'…It's…it's all make believe, right?'
A groan escaped my lips as I pulled my eyelids apart, blinking harshly trying to adjust my eyesight. I jolted up from slouching and snapped my gaze in all different directions, trying to make sense of it all. I was in a sea of children, either my age or slightly older than myself, they were all bound at the wrists and ankles with rope; it wasn't until I looked down at myself that I noticed I was in exactly the same position. I then looked at the wider picture; we were in a cage, I couldn't see out of the strong bamboo bars because they were covered with a large piece of fabric. The sounds of weeping, sobs and pleas for help pierced my ears and made me want to cry myself. I had been taken. It was unknown who had taken us or what they wanted with us but with the way we were being treated it did not seem pleasant. Not one bit. I breathed deeply and slowly trying to stay calm even though I knew there was no hope at all to stay calm, there had to be at least twenty of us crammed into the cage. The shuddering of the bottom of the cage made it clear we were on the move. I squirmed beneath the bonds that restricted me from attempting to escape, but it obviously led to no avail. I began trying to shift my hands out from the ropes, trying to squeeze them through the binds but the rough fibres cut and burned my skin. The contraption we were on stopped with a jolt. We were all tossed to the side and then whipped back, I was deeply scared of the outcome we were being led into. I thought it was going to be certain death. The cover was lifted from the cage and I quickly lapped up the surroundings; a dark forest, not just any forest, it was unearthly. Massive trees loomed up close to outer space, there were strange noises coming from the vast greens and odd glows and shimmers that glistened in between the leaves.
Two boys with dark hoods that covered their faces opened the cage doors, of course none of us could move. The two boys began carrying people out of the cage; the children kicked and screamed, crying for their families, the older children fought as best as they could but they only merely shook their shoulders, nothing too rebellious. I was one of the few left in the cage, it was my turn to be lifted out but I was not leaving without a fight. One came and tried to lift me up but I squirmed away, he tried again but I tried to kick him in the shin. He called over his partner for assistance and when one attempted to pick me up by my tied arms I snapped my jaw at him, managing to nip and draw blood on his wrist. 'Stupid bitch!' He hissed and went to kick me in the side until there was a piercingly loud whistle that nearly burst my ear drums.
'Lads, Pan does not want the new recruits injured or beaten. Pan himself will decide if punishment is needed, for now your job is to get them out of this hell hole and onto the forest floor.' Pan? As in Peter? I looked up at the boy who saved me from a good kicking, he was one of the oldest here, about eighteen I guessed. His hair was a silky dark brown and his murky brown eyes seemed cold, his jaw was clenched and gave him a no nonsense look. He wore a tight, brown shirt with snug black trousers and scruffy brown boots that had been made from tattered old leather, his belt held a long sword that was on full show as a warning to anyone who wanted to cross him. 'Now, hurry up!' The two of them roughly thrust me into their grip and dumped me onto the muddy floor with all the other "recruits" as we were called.
'What do you think they want?' A girl beside me whispered, her voice trembling. I gawked at her beauty, her fiery red hair went down to her waist, her eyes were a clear crystal blue and her pointed features gave her a pixyish look.
'I-I don't know…' I uttered to her, she sighed and I saw a tear roll down her cheek. 'Don't cry, don't give them the satisfaction of that.' I said to her quietly, she nodded slowly and rubbed her cheek against her shoulder, wiping away the tears that stained her face. Her close fit, lilac tank top showed off her porcelain skin and smooth collar bone, she wore skinny jeans which boasted the length of her lean legs. She made me feel like a scruffy mess even though she was in something far more casual than I was. I had been at a party before I was taken; I was wearing a black leotard, the sleeves came down to my elbows, and a black chiffon skirt. I wished I had her outfit on now, what I was wearing would be no good to run in and would be ripped to shreds in no time by the cruel forest.
'I'm Sophie…' She whispered and looked up at me with her pleading blue eyes. I didn't exactly want to make friends or introduce myself whilst being kidnapped but I figured she was in exactly the same position and if this was a means of comfort to her then so be it.
