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

Chapter 40

"Corey?" I yelled. But he didn't hear me. "Corey? Corey? COREY!" I screamed more, standing up and rushing to him. He just glanced around. I made it to him and tried to grab his arm, but my hand went right trough him. "Corey?" I asked sadly. But he didn't even flinch, he just stood, looking at his surroundings.

"Look!" He burst out suddenly, and I couldn't help but have the tiniest hope that he was pointing at me. But of course not, why would he be? I then turned just as the lost boy next to him did to see what my older brother was pointing at. Behind me was the staffs me and Pan had been previously fighting with, and Corey noticed them.

"They're just Staffs kid, nothing that interesting," the Lost boy huffed, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Yes, but do you honestly think any lost boys would be training this far out? Come on Aedion you said it yourself. Nobody dares set foot near the dark jungle. Why would these be here for any other reason that Pan himself?" Corey argued, making Aedion press his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Wow, you really have your head set into this idea that you're gonna find your sister within about a week of me deciding to help you. Get it through your thick skull, moron! It'll take months, years! He's not letting her go any time soon!" Corey only glared back at the lost boy.

I stared sadly at Corey as he shook his head, looking down.

"Has it been a week already? Feels like just yesterday I was holding my baby sister on my knee," He breathed out, his voice cracking and tears brimming at his eyes. Because I always thought Corey had died in a car accident with his friends, it never occurred to me what it was like for Corey, having been ripped away from his whole family. I could only imagine it was ten times the pain I went through of just thinking he was stupid enough to cause a car accident when I was but five years old.

"Oh Corey.." I whispered softly, looking at him with sorrowful eyes. I stepped closer to him as he sat down on a large rock nearby, wiping all traces of salty tears from his gorgeous blue eyes. "Corey..." I whispered again, shaking my head, with my own tears starting to form. I knelt down next to him, and looked up. It only occurred to me now that me and my brother were the same age. Sure, he'd been trapped in a box on an island where you never grow old. But to think that you're 17 year old brother, who's twelve years older than you, is the same age at the same time as you? It's really weird.

I then only stared up as his eyes puffed slightly around the edges as a sign that he'd been crying. I lifted my hand up to gently test it on his face, but just as my skin touched his, he jolted upright.

"What was that?" He asked, his palm immediately pressed against his cheek. I only knotted my brows together at what my brother was unintentionally implying. He felt something when I touched him.

"What?" The lost boy asked, jogging over in curiosity.

"I felt something cold against my cheek," Corey replied. "It felt like a hand," he finished. The lost boy narrowed his eyes as he turned to scan their surroundings thoroughly.

"It must be Pan. He's here. Watching us. It was a trap," he said, his voice low and his senses sharp for any sign of movement.

"What? No! Corey it was me! Pan's not even here!" I shrieked, moving toward my brother again, but it did nothing.

"Indeed I am,"

Everyone- including the currently invisible me- turned to see a once again smirking Pan. He stood there with more pride than a third grade at the spelling bee.

"Pan... no," I whispered, shaking my head.

"Pan," the lost boy- Aedion, I recall my brother called him- said with small slits for eyes.