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

Chapter 50

We'd made our way back to blood sweat and tears.

I was sweating from climbing the rocks, bleeding from cuts on my hands and legs, and crying at the thought of what Pan would do to me. I don't think I was even halfway up the damn rockface, but I wasn't going to give up now. I had a point to prove to Pan. I wasn't exactly sure what that point was, but I had to prove it either way. My breathing was heavy and my back was aching, but I knew that if I made it there was a chance of me being able to have a second chance at living, maybe even at being happy. It didn't help that it was so dark because of the whole "time stands still it's always night in Neverland." It also didn't help that it was raining harder than a monsoon on bath salts, which made the rocks slippery and my eyesight poor.

In the middle of climbing I place my hand on a loose cluster of rocks, and it all crumbled down onto my face. I shook my head and lost my grip on my right hand, having to swing my way back up to grab on.

"Goddamnit Pan, why couldn't you give me some rope? Or at least a little chalk?!" I called out angrily, climbing further and further from the ground. The rain beaded down my entire body, and my clothes were sticking to me uncomfortably, but I pushed on through.

And by god, I made it to the top of that peak.

I struggled to pull myself over the ledge and rolled over onto my back, releasing a huge breath and groaning my little heart out. You could even say I groaned Pan's heart out.

Or not.

It's probably better to not.

I was about to yell out for Pan, in case he hadn't noticed that I completed my task, but then I started thinking. I didn't have any of the mysterious objects with me, but I did make it to Dead Man's Peak, and I wasn't sure I would get an opportunity like thais again. I looked around to see if I could find the person who had been giving me all these hints. But nothing happened, so I took the time to try and think about the last not I'd gotten. I was thinking about the words that had been spoken, but one sentence in particular had my attention. It was still raining heavily and I stood up, my breath heavy, and walked to the very edge of the peak. I steadied my breathing and stared out across the jungle. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them I released the breath I didn't know I was holding, and I spoke the words.

"I believe,"

The minute the words left my lips I saw them, the two purple eyes. They were glowing and they focused on me from across the island's treeline. My breath hitched in my throat as the eyes continuously got closer. I started backing up on the cliff until finally before me stood- well, floated- the thing, the exact thing, that took my brother away from me all those years ago. It hovered above me in a show of power, and besides its eyes I could barely tell it was there due to the rain and the darkness combined. I uncomfortably shuffled and pulled some hair that was sticking to my neck down.

"You?" I asked hesitantly, not daring to piss it off in case Peter found out. It stared at me silently before beginning to speak. And yet its mouth never moved.

"I see you've made it here, yet you haven't done as I've asked," as it spoke my skin crawled. Its voice was the perfect match for its entire being. The dark, hoarse, heavy tone made me so uncomfortable that I seriously debated jumping off the cliff.

"He teleported me here, I had to climb up on my own! I'm supposed to meet him- I didn't even know I was coming so of course I don't have them!" I responded, hopeful that this dark entity would still be willing to help me the way it had intended. It waited again, making me the most anxious I had ever been.

"Very well, I suppose I will explain it all to you now.. I was hoping to get this done tonight when Pan could not interfere, but now you must do it on your own," it croaked, watching me carefully.