everything is shady.
shady, shady, shady.
any questions just ask.
p.s i'm evil.
All children grow up, except one. That one child steals memories, clenches youth between his teeth and tears the sky to pieces. His lips taste like ash and dirt and there was a girl who knew that from experience. She knew it from their many meetings and the kisses they had shared when she hadn't known how, the kisses they had shared when she was young and unknowing, the kisses they had shared to cure cuts and bruises and the kisses goodnight when he had to leave.
He wasn't the character from the story book, no, he came straight from the pits of darkness and swallowed the light whole but when you're already sat alone in the night it's not something that's easy to spot.
She had tried to shake him but it was hard when he never came for her by the window. Their visits were special; he came for her walking down the street with an extended hand that she was forced to take.
The boy spat fire and brimstone, destroyed resistance and damned young girls to an eternity of sitting and staring at the night sky and hoping he would come back for them.
But one girl never wanted that because she saw past his delicious smile to the darkness within his soul, he was the type who juggled with knives, was surrounded by shadow with a razor blade clutched in his pocket.
Peter Pan was sin.
But not her, no, she never wished for him to came back and that angered him.
That made him come back.
And he came back to haunt her. Again and again.
And again.
Annabelle Blake lay sprawled on the floor, unconscious. Her dark hair was seeping out around her, full of dirt and crawling with insects.
Her eyes contracted as she regained consciousness. Flickering open and making the misty vision clear. At first, all she saw were trees. Tall, frighteningly twisted trees that crawled up to the sky and knit together as they formed a canopy. A bird squawked and took off into the air but she didn't see it. A few strange shaped leaves fluttered down the ground.
She knew where she was, it had been described to her before. Though in that description the trees were greener and the sky was brighter and the island seemed happier, she had no doubt in her mind that this was the place.
In the cold of the night, her eyes tried to adjust but her hearing got there first.
The sound of shuffling and scratching from the undergrowth made her sit bolt up right.
Instead, she saw two legs in front of her.
Her head tilted, a centipede scrambling across her ear, and she looked up.
When she saw the face, the face she had seen since she was fourteen, since her parents abandoned her, her breath caught in her throat.
Part from fear and part from admiration.
She knew this boy all too well. From the cold nights on the streets when he had come to guide her home, where he had given her warmth and love and light. To the dangerous days of shady men looking to take advantage, men that had suddenly disappeared into the dark in front of her, men whose screams had haunted her dreams for years to come. This boy was the master of shadows.
She knew this boy.
And she was afraid.
"You," She breathed heavily.
Peter Pan grinned down at her.
"You," He stepped forward and she fell back.
The color drained from her face. She wasn't in Kansas anymore.
"Welcome to Neverland Anna," She shook her head, not believing the words that came out of his mouth.
She knew that Pan dealt in shadows and lives; that Pan had a temper; that Pan never made promises that weren't in his favor and that Peter Pan smiled a lot, and those smiles always meant something bad.
She. Knew. Pan.
Although, she wished she didn't.
"You said you weren't coming back for me," Anna whispered hoarsely.
Pan nodded and began to pace.
"I'm not," He grinned to himself, "I'll never have to come back for you, since you're staying here,"
Anna laughed nervously. It was all she could do. She could see the glinting dagger that was jammed into Pan's belt and she knew he would use it.
Pan turned towards her, she was still on the ground but he liked to stand over her. His eyebrow twitched upwards and suddenly Anna stopped laughing. He was serious.
"But you haven't been back since-"
"You haven't needed me," He growled, "You grew up,"
This seemed to anger Pan but it wasn't like she hadn't seen it before, they had a past together and it hadn't always been smooth sailing.
"I've been busy, I've been building this," He opened his arms in gesture to the trees, the jungle, "And here, I'm the king,"
At what point had she been meant to stop him? Addiction? Hatred? Murder...?
It was hard when she was fifteen and alone, when she had all those things within herself as well, she needed protection and Peter Pan had rescued her.
She had often chose not to see the bruised faces of the men who had been talking to her in the bar the other day; they were the lucky ones. In some cases she didn't have to choose not to see the person, she just never saw them again.
And Pan had always shown up when she needed him. But then things went wrong, she told him she didn't need him anymore but thank you and Pan felt cheated.
Pan did not enjoy cheating.
Pan did not like to lose anything.
What she didn't know was that he had stopped bringing the other girl's to Neverland, he had stopped visiting the other Lost Children, he wanted no one but her and slowly she was turning him insane.
And he was running out of places to wash the blood off his hands.
Suddenly his head flicked up, staring dramatically into the undergrowth. Anna saw his fist clench, a line of a vein protruding from his hand under the translucent skin..
Two boys shook the trees as they made their way into the opening.
"What?!" Pan shouted as they stepped foot in the clearing, "I know that look Felix, what's happened?"
"Felix?" Anna asked but Pan had strode to the taller boys side, his blonde hair falling over his face.
Felix shook his head and avoided Pan's knowing gaze.
The other boy wasn't as intuitive. He marched forward to Pan and looked him dead in the eye.
"Girl's don't belong on this island Pan, you know that," He barked, "They only stay for a day and then they want to fuck off home,"
Pan scoffed lightly and bit his lip, moving even closer to the young lad.
"This one belongs here," He growled lowly, his voice scratching his throat.
The boy didn't understand, he stared defiantly at Pan even though he was a good foot smaller than him. Felix made no effort to stop the younger boy, in fact, Anna could see a tiny smile peaking out from under his mess of hair.
Anna's mouth hung ajar in confusion, her gaze flickered from Felix, to the boy, to Pan and although she wanted to move, she couldn't.
"Careful Slightly, she's mine" Pan said in a low, beautifully monotone voice and Anna felt her heart jump because she had heard that tone before.
"No I'm not," Anna quipped quietly, almost afraid to speak out against someone who she knew had kept her safe, but trying, poorly, to diffuse the situation.
"Yes you are," Pan barked, his head whipping around to glower at her with enough force to make her avert her gaze and stare, wide eyed at the ground.
"No Pan! This plan is never going to work and you know it, when will we get a say?!" The small boy gestured to Felix who bristled and scowled at the association.
Pan's hardened expression softened to a smile, he cupped the younger boy face with both his hands and gave a twinkle of a laugh. Slightly raised an unruly eyebrow, his eyes wide and full of unwarranted fear.
Anna was relieved at the gesture and let out the pent up air she had been storing since Pan last spoke.
"Everyone gets a say, Slightly!" Pan gave the boy a light slap on the cheek, "This is Neverland of course!"
Then, in a sudden fluid motion, Pan placed one hand on the back of Slightly's head; the other covering his mouth and wretched them in opposite directions.
With a unhealthy crack, Slightly went slack in Peter's hands and then slipped lazily from them, his body thudding dully to ground.
"Just as long as your say is the same as mine," Pan said happily to the wide eyed figure on the floor, as if Slightly was still breathing "I am the king of here after all,"
Felix lifted his gaze to Pan's and they both smirked.
"All hail the king,"