Guest who wrote the last review... this one's for you ;)
Chapter Nine: Caged Bird and Wild Boy
"If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney
Cheri sighed, looking at the "empty" fridge with a feeling of loneliness in the pit of her stomach. The light flickered and closed as the brunette stepped away and shut the stainless steel door. The small thudding echoed in the dark, empty kitchen. It slithered into the girl's eardrums, soft and hiss-like.
The history textbook sitting on the kitchen counter looked out of place. The brunette frowned. She always left her school books in her room because her parents tended to be uncomfortable with untidiness. So the book seemed odd, sitting on the pure white counter, opened at the exact middle. A sharpened pencil rolled out of the spine and stopped about an inch from the book. Odd.
The girl walked to the stool and climbed onto it. With a frown knitting her brows, Cheri flipped through her history textbook. At first, the pages illustrated simple history facts. Pictures and maps played across the glistening pages and paragraphs of information she'd never use lined the pictureless ones. Then, as the girl flipped more towards the end, the pictures morphed into unknown characters; a boy with curly brown hair and a rabbit in his hands. A blonde young woman with a sparkling green dress and a breathtaking smile. A camp in the dark with a fire blazing at its heart. A young man with a belt around the waist holstering a blade and a malicious smile. Cheri's fingers froze over the boy's face, tips grazing his mouth. He was oddly familiar.
The brunette flipped the page and stared at the picture that took up most of the book. It was the same boy. Light brown hair, thick and cut short enough so they covered a bit of his ears. Blue/green eyes that screamed cruelty and masculinity. A small nose, mouth, and a soft round chin. A manly neck that gave way to noticeably broad shoulders. Cheri knew this boy! A frown furrowed her brows as she flipped another page. A slithering, cold feeling crept across her skin, rising goosebumps. The feeling of déja-vu.
"Don't say his name," a voice broke the silence. Cheri turned, expecting to see her younger brother, Ethan. Instead, a blonde woman with her hair tied in a bun atop her head greeted her. The sparkle of her green dress caught the brunette's eye. The girl's face was half hidden in the shadows, and she wrung her hands.
"Who are you?" Cheri asked, heart drilling against her breast bone. She wasn't afraid that an unknown woman stood in her kitchen. She was more afraid of her déja-vu feeling that was constantly growing.
"I'm your friend," she answered. "You saved me."
"From what?" the brunette cut in. A silence reigned in the kitchen, the buzzing of the fridge tickling the almost quiet room.
"From him," she squeaked slightly. Cheri frowned deeper.
"Who's he?" she retorted, turning her body to fully face the stranger. The blonde shifted uncomfortably, breath loud in the room.
"You can't speak his name," she answered after a beat. Another silence. Just the buzzing of the fridge again.
"Who?" Cheri insisted, brows raising in impatience.
"The boy who wouldn't grow up," the blonde succumbed.
There was a harsh noise behind them and they both jumped in fear. Dusky black smoke floated in from the back door and windows. No shadow announced the arrival of the boy. No feet noise, no breathing sounds. He just walked in, malicious smile tugging at his delicious lips. Eyebrows raised in delight and a throaty laugh roaching out of his mouth. He spread his arms out and exclaimed, "Someone called on me?"
Cheri sat frozen on her stool, lips parted and mouth hanging on its hinges. The smell tickling her nostrils was painfully familiar, smelling of spearmint, dirt, and sea salt. That cocky grin shirted memories in her mind. The broadness of his slightly cupped shoulders made her body ache with the feeling that they had once been cupped around her. Heart pounding, the girl just stared at the boy.
"Leave her alone," the blonde stranger squeaked courageously. The boy just chuckled.
"Can't do that, Tink, sorry," he shrugged sarcastically. He walked slowly towards the brunette, hand going to unlatch the knife at his waist. Cheri's heart gave a burst of life. "Can't let her get away, now can I?" He sneered, holding the reflective blade in front of his face. He approached slowly, murderously. Tink gave a piercing yell and every single memory rushed back to Cheri as Peter Pan plunged his knife in her chest.
