Chapter 5
She pointed me in the right direction and I immediately flew off in search of him. As I flew, I tried to think of what I would say to him, but nothing was coming. "Great," I thought to myself, "the one boy in my life that has actually treated me right, even cared about me, and I went and screwed it up." I started thinking about his eyes and his scar and the way his arms felt wrapped around me. I realized that even though we just met, I felt like I had known him for years, and I have loved him all the while. "Do I love him?" I thought. "Not now, maybe, but in the future… it's quite possible." I reasoned. But my heart swelled every time I thought about him and my stomach did backflips whenever I talked to him. Were those not signs of young love? I was deep into my internal debate; I almost missed where I was going. However, I realized just in time and slowed down.
What I saw was heartbreaking: in what seemed like a man-made tree house, at the very top of the trees, Felix sat, back facing the world. I quietly flew up to the platform and walked up behind him. I cleared my throat so as to not scare him. He flinched and slowly turned around. His eyes were hard and guarded, and maybe a little tearstained. He saw me and turned back around. Ignoring the pain in my heart that that gave me, I sat down next to him. "Felix…" I whispered. He closed his eyes and seemed to sink into himself for a moment. When he came out again, his eyes were glistening; but with tears, I thought, of forgiveness. He looked at me with such raw emotion, and slowly let my walls melt away. We had an unspoken conversation and then, all at once, we burst out with cries of, "I'm sorry," I said. "I forgive you," he replied sincerely. "I love you, but I'm scared." I looked away, ashamed. He took my chin and made me look into his eyes. "You don't need to be afraid. I'll always love you." And with that he gently tilted my head up and kissed me softly. I melted into his gentle touch and responded enthusiastically; I kissed him back with every ounce of emotion I had left.
After a while, we broke apart, both a little delirious. I looked up into his face and smiled at him. He looked back down at me, joy plain in his eyes. Then there was a bloodcurdling screech. He whipped around, checking for the threat, holding me close against him. "Felix, look out!" someone yelled as we were tackled to the floor. It was Peter. As I looked up, arrows whizzed by past my face and I could see that they were dipped in poison. The black sludge dripped lazily from the tips and when they hit the ground, the floor hissed and sizzled. There was a quick break from the bombardment of the artillery and we took advantage of it; we ran as fast and as hard as we could toward the makeshift shelter Felix had constructed, probably years before. We dove into the hut just as they started firing again. Arrows pierced through the walls and Felix covered me so as to make sure I didn't get hit. "What the hell is going on here?" he yelled. Peter looked grimly at us both and uttered a single syllable: "Hook."