ḾṎᕍ⁅ᖇṈ ℄Ṏv⁅ | The Lost Boys

ᏨᏲᾀᑬt⁅ᖇ tᏲḭᖇtẙ-tᏲᖇ⁅⁅

Neverland was weeping.

I could see the sky from where I laid on my bed of moss, dark and violent. Raindrops fell through the tree hole, like tiny cold razors, slicing at my skin.

I were so cold. "Can't we close the window?"

"No, it has to be open," Dwayne sat at my head, fingers carding through my hair. "If we close it, your spirit will be trapped here forever."

"I wouldn't mind being here forever," I tell him.

Reaching for his hand, I find I can't move. I wrists had been captured by the sinewy tree roots that grew out of my bed frame.

David, Marko, and Paul all scamper by, dressed in clothes made of woven together leaves, roots, and bark. They paid me no mind as they headed for the window, faces set with grim determination.

Marko begins to climb through the window, and my heart lurches.

"Where are you going?"

"We have to go," says David. "We have to get the pixie dust."

The pixie dust. Right, of course. How could I forget—the reason I was tied up in the first place was because I'd forgotten how to fly.

All the same, I couldn't stop my bottom lip from quivering. "Don't leave me, please. Take me with you. I don't want to be alone."

"You're not alone," Dwayne murmurs. "You'll never be alone again."

I wanted to believe him, but I could see with my own two eyes how anxious the other three were to leave. Did they not like me anymore? Weren't they going to help me out of these bonds? I didn't need the Pixie Dust—I didn't need to fly. All of the lost boys were natural fliers; they never forgot how to do such a simple task. To them, it was like breathing.

"You could carry me," I say. "I don't need the pixie dust, not when you all can fly. Don't leave."

Marko turned to David. "She'll die if we don't do something."

"We've done everything we can," snaps David.

"I won't die," I assure them. "I feel wonderful. If you can help me out of these bonds—"

"Shhh." Paul slips away from the others and steals my attention with a kiss. It's too chaste, very unlike Paul, as he pulls away before getting to the good stuff. "Don't talk, Wendy Bird. The pirates will here."

Oh. I shut my mouth, nodding. That would be a bad thing. I had already moved many times this past week to evade the pirates, who wanted nothing more than to destroy me and my lost boys.

Paul smiles his beauty as radiant as the sun and kisses me again. This time, he doesn't stop. He swipes his tongue along the seam of my lips, coaxing my mouth open. His tongue twists around my own. I moan, leaning into him, but Dwayne forces me back against the bed. I ignored the pain in my abdomen.

Paul pulls away from me and was replaced by David. He forced an object against my lips. I attempt to resist it and pull away but this made him push it more forcefully. I feel a thick metallic liquid bleed into my mouth that surprising tasted delicious.

I drank down every last drop. The pain in my gut was still on fire, but the fire turned into warm and fuzzy embers. I tossed my head back. The bonds around my wrists went lax, and I was floating. Flying.

My eyes fluttered shut, and I fell over the edge. I was actually falling. I was no longer in the treehouse but in falling through the sky, tearing through cotton-candy clouds, and plummeting towards the bay.

And just as my body was about to spatter across the ocean surface—