'I'm Anya.' I said to her and she gave a weak smile. Our introduction was interrupted by more youth emerging from the trees, each had a sharp knife, Sophie began sobbing. Her sobs made my heart begin to race and the knives glimmered in the moonlight. I was absolutely done for. I would not see my parents again or my annoying brother. One hooded boy stepped closer to me, and knelt down so he was my height from where I had been chucked on the ground. He slowly slid the knife towards my skin, I winced and shut my eyes tight, however I could not feel the blade against my skin. Instead my bonds were broke from my wrists. The boy then moved to my ankles and cut the thick rope off of them, he turned to Sophie and began to cut her bonds. I rubbed my wrists with my soft, cool hands; they were raw and sore from the harsh rope and my attempts to get out of them. I had a good look at our surroundings; we were in a clearing, to be more specific, a campsite. A roaring fire burned in the middle of the clearing and a few hammocks were drawn up against some of the trees, a few tents dotted around in the trees that surrounded the clearing, torches were dug into the ground and illuminated the dark edges of the forest surrounding us. Once we were all cut free there was silence, until we were all commanded to stand to our feet. The boy who had saved me from being beaten to a pulp then stood before us all, he was joined with another boy who was tall and lean with light blonde, unkempt hair, a thick scar running across his face. The blonde held a deadly looking club that he casually slung over his shoulder.
'I believe you are all due a warm welcome to Neverland.' Neverland… I thought that was a myth, some silly little story, it couldn't be real, surely? So before when he mentioned Pan he was talking about the Peter Pan. 'I am Cas, and I will be the one dealing with you new recruits, preparing you for our leader Pan.' The dark haired boy, Cas, said in a confident yet cold tone. 'You will not know your use here until you have been assessed by us and most importantly by Pan, but all of you will now be a part of this… family.' He smirked and chuckled. 'You have all been brought here because you are lost, orphaned, unloved…' Excuse me? I was not lost, most certainly not an orphan and definitely not unloved, my parents cared too much if anything. I was in the wrong place. This was clearly some mistake… they had to take me back now, I was not supposed to be here, no, my family were waiting for me back home. I ran a hand through my hair and breathed deeply, would they let me go? The thought of being stuck here made my skin crawl; the fact that my family would be waiting for me, worried sick, I told them I would be back before midnight. I could not stay here, I had to go, even if that meant escaping. I shook myself out of my thoughts, realising I had missed whatever this Cas boy had been babbling on about. The blonde boy then spoke.
'I have one simple warning from Pan to all of you: any attempts of escape will result in fatal punishment.' This one did not give his name but he looked terrifying even though he was smiling. His smile was smug and cold, the scar across his face was a proud mark of his experience in fighting possibly, this one was not to be messed with. His warning from Pan put my ideas of going home in the dark. 'Of course if you do attempt to escape you won't get far… this island is far away from your home- such a small island… we will sniff you out like a pack of dogs.' He was right, where the hell would I go once I got away? But if there was a way here there was a way back surely. 'I'll leave you to it.' He disappeared into the dark forest leaving Cas and the other inhabitants of Neverland with us new recruits as we were called. Cas began talking quietly to the Neverland dwellers who had cut us all free, after minutes of conversation with them he approached us recruits for what he had previously mentioned "assessments". Others began talking quietly amongst themselves, Sophie then turned to look at me.
'What do you think they will make us do as recruits?' She bit her lip, her blue eyes full of worry.
'I'm not sure, maybe hunt?' I shrugged, the legend of Peter Pan was told differently by my grandfather and he only told it once, he said once was enough. The version I was told was that Peter Pan was an immortal boy who kidnapped children, forced them to fight and terrorised his lost boys with cruel ruling. Of course the version that was more widely accepted was the one which portrayed him to be a kind boy with lovable arrogance who never wanted to grow up and who heroically fought bad pirates.
'W-what do you think Pan is like?' She stuttered nervously, looking to see where Cas was and then glancing back at me.
'He doesn't seem friendly with that threat we all received.' I uttered as I stared at Cas feeling a boy's biceps and nodding his head in approval, the boy he was assessing looked somewhat… proud? As if he was happy that he seemed like a good recruit.
'I thought Neverland was meant to be a happy place, I thought Pan would be nice and kind, heroic. This place is cold, dark, and he wants to kill anyone who doesn't obey. Anya this can't be Neverland…' Sophie shook her head and her gaze bore into me, she had obviously heard the fairy tale version of Peter Pan. I got no such version, the rather scary legend of him was barely spoken of in my household and even my own father knew next to nothing of Peter Pan. We were never allowed any books on Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, the safest option of a story we were given was The Water Babies.
