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

Chapter 26

The first thing I noticed was the smell of burning wood, a campfire. It made me happy almost, as if I always loved the smell of a burning campfire. I must've, before all this happened.

We stopped just at the edge of the treeline, and my eyes settled on the bright flames, hungrily licking their way up and up, trying to catch the little embers that had escaped into freedom. Around the fire, was a circle of logs. All of them, able to fit about 3 or 4 people, depending on those people's sizes. But considering I'm small, I'm sure I could fit with 2 or 3 boys on a log. There was 2 boys already sitting at fire, tending to it and talking amongst themselves.

My eyes wandered to the next location; a swarm of tents. Some were small, like teepees, and others were triangular. And some weren't even full tents: meaning they were a bundle of ropes and clothes held together on a stick, with no particular door or flap, just a large gaping hole. A few boys walked in and out of them, and I could see some light shining through the slits of fabric coming from out of them. I turned my head in the opposite direction and saw some boys sitting at a fairly sized wooden table. There were about 2 other tables nearby, but no boys occupied them. The 3 boys were laughing together, and seemed to be enjoying their time together.

I glanced upwards to see a strange hanging object tied up to a tree. It was constructed from straw and wood and looked like a little hut. It was open on all four sides, seeing as it was put together with four branches all holding up the supposed roof of the structure.

My eyes darted a few inches down and over as I watched a group of boys dragging in a dead animal. My stomach tied itself in a knot at the sight of it, so I focused on the proud group of hunters, cheering together. One had his hood up, with a terrifyingly big club resting on his shoulder. I couldn't see his face, since his back was to me, but I could tell he had a few bleach blonde wisps sticking out. Not to mention he was extremely tall. He suddenly turned, looking in my direction. That's when I noticed the easily visible scar, running from his right eye, down to the left side of his jaw.

Besides those distinguishable objects, there was various things scattered throughout the camp. Random little tied pieces of wood, barrels and crates and boxes. Stones and wheels. It was mainly just mass amounts of clutter.

"Are you ready, Adelaide?" Hard to believe, maybe, but I almost completely forgot Peter was there in that moment. I jumped slightly, but nodded in response, staring at the ground. He lifted my chin up so I was looking at him, and gave me a reassuring smile, that made my spirits lift slightly. "You'll be fine. They won't do anything, especially when I'm here," he told me. I nodded slowly, but glanced down.

"I know but.. what about when you're not here?" I said shakily. He sighed at the beginning of my nervous breakdown.

"Adelaide, listen to me," he started, moving so that he was slightly bent over and each hand was on on if my shoulders. "If I didn't trust my boys, or you, than I wouldn't have brought you to meet them, alright?"

"Oh, alright," I replied, smiling with a little bit of gained confidence.

"There's my girl, now, give me one more hug before you get a boyfriend," he teased me. At this point I was probably as red as a beetroot, and had the most constipated expression on my face.

"Peter!" I stomped my foot, making him laugh extremely loudly, and making all the lost boys focus on us. I turned even more red and stared at them all with wide eyes. "Uhh, Peter they're staring at me," I whispered, not as discreetly as I might have thought.

"Yes because of how amusing and red you are," he said loudly. My eyes widened even more, and I'm sure I got redder by the millisecond.

"I hate you!" I whispered under my breath, making sure none of them heard it this time. I heard nothing in response, and when I looked over I saw Peter bore the most pissed off expression I've ever seen.

I didn't understand it, but I just swallowed quickly, and grabbed his hand tightly, slightly scared to meet the boys who'd just witness me and Peter teasing, and maybe even fighting. He sighed, holding my hand firmly in return, and looking up.

"Alright," he murmured to me, not looking down at me at all. "Boys! Listen up! Continue on with what you're doing, don't mind us at all. And please, be respectful!" He called out to them, making sure they were all looking down at their own things and not paying attention to me at all. "Now, Adelaide," he turned to me, his nose brushing against the side of my head.

"Kitten, lets go meet your family,"

A/N: okay so Ik it's not a very intresting update but I needed to update and honestly I didn't wanna talk to you guys about the "contest" without giving you at least SOMETHING.

Okay, so I would like to get at least 2-3 more submissions if you don't mind, because so far I have about 3, so it's good to have a nice amount. And might I just say:

SO FAR YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN SO CREATIVE WITH YOUR LOST BOYS! IM SOOOOOO EXCITED TO WRITE ABOUT THEM AND INCORPORATE THEM INTO THE STORY!

But for now since I don't have a lot of them I'll make lost boys to use, and add more boys as it continues.

I would also like to add, that at if any point you feel your lost boy has been misrepresented, or you'd like me to change or add something, like a quirk or a one-liner- or even have any ideas on how they could contribute to any part of the plot; feel free to let me know because nothing would make me happier then to have you guys writing alongside me! (Almost)

You also may have noticed me answering a few late comments, but I've decided I'll be that author that replies to every single one 😂😂😂

I'd also just like to thank all of you for the support you've all given me, because you're honestly the sweetest readers/followers that I could have from this experience.

I truly and honestly do love all of you.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

THANK YOU ALL FOR GOING UP 1k READS EVEN WHEN I DONT UPDATE!

Love y'all whomever you may be!! Xx :D

-R

P.S. I'm watching stranger things at the same time as writing this so I don't have time to edit it at the moment just so y'all know it's unedited and probably crappy AF.