Neverland

5

"I think now is as good a time as any to learn how to tree jump" Tink said looking out into the dark shadows of the canopies

"tree jump?"

"it's exactly what it sounds like, you jump from tree to tree, branch to branch and try not to fall" she said stretching out her arms

"I don't think I can do that" I said taking a step back "wont I fall"

"you're not going to fall, I've never seen anyone fall" she assured me

"how many people have done this?" I asked, how many people also blindly trusted tink?

She paused, "well only me but I had to learn to do it without someone teaching me and if I can do it anyone can" she paused again, "and don't even think of it as jumping really, the branches are so thick and close together that your basically just walking around in the trees"

Though the branches were thick, and the trees were close together but calling it walking would be the understatement of the year

Tink saw me eyeing the large gaps and decided to take my fate into her own hands, she grabbed my wrist and without a warning jumped, pulling me alone with her, I barely managed to jump enough to get me to the closest branch, as we landed she let go to steady herself but I wasn't as balanced as her and fell forward

I pushed off the branch enough to hop to the next one and the next one and the next one

I couldn't stop or I would fall, Tink called after me but I didn't know what to do, my voice was taken away by fear

Finally, I jumped to a branch and managed to grip onto another thinner one above my head, my body bent forward but I pulled myself back onto the branch

A strange noise left my mouth and Tink quickly hopped over to me, "well I didn't know you were up to racing already"

The strange nose came out again and Tink chuckled

"look! you did good, if you want to go fast that's the technique to use but we don't want to go fast yet, you're falling from branch to branch you, need more control and a hell of a lot more balance" Tink jumped off again leaving me behind

"how do I do that!" I called after her, but she ignored me

My stomach sunk knowing I couldn't live on this branch for the rest of my life, I glanced down into the darkness and took a shaky breath

I jumped and this time I stayed on that branch

This wasn't that bad right?

Tink waited on a branch for me to catch up and didn't jump off as soon as I got there allowing me to catch my breath for the first time, when the blood stopped rushing in my ears I could faintly hear yelling and cawing in the distance and I frowned looking over at Tink, "what's that?"

She ignored my question, "you did good, don't take this the wrong way but I kind of thought you would fall" she smiled, it wasn't comforting, she cleared her throat, "no more talking from this point on and just for some extra precautions we're going to move lower in the trees to the thicker branches, they're a bit further away from each other but it's less noisy when we jump, got it?" she asked not checking for my response and swinging down to the branches below us

I followed and jumped slowly after, my palms were getting sweaty as we headed towards the loud yelling, I could smell smoke in the air and soon I could see the bright flamed through the trees, there was a clearing with a large fire in the center of it, Tink stopped a few trees away from it, we could still see everything but were better hidden

She straddled the branch we were on, facing me, "these are the lost boys" she whispered, it was barely audible over the loud noise from below, "peter pan's probably down there somewhere, playing his stupid flute"

My eyes scanned over all they boys, most of them were jumping around the fire or hitting things with sticks, some were wresting or sword fighting, and some were around the edge of the clearing laying around of the ground

"there he is" Tink growled, I followed her eyeline to a boy sitting on a log, he was at the edge of the clearing and holding a flute up to his lips, I could faintly hear it but the other boys were much louder, it didn't look like he was playing for the boys rather for himself, the flames cast long shadows over his face making him look very sinister

But he wasn't very close to us so the only other thing I could tell you about him with his dirty blond hair and I wasn't even sure on that considering the bright flames put an orange tint over everything

I wasn't sure what we were doing here yet and Tink seemed distracted by the flames lapping at the dark sky,

She was a very strange person

Tink didn't seem like a complicated creature, her emotions came one at a time and shone clear through her eyes, she only became something intricate when there was no emotion in her eyes at all, when all she looked like was an empty shell but you could be certain that whatever lived inside was plotting something, or maybe it wasn't, maybe it truly was an empty shell

Tink blinked and turned to me, "well we can't let them have all the fun" she muttered as she grabbed something from the pouch at her hip, it was a powdery blue ball and if I didn't know any better I would say it looked like a bath bomb

"what is that?" I whispered

She ignored me again, "peter pan loves games, so let's make it a game, shall we?" she looked over at me, "have you ever been good a tag?