Neverland

6

I didn't have time to asking her what was happening, all I could do was watch in horror as she threw the ball into the fire

The flames burst into a deep blue colour and the small explosion pushed lost boys to the ground

They all seemed confused, all except for one, peter stood and scanned the tree line like he already knew it was Tink

Did she do this stuff a lot?

He hadn't spotted us and I was relieved

"YOU'RE IT!" Tink called and his eyes found us, even from here I could see them, they were unnaturally green, they were so bright they looked like they belonged to a wild beast, feral and hungry

His lips cracked into a smirk and the lost boys stood and faced us, I cowered away from their protruding gaze but it only seemed to fuel Tink, "we've got ourselves a chase boys!" peter called, his British accent was clear

I felt like I might vomit

"now" Tink muttered, "now we run" she twisted and leaped off in the opposite direction and they boys started running, it was only when a boy started climbing the tree I was in that I realized the danger of this game

I jumped from branch to branch as quickly as I could, of course that meant much more consistent close calls of my falling to my doom then before, I had no idea where Tink had gone, without her I wouldn't be able to find my way back to the tree house and I didn't know how I was supposed to find her again

The forest floor was crawling with boys, each either carrying a lantern or some sort of weapon, some of the boys spotted me and were chasing me from the ground and fondly enough, I felt a small smile pull at my mouth.

Maybe it was because I was tired, but this was a bit fun

maybe Tink wasn't so crazy

An arrow shot up at me, missing by an inch, making me stumble and nearly slip of the branch

I take it back, Tink is insane

I pushed myself harder and lost some of the boys but there were still two who had spotted where I had gone in the dark trees,

I jumped and jumped and began to feel frustrated with how well they were keeping up, I jumped to a thicker tree and just as I was about to bounce off a hand grabbed me pulling me to another branch.

I gasped but a finger was shoved to my mouth, Tink's finger.

I released my breath, the boys had continued going in the same direction, and drifted off into the darkness.

"peter pan's on my tail so keep quiet" she said in a whisper, "I can't believe I got him out looking for me as well, usually he stays at camp while the boys have their fun" Tink giggled, "oh I've really done it this time" Tink admitted, she looked like she was going to say something else but closed her mouth quickly and tensed.

My eyes drifted down to the ground, a figure walked slowly through the thick shrub and stopped near the trees trunk, Tink fiddled around in her pocket and fished out a small rock, throwing it, it hit a tree and made a small noise that seemed very loud when it bounced off all the trees

But the figure didn't even flinch, they circled the tree carefully, they're hand gliding over its bark then looking up into its leaves, I held my breath, there was no way he could see us, right?

"hello Tink" he spoke calmly like they were about to have a nice conversation or something, my blood ran cold but Tink just snorted and muttered an 'oops'

"peter pan" she greeted

"are you going to come down or do I have to come up there?" he asked, cocking his head to the side

I don't think we knew I was up here

"is there a third option?" Tink asked bracing herself to start jumping

"well if that's the way you want to play" he called and began to climb

"you'll have to catch me first!" she called jumping to another tree, she jumped off into the darkness and I was left alone, I didn't know whether I should follow or stay still

The boy leaped down and took a few steps in Tink's direction then paused, he turned back to the tree looking at where I was exactly, but I wasn't sure if he could see me, I'd had my fair share of experienced playing hide and seek and been last to be found yet had made eye contact