"One man goes into the waters of baptism. A different man comes out, born again. But who is that man who lies submerged? Perhaps that swimmer is both sinner and saint until he is revealed onto the eyes of man." - Zachary Hale Comstock
"I am not staying with you," Sarah snapped, standing up and knocking the chair to the floor. She wasn't about to let them take her without a real explanation and so far, they had not explained anything. Emma and David didn't say anything else to her. What were these people hiding? "I haven't done anything. I barely wake up in the hospital and you take me to the police station for crashing supposedly in this town?"
David sighed. "Sarah, please cooperate. We are not going to hurt you. We have to make sure…"
"That I'm not a criminal?" she added. She leaned forward, adding a smirk to her lips. These people are the same as everyone else. "Too late." Neither Emma nor David were able to say anything because she grabbed the nearest item to her and threw it at them before running out. She made it out of the building before realizing they were both tailing right behind her. Running was her forte. She ran from the shelter workers more times than she could count and it definitely served her well. She never ran so fast in her life and Emma was pretty fast, nearly catching up to her when Sarah made a sharp turn in an alley.
Unfortunately there weren't that many places to hide in. Sarah hated being in a place unknown to her. She hid behind a garbage disposal, waiting until Emma and David searched everywhere and left the area. The coast seemed to be clear, allowing her to crawl out and look around for a way out. I'll ask for directions, Sarah thought, and spotting a store with the name 'Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer'. Ignoring the strange name, she entered it right away.
It was empty. "Hello?" she called. "Anyone here?"
Right away, a man from the back room came out. Immediately Sarah jumped, not expecting someone to answer so soon. "May I help you, Miss?" the man asked. He raised one of his eyebrows. "You aren't from around here, are you?" The man was middle aged, maybe in his early forties. He had brown hair with streaks of grey in some areas. He had a cane in one hand supporting him as he walked.
"No, I'm not."
"I see… well, feel free to look around."
It was entirely full of the most original things Sarah ever saw in her life. The man sold items she didn't think anyone else would. They were antiques of everything from tea sets to potions. Sarah found it extremely weird, yet he did not notice her confused expression. "I haven't seen anything like it," Sarah said. "What kind of a store is this?"
"A pawnshop to be more exact," he corrected. "If you're looking for something normal then you are in the wrong store, dearie. You are best to go to a different store for that."
"You own this store?" Sarah asked him.
"I do own it. I have owned it for years."
She scoffed the idea of people actually coming in here. "And you make profit off these things?"
"Says the teenage girl in ragged clothing."
Sarah turned around, crossing her arms. "You're judging me now?" She was not impressed with him. The man quickly got on her nerves.
"You just judged me with your cynical statement." He's right about that. Sarah thought, but she had a reason for it. Who in their right mind would buy any of the stuff in the pawnshop? A mad person. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"
She didn't even need to think about the next set of words before they left her mouth. "They're dead. But I am sure your mother would have taught you manners as well."
Before the store owner could say anything in response, the door opened. "There she is," Sarah heard someone say and felt her arm being grabbed and pulled back. Emma escorted her out of the pawnshop. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I was fearing for my life, so I fled," Sarah replied. "I am entitled to."
"You aren't doing a good job of trying to convince us you're not planning something," Emma said.
"And you would know of what I am planning?"
"I can tell when people are lying. Now, move."
"Who was the man in the store?" Sarah asked, as David and Emma lead her through the town.
David shook his head, not replying. "That isn't important. Mr, Gold is not someone you want to be affiliated with anyway," Emma told her. "Trust me, you don't."
Sarah knew many people who were not able to gain her trust and the ones who stabbed her in the back. She wondered what this 'Mr. Gold' did to get on their bad side. As if Sarah wasn't already blacklisted by them to begin with. She allowed them to take her anyway. She could tell running away again would cause more trouble than she could handle.
Emma and David brought her into a small apartment on the other side of Storybrooke. There was another woman with short black hair waiting for them inside. She was more inviting than both David and Emma together. "Can I get you anything to drink?" she asked.
Why is she even bothering being nice to me? Don't they want me gone? She thought. "What is it? Poison?"
"There's no poison," the black haired female said, still smiling. "We are not here to hurt you."
Sarah knew better than to believe any of it. If they had not chased and found her, then she wouldn't think they were going to hurt her "Could have fooled me," she muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'll just have water."
Mary Margaret took out a glass, pouring water into it. She smiled, as she handed the cup over to Sarah. "I'm Mary Margaret by the way. What's your name?"
"Sarah."
She reluctantly took the glass of water. If the woman did poison her, she did not notice. "Nice to meet you, Sarah."
After taking a quick sip, Sarah said, "Can you tell me why I am being taken in? Because those two will not tell me anything." She pointed to both Emma and David who were sitting down on at the table.
