin as he noticed the brief flicker of hope deep within Felixs' eyes, "I can take you there now, you'll love it, Felix, I promise. It's a place of freedom. Adults can't step foot in Neverland, neither can girls. It can just be the two of us forever, we'll fight off pirates during the day and bathe in the mermaids lagoon,"
"Pirates…and mermaids?" Felix asked timidly. They didn't exist, they were silly little fairy-tales told to small children, "they don't exist."
"They do so!" Peter screeched. He leant in closer to Felix until their noses were pressed firmly against each other. He glared down at the younger boy, his eyes became cold and hard, the childlike wonder and joy that had been dancing within his eyes was now gone, replaced by something Felix could only describe as pure evil but just as quickly as the darkness had enveloped his features it was gone and Peter was moving back. He sat back on his heels, his eyes never leaving Felix, "Neverland is a place filled with magic," he said softer this time. Felix pushed himself up slowly, his entire body was still shaking with fear. He didn't know whether to be more afraid of the boy before him or his Fathers reaction if he were to scream for help.
"Magic exists all around us, all you have to believe and whatever you want will come true,"
"Whatever I want?" Peter nodded enthusiastically, "Like…a whole chocolate cake?" Felix whispered. Peter snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye a chocolate cake appeared before Felix on a silver platter, it was lathered in chocolate frosting with cream piled high along the edges, bright red cherries topped the mountains of cream. Felix could feel his mouth water as he gazed upon the treat. He has never tried the sweetness of chocolate before, boys like him were not allowed sweet things, he was only given the scrapes not good enough for the pigs. Felix glanced up at Peter with wide eyes, he could not believe what he was seeing, he must be dreaming because surely magic is not real. "How did you do that?" he whispered
"Magic," Peter answered simply, "and there is plenty more where that came from, I can conjure us up a castle to live in, gold threaded clocks and crowns covered in ruby's and all of the chocolate cake you could possibly want. All you have to do is say you believe,"
"what's the catch?" it sounded too good to be true and Felix knew from experience that if something sounded too good to be true it usually is.
"No catch, like I said before, come to Neverland, stay there with me forever and get everything you could possibly want, sounds like a good deal to me," Peter said. He held out his hand towards Felix and wiggled his fingers as a devilish grin spread across his face, "I can't wait around forever, whats it going to be?"
"I believe," Felix whispered.
A dark shadow slammed into his side painfully, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and lifted him high into the air. Felix screamed in terror, his blunt nails clawed at the dark, shadowy arms that held him tight but they did not even flinch. He could hear Peter laughing, from somewhere below but the murky darkness of the night sky made it impossible to make out his form. His insides twisted with a feeling all too familiar; fear. What had he just agreed to?
