Again In Neverland

Chapter 10: Consequences

     Lilith was startled out of her dream and opened her eyes. She sat up, rubbed them, and looked around. Next to her, Wendi, Mike, and Jonathan were still sleeping peacefully. She gave a smile and stretched her back. As she went to lie back down again, she heard a noise. It sounded like a branch cracking, or a twig snapping. Lil held her breath and listened but heard no more noise.

She leaned forward and unzipped the tent door as quietly as possible. Sticking her head outside, she could see the first few orange rays of sunlight on the horizon beyond the trees. It was light enough to see, but still dark enough to sleep. But Lil wasn't tired anymore. She slipped out of the tent and zipped the door shut.

Still in the same clothes as yesterday, she sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the fire pit and brought her knees up to her chest. The embers of the fire were dimly glowing red and Lil poked at them with a stick. She watched the sun slowly climb it's way up the sky, each movement giving more and more light to the Earth. It caused the trees to cast long shadows on the grass. The sun was just at the peak of the tree tops when Lil felt a breeze from behind her.

It was subtle, soft, but it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around but didn't see anyone. Then in front of her, she felt it again, and heard a small laugh. She got to her feet and turned in circles, looking around for what it could be.

Something moved on the top of the trees and Lil squinted into the sunrise. One hand over her eyes, she tried to make out what it was.
The treetops moved again and Lil saw a shadow of something silhouetted against the sun jump from one tree to another.

For some reason, a name came to her mind and she said it out loud.
"Peter?"

It had been two days since she'd seen him, and she feared he would never come back.

Lil walked closer to the trees but the movement had stopped.

"Lil, what are you doing?" A hushed yell from behind her said.

She dropped her hand and saw Jonathan standing outside the tent.
She felt embarrassed,
"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"No," he shrugged, "I was up. What are you looking at?"

Lil turned around again and looked into the trees, but saw nothing. Not even a whisper of a breeze or any indication of a visitor.
She faced Jonathan and walked towards him, "Nothing. I thought I saw something, but I was wrong."

She rubbed her arms and sighed, "There's nothing there."

He bent back into the tent and pulled out a blanket. She took it from him and wrapped it around her shoulders, "Thanks. You always seem to know when I'm cold."
"Maybe it's because I'm psychic."
Lil rose an eyebrow at him.
He laughed, "Or maybe it's because I can see your goosebumps."

Lil smiled and sat down in a chair.

                                                        * * * * * * * * *
Once Wendi and Mike woke up it was midday. Jonathan ran inside, and when he came back he was carrying a fresh plate of pancakes and fruit.

"Mum made them for us. Said she didn't want us making another mess in the kitchen."
"Another?" Lil asked as she grabbed two steaming pancakes from the plate.
"Well, before you came over, we tried to make brownies."
"Okay, so?"
"So let's just say things didn't turn out very well." Wendi said, shaking her head.
Mike laughed, "We may or may not have accidentally almost burned the house down."

Lil stuffed a peice of pancake into her mouth and smiled at the three, "You guys seem so close. I wish I had siblings."
Wendi leaned forward and grabbed Lil's arm, "You don't need siblings. You've got us now."
Beside her Mike was vigorously cutting into his pancakes, but he looked up and nodded. Lil made eye contact with Jonathan and he winked, making her cheeks go red.
"Thanks guys."