Cheri awoke in sweat, body aching and breathing heavy. She was sitting up in bed, eyes wide and heart drilling against her chest. Memories and dark shadows swarmed in her brain as the real world became clear. Her vision stopped blurring from the fear-induced tears in her eyes and she steadied her breathing. Her nightmares were getting worse. First, it had been simple chases through a dark, misty forest. A drop from a high mountain. A swim in an ocean full of sharks. A spear-wielding boy running after her in an iceland. Freezing, drowning, heating. But nothing like this. She had never seen Pan so clearly in her nightmares. She'd just seen a figure that she assumed was Peter, but he'd never spoken, never moved so well through the nebulous state of her dreams. He had never tried to kill her before. This time was different.
She looked around the dusky, dawn-filled room, breathing steadying as she took in the half-lit room. A candle was on the night table beside her with another note on parchment paper. Curvy handwriting played across the yellow paper, dark and inky. Pan. With a groan, the girl first beat herself up mentally for falling asleep in Peter's bed and then rolled over to reach the note.
Cuteness who fell asleep in my bed,
Have a bath, get dressed. The day will be long.
Love, Pan.
She frowned at the greetings of the note and once again balled it up in her fist, throwing it at the wall. A sigh passed through her lips as she cursed her state. First, she was aching all over from the wood chopping and hut building from the day before, and second, she was still on this God-forsaken island.
She swung her legs over the bed and landed her feet on the wooden floorboards of Pan's hut. She got up and stretched, yawned, and then turned towards the curtain to which she could only assume opened to a bathroom. She made her way to it, pulling the drape aside and walking into a candlelit room. A wooden bath filled with steaming hot water greeted her, forest-made soaps lined the wooden edge, and fluffy white towels sat beside the bath. The brunette's mouth hung open, body pushing her nerves to run to that bath and jump in. Damn, if Peter wasn't such a dick, maybe Cheri would consider being nice to him for all he's done so far. But he had kidnapped her, shown her unrealistic shit that made her go crazy when she dreamed, and left painful marks on her skin that made her blush and feel ashamed of herself.
However, the bath looked so inviting. The girl quickly ripped her shoes off, slipped out of her clothing and emerged herself in the sweet, moan-inducing water. It felt so good, warm water twirling around her sweat-coated, grime-caked skin. Her eyes fluttered closed and she leaned her head back, split ends of her hair dipping in the aqua. She smiled and sighed, bathing in the warmth enveloping her aching body.
He watched, eyes malicious and hard. From the crack she left in the curtain, he watched her strip and emerge herself in the water he'd previously made appear by magic. He watched the moan ripple through her heat-swollen lips and the smile that spread on her face. He reveled in watching her face break into pure warmth and content, skin already humid with the heat. Although he was a boy, he didn't linger on her small, perky breasts or the curve of her waist, even though he was tempted. He mostly watched her face. Her face he loved. She was good at closing it, preventing it from exposing what was going on inside. But in moments like these, he could watch it open and he could marvel at the beauty it exposed.
After she had cleaned and scrubbed her body with the nice-smelling soaps and combed through her wet hair, Cheri stepped out of the bath and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel. She laughed, smiling at how clean she felt. But when she turned back to where she had left her clothes on the floor and they were gone, the happy feeling left. It was replaced by anger. She knew what was going on. Pan was playing a game with her, and his first move was to expose her in any way possible. But she had her own countermoves, even though it meant she'd end up with split knuckles.
Cheri stomped out of the bathroom, towel squeezed around her body. Her fist that wasn't holding the towel clenched as she passed through the curtain. Her monstrous anger boiled to a climax, and fell when she saw no one in the cabin. A breeze washed in from under the door and froze her water-dotted, exposed calves. A shiver slithered down her spine, creepy and scary. Apparently, Peter had countermoves of his own. Cheri groaned, kicking herself mentally for falling in his trap.
When she turned, she caught sight of clothes on the bed. She did a double-take, then walked over to the clothing, teeth clenched and eyes hard. Oh, so now he was dressing her? He'd laid out a blue t-shirt and black jeans. Her Converse had been switched to knee-length laced boots. A frown knitted her brows. What did she need boots for? A throaty laugh outside made her heart jump and she grabbed the clothing, rushing back behind the curtain. She wasn't about to stand in a towel in front of the boys.
