I've been siting at the library reading for a couple of hours and the whole time I've felt a pair of eyes on me. I just couldn't figure out who they belonged to.
I returned to my reading and ignored the weird feeling I had.
You think my first instinct is to protect you. Because you're small, or a girl, or a Stiff. But you're wrong."
He leans his face close to mine and wraps his fingers around my chin. His hand smells like metal. When was the last time he held a gun, or a knife? My skin tingles at the point of contact, like he's transmitting electricity through his skin.
"My first instinct is to push you until you break, just to see how hard I have to press." he says, his fingers squeezing at the word break. My body tenses at the edge in his voice, so I am coiled as tight as a spring, and I forget to breathe.
His dark eyes lifting to mine, he adds, "But I resist it."
"Why..." I swallow hard. "Why is that your first instinct?"
"Fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up. I've seen it. It's fascinating." He releases me but doesn't pull away, his hand grazing my jaw, my neck. "Sometimes I just want to see it again. Want to see you awake."
I shut the book and pushed it away from me. I looked up and a boy was looking at me from the catwalk above. Leaning over the railing and looking at me.
I had seen him here before but we never really talked to each other.
"Uh.. hello." I spoke up enough just so he can hear me.
He laughed and shook his head. He walked towards the back of the library and I returned to my book.
I had that feeling again but this time it was stronger and I started to panic. A book slid onto the table to my right and hand blocked me from moving on my left. Someone was breathing down my neck.
The book cover was totally black so I didn't know what it was. I opened it and my name and the title was carefully written inside.
Peter Pan
- Y/N
I turned around in my chair but whoever it was was gone. I got up, grabbed my backpack, and slug it over my shoulder. I headed to the back of the building. My pace quickened as I weaved through shelves of books. I turned the corner and ran into someone. I fell to the floor dropping my belongings. I grabbed my bag and looked up. It was the boy from earlier.
"You're not even going to apologize are you?" I asked.
"You were the one running through the library like a madwoman. You should be apologizing to me."
I sighed, "Well I'm sorry– I don't even know your name."
"Why should that matter?"
"You want a formal apology or not?" I snapped.
"He was right, you are a lot to handle."
I stared at him blankly.
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm Peter.. Peter Pan."
My eyes diverted to the book and back at him.
"You're the one who slipped this to me?"
"Yes."
"What makes you think I'm going to believe you?"
"Because you already do."
He wasn't wrong. I did believe him. Everything about him already in the moments I've seen him are almost ripped from the book. The questioning, the childlike behavior from a few months ago, getting down from the catwalk to quickly for crying out loud.
"What do you what with me? You've been eyeballing me for months now. What am I a new Wendy?"
He leaned down and met me at eye level. "No. You actually possess the powers to bring Neverland back to how it used to be. You were just never trained for it. I can give you a place to live. You'll have everything you'll need if you come with me."
"To Neverland?" I almost laughed. The way he was speaking to me I knew he meant well but I have everything I need here.
"You'll never have to worry about going home again." I could feel my heart hit the pit of my stomach. "Jesus Christ I felt that from here."
"I hardly even know you."
He looked at the book. "Everything you need to know is in there."
"I've read it a million times. I know it by heart."
"Well we should be good then. Let's go."
"To Neverland?" For all I know he could really take me to the back of an alley and kill me.
Hell, that seemed like a better idea than going home.
He held his hand out. "To Neverland."
I shoved the book in my backpack and grabbed his hand not knowing what adventures lie ahead.