"Didn't give us much of a chance considering you ran," Emma told her.
"Okay fine, that was my bad," Sarah admitted. "I won't run again if you tell me why you want me to stay."
"It's a little difficult to explain," Mary Margaret said. She glanced at David. "Should we…"
"We believe two people here to be planning something," Emma interrupted. "What they are going to do, we don't know. We're just being cautious right now."
She found it hard to understand why they needed to keep her captive. It made no sense. Sarah almost wanted to tell them they were looking more suspicious by making her stay. It was like the three of them were conspiring against her. She thought better than to say it loud. "All right. I will stay but only because I have nothing to hide," Sarah said. "The only problem is, where exactly am I staying for the time being?"
"I have an extra cot," Mary Margaret offered. A cot sounded much better than sleeping on a cold, dirty, hard floor of a shelter. "She can stay here, can't she, David?"
"Not like we have a choice… Yes, she can stay here," David agreed. "Don't think of running away. We are going to watch you like a hawk." Two can play at that game, Sarah thought although she already knew how she was going to leave, but she needed their trust first.
Mary Margaret got the cot ready for her later on towards the evening. Sarah was not sure how long she would stay in Storybrooke, but the one thing she did not get was why she apparently knew where the town was on the map. Am I forgetting something important here? She thought. Emma even showed her the map, which was found in the car she crashed in. Whatever the reason, it was important. But why? Who cares? She just wanted to sleep it off, and think about it in the morning.
Sarah woke up the next day, smelling something with strawberries. Much to her surprise, Mary Margaret was cooking pancakes and bacon. There was a boy sitting in the kitchen at the counter. Sarah guessed he was the son of one of three people she met. Mary Margaret kept on her warm smile. "Want some?"
"Sure."
The boy glanced slightly at Sarah. "Is that the girl you told me about?" he asked Mary Margaret as she flipped over a pancake in the frying pan.
"Yes, and she's our guest for a while."
"I'm Sarah."
"Henry," the boy replied, after stuffing a piece of pancake drenched in syrup. "Nice to meet you."
"You as well." What a polite kid, Sarah thought, having been used to rude and immature kids in her shelter. "Mary Margaret, I know that I can't exactly leave your side, but I don't want to be cooped up in this house for a month. I got enough of that in New York."
"Can't I show her around?" Henry asked.
"I don't know, Henry. I'm not sure your mom wants you to spend too much time with her."
"Here we go," Sarah muttered, thinking she almost got somewhere. "I am not going to harm the kid. I'm sixteen years old. You think I'm capable of doing something like that?"
"It's not my decision, Sarah. But, if I'll tell you what, I can go with you on one condition."
Sarah cocked her head to the side. "What would that be?"
"Give me David's keys to his car."
How the hell did she know?! Sarah thought. She took David's car keys the previous night, and kept them with her. If she left last night, they would know she left and be on her tail right away. She was going to slip away while Mary Margaret and Henry were not looking. She took David's car keys the previous night, and kept them with her. If she left last night, they would know she left and be on her tail right away. She was going to slip away while Mary Margaret and Henry were not looking.
She returned the keys back, crossing her arms. Mary Margaret smiled. "I was a thief once. I know how these things work." So she was not all smiles as Sarah had previous thought. Interesting. She underestimated the woman.
After breakfast, Mary Margaret kept true to her word and took Sarah and Henry out somewhere in town. Sarah was not interested in seeing the town. She had to look for a new way out, but first, trust was most important at the moment and leave when they least suspect it. While Mary Margaret left them to speak to a couple of people, Henry and Sarah sat in silence, while staring off into the park full of people.
"Hey…" he said, pointing to a dark skinned woman beside a man. "That's my father's girlfriend, Tamara…. And Greg."
"What about them?" Sarah asked.
"They are both new here, too."
Tamara and Greg? Emma mentioned that to David yesterday, but he doesn't seem to believe her, Sarah thought. "Henry! There's something I really want to show you," the woman said. "Come with us."
"Why?" Henry said. "Is my dad with you?"
"He's at the docks right now. He told me to come get you."
Sarah stood still, realizing they couldn't be right. She looked at Mary Margaret but she was still talking to someone. "Don't go with them," Sarah said to Henry.
"Take him," Tamara said to Greg. "And take her, as well."
"Take me and I will scream," Sarah replied.
Tamara put a gun to her chest. "If you scream, I will shoot you and Henry."
Sarah complied. She knew nothing of what they were going to do, but shooting a child? She would never allow it. They took them away from the park all the way to the docks, as Tamara had told them. "What are you doing?" she asked. Tamara pushed her to move.
"Bringing you and Henry somewhere."
"Where?" Sarah demanded, earning her a kick in the back.