Thankfully, Peter left her underwear. So the brunette slipped into her undergarments first, then jumped into the jeans that fit her magically well and finally tugged the blue tee on. The clothing smelled fresh; like clean, clear water of a crystalline stream. She breathed in deeply, letting the almost alive scent invade her senses. It soothed her inner battles and brought a slight smile to her face. She felt more comfortable in clothing, let's say. She then folded the damp towel and left it on the chair by the door. She wrung her hair with her hands and let the dark matter sit over her right shoulder. A soft, presence-announcing cough rang in the air. Cheri froze, body tense. She readied her mind, taking rational over irrational options. If Pan was announcing himself rather than appearing unpredictably, it was because he had a plan. Oh, and so did Cheri.
She took a deep breath, set her jaw and slowly inched out of the curtain.
And he was there.
Sitting on the bed with his elbows on his knees, hands hanging in the void. A delicious smile spread on his lips as his eyes became malignant, predator-like, as his intended prey came into sight. His left brow rose slightly, a sign that he was liking what he was seeing; a girl with flushed skin, wet hair and lips swollen with humidity. He also inhaled the scent of her clothing and the soaps she'd used in the bath. Cheri gave him a once-over, eyes hard and mean. He was still in his green attire; weirdly stitched shirt, knee-high boots and those blackish pants. The pair stared at each other for a good second, their silent exchange consisting of inner tension and lust.
Peter did not anticipate what happened next.
The girl came rushing to him, a determined look on her face, jaw set and arms tense. At first, he thought she'd jump on him, straddle his lap and plunge her tongue in his mouth just like every other female her age had done to him before. His primal instincts sent him sitting up with an arrogant smirk, waiting for her to push her wanting body against his. But instead, the girl balled her hand into a fist, raised it above her head and slammed it down onto Pan's jaw. Her breathing rasped beside his ear for a split second, while he sat with his head down and a growl rising in his chest. She straightened and prepared for another blow, but the young man was quicker, better prepared. He zoomed to his feet, face contorted in disgust and monstrous anger, and grabbed the girl by her mass of wet, dark hair. He balled his fist in it, pulled, and with his other arm he stopped her oncoming punch. It all happened too fast for Cheri to even defend herself.
Peter, using his speed, slammed the girl against the wall, grabbed the hand that wasn't trying to pry him from her hair and slammed it against the wood. She gave a yell, but kept writhing. He growled in her face, lips twisted in a snarl, teeth clenched together. Her eyes were shut though, trying to cope through the pain Pan was executing on her hair. She let out another yell when he pushed his knee against her thigh, pinning her completely to the wall. Out of panic, the girl shot her eyes open and did what her mother had told her to do when bad men would try to hurt her. She kneed him in the balls.
He let out a loud, grunted yell, folded himself in half and backed away from her. He released her hair and she whimpered, sliding to the floor. The dizziness took over as she felt the oscillated pains in her skull vibrate in her nerves. Her eyes squeezed shut and she breathed in harmony with the grunts of Pan, still doubled over as he clutched his crotch, throwing insults her way.
"You bitch!" he yelled, voice roach. "You don't see me punching you in the boobs!" Cheri rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the wooden wall.
"You're the one that watched me take a bath and stole my clothes," she retorted, fighting the pains in her skull and thigh. He groaned and straightened. His face was flushed with a mixture of pain and anger.
"I never did any of those!" he threw back at her, pointing his index finger as he towered over the girl. She sighed.
"Who else could it have been?" she looked him dead in the eye. "A ghost?"
"Whatever," he threw his arms up and paced to the dresser while the girl remained sitting on the floor. "If this is your way of saying hello, then I'm going to show you my way of saying goodnight."
"You're not laying a hand on me, Pan," she snapped, looking at his contracting back from under her brows. She could see the muscles coiling under his skin, arms tensing and hands clenching.
