His Precious Bird (Peter Pan/Robbie Kay)

Target Practice

I run back to my tree house to retrieve my crossbow. I can't express how excited I am to use it. I feel like a little kid getting to ride a bike for the first time. As soon as I get it, I bolt back to the camp to meet back up with Pan. When I get there, he's leaning up against a tree watching the lost boys horse play.

"Hey, I'm ready" I tell him as I nudge him to get his attention.

"Good, come with me" he nods towards the jungle and walks off.

I follow close behind. I wonder where he's taking me. He's so strange. I notice how he treats the lost boys compared to me. He's a lot bossier with them. I don't know if its because I'm new or if its because I'm a girl but, he doesn't really boss me around. In fact, he's very nice to me. Seeing the way he spoke to the lost boys, I didn't expect him to be.

"Alright, we're here" he says, sticking out his arm and stopping me in my tracks. I look around and all I see is jungle.

"Where are we exactly?" I ask, confusion spreading across my face.

"This part of Neverland is highly populated with wild turkey" he says, taking my cross bow and loading it with an arrow "you're gonna shoot one."

"I'm gonna do what!?" I shout as my eyeballs practically jump out of my head.

"You're gonna shoot a turkey" he chuckles and hands me my crossbow "we need one for dinner tonight."

"I don't know if I can" I say shyly, backing away from my crossbow in Pan's hand.

"Sure you can" he says. "Don't you remember how good your aim was on that apple?"

"Yeah but that was an apple" I exclaim, sounding upset. "You're asking me to kill something."

"Yeah, and?" he says as he scrunches his forehead,making his eyebrows thread together.

"I've never killed anything in my entire life" I admit, rubbing my left arm with my right hand.

"Well, its different if you're killing for food" he explains to me, gesturing for me to take my crossbow. I hesitantly reach out and take the weapon from his hands. Pan's right, as long as its for food I guess killing a turkey isn't too bad. Its not like I've never seen a dead turkey before. I have turkey every year on Thanksgiving, Its just that I've never actually hunted and killed one before. Pan walks over and tucks a piece of loose hair behind my ear. I shiver a little at the sudden contact. 'What the hell was that?' I thought to myself.

"I know you can do it Alaina" he says in a soothing voice, practically looking into my soul. "You may not believe it, but you're a natural."

"What makes you so sure?" I whisper.

"Because you were born for this Alaina" he whispers back, getting a little closer to my face. Born for this? What the hell does that mean? The sound of leaves being brushed against suddenly filled our ears.

"Get down" he whispers, grabbing me by the shoulders and dragging me down with him.

We both lay on our stomachs on the forrest floor. I lift my head up slightly to look through the brush and there was a turkey, wondering around alone. Pan lifts his head to look with me.

"Look, theres dinner" he whispers while nodding his head towards the bird. My eyes widen as I stare at the turkey. I've never seen a live turkey this close before.

"Well, what are you waiting for? We don't want it to get away" he violently whispers.

"Oh, right" I respond, coming out of my daze and lining up my crossbow's aim. I'm slightly shaking thinking about how I'm about to kill this big creature.

"Don't be afraid" he whispers quieter, if that's even possible. "Remember what I said? You were born for this."

My index finger finds its way to the trigger. I take a deep breath in and exhale slowly. Then, I pull the trigger. The arrow goes right through the turkey, impaling its heart. Almost within an instant, the turkey drops dead on the forrest floor. I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand, realizing what I just did. I killed it, I killed that poor creature. Pan stands up and cheers.

"We got us some dinner!!" he shouts excitedly as he runs towards the dead turkey. I stand up shortly after. Pan runs over to me holding the body by the feet. He looks like he just won the lottery. I back away at the sight of the bird of whos life I just ended. He notices how upset I look and his smile quickly fades. He puts down the turkey and looks at me.

"Look, I know doing this might have been unsettling for you" he states. "But, its okay to feel that way at first. All the lost boys were nervous their first time shooting a turkey, but once they did it the second or third time, they got completely used to it."

"What if I don't get used to it Peter? You keep saying that I was born for something what does that even mean!?" I scream at him with tears of frustration threatening to spill. He walks over to me and does something that I wasn't expecting at all. He grabs me and holds me close. I gasp in response. I finally register what's happening and wrapped my arms around him. I rest my head against his chest and just take in the moment.

"Alaina you where born with amazing potential" he says quietly while petting my head. "You can shoot a crossbow with one hundred precent accuracy everytime. You have the spirit of a true hunter, a true lost girl."

I lift my head and look into his forest green eyes "You're saying I was born to be a lost girl?"

He smiles and runs his fingers through my dark brown hair. "That and so much more. In time, you'll come to understand."

I smile up at him as he realeses me from his hold. He bends down and picks the dead turkey back up "Now come on, we have to get this thing prepared for dinner" says Pan. I pick up my cross bow and we start walking back to camp.

"Oh, and I'm sorry about calling you Peter back there" I apologize, nervously scratching the back of my neck.

He smiled at me as he had the turking slung over his shoulder "Its alright, you can call me Peter."