Neverland

Chapter 4

We stopped in front of a ladder leading up to a tree. I couldn’t see much farther up because of the darkness, but Pan lit a lamp, and I followed him up.

“Well this is… cozy…” I muttered to myself as I stepped up and into the musty wooden house. Before I could even think, I was slammed against a wall. Pan pinned my wrists against the rough wood and looked me in the eye, our faces hovering inches apart. “Who are you?” he hissed through gritted teeth. What the hell? Where had this come from? I actually probably would have found this kind of hot if he weren’t so livid. In all honestly it was really hot, angry or not, but I was a little bit too preoccupied to be thinking about that being terrified and all. “Who are you?” he repeated. “I’m, I’m Kate. Kate Holden… I’m from Greenville South Carolina,” I stammered. He dug his hands deeper into my wrists.

“What are you, then? A siren? A fairy? A witch? WHAT ARE YOU?”

“I… I don’t… I’m just a girl!”

“THEN. WHY. ARE. YOU. HERE?” he shouted. “I don’t know!” I cried, “I didn’t ask to be here! I was taken here like everyone else!” “No…” he whispered, “No. because everyone else let the Shadow in. I get that yours was an extreme case, but why? Why was it so extreme?” He shook his head, but kept my wrists pinned, “I don’t know.” He looked back up at me, “And do you want to know something?” he leaned back in, “I hate not knowing. No one gets the better of Peter Pan, you hear? No one.” I stared at him, and he met my gaze. There was something in his eyes, something other than the darkness I had noticed before.

A longing.

All of a sudden, he closed the three inch gap between our faces and kissed me. I was too shocked to even comprehend what was happening. He stumbled backwards and put his head in his hands, pulling at his hair before jumping out the door onto the ground below. I watched from the doorway as he took off sprinting.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?”

He disappeared into the night.

I sat down on the bed and rubbed my sore wrists. The mattress beneath me was moldy and damp. There was no way I was sleeping in this bug-infested thing. This is Never land. All you have to do is wish, and it will be. The voice in the back of my mind was cold and chilling. It seemed to edge me on, and I wasn’t one for peer pressure, but this bed was seriously gross. I closed my eyes, and thought of somewhere comforting. Not home. Never.

No I thought, Grandpa’s ranch I thought of my cot in the attic, where I fell asleep staring at the stars out the window.

I opened my eyes.

No longer was I sitting on that god awful bed, but beneath me was the familiar cot that was scattered throughout my happiest childhood memories. I looked up to see that the cot was not the only thing that had changed.

Where there had originally just been slanted roof, was a round window, in the perfect place for stargazing. I smiled. A little touch of familiarity in this strange world.

I glanced down at my wrists. Great, I thought, add these to my list of bruises. The purple, hand shape bruises pulsed darker by the minute, and at the same time, my lips hadn’t stopped tingling. This boy was insane, and I didn’t want anything to do with him. He was violent, and moody. But if that were true, then why was my heart still racing?

Pan’s POV

Oh God. That didn’t just happen. That didn’t just happen! I thought over and over again, as I sat with my back against a tree. I pulled at my hair to keep me from passing out. Why the hell did I just do that? I didn’t do it. I couldn’t have. I’M PETER PAN. The thoughts screamed in my mind, and I thought it was going to explode. On the bright side, there was no way she’d fall for me now, so I’d just have to get over her, which meant she couldn’t be used against me. Right? What was happening to me? I needed to calm down. Maybe someone slipped me up for once, so what? I was still the most feared villain in the world. No one would take that from me. Not some stupid girl, and not whoever was behind this.

I walked back into camp looking as if nothing had happened. I’d decided it. I was going back to my normal self. That was the only way I’d ever be able to figure out, and hopefully avoid, this whole situation. The campfire had been extinguished, and the boys had retired to their tents, save for a few who I knew had only disappeared into bed when they saw me coming. I ducked into my own tent and collapsed onto the cot. After today, I deserved a long rest.

The sun had yet to rise when I stepped out of my tent. I grabbed my bow and went off into the woods to catch some breakfast.

After snagging a couple of large rodents, I headed back to camp. These would do in for breakfast. I walked through the trees only to find a fire already crackling. “Wha-” I spotted Kate sitting next to the fire, she had set up one of our pans so that it cooked over the fire in front of her. I regained my composure. “Kate,” I nodded as I sat down across the fire from her. She stared at me for a moment. “Pan,” she finally answered, nodding back. “What’s in the pan?” I asked. She chuckled. “What?” I asked, confused at what was humorous. “Nothing, it’s stupid,” she shook her head. “Well now you’ve got to tell me,” I said. “Well you were just like, ‘What’s in the pan?’ and your name is Pan…” I was silent for a moment. Surprisingly, the play on words involving my name and a household instrument had never occured to me before. "Huh," I said simply.

“I don’t know, I just found it kind of amusing.”

“You’re very easily amused.”

“I guess.”

We were silent for a few moments. “So what is in the pan?” I asked, still a bit curious. She shook her head again. I noticed she had a habit of this. “Well, first off, this is a pot,” she said, “Really, Peter, you should know that, and I’m just boiling some water. Do you have any tea?” I shook my head, “No we mainly drink water here.” She looked a bit disappointed, “That’s alright,” she said, “I can still use this to wash your other dishes.” She glanced over at our pile, “I mean, come on, they’re filthy.” I shrugged, “they work just fine.” She looked back at me like I had just told her we sacrificed small children for entertainment, which to be honest, we kind of did, except people only sometimes died, and I wouldn’t exactly call fourteen or fifteen-year-olds small children. “Do you know how much mold can grow on those things? When was the last time they were properly washed?” I shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe… when we got them?” she shuddered. “Oh my God.” I thought she was going to be sick.

She walked over to the pile and started carrying it over to the fire. I got up to help her. “Look, Kate,” I started, “About last night. That, well, that can’t happen again.” “I know Peter, and I agree. It can’t happen again.” Part of my was slightly disappointed as I watched her sift the boiling water from the pots, swirling them around and scrubbing them with a bit of cloth that I recognized to be one of the sleeves from her t-shirt. I also noticed she’d used the other to tie her hair back. She looked pretty in a natural, down to earth way, but that didn’t matter. There couldn’t be anything between us. Ever.

I thought about this a bit more in the ever increasingly awkward silence that had fallen upon the two of us. It was only when Socks came out, and started chatting to Kate that I was rescued, and began to cook breakfast.