Yours, now and forever.

Chapter 9

Bella's POV

A warm breeze hit my face, waking me up from the first peaceful sleep I'd had in years. I sat up, untwisting my body from inside the blanket and looked around. I'm in my room? I couldn't sworn I'd fallen asleep on the- realisation hit me mid thought. Peter brought me back? I thought he'd just leave me.

I stretched out, feeling my back crack here and there, releasing any tension from inside it. Then got up and went outside from my tent. Everyone was already working. How long was I asleep for? I spotted Oliver, Noah and Benjie from across the camp, carving wood and sharpening arrow heads. The two older boys keeping a close eye on Noah to make sure he wasn't going to hurt himself. I ran over to them.

"We'll look who's finally up!" Benjie laughed, throwing another arrow to the ground beside him.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up? I would've come to help?" They looked to each other, then laughed at me.

"Strict orders." Noah said, continuing to sharpen the arrows like it was just a fun game. "Pan said to let you sleep and rest till you woke up." He what? The other two forced their faces into their palms. "What?" Noah said innocently.

"He also said not to tell her that Noah." Oliver said, reaching out and ruffling Noah's hair around. Noah's face dropped and it seemed as if he were about to cry. I quickly stepped in, wrapping my arm around him and squeezing a little.

"It's ok buddy, I won't snake on you." He whimpered a little before nodding at me. I stood back up from my kneeling position and scanned around for Pan. He caught my eye pretty quick. He was conversing with Felix. I said goodbye to the boys for a second then ran over to where they were stood. "Pan!" Both their heads snapped in my direction, Felix grinned evilly at Pan, who had a look on his face like I was the most annoying person in the world. Felix said one last sentence before backing away and going towards another group of boys.

"What is it Bella?" Pan sighed at me. I tried to let it pass.

"Um, sorry. Did I interrupt something?" I said, a little defensive to his rudeness.

"Would it make a difference?" What is wrong with him? I opened my mouth to ask him, but nothing came out. "What do you want?" He sighed again.

"I just wanted to thank you. For saving my life I mean. I realise I didn't say it yesterday." He looked a little taken back by my thanks, but soon shifted back to his snarky and rude expressions.

"Ok." He was being so arrogant, it was getting on my nerves. "Speaking of last night. You broke a rule." Is he serious? "That means punishment." He crossed his arms, staring down on me with disapproval.

"Are you kidding?" I asked, hoping he would start to laugh and say yes. But he stayed still. "Fine, what's my punishment Pan?" He thought for a second. Then grinned like the villain he was.

"45 minutes. Any lost boy gets a hit to anywhere they want." My blood ran cold with fear. I'd seen this punishment before. No one liked doing it, well, most didn't like doing it, but we always got ordered that we had to. My usual place was just a step on the toe, it's over quickly and it isn't too painful, but a lot of the more brutal boys would use weapons and aim for ribs and jaws. I scowled up at him, I can't believe after the great moment we had together last night, he's punishing me with this?!

"Fine." He kept his smile, I knew it would drop at my next sentence. "On one condition Pan. You watch them do it." I was right. He now had a look of shock and disturbance on his face. He looked almost scared. "That's right, I want you to watch them beat me up." I crossed my arms mockingly. "It's your punishment after all. You must see that it is carried out well." His mouth fell open and closed, trying to find words but nothing came out.

"Fine." He finally forced out. "Tonight, your punishment will take place."

-fast forward-

It was time. I wasn't sure whether I was nervous to be beaten, or excited to see Pan's expressions as he saw it happen. The lost boys came and got me, and like some sort of death parade, I was marched to the clearing in the trees, where there stood a huge, thick tree in the centre. When I arrived, I was bound to the tree tightly with a rope wrapped a few times around my body and the tree. I scanned the area. A pile of huge rocks sat around 10 feet from me, along with two blades and a line of boys, some grinning and others with great pity in their eyes.

"BELLA! NO!" Noah came racing forward from the line, all heads turned towards him. He ran up to me and began to desperately pull at the ropes to try and untie me. His eyes were puffy and red and tears still streamed down his cheeks.

"Sh, sh, it's ok." His sobs crushed my heart into a million pieces. "I'll be ok, I'm tough right little guy?" He nodded at me. Still pulling hard at the restrains. "Then you gotta trust me. You don't wanna be in trouble do you?" He shook his head. But kept his grip on the ropes, refusing to step away.

"I don't want you to get hurt." He sobbed at me, collapsing into me.

"Noah, I need you to be brave for me ok?" I felt his head nod against me. "So are you gonna go back to the line?" I felt the same motion. He stepped up, still weeping loudly, I felt my eyes well up massively as Benjie came forward, putting his arm around Noah and guiding him away from me.

*Pan's pov*

I watched with anger in my eyes as Benjie guided Noah towards the rest of the boys. For the first time, I felt a little sympathy for the boy. He was only 7. And I of course knew how much Bella meant to him. How much she meant to all of them. I turned back to face her, still keeping my glare of disapproval. Her head dropped, and I could see tears falling onto the floor. I don't wanna do this, I really don't wanna watch this.

"Let the punishment start," I waved my hand, producing a ticking alarm clock, set for the right amount of time. "Now."