Monster

Chapter 3 - Lost Girl

Wendy landed with a thud in the mud.
"Sorry." The shadow said.
His voice never seemed to contain any emotion and this made Wendy feel very uncomfortable and wary.
Screaming could be heard in the distance, Wendy panicked, her blood curdling at the thoughts that filled her head over who could be screaming and why. It sounded like a man and for some reason this scared Wendy even more. Though her brothers screamed often she had never heard a man scream.
"John, Michael? Are you okay?" She asked, in a quiet voice.
She sat herself up to see that they had landed only yards away from her. They both nodded and sat up to.
"Where did that thing go?" Wendy asked, looking around her.
She stood up now and wiped her muddy hands onto her nightgown, though she knew mother would disapprove.

Another scream. Wendy's curiosity was overcoming her, she so wanted to see what was going on but she knew that she couldn't take her brothers to a place of  possible danger or leave her brothers on their own.
"I suppose we should make a fire and hope Peter Pan finds us."
She had read about surviving in the forest in several of her books and she knew a couple of things, though she wasn't certain about how many were fictional. Another thought that she couldn't seem to shake and that made her stomach drop and body tense was that the shadow was tricking them, that Peter Pan wasn't here. Wendy certainly wasn't getting the sense of the beautiful land of Heroes, mermaids, fairies and pirates. This land gave her a sense of evil, death and prison.

Still she smiled at her brothers. She wanted to make sure that they still had a good image of Neverland and Peter Pan in their head, no matter Wendy's doubts. She didn't want to frighten the boys. Wendy knew she needed to keep warm, freezing to death was always common for people trying to survive, she picked up a pair of wooden sticks and began to rub them together, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. She so wanted to give up, it hurt hands and it seemed hopeless but the faces of her intrigued brothers forced her to go on.

What felt like hours but was most likely minutes passed. Footsteps could be heard approaching.
"That could be the lost boys!" Wendy said, excitedly dropping her sticks and leaning forward.
Still butterfly's invaded her body and wouldn't let her relax at the thought.
"But they could be pirates or Indians." John pointed out.
Wendy hushed him and moved forward, slowly.

A large group of boys and one girl approached. All of them covered in grime and filth, particularly the girl who looked as though she had been buried under the ground she was so dirty and her clothes looked so worn it was as though she had been wearing them for centuries.

One particular boy stood out to her, he was tall, but not the tallest of them all, his dark eyes stood out and his face looked serious, dark and cold. He was handsome, the prettiest boy Wendy had ever seen. He was so much more than the pictures of princes in her Fairytale books and than the boys she had known at home. His character seemed so complex, so unique. The boy smirked at Wendy, a smirk that made Wendy's stomach leap and her mouth fall open.

"You must be Wendy? I've been watching you for months, waiting for the right time." The boy said, he looked Wendy up and down and she couldn't help but notice he had started to chew on the inside of his left cheek.
"Watching me?" Wendy said slowly, closing her mouth and trying to keep herself composed.
"Yes, very carefully." He said softly and slowly, stepping towards her.
"And you must be?"
"Peter, Peter Pan."
Wendy gasped, she couldn't help it. It had left her mouth before she could stop it.
"You are nothing like I imagined you." Wendy admitted.
"And is that a good or a bad thing?" Wendy didn't answer this, she just blushed softly.
"How old are you Wendy?" Pan asked.
"14 years old."

Pan smiled wide.
"See, nearly your age Liliana. I told you that I'd find you a friend, didn't I?"
Liliana frowned. "I don't want you to bring me a friend, I want to go home."
Pan walked towards Wendy and touched her hand. It felt like fireworks had been set off inside her.
"I'm nearly 15." Wendy added.
Pan sniggered cruelly, which made Wendy blush harder.
"Boys, lock her up, until we are ready for her." Pan shouted, the grin not fading from his face but his eyes saying all the evil that his smile wasn't.

"What? No!" Wendy cried, "Peter? Peter Pan why would you do this?"
Two lost boys approached Wendy, rolling up their sleeves. Pan turned his back on her and began to whisper to be very tall, blonde lost boy next to him.
"My brothers! John, Micheal!"
Then Pan knelt in front of her brothers, saying something that Wendy couldn't hear.
"Peter! Peter you can't just lock me up like an animal!"
Pan turned around this time and looked directly at her.
"Just watch me."

All Wendy could think about was that scream she had heard earlier, was that to be her? And how did she still melt and the sound of his voice and the coldness in his eyes when he had just shown himself not to be the hero she expected.

The two lost boys grabbed Wendy's arms and gripped her hard, they dragged her along though she struggled and kicked. They were so surprisingly strong and wouldn't give up. She screamed and cried until her throat was hoarse. They shoved her in to a small box cage and locked it before she could escape.

"Why? Why do this? You're supposed to be the Lost Boys, happy and fun kids who follow Pe.." Somehow she couldn't bring herself to say her name, so many emotions filled her at the very thought of saying it that it made her feel overloaded, like she might explode.
They both just sniggered.
"You better get comfortable, it's going to be a long and cold night." The tall blonde said, a terrifying smile spreading across his face.

All signs of hope had faded and somehow her talent of imagination and story telling felt so small. How was this ever going to help her now? What was the point? And how had she adored a boy so much who turned out to be so cold. She leant her head against the hard bars of the cage and though it hurt her, she refused to move. What was Pan going to do with her brothers? What was Pan going to do with her? Eyes glistening with tears that she wouldn't let fall, she closed her eyes and hoped to wake up in her room and it all to have been a dream.