¥ - Lost and Found - Peter Pan (Robbie Kay) - ¥

¥ 3 - The Hero or The Coward? ¥

When Aria awoke again from her early morning nap, it was when she was sat having breakfast when the frantic knocks came at her door. Her parents had gone out to do the weekly shop in the city over and she had the comfort of her home to herself. Though not as peaceful as she had hoped. Answering the door in her pyjamas, her hair still a bird's nest, she opened it and found Tom stood before her. But he looked worried.

"Aria I need your help, please," he begged.

"What's wrong?" Aria asked, recognising the reality of his fear as he edged closer to her house.

"Can I come in?" He asked, looking quickly over his shoulder.

Aria knew something wasn't right and though she wasn't a people person, she also wasn't a bad person. She wanted to, even liked to help others, she just never found the confidence to be able to do so without the fear of failure echoing in the back of her mind. She stood aside letting Tom through and firmly locked the door behind him.

"So what's wrong? Is someone following you?" She asked.

"It's the Piper. He said that I had to go with him. He said that it was the price of being able to hear his music."

"But I heard it, why hasn't he come for me?" Aria questioned.

"I don't know, but he won't let me go. I saw him earlier, well, his shadow. He was stood in my garden as I saw the shadow against the grass," Tom explained.

"Where exactly is he going?"

"He won't say anything but that it's a place for the lost and lonely, the bruised and the broken. He said that if you hear his music then you belong there."

Aria listened and wondered which was she. She didn't think she was lost, just still figuring out which path to take. She wasn't lonely, she had friends and family. Bruised and broken she was not. Why had she heard the music?

A thud came from upstairs and a smash was heard as something fell to the floor. Aria looked to the stairs and heard footsteps that had no weight she recognised. "Hide," she whispered to the scared boy. Tom nodded and Aria directed him towards the storage cupboard beside the front porch. Shaking where she stood Aria felt her confidence strengthen as she remembered that Tom needed her. He needed her help and she did not want to fail him. She sat on the couch, grabbed a book from the shelf in the living room and sat as normally as she could, trying her best to pretend that Tom did not exist.

"A nice flower is it not?" A voice asked.

Aria turned her head slowly, looked at the Piper then to the flower in his hand. So that's what smashed.

"I hope you didn't forget me Aria," he spoke, a menacing undertone in his words.

"What are you doing in my house," Aria demanded.

"Just looking for someone, Tom said he knew you. He lives next door."

"Well, he's not here. You probably scared him off, now get out of my house."

"Scared him off? No that can't be right, he wanted to come with me," the Piper stared calmly, his eyes surveying the room.

Aria remembered the expression on Tom's face yesterday then again this morning. Whatever the Piper said, Tom was petrified of him. She got up from her position on the sofa and stormed towards her front door. She opened it and pointed out, "get out or I'll call the Police."

"There's no use in that. They can't catch me."

"Oh, and who are you then? Mr untouchable or something," Aria snapped, growing annoyed by his threatening presence. Her heart rate may not have been high but it was beating in her chest like she had run a marathon and she could hear it in her eardrums. He noticed her agitated state and grinned as he approached her by the door.