The Monster Under My Bed • Peter Pan, Once Upon A Time •

Chapter 4

We'd been playing the riddles game for what seemed like forever. But I didn't have anything to tell me the time when in reality what seemed like forever, was probably only 15 minutes.

"Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" I asked, trying my best to come up with difficult riddles, although this boy seemed quite clever.

"Mankind!" He said excitedly after a few moments of silence. "Crawling as a baby, walking on two legs as an adult and with a cane in their old age!" He smiled and waited for me to tell him if he was right or not, and I nodded in defeat.

"Yeah.. good job," I muttered unenthusiastically at how he yet again defeated my attempts at an intelligent riddle.

"What has an eye, but cannot see?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me and sitting comfortably on the ground while I was miserable in this cage.

"A needle?" I wasn't completely sure, so I popped a question mark at the end of my sentence.

He nodded happily, clapping like a small child who discovered that magic markers really did smell they way the packaging said it did.

"Next question!" He cheered.0

"If you have me, you want to share me, if you share me, you haven't got me. What am I?"I stared at him and he answered almost immediately.

"A secret," he said simply, and my heart dropped in my chest just a bit; I nodded in disappointed.

"Oh goodie! My turn again!" He said shifting from where he was sitting. He smirked once more and stared at me, pausing for just a minute. "What is greater than light, more evil then dark, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die?"

This time it was my turn to pause. I glanced back and fourth from each side of the cage.

Backwards thinking Adelaide, it's a trick question.

Right when he started to grin at my hesitation, I made his expression disappear into the same thing as the answer to his riddle.

"Nothing!" His eyes narrowed and he seemed frustrated, so he nodded. I smiled this time, watching his jaw clench in annoyance.

"Alright.. uh," I looked up, searching my brain for another riddle. "What gets broken without being held?" I asked, staring at him. His expression saddened slightly, and he cleared his throat as he answered.

"A heart," he whispered. As he said it he was looking down, and let his eyes slowly trail upwards moments after. I swallowed the saliva that was clogging my throat from my not breathing and nodded silently.

"Feed me and I live, yet give me a drink and I die," he cut me off before I could comment on his soft demeanour.

I've heard this one before.

I smirked at him and he glared at me, knowing what I'd thought.

"Fire," he nodded angrily at my smug response and looked away, waiting for my turn.

"Imagine you are in a dark room, how do you get out?" I asked.

His jaw clenched and he touched the tongue to the inside of his mouth, shaking his head as he looked away.

Is he angry? Does he not know the answer?! Do I win?!

"Quit imagining," he sneered. "I don't like to quit imagining," he added afterwards, and I simply raised my hands in defense.

"It's just a riddle!" He kept his glare on me, then looked away for a moment.

"Alive without breath, cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail, never clinking."