A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 3.7 - Luke

The thicket enveloped them, thickened, and made their footsteps in the night sound like troublemakers in the harmony of the forest. Intruders in a world of forest and night where they did not belong and danced on a knife's edge because danger surrounded them on all sides. Fangs and claws, dark eyes with poisoned arrows. Sometimes it was a test of courage or a game of the lost to sneak into the woods at night and see who would dare to go farthest from camp. Behind the light and glow were silent hunters who had long been friendly to the lost, when they would scurry about in the woods at any time of the day or night. Deep in the woods were many hidden entrances that eventually led to the interior of the island in the underground caves, and underground in the maze and labyrinth with numerous false turns and traps to the cliff. There, where the Hangman's Tree waited on the floating island in the air embraced by clouds for the return of his children.

At the moment, however, she was not sure what might be the greater danger to her. The nameless terrors that could hide behind any rustle, always jerking her eyes in an appropriate direction as soon as a sound sounded closer... or the anglerfish whose fingers pressed through the fabric on her upper arm.
She braced herself against the man who was dragging her - away from the dense forest, from the protective traps and pits, from the mechanisms and secret shelters that could have offered her safety and rescue. Instead, he pulled her inexorably onward- not back the same way they had come, but she didn't need a compass to know they were heading toward the beach.

She didn't know how Hook could just get her bearings. She'd only been here a fraction of the time, but she'd found the island eerily.... confusing. The jungle looked the same to her on every corner- and at first, she would have walked into almost any trap if the other lost people hadn't kept a watchful eye on her. Even Jake - her brother - had found it much easier to cope with the new situation. Perhaps it was because Jake was always focused on what was most important... while their eyes had instead wandered wide and in awe- completely overwhelmed by all the wonders, no matter how small, that were found in this new world. Was that a glow behind one of the leaves? Firefly or will-o'-the-wisp? 

And now she was stumbling after the dreaded pirate captain of the Jolly Roger, having more than once fallen far too close to death from the scythe.... and yet she could not breathe a sigh of relief. Her hands went desperately to his hand, trying to loosen the iron grip - but so his fingers only closed tighter around her arm - tight enough that she gasped and pulled her hands away again, fearing he might squeeze hard enough to break her bone. Not without a venomous look under clenched teeth, the flaming resistance that had kept her life's flame alive so far brushed into her features like clear words. It was by chance that her gaze jerked past him because something on a tree drew her attention as if by magic: a notch. Inconspicuous one might say, the tree's small wound lay easily overlooked, half-obscured by leaves... unless one possessed a deeper vantage point - as she did.

She drew in the air sharply... and already heard the rustling and cracking sound of the thin wood mesh. Her instinct took hold faster than her mind. Instinctively, her hands grabbed his arm this time, pulling him back roughly and as hard as she could, and she staggered for a moment from her own jerky effort.

Loud rustling tore through the night briefly and faded just as quickly as the myriad leaves, soil, and brittle mesh that had been covered with them sank to the bottom of the pit. Pushing through stakes- in which they almost landed. The trap was designed for adults, the scrawny branches broke under even small weights, but were always just strong enough for smaller animals to scurry over. Perhaps, with luck, it could even have held its weight, but even that would have been critical. Hook or any other pirate, Native, or intruder into the area would undoubtedly have fallen into the deadly trap. Noisily she expelled the tense, held air. Her conscience bitingly tried to excuse her foolish action after the first reproach. However, only half-lovingly and unconvincingly, placating her frustration with the fact that he might have dragged her down with him?! But she knew that this was not true. Not only.

Two weeks was a long time in the irregular course of Neverland. As children forgot their parents' faces after only a few days, their memories of their world blurred, and in the end, not much remained but the blurred image through the fog that surrounded Neverland and its inhabitants, this time could form a completely new character or free a soul from its prison. That time was enough to die of recklessness - or to stain one's hands with blood. And yet she had killed no one. Not a pirate, not even a crocodile or a wild animal. When she had been hunting, she had even missed (admittedly on purpose...) when it came to killing rabbits or deer. The other boys laughed at her, offered to give her more lessons in the camp, and even Crow had promised to take care of her... maybe he was also ordered to do so by Peter so that the lanky lad from London wouldn't be completely useless? She didn't know.

Jake had been itching to kill pirates and fight. He had thrown himself crowingly into the fray with the others, euphoric and almost as light as if it were not a real life that could come to an end at his hands. As if all this was nothing more than a game or a dream. Sometimes she actually had the feeling that everyone somehow saw it that way. And she? She pulled HOOK back from the deadly trap that was leading her straight to ruin! And him? He laughed! Luke's shoulders sank resignedly lower, almost in despair before she ran her hand over her eyes, groaning. This couldn't be true! She couldn't even blame him!

"Come on, now. Let's go home." Growled close to her ear. (Hook)

A hot breath to words spoken so icily that it made the tender hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she felt the need to shake like a dog to comply with the tingling sensation in her veins. Instead, he grabbed her again roughly tighter - and now pushed her in front of him instead of dragging her behind him.

Every man for himself never forgets that' Jake had told her. Eat or be eaten,' Crow had also tried to instill in her, while she stared a little sorrowfully at a hunted, cuddly rabbit with snow-white fur that Cricket had proudly killed. And yet, she just couldn't and wouldn't see the world that way. There was more than just black and white.
Whereas with Hook, she really wasn't sure if there wasn't just black oil or tar in the captain's vessel instead of red blood. Even more so when he pushed it in front of him and used it as a shield. Finally, for the time being, Luke gave up resisting Hook's iron grip all the time. Once she broke free, escaped a few steps, but Hook caught her again before she could even jump over the next thicket. So she understood that for now, it was better to keep quiet... and look for another, better moment to escape. 

Unfortunately, this hope died like a dancing flame that gradually ran out of wax to keep burning. Forced to do so, Luke led him around two more traps. She didn't want to end up in them herself, and if she was honest, she was almost relieved when the forest thinned. The closer they got to the beach, the fewer traps there were - she knew that. At the same time, the dark knowledge settled in her like the dawn that it would be harder to escape the pirates again on the beach without cover or ways to hide.
The paths along the cliffs and beach were treacherous, and there was a reason that the lost preferred underground aberrations. Her thoughts swung back and forth like a pendulum.
Try a new escape, gnaw at Hook's patience (where it was ready his wonder he hadn't killed her outright) or not?
Would her chances dwindle if she continued to follow him, or would the chance she was waiting for present itself after all?
Ah, it was maddening. Birdies that jumped out of the nest too soon were found crushed and broken-necked at the bottom of the trees. Those who waited too long were pushed out of the nest by the mother bird. And sometimes missed the chance for the jump.