Chapter 11- Warmth
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It took them about five minutes, but eventually they emerged into a large one roomed tree house. To her right there was a draped window, across from her there was a large trunk, and to the left there was a large low bed that look like it was shabbily made, covered in furs, that took up about a fourth of the room. All the way across the room in the corner, there was a small alcove that she had no idea what it purpose was. But at that point, all she cared about was getting Peter warmed. Setting him gently onto the bed, he collapsed into the furs and pulled them over himself, desperately seeking their warmth. But even with the added warmth of the furs, he began to tremble even more violently, his teeth chattering and his lips turning a brighter shade of blue.
She knew that dressed as he was, wet and shirtless, there was no way he was going to gain the heat that he desperately needed. Frantically she began to search around the small tree house. Throwing open the trunk she found more furs and bed sheets, as well as a few clothes that looked like they belonged to a twelve year old girl. Finding nothing to her immediate use in the trunk, she gathered everything she had tossed out, and slammed it closed. Again she wandered the room looking under the bed, trying to find anything, but every minute that went by that left her search futile, Peter began to drift further and further away.
Frustrated, she found herself standing in front of the alcove, nothing in it but a small round carpet. As she was about to turn away, she noticed that the center of the carpet sagged every so slightly. Kneeling, she caught the end of it and pulled it away to reveal a deep tunnel and a ladder leading down to the mists of who knows where. With one last look at Peter, Leah took a deep breath before swinging legs into the hole and descending into the darkness.
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She landed with a soft thud, on what felt like compacted dirt. As her eyes slowly began to adjust to the dim lighting, she realized that she was in a small cave located right under the large tree. Far off to her left there was long table with melted down candles and sea shell bowls. All around her, entwined with the tree roots, there were beds covered in furs and small homemade weapons. The floors were also covered in furs. Leah suddenly realized that this was the home of Peter and the Lost Boys. At first, a wave of awe came over her when she thought about how difficult it must have been to have created such a marvelous place to live, what a wonderful sense of life this home must have had. But she quickly halted her thoughts when she remembered that this place would never have that same life again.
The Lost Boys were gone.
Their home would forever be frozen in time like this without anyone to give it back its warmth. Peter would never want to come down here, it would only remind him of all that he lost and could never gain back.
Shifting her focus, and shaking herself out of the dark thoughts that were invading her mind, Leah turned to her right and noticed that there was a separate room of to the side with a large fur pelt acting as the door. Treading across the dirt ground, she pushed back the pelt and found herself in what she presumed was Peter's room, but at the moment, everything was in such disarray that it was hard to tell that it was once a room at all. This mess must have been what set Peter off to go look for Hook in the first place.
She cautiously stepped over the over-turned bed, a bow and quiver full of arrows, a pipe, an Indian headdress, and a tiny silver thimble, to get to the other side of the room where there sat a large trunk similar to the one that was in the tree house. In it she found Peter's clothes, and a feeling of relief swept over her. Gathering as much as she knew she could carry up the ladder, she quickly left Peter's room and began to climb back up to the tree house.
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A few minutes later, she emerged into the small room, arms laden with clothes, and found Peter in the same state that she had left him. Only this time his eyes were open, staring heavy-lidded off into space.
"Peter?" In response, his eyes merely glanced over at her and what she carried, but his mind didn't comprehend anything. All he cared about at that moment was getting warm. "You need to change out of those wet clothes." Picking out a pair of cotton pants and a green tunic, Leah extended them to him.
For a few moments, he just stared at what she was handing to him, but when his mind grasped what she was trying to do, he slowly began to unwrap himself from his fur cocoon and push himself into a sitting position. With only one objective on his mind, Peter completely forgot about decency and the fact that there was someone else in the room, and began to peel his wet pants off of himself. Seeing this, Leah quickly spun away from him, a hot blush creeping up her neck and into her face, and handed Peter's clothes to him by reaching her arm behind her.
Her heart thudding loudly in her ears and she waited until she heard him collapse back into the bed before she turned around. Dropping the rest of the clothes on top of the trunk, she leaned over Peter and began to rewrap him in furs; careful to tuck the edges all around him so none of the cool air would enter. She noticed that in the corner of the room there was a bucket full of water and realized that rain from the previous storm had been gathering, almost waiting for them to use. Without any further hesitation or second thought about the water, she dipped a piece of cloth in the cool water and gently placed it on Peter's forehead.
Minutes ticked by, but still there was no change. His fever just wouldn't break, and every second that he didn't get better, she could tell that he was just getting worse. Leah started to feel a sense of panic and frustration sweep over her; she had no idea what to do.
She had to get his fever down quickly or else Peter would surely die in that bed tonight.
Suddenly she remembered something that she had learned about in school. When stuck in cold environments, people would huddle together in order to conserve body heat.
Body heat.
Never had she been more grateful to have paid attention in school then at this very moment. Nor was she more nervous. Kicking off the shoes she had forgotten she was wearing, Leah pulled aside one of the furs and slid into bed next to Peter. Even though she felt her entire body burn with embarrassment, she tried to ignore the feeling and focused on getting Peter warm.
In the dark haze of his fever, Peter suddenly felt something very warm press up against him, and found himself trying to get as close to it as possible. With this new heat, he became more relaxed and was finally able to drift off to sleep.
With their arms wrapped around each other, Leah felt the cold begin to drift away from Peter's skin, and grateful that his fever was finally beginning to go down, she too fell asleep.
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Okay, that took us longer than we thought. But here is the next chapter! Please read and review! And thank you to everyone who stuck with us throughout everything! Love you everyone!
-Star and Glade
10-24-05