"You keep telling yourself that," he mumbled. He shot for the door, wrenched it open, and stalked out. She heard his footsteps fading and then nothing, just her breathing and her beating heart.
"Fucker," she muttered, slowly getting to her feet. She sighed, passed a hand in her hair and groaned. She was so angry! He just so easily pinned her to the wall and she was defenseless! If she had something to punch she would punch the living shit out of it. The girl let herself fall on the bed and hung her head in her hands. A blow of breath passed through her hair as she fought back rage tears, her lip quivering. She sniffed, groaned, and started on lacing up the boots. She wrenched them on, laced them impossibly quick and was up and out the door in a second.
She marched on the small porch, down the stairs, and out into the compound. She stopped, legs shoulder-width apart, and looked around for the green-dressed boy. He was nowhere to be seen. Cheri shrugged and headed to where a group of boys huddled together. "Where's the food?" she asked as she arrived to the small cluster.
"Mother!" Nibs stepped out of the small group, brown rabbit hanging from his forearm. Cheri backed away, eyes a bit wide as she saw the poor animal in his arms.
"Uh, Nibs, hey," she stuttered, looking around for any exit routes. Nibs giggled and held up the brown rabbit in the brunette's face.
"Meet Apple, he's my new friend," he chuckled, mouth stretched into a childish smile. "I won't hurt him like Maymay, promise." He looked up at the girl with his big brown eyes and begged her to look at him. She smiled politely and petted the small brown fur ball.
"Happy to meet you, Apple," she mumbled, looking over the curly boy's shoulder. "Any food around here?" she asked. He rose a brow slightly.
"Yeah, here," he went back in the cluster of boys who all looked at her with smug looks. She checked her shoulders to see if they were exposed. They weren't, but her hickey was still in full view. Damn, Peter was giving her clothing that couldn't be pulled up to hide her neck.
Nibs rushed out with a wooden bowl filled with scrambled eggs and bits of cut bacon. He also handed her a wooden cup with water. She took it, nodded her head thankfully at the boy and walked away. He gave her the creeps. She heard him follow her and she groaned silently. "Will you teach me the alphabet too, mother?" he giggled, skipping beside her with the bunny bouncing in his arms.
"Sure," she mumbled, sitting on a log by the edge of the forest. Nibs sat in front of her and put his bunny on his lap.
So Cheri begun reciting the alphabet. One by one, she taught the boy how to say them, what they sounded like and how to write them in the dirt ground. He watched silently, eyes wide and intrigued. After a little while, Slightly and Curly came to sit around the logs with the girl. They didn't speak, too entranced by the letters the girl was wiggling in the dirt. She would help them spell out small words. She watched them struggle and felt pity. Slightly was probably ten and should have known most of the words the brunette drew in the mud. Curly, being eight, had no flippin' clue what the girl was writing, but he persevered in trying to write his name.
"What's your real name?" the brunette asked quietly. He shrugged.
"My name is Curly," he responded. His eyes looked down and he backed away.
"Mine was Steven," Slightly said, shrugging and pouting his lip.
"Would you rather I call you Steven?" Cheri asked. He shook his head slowly, writing both his names in the dirt. As for Nibs, he just sat with his bunny, stroking it and staring at the dirt ground covered in handwriting.
"Mine was Niball," he squeaked. "I never liked it."
"We called him Nibs when he first arrived," Curly added. "He couldn't say his name well, 'Ni-Ni-Nib'," he imitated. Nibs frowned.
"I did not!" he accused.
"You were scared," Slightly said, turning to the youngest of the trio.
"Was not!" the youngest fought back.
"We were all scared, Nibs!" Curly interrupted. "Until Pan took the fear away." He looked down and the trio of boys went quiet, even Nibs.
Cheri gulped and looked at the three boys, all brown-haired. "How, uh, long have you been here?" she asked tentatively.
"A long time," Curly answered.
"Cheri!" Felix roared as he entered camp, walking fast with his hood pulled back, exposing his knotted mass of blonde hair. Cheri turned, setting the empty bowl and cup on the ground. She got to her feet and rose a brow.
"What now?" she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Her little time spent with the boys had gotten her mind off Pan for a bit, but the return of Felix was bringing the morning's events back to her.