'I was told a different version of Peter Pan as a child…' I exhaled and Sophie narrowed her eyes, urging me to continue. Before I could Cas approached her.
'Just a quick look.' He said to Sophie in a sweet, charming manner. He looked into her eyes and nodded as he commanded her to look left and right, he looked up and down and her height, commenting on what a good and healthy physique she had. Cas then started small talk with her, I saw her shoulders relax and she looked like she felt a lot more comfortable, I even saw a small smile on her delicate pink lips.
'What's your name?' Cas asked as he approached me for my assessment. He clutched my chin between his thumb and forefinger as he examined my face, angling it up to meet his penetrating gaze.
'Anya…' I muttered with a bitter taste of hate in my mouth and he smiled adding a light laugh.
'Beautiful.' He said. 'I'm just going to do a physical examination, nothing scary or uncomfortable.' I frowned as he tilted my face from side to side, humming in approval, jotting down mental notes I presumed. He was wrong… it was uncomfortable. He tapped his knuckle on my lips gently, 'open up.' He ordered but I narrowed my eyes, shaking my head. 'It's just a quick look for any disease like scurvy.' He chuckled, I hesitantly parted my mouth and he stuck his fingers inside, opening up my jaw. 'All seems healthy, a few fillings but nothing wrong.'
'Since when does health matter so much?' I uttered coldly as he felt the muscles on my arms, there was not much there at all. 'Especially to the likes of Peter Pan.' Cas looked up at me with a firm gaze.
'You are not to call him Peter.' Cas stated, he clenched his jaw and quickly moved onto a different topic. 'Health matters because you are our new recruits; you will inhabit and help us protect the island, we need you to be strong or at least good enough for defence.' Protect the island from what? If it needed protection from anything it was Pan and his bunch of kidnappers. 'Someone as healthy as you would be put to good use.' Cas glanced up from feeling the pulse in my wrist and smiled in a suave mannerism.
'Yeah… about this situation I think you have the wrong person.' I exhaled and looked at his handsome features as they lit up and he laughed to himself, shaking his head.
'We get that a lot. I'm not meant to be here, take me back, I'm not the person you want, same old same old.' He smiled mockingly and looked into my amber eyes. 'Everyone is here for a reason Anya.' He uttered quietly in his soft, treacle like voice. 'And I think you'll quite enjoy it here.'
'No, you don't understand… I'm not an orphan.' I urged and he shrugged, from his nonchalant attitude I could tell I wasn't the only person here who wasn't an orphan.
'Abusive parents?' He raised an eyebrow as he took a step back, looking me up and down.
'No! My parents are very caring.' Too caring most of the time.
'Only child?' He crossed his arms over his chest.
'I have a younger brother. I wish I was an only child sometimes.' Cas looked at me for a few moments, dumbfounded and confused, he took a step closer than me and lowered his voice.
'So, you are telling me you come from a big, loving family with no overt problems?' He whispered to me lowly and I nodded.
'Precisely.' I nodded eagerly, smiling at him slightly. Cas bit his lip and frowned, looking away from me and rubbing the back of his neck. He gazed back to me and exhaled deeply, looking vacant. 'Am I allowed home?'
'I am not sure. We have never had anyone here who is…'He paused and shook his head. 'Your home life appears to be fine, this is rare Anya, it appears that there has been some kind of… misunderstanding, if that's possible.' Cas gave me a weak and apologetic smile.
'So, am I allowed home?' I asked tentatively, this boy Cas seemed a bit more easy to come by than the blonde boy with the club. Cas smiled but shook his head.
'No, not for the moment, I will talk with Pan and then I will get back to you about it. For now you are to remain on the island.' Cas went to move onto the next person but then paused, looking back at me and stepping closer. 'Anya, remember what you were told about trying to leave on your own accord, wait until I have spoken to Pan, yes?' I nodded, remembering the threat that was given to all of us. Cas gave me and brilliant smile and then moved onto the next "recruit"; young boy of about nine who was snivelling up the last of his tears, Cas reached into his pocket and took out a piece of toffee, putting it in the boy's hand and gently speaking to the boy, crouching down to his height. The young boy smiled through his tears as Cas talked to him more, making him laugh and most importantly do what Cas wanted.
'Quite the charmer, isn't he?' Sophie whispered in my ear, making light of our situation and I smirked at her.
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