Well…um….we personally find this chapter intense, so that's why it's pretty short. Um…yeah.
My Wilted Heart: Chapter 5
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"Ah, what a fine day. Isn't it Mr. Smee?" Hook breathed in deeply the early morning air, looking out over all of Neverland with a smug smile of victory. "The day I finally seek my revenged on that blasted Pan. After all these years, I have finally captured him." The captain turned to Smee and Leah who were standing next to him. "Shall we then?" Hook pivoted on his heel and preceded to walk light footed into the bowels of the ship with Smee and Leah trailing him a few paces behind.
He stopped at a door where two guards were perched. At his command they moved to unlock the door then shifted to the side to allow him to enter. Inside, torches flickered ominously against the wooden walls of the ship, dimly lighting the small room. The door was left open for the crew to witness the events that were to take place shortly. Standing in the doorway, Leah watched Hook stare malevolently at the unconscious figure in the middle of the room. Kneeling on the splintered wood, deprived of his shirt and shoes, hands bound and chained to the ceiling above him, was Peter.
Leah stared at Hook in shock at how he was treating Peter. But nothing prepared her for the events that were about to take part.
Hook stood before the nearly hanging Peter and kicked him roughly in the stomach.
"Wake up boy." He growled. Peter groaned, cracking open his eyes slightly, he cringed at the light that poured through the open door, assaulting him with its harshness. His headed pounded against his temples and his arms strained over his head. Realizing the extent of his predicament, he stared up at the captain.
"What do you want?" Peter's voice was hoarse and raspy, and his throat was dry as the sand on the beach. Hook crouched to Peter's eye level and took Peter's chin savagely between his thumb and forefinger.
"Revenge boy. Revenge. For all the trouble you've caused me." Hook released his chin, and then before he stood, spat in Peter's face. Peter stared up at him in defiance as Hook's saliva rolled down his cheek.
"Tying me up isn't going to stop me. You know I'll get out of this and things will go back to the way they used to be." He jutted his chin foreword in challenge and smirked. "And I will always win."
"Still very cocky I see." Hook walked over to Smee who handed him an animal hide pouch. "But you won't win this time." He removed the pouch and turned slowly back to Peter as he unfurled a tightly bound leather whip. "Ah, another precious item those Indian friends of yours have made for me." He cracked the whip against the ground and took pleasure as Peter flinched. He rounded Peter so that Peter's back was to him. "This time, I win." Hook raised the whip high above his head and brought it down upon Peter's back with all the force and anger that was pent up within him. The leather made a loud smacking noise that vibrated around room and left behind a flaming red welt that threatened to burst upon the skin that it came in contact with.
Leah's breath shook as she watched Peter's face cringe with pain. She stood aghast at the doorway, unbelieving of what she was seeing. Hook continually lashed out at Peter, each time gathering more force, and smiled ruefully as the boy's back became smeared with blood. But Hook's lust for revenged had not yet been satisfied. He once again rounded Peter and kneeled before him.
Peter's head was hung and his teeth were tightly clenched. His face was contorted in suppressed pain and his breathing was heavy and labored. Leah could see that he was breaking; the pain was more than he had ever experienced. He wouldn't last much longer. Hook forced Peter's head up with the butt of the whip, forcing the boy to look at him.
"Cry out boy. Cry out and I'll stop." This was Hook's plan. His demented and twisted plan of revenge. To completely destroy Peter, not physically but instead, in spirit. But still, Peter stared up at his tormentor, and defiantly gritted through his teeth.
"Never." Hook's frown deepened as he stood, once again towering over the boy.
"Never? Never! Why you pompous little bastard!" He raised the whip and brought down upon Peter's chest again and again. Hook's anger grew each time he brought the whip down upon skin, and Peter didn't cry out. But then suddenly he stopped in mid-blow. Leah prayed that it was over, but she knew by the way Hook squared his shoulders, that there was more. He turned swiftly on his heel and walked to the corner of the room where he grabbed a bucket from the floor in one hand, while Peter's gaze, watched him the whole time. Handing the whip over to Smee, Hook balanced the bucket with one hand and drew from it with the other, letting the water trickle down his forearm as his steps halted before Peter. "Tell me Pan. Do you know what sea water does to an open wound?"
Leah's hand shot to cover her mouth. He wouldn't dare. He couldn't! Peter's breath quickened as Hook let his dripping hand rest above his head. The water slowly trickled down his neck and grazed across his bloodied back. Peter cringed and sucked in air through clenched teeth.
"So you do know." Hook smiled and stalked around Peter. Planting his feet, he raised the bucket right over Peter's back and with menacing slowness; he let a steady stream of seawater pour over the open wounds on Peter's back. And with that, Peter broke. His tortured cries echoed throughout the room and vibrated deep within Leah's chest. His screams shook her and she could only watch helplessly as tears began to stream down his face and his knuckled turned white where he gripped the chains above him. And throughout the whole time, Hook laughed. A deep, malicious laugh that rang, along with Peter's cries in Leah's ears. She didn't know when the sounds stopped for they seemed to continue to echo through her head even as Hook threw the bucket aside and stood before Peter again.
"Don't think I'll finish there boy." Peter's head rolled against his chest as he breathed in shaky breaths. Hook then kicked him roughly in the stomach and grinned satisfyingly as Peter began to cough blood. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Peter struggled, but managed to lift his head, vivid red blood trickling down the side if his mouth. "I will continue to torture you Pan, each time longer as the days go by until you beg me for mercy. But don't worry. I won't kill you. That would be just too easy. I will break you Peter Pan, then throw you pathetic heap," He shoved Peter's head with his foot, keeping him conscious. "Back to Neverland. Where you will be scorned and frowned upon by all of your admirers. No more stories will be told of you through open windows. No more children will wish to stay young for they will see you and know how bad it really is. You will no longer be Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. But instead, you will just be a pile of broken, weeping flesh crawling on the ground, begging me to kill you."
Hook turned sharply and swiftly stalked out of the room leaving Peter hanging from the chains in the ceiling that gave him his only support. He was pale for his life's fluids were steadily streaming out of him in a mixture of blood and salt water and pooled beneath him. Leah stared at Peter's almost lifeless form as she heard from atop the stairs behind her, Hook barking orders for everyone to return to their duties. She looked desperately at Smee who just shook his head and began ushering her out the door. As the guards began to close the heavy wooden door, she thought she heard a hoarse whisper.
"Help me." Then it was gone.
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::Cough::
Well, hopefully the contents of this chapter will make up for the 2 months behind schedule we had hoped for.
~Star and Glade
3-13-04