Again In Neverland

Chapter 31: Torn

"A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

LIL'S POV:

"Jonathan."

I say his name with a mixture of relief, and surprise.

With all the chaos that's happened, I'm ashamed to say Jonathan has slipped my mind. I nearly forgot about the wounded boy in the room next door who was practically dying because of me. And yet here he is. Standing not five paces away from me. And I can hardly believe it.

His dark blue eyes frantically search my face. He's flustered - his cheeks a soft pink color and sweat lining his forehead. One arm is holding on to the, now, open door and the other is frozen in mid air. Almost as if he froze. And he froze because...

Oh no. No no no no. He didn't. He didn't walk in just as... just as Peter and I... right before...

"I told you not to go in there!" Wendi yells. I see her moving into the door frame, trying to pull her brother out of the door.

Jonathan shoves her off and takes a step toward me. He's still wearing the same clothes that he came here in. The shirt with a large rip in it and brown trousers covered in dirt. Aside from the redness in his face, he looks completely healthy.

Wait a minute.

He's healthy!

I cover the distance between us in two steps and throw my arms around his neck.

"You're alright!" I mumble as I squeeze him with whatever strength I can muster.
Stiffly, he wraps one arm around my shoulders. I can feel something is off. He's behaving all twitchy.

I step back and look at him, holding his arms, "I'm so glad you're alright!"
He looks at me, something strange about his face, "Sure you are."

I'm stunned. What a bluntly rude answer.
"Excuse me?" I ask, shocked at his response.
"You're not relieved that I'm alright. You weren't even worried about me."
I shake my head, my smile faltering, "What are you talking about?"
"When was the last time you thought of me, huh? Did you stop for even a minute to consider what I did for you? And the fact that I was writhing in pain because of it?"

I remove my hands from his arms, offended, "Of course I did. I almost died getting the cure for you because I felt so guilty."
He takes a menacing step toward me, suddenly looking ten feet taller,
"And of course you had him with you."

Jonathan adds disdain on the 'him'.
I can hardly believe how mean he's being, "Him? You mean Peter? He offered to come."
"Sure he did," Jonathan continues as he steps toward me again, "And in that time what happened? You developed feelings for him, didn't you? You looked into his eyes and realized that you liked him, and you forgot all about me. About the one who was trying to rescue you. About the one who actually cares for you."

I take a step back, "Jonathan I think that you're interpreting this the wrong way. Nothing happe-"
"No," He interrupted, "But it almost did. In the woods. By the fire that was oh so cozy, and the darkness of the night that practically made you crawl on to his lap."

My feet stopped, my spine froze. He knew. But... how? He wasn't there. He was... unconscious.

"I was worried about you. The whole time." I feel my heartbeat rising as I lie, even to myself. I did do all of that for him. Even if Peter was also on my mind.

Jonathan grabs my arms with his hands, which are surprisingly strong.
"I know you're lying. I can see it written all over your face. You're pathetic, Lil. You lie to others to let them hear what they want, and then you become so submerged in that reality you forget what really happened. You're weak. You're ill-minded."
I struggle to get free of his grip,
"Jonathan what are you doing? Let go of me!"