Caged • Robbie Kay/Peter Pan •

Chapter Twenty-Nine

(Please read the authors note after this chapter about an author Q&A)

I found myself in front of Owen's tent, taking a deep breath before whispering his name into the silent haze of night. For a moment, there was no sound, but slowly the door unlocked and Owen sleepily slipped through, careful not to wake James.

"Meadow, are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" he asked, running his hands through his mess of blonde hair, sticking out in some places.

I shook my head. "I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to do or choose and I feel like I'm going insane." I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head against his chest, squeezing him as though it was the last time.

"What are you talking about? Meadow, talk to me." Owen, placed both hands on the sides of my head and pulled it away from him so that he could look me in the eye.

"Come with me." I whispered, walking back to my tent and pushing open the door. I sat on my bed, waiting for him to do the same before I told him all that was on my mind.

"Firstly, I'm going to tell you something that you have to promise to keep to yourself." I swallowed, my eyes not leaving his.

He nodded slowly, evidently confused.

"Chase is alive."

"Meadow, you've told us. There was no trace of him when we got there." Owen shook his head.

"No, you have to listen to me. I know what I saw. I saw a boy who looked as if he had been through hell, but eyes so alive it couldn't be anything but him; not a dream or hallucination. You have to trust me." I grabbed the parchment from my side table and handed it to him. "Look at this. I found this on the forest floor after everyone had gone up the path."

He clasped it between his fingers, eyes darting right then left upon what was inscribed. His other hand rested under his chin, his thumb brushing back and forth over his bottom lip.

"But there's something else." I stated. He glanced back up at me and my heart sped quicker and my stomach flopped. "I think I'm in love Peter." I whispered delicately, the words sounding so shamefully cliche, yet there was a brokenness about them; a truthful brokenness that caused sympathy to erupt behind Owen's dark eyes. He knew I meant it.

"But every day I stay here, I grow more anxious. Maybe Neverland is for you and the others who have been here for ages, but I'm slowly going insane and there is no cure except.."

"Except to leave." Owen finished, his voice cracking, then clearing his throat to cover it up.

I didn't respond. He already knew what I was going to say. "Whatever I choose, someone breaks." my eyes glazed over and the expression on Owen's face made me feel suddenly ashamed.

We sat there in silence and though he was hurt, he closed his eyes as if he were thinking about what I should do. "I can't make a decision for you, but Hope died because of her own mind. We can only handle so much for the ones we love until eventually, they are the death of us. I know you may think that holding on, staying here, is the brave thing to do and if you go, Peter will be brokenhearted, but he'll recover. If you stay, you break not only yourself, but Peter as well and there will be no recovering." Owen's words were groggy, but laced with the deepest sincerity as his eyes never faltered. My cheeks were wet with tears, but I didn't bother to dry them.

"Sometimes you have to think of yourself. You have to do what's right for you." Owen said, noticing my sorrow. He pulled me into him, holding me so tightly that I could hardly breathe. "It's okay to let go, Meadow. It's okay."

•••

The sky was a dark grey. Not quite sunrise, but it would soon would be dawn.

I trailed down the path, looking at my feet as they swept across the earth, one in front of the other in a repeating patern. A song Peter had once played for me on his pipe echoed through my mind, over and over it played until I reached the cage.

"Chase, are you here?" I asked into the pale darkness.

A figure came from the rustling bushes and approached me, becoming more familiar as he neared. "You got my note." he stated.

"I still can't believe you're here. What happened?" I asked.

He hesitated. "I thought about dying. I thought about just swimming out there in the middle of the night and letting whatever happened happen, but I stood on the beach and I.. I just couldn't." he stated. "So I figured that I'd just disappear."

"Peter doesn't hate you, Chase. You could've come back. You should've, instead of letting us believe you'd been killed."

Chase dropped his head and looked down at his feet. "I know! I should've, but by the time I regretted it, it was too late, okay?" he paused. "So I had no other choice but to be alone."

"Where did the scar come from?" I questioned, folding my arms across my chest.

"I could lie and say that I battled a bear but truthfully, I got into a fight with a tree branch." he said seriously but then smirked, causing me to chuckle.

"I'm assuming the tree branch won." I said smugly, gesturing toward his scar.

"You should've seen the tree." he laughed. Chase seemed different, is if being alone had humbled him and seeing someone, even if it was me, made him appreciate the company.

We stood in awkward silence until he drew in a deep breath. "Meadow, what I said in the note, about leaving, is true. There is a way to get off the island, but I can't guarantee it."

My stomach churned once more at the remembrance of why we were meeting. "Just me?" I questioned.

"That's up to you." Chase stated, sitting down on the ground with his back against the wooden bars of the cage.

"What do I have to do?" I asked, sitting next to him.

"You have to convince Peter to send you back. It's been done before. I found a journal in one of the caves on the island. It looked like someone had stayed there before." Chase untied his bag and pulled out a pitiful stack of papers, held together with a top and bottom made of leather.

He handed it to me to look at and etched into the surface of the leather was a name..

Wendy

•••

A/N

Double update!!! (sort of)

So what do you guys think???

I'm really excited for the next few chapter and I'm actually looking forward to writing the last chapter.

OH and I wanted to do a q&a for you guys so leave questions below and I will dedicate a chapter to answer them!

Thanks guys!

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