"Let's go," he motioned for her to follow him. "Pan wants you working."
"I'm not doing-" She didn't have time to finish her sentence before Felix grabbed her bicep and hauled her along.
"C'mon, mother," he growled between clenched teeth, "you don't want to make a scene in front of my little brothers, now, do you?" Cheri twisted in his grip, but in vain. She was angry again, both at Felix and Pan, who was mostly always making her angry.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked when they passed the tree line and the blonde let go of her bicep.
"We're building a cage," he simply said with a smug shrug. "Pan's orders."
"I'm not building shit for him," the girl muttered, but still progressed through the foliage as Felix followed her.
"Do it and you live," Felix stated, eyes roaming the underbrush looking uninterested. Cheri groaned.
They arrived at a small clearing, where Felix had stacked bamboo sticks, rope, and various building tools. He sat beside the ropes and started untangling them, while the girl took the bamboo cylinders in her hands and examined them. "How can bamboo sustain a caged-in person?" she asked. Felix looked up at her with an annoyed look.
"Stop asking yourself all those stupid questions and get to work," he grumbled. He threw some rope at the girl and motioned for her to help him tie two pieces of bamboo together.
Working with Felix proved to be physically demanding, but peaceful. His mouth stayed shut the entire two hours they spent tying that fricking cage together. Even though he wouldn't say one word other than "tie this" or "pull", he would give her once-overs, or smug looks that dared to be confronted. He had wandering eyes, that was for sure, but he was also daring the girl. He was taunting her, looking, then when she'd look up, he'd dart his eyes away. She'd often catch him staring at her from the corner of his eye. In the silence, he would cough awkwardly and return to whatever bamboo he was tying. Often, the wind would blast through their hair, ruffling the opposite color matter in all directions.
After a good hour of back-breaking cage building, Felix brought back water in wooden cups and handed one of them to the girl. His fingers brushed slightly against the girl's before he scurried back to where the cage stood, still missing a door. His eyes tense, he bent forward and started toying with the rope. Masculine hands pulled and knotted while the brunette gulped down her water. She was by his side after, slipping in bamboo cylinders whenever he'd gesture his head. The door they made could resist a bear, and Cheri felt a guilty sense of pride when she tested the bamboo, kicking her leg against it ferociously. It didn't budge, which meant they did a good job. She sighed satisfyingly, stretching her aching back and arms, yawn rippling past her plump lips.
Felix pointed to the tree line and the brunette got the message. She made her way across the small clearing, not even bothering to ask any more questions. She'd learned that asking questions led to answers she could not handle. Her mind went someplace else as she walked among the green, the blonde boy's footsteps close behind her. A wind smelling of dirt and sea salt washed over the jungle, sweet and slow. Tiny speckles of water hit the girl's face and she looked up, eyes squinting. The sky was grey, but the sun still pierced at some angles. A water drop hit her nose and she grunted. Her hair had just finished drying! Felix stepped in front of her and looked up.
"Let's get back to camp befo-" His sentence was cut when thunder rippled through the air, lightning illuminating his face for a brief second before showers of rain poured onto them.
Cheri squeaked and covered her face from the water. Her eyes were being drilled shut by the drops and she could barely see as she caught a glimpse of Felix running. She followed him as best as she could, but his dark hood was making it impossible to distinguish him among the darkness that was creeping up in the jungle. The rain made hard noises and therefore Cheri couldn't follow his sounds, so she went by memory. She zoomed by a tree so twisted it looked like wool, passed a bush that had dark branches that looked like barbed wire and jumped over a small hole in the dirt. Her boots were covered in mud as she ran through the rain, hair stuck against the nape of her neck and arm up to cover her eyes. She thought she caught a glimpse of Felix's hood when her body ran into something hard and rough. The brunette was thrown backwards and she whimpered, fighting the beating rain. Her hand shielded her eyes as she looked at the bamboo cage she had just ran into.
And stared right into the eyes of a young girl.
Cheri's eyes widened despite the rain and her breathing accelerated. Did Pan bring another girl to torture and toy with? Was he a collector of some sort? A huge wave of both grief and anger ran through her pulsing veins as she shifted to a squat. The girl stared at her, the bamboo caging over her head preventing the rain from entering the cage. Her wide brown eyes stared deeply into the brunette's orbs and the two girls exchanged gasping breaths and guilty looks. The girl in the cage was younger than Cheri, maybe by a year or so, and she had thick honey brown hair ruffled all around her shoulders, thin pink lips and small eyebrows. Her lips were parted as she gasped out when the brunette approached, brows furrowed in examination.
"Who you?" the brunette yelled over the rain.
"Wendy!" the younger girl answered.
"Of course," Cheri mumbled, hitting herself softly on the forehead. "How could I have forgotten?"
"What?"
"Push on the bamboo and I'll pull!" Cheri yelled, readying her hands on the ropes. However, Wendy scrambled back, shaking her head. "You won't melt in the rain!"
"I can't!" she yelled. "Pan'll kill my brothers!" Cheri stopped, face dotted with rain and breathing heavy. She looked nothing like the Wendy in Peter Pan. She was afraid, brows pulled together and chest heaving. Her face expressed concern and wild fear. Not the joy and happiness Wendy had when Peter taught her how to fly. Not the intrigue and willingness when Peter showed her the clouds and flew with her through the skies.
Cheri stopped. She couldn't defeat Pan. He wasn't just a boy, he was a demon. He wasn't a juvenile smart-ass that could be talked down to. He was a bloody, murdering man with powerful magic and primal instincts. He toyed with people, both emotionally and physically. He wasn't the boy who taught Wendy how to love, he was the man who let small children kill innocent animals. Peter Pan was the devil portraying as a young man because youth was his salvation. He was a wild boy at heart, a demon at the core, and an animal in the mind.
But Wendy seemed to be the same innocent girl. Why was Pan different from all the tales Cheri had heard in her youth?
"I'm sorry," Cheri said, eyes downcast as defeat and guilt dawned on her. She couldn't save this poor girl. She couldn't put her suffering to end. All she could do was apologize and stand back. Wendy cocked her head.
"You don't have to be sorry," She said. "What's your name?" The rain smoothed out, still coming down hard, but conversation could be passed back and forth easily.
"Cheri Regan," the brunette answered. Wendy smiled.
"That's a wonderful name," she said. Her face fell and she frowned. "But how did you get here? Girls aren't allowed on Neverland."
"Shadow brought me," Cheri mumbled. "Well, this specter of some sort grabbed me from my room and swung me in the ocean, leaving me to drown but I survived."
"If Shadow brought you it's because you believe," Wendy mumbled. "He wouldn't..." Her voice trailed off and she stared at the ground.
"What?" Cheri insisted, brow raising in anticipation.
"The prophesy," the girl mumbled, raising her eyes up to the brunette and opening her mouth to speak- but Felix rushed through the underbrush and ran to Cheri.
"Fe-" The young man grabbed her bicep and hauled her to her feet. Wendy cried the boy's name, but he shot her a glare and she recoiled. He dragged the brunette across the tiny speck of a clearing and into the foliage. She writhed against his grip, but he wouldn't budge, fingers digging into her bicep. "Felix!" she cried, face scrunching up in anger as she tried in vain to pry his fingers off.
Emerging into camp, he threw her forward and she stumbled on her feet. A wave of anger rushed through her and she groaned, brushing the dirt from the blue tee adorning her upper body.
"You dick," she insulted him. Felix snorted. "Pan's keeping Wendy prisoner and you're doing nothing about it?"
"Pan has his business," he shrugged and crossed his arms. A smug look took over his features and he did a once-over of the camp, making sure everything and everyone was at it's place.
"Oh, so it's a business to keep young girls prisoner?!" Cheri exclaimed. Her eyes popped out and she couldn't give any shits about the stares she was getting from the boys. Felix sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Apart from you, Wendy and Tink, Pan doesn't keep anyone else prisoner," Felix sighed through clenched teeth. The muscle in his jaw twitched and he shifted his weight impatiently.
"Say that to all these boys," Cheri spat, waving her arms around at the said boys.
"These boys chose to be here!" Felix defended, looking her dead in the eye. They stayed staring at each other in silence until a soft wind gushed by and the rain stopped completely. They stood in the mud until someone shouted out to Felix. "Stay here," he threatened her with his hand, "and don't wonder back to Wendy."
"Aye aye, blondie," the girl saluted sarcastically, turning to watch the boy leave.
As the sun was beginning to set, Pan made his way back to the compound. He materialized in his hut, making sure the young brunette wasn't there first. He caught a glimpse of her outside though, sitting on a log with Curly and Nibs. She was frowning and talking, drawing things in the dirt that the boys tried to replicate. Pan dismissed it and changed into his Pied Piper suit, feeling the night creep up on Neverland like a slithering snake. He took out the flute and slowly walked onto the porch. Using magic, he lit the stack of wood in the heart of the camp and a fire went ablaze. Almost instantly, the boys jumped up and whooped in joy, dancing around the fire as their faces erupted in beautiful smiles. Pan brought the flute to his sneering lips and blew in it.
All the boys fell to its entrancing tune. Their minds lost themselves to Pan and he harvested the thoughts, bathing in the dreams the boys had had and the nightmares others experienced. He watched, as their nebulous minds fell into numbness, his eyes mischievous and malicious. However, the girl sitting on the log glaring at him was not falling victim to the flute. He knew she could hear it, but why wasn't her body following the orders of the flute that was telling her to get up and lose herself? Maybe she was like Felix. Maybe she had the control. Cheri definitely felt lost and unloved, her story too deep to even talk about, but her mind was immune to nonphysical magic, which meant Pan's flute was just music, nothing more. If she wanted to dance, she would. It would not make her.
Pan left the flute to Felix as he went down the stairs. He heard the drums start up as the boys got more excited. Slightly handed him a goblet filled with golden liquid and he gulped it down. A smile stretched his lips as his body went alight with fire and power. He grabbed another and drowned himself in the golden magic. His body oozed and he laughed, throwing his head back. For a second, he looked like a real eighteen year old boy.
Then he drank, and drank, and drank. The night zoomed by. Many faces blurred his vision. Boys laughing, smiling, dancing. Boys hitting drums. A girl sitting by the fire. A blonde boy blowing into the magical flute. A blurry fire with tongues of flames bickering the young boy to fall into their arms. A girl walking to him. Hands on his chest. Warmth against his ear. Then cold as she left. He danced and threw himself around the hot fire, not a care in the world. Growing up was for suckers. Partying like a wild boy was for winners. Pan swung his shoulders and legs around, laughing maniacally with his comrades. The girl walked up to him again and he felt the darkness pulling at the corners of his vision draw back. The closer she came, the whiter the shadows became. She looked at him and for a woozy second, all the boy saw was those beautiful, almost black orbs.
"The dark," he mumbled. His knees buckled and he fell into her. The girl, surprised and flabbergasted, caught him with a struggle.
"Peter..." her voice buzzed in his ears and he smiled, "...drunk..."
"The dark," he continued to babble. The shadows fell away as she eased him to the ground, his body tucked against her. His head rested in her lap and she held on to his shoulders. Her touch sent waves of warmth to calm the coldness that had spread through his body throughout all the centuries he'd spent on Neverland. Her breathing over him was the most beautiful thing he'd heard in many years and the way her black eyes passed over his face with guilty concern made his whole self light up with warmth. "The dark," he sighed. "The dark is so consuming."
She shushed him like a mother would. "Stop being such a wimp, Peter," she groaned with annoyance, "you're drunk. Sleep." And she was gone. She left him with his shadows and coldness. He succumbed to them as his lidded eyes watched the brunette slip away from his vision. Then, he fell in the dark abyss of his mind.
Review if you wanna! Thanks to my friend Myriam again and to all you lovelies who keep up with this story, you're amazing!
45 days until OUAT returns... don't think I can wait that looooong... Peter Pan HAS TO LIVE.
Anyway :) Song for this chapter is Wild by Jessie J
See ya next chapter dearies!