"Just move," Tamara ordered. As soon as they finally reached the docks, she nodded at Greg. "Throw the bean." Greg did as he was told, throwing what looked like a bean into the water. Sarah jumped once she saw the green mist swirling around in the water and had no time to think before she saw Emma and a couple of others running towards them shouting for Henry. It was too late because by the time they were close, Sarah found herself being pulled in.
"Did you check the batteries?" Sarah heard Greg ask or maybe it was someone else. She wasn't sure, as the daze took over her mind, and confused her. She thought she went through a strange green hole in the water, where she and Henry were forced in. Greg was holding some sort of device. He opened the back of it and sand fell out. She wondered if it was all a dream, but when looking around her, she found she was nowhere near Storybrooke.
This can't be real, Sarah thought. It was nighttime, wherever they were, and she only saw silhouettes of trees around her. "What the hell is this?" Tamara muttered, sounding a bit panicked. "A toy?"
"Good thing you guys don't ask questions," Henry said.
Sarah picked herself up from the sand. Her head began throbbing as if she hit it on the way out. "Let's go," Greg said. "Walk. Both of you."
They did as they were told. Although Sarah despised taking orders from other people, she knew the boy was in danger of the two people who took them to an unknown place. Greg eventually found an area where they could signal 'Home office' as they called it. Tamara gathered wood and tried to get the 'communicator' working but to no avail.
Tamara paced around, concerned about home office and how they would not get to them. She seemed to think the sand in the communicator was not an accident. "What does this home office want with us?" Sarah asked.
"It's none of your business," Greg replied. "And we didn't originally want you to come with us… but you saw too much."
They heard noise coming from the forest. An animal? She heard footsteps coming closer and closer towards them. Sarah stood by Henry, in case it attacked. She would force him to run and let whatever was there attack her. Instead of an animal, a hooded boy who looked no older than Sarah, walked towards them with several others trailing behind.
"Who are you?" Greg asked them.
"Home office," the hooded boy replied sincerely. "Welcome to Neverland."
Neverland? Sarah froze in her place, glancing at Henry, who in turn, glanced at her.
"The home office is a bunch of teenager," Tamara said.
"They aren't teenagers," Henry spoke, "they are the lost boys." Henry seemed to know more about it than Sarah did. Yes, she heard of the Disney movie Peter Pan and watched it a million times as a child, but didn't understand how it was real.
"Now the boy," the hooded boy demanded. "Hand him over."
"Not until you tell us the plan," Tamara fired back. "For magic… for getting home."
"You're not going home."
"Then you're not getting the boy," Greg responded.
The hooded boy chuckled a little, in almost a mocking way. "Of course we are." Out of nowhere, Greg was grabbed or rather pulled apart it looked like. Something was being pulled off his back… a shadow? Peter Pan's "shadow". Greg fell to the ground, completely lifeless.
"Run!" Sarah shouted to Henry. "Go! I'm behind you!"
The lost boys were too fast for her for they were soon catching up to both of them. She urged Henry to keep going while she dealt with the lost boys herself. She stopped, causing them to stop as well. "You're not getting anywhere near him," she warned.
"Take her. We will see what Pan wants to do with her."
"Did you find him?" Pan asked when Felix returned. Felix shook his head. Pan's smile turned into a frown, realizing he had failed to get the boy. "Why didn't you take him?"
Felix pointed to someone in the dark. Pan took a closer look to see who it was. A girl with dark hair, wearing ripped and dirty clothes. With the dirt and dried blood he hardly knew what she looked like. He didn't understand what Felix was trying to say about her or what she had to do with him. "Is this a joke? You bring me her instead of the boy as I asked?" Pan said, a little impatiently. "Felix, I gave you specific orders."
"He escaped," Felix said. "We don't know where he is, but maybe this girl can help us."
Pan studied the girl, who was saying nothing the entire time. "What's your name?" he asked, bending down in front of her. The girl didn't speak to him. She was either too afraid or too stubborn to tell him. "You brought me a mute? Go back and find him. Put this girl in a cage."
"I'm not a mute!" the girl snapped, bringing Pan's attention back to her quickly.
"Well isn't she feisty?" Pan chuckled.
"My name is Sarah," she shot back, "and that is all you need to know about me."
Sarah? Pan thought. The woman who left him a long time ago was named Sarah. It was entirely coincidental the two had the same name. "Take this rube away. I'll deal with her later. Right now, we need to find the boy." Felix took her away, but when Sarah passed him, he saw the look in her eyes… the same look he received on the fateful day before the damned woman disappeared. Pan shook his head, and decided to let the thought pass. The two of them were not the same.
Because the woman was dead to him.
Originally, chapter 1 and 2 were supposed to be ONE chapter but I changed my mind. People might not want to read more than 2k words per chapter (for now). Also go to my tumblr and feel free to send me some 'asks/questions'. It's kelly087 tumblr com (with periods obviously). Tell me if the link isn't working.