Lost In The Heart Of Neverland

Chapter Nine

I landed with a grunt, then turned to glare at the two boys who had thrown me into the bamboo structure that was apparently meant to be my bed for the night. How splendid.
"You know, you could have asked me to get in. You didn't have to throw me in."
The boys just chuckled and one walked away, disappearing into the dark jungle. The other boy knelt in front of me, his gray eyes piercing my very soul. He smirked at me, noting how taken aback I was by his direct gaze. I shifted my own gaze to the ground, glancing up and back down a few times, feeling like an animal caught in a trap.
"Okay, Aya." He said my name like it was the most ridiculous one he had ever heard.
"Here's how this works: You be a good girl and stay in your cage, and you won't have to find out first hand what Pan does to people who disobey  him."
I just glared at him and his smug face. I could have sworn he was laughing at me on the inside.

Go ahead. I thought. Laugh now. You won't be laughing tomorrow when you open this cage and I'm not in it.

The boy stood and closed the door, proceeding to chain and lock it. He walked over to a tree and grabbed a vine that was hanging from it.
Looking over at me again, he smirked.
"Oh, and, by the way: I'm Felix."
He jerked on the vine and I fell back as my prison began to rise from the ground. It rose higher and higher, jerking around as Felix pulled the vine with the help of what sounded like a pulley system. I gripped the bar so hard that the blood was cut off from my fingers. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut. I wasn't really afraid of heights, but I sure didn't like the idea of falling.
After a minute of holding on for dear life, the cage finally stopped rising, and it swung in place, sending chills through my body. I slowly lifted myself up, tensing as the structure protecting my life precariously swayed with every movement. Looking through the bars I groaned. I was at least 30 feet off of the ground. If I jumped from here I would break every bone in my body. So much for escaping.
Felix looked up at me, an almost invisible smile on his lips.
"Sleep tight, Aalya."
With that he walked away, leaving me hanging in the middle of the jungle.
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I woke up for the sixth time in what felt like only a couple of hours.

That's it. There's no way I can sleep in this stupid cage.

I sat up and leaned against the wall behind me and wrapped my arms around my knees. Resting my chin on my knees, I allowed a frown to form on my lips and I sighed, exhausted with trying to sleep, discouraged over the fact that I was going to have to sit awake all night.

Shuck.

This was nothing like the Peter Pan from 1953. Of course, I could see how dark even that story was, if you thought about it. A boy coming and convincing children to leave their home, trying to convince them to stay forever. The mermaids that almost drowned Wendy. Tinker Bell telling the Lost Boys to kill Wendy because she was jealous of her. Where was Tinker Bell, anyway? Was she even real?

I really wish I had a way out of here.

That's when I remembered my pocket knife. I still had it. The boys hadn't noticed it because I hadn't been able to get to it when B'jorn attacked me. Pulling it off of my skirt, I opened it and began cutting the thick twine that served as hinges for the door. After about 30 minutes of agonizing cutting, the door finally fell, catching sideways as it hung from the chain.
I slid to the door, careful not to shake the cage too much. Pulling the top half of my body out of the door, I looked up top, gripping the poles on the roof of the cage. I looked around for a way to get down, but there was nothing. So much work for nothing.
But then I had what really seemed like an insane idea. It might not work, but, hey, what's the harm in trying? After all, I've believed in a lot crazier things.
I closed my eyes and sighed, then put my heart to work.

You know, Neverland, I really wish I had a 30 ft rope ladder right now.

I opened my eyes and smiled. Belief always was the thing that pulled me through. Grabbing the rolled up ladder, I secured it to the cage then dropped the end over the edge. I looked around for anyone who might be standing guard, then with a quiet giggle of delight, I swung over the edge of the cage and secured my foot on the first rung. I climb to the bottom and silently stepped to the ground. Looking around one last time to check for Lost Boys I crept toward the jungle, knowing that I couldn't escape the island, but hoping I could at least keep hidden. I didn't want to be alone, but I could survive, and it was much better than being a slave to Peter Pan and his Lost Boys.