The Lost Realm (Once Upon a Time/Peter Pan)

Chapter 16

We continue to sit in the cave. Half the time is spent in comfortable silence, the other half talking about Neverland.

He tells me about how he rescued the lost boys from their lonely lives, brought them here to find happiness.

I ask him how the island works,he tells me about how it is under his control, created by his own imagination as a child.

He then tells me about how he used to let teenagers and children visit, letting them enjoy the youthful joy of the hidden island. This was how his story was born.

"Why'd you stop?" I ask.

"I allowed children and teenagers because their minds were full of hope, this was their utopia. Then adults started to find out about it, and tear the children's dreams down. Write it all off as a fairytale. So I just stopped. Don't really mind though, I enjoy the peace and quiet a lot better than being a taxi service for people." He answered staring ahead, no emotion in his face.

After about an hour we head out of the cave and make our way back to the campsite. We arrive just as the sun begins to set. No one is in sight so we head down the ladder.

"Again tomorrow?" He asks smiling.

I nod and we part ways to our rooms.

The second I walk through my door My sisters come running up to me. I already knew I would be bombarded with questions, gotta love sisters.

I tell them that we went on a hike and walked to the waterfall, where we sat and talked.

I disclude any mention of the cave. I felt protective of it, like it was Peter and I's secret, no one else's. I do tell them most of what he told me about Neverland. After all they are just as curious as me about this place.

"So are you like a thing now?" Sam asks.

"Eh kinda, nothing serious. I've only known him for a few days. We aren't Romeo and Juliet." I reply laughing.

"Um also for the record I was not engaging in his flirting. Okay I was just trying to shoot a target but then Mr. Cupid or whatever comes over trying to teach me and I swear I would never- I mean I'm your sister and he's not even bae," Sylvia rambles.

I chuckle, "it's okay. I would've been okay even if he was....bae?"

We laugh at our use of social media lingo. We hadn't used since we'd come to the island. I hadn't missed it, but something about it brought me back to the happy parts of my old life.

Instead of going to the bonfire party, we stay in, all of us too tired to even consider going anywhere. Ana quickly falls asleep and I stay up reading one of the books on the shelves. Eventually my eyes become too heavy and I give in to the forces of sleep. Hoping for a tranquil, dreamless slumber. Sadly, that isn't the case.

I am once again running along the stormy beach, only this time I'm not chasing the shadow. The shadow is running along side me.

Rain beats down harder and harder as the shadow and I race on. Once again a large thunderbolt hits, and my lantern burns out. Leaving me in the dark, and the shadow no longer present. Thunder starts again, echoed by the same eerie women's laughter. It booms through my head. I start to shake, and shake.

My eyes burst open to see Ana shaking me awake.

"Okay now you have to tell me what this dream is?" Ana demands.

I tell her all about the shadow, the lightning, and the woman's laughter.

She shrugs telling me it's probably just some coincidental nightmare. Part of me believes her, and for the time being, that's the part I go with.

The day is the same as the last, with stations in the morning and endurance for the rest of the day. I once again go with Peter and we sit in the cave talking about Neverland and random little things.

This schedule continues for several weeks, or what I believe to be several weeks. It could have been months for all I knew. I'd gotten so comfortable I'd lost track.

Each day at the waterfall Peter and I got closer and closer. There wasn't anymore mention of a "relationship" between us, but both of us just knew. With time I started to open up more at our daily cave talks. Telling him about my past and how I actually felt about it, my fears, my dreams, and what life was like back on Earth. He'd tell me about his life as a child. How his family abused him so he created this place in his mind. He came from a family of magic, so he became powerful enough to make this world a reality.

My nightmares stopped occurring, and everything became one perfect never ending loop. Only with bonfires being every other day.

One day after training I get back up to my room to find a note hanging on my door.

"Meet me on the beach in ten -P"

I smile and enter my room. There wasn't a bonfire tonight so we wouldn't have to be back for anything. Plus Peter and I had come back a little early today, so all of the groups were still out. Which meant I could sneak out without my sisters' questions.

I get dressed in one of the dresses Sylvia had made, claiming we might need to look a little glamorous at some point, and write a note for my sisters. Just because I don't want their questions, doesn't mean I completely ditch them. I write that I went for a walk on the beach and that I won't be back till later.

With that, I head out, wondering what was so important Peter couldn't tell me it this afternoon.