10 – Sleep Walkers
After dinner, the boys filtered off to their beds and were snoring within minutes of their heads hitting the pillow. Eventually, only Peter and Mira remained at the table.
"So, where are you from? On earth, I mean." Peter asked quietly.
"Oh um, I'm from England. Do you know of it?"
"Know of it? I've been there! I have friends there." Peter responded with excitement.
"Really? Who are they?" Mira responded, relieved that they finally had something in common to talk about.
"Oh, you wouldn't know them." Peter shifted in his seat awkwardly and Mira watched his face fall a little. It was apparent that he didn't want to speak of them further, however Mira wasn't about to let the first normal conversation she had had with him slip through her fingers.
"Well probably not, I'd say. I don't know many people." She watched as Peter looked towards her again and so she continued. "I'm from a home for kids called Saint Nicholas'. My Mum and I got sick while I was still a baby. After she died in hospital I was sent to the home. It wasn't bad or anything but we didn't meet many new people. The only new people we saw would come to adopt someone and we rarely saw them after that."
"I'm sorry about your Mum. Do you remember her?" Peter paused for a moment, then added, "Because I don't remember mine."
"No, I don't remember her. I was way too young. But I think I can feel her sometimes, and see her when I'm dreaming. Miss Mavis said I was just being silly though. But who knows? After seeing this place, I guess anything is possible." Mira shrugged and let out a breathy laugh.
"Miss Mavis?" Peter asked.
"She ran Saint Nicholas'. She didn't like children very much. She'd probably be a pirate if she were here." The two of them laughed quietly so not to disturb the sleeping boys. Mira began to yawn, "Would you mind if I went to bed, it's been a very long day for me."
The both of them chuckled and her casualness and Peter directed her to the bed she had woken up in earlier that day. And not unlike the Lost Boys, after Mira lay down, she too was soon fast asleep.
Mira was woken by a stir. Ever since that night in her room, she had found it difficult to sleep deeply and had spent the night drifting in and out of restless dreams. She sat up quickly, and rubbed her stinging eyes. Another shuffle vibrated through the room and she looked in its direction to try and make out what was causing the disturbance. It was very late, she could see the lost boys' silhouettes sleeping soundly in their beds across the room, but someone was creeping around through the darkness. Her pulse pounded in her ears, her senses heightened as she remembered the last time, when she was kidnapped by the pirates. She squinted into the darkest part of the room and found Peter, quietly leaving.
Mira put her feet over the side of the bed and took a few steps towards where he had just disappeared. As she approached, her steps became shorter and slower, gradually losing their conviction. She stood still and agonised over whether she should follow him. 'Surely if he had wanted company he would have woken someone,' she reasoned to herself. Mira stepped quickly backwards to resume her position in the bed. She lay awake, starring at the ceiling, trying sleep.
Hours passed and just as the first rays of golden sunshine touched the earth, she could hear the smooth slip of someone coming down the slide. The figure stood up and filled Peter's frame. Mira's head buzzed with questions but the silence of the room was too thick for her to penetrate and so instead, she rolled over to face the wall and pretended to be asleep. The mattress sagged slightly as Peter's weight collapsed on top of the bed beside her. His breathing slowed, and soon he was sleeping deeply like the rest of the boys.
Later that morning, when they were all gathered around the table for breakfast, no one mentioned anything and Peter acted as if nothing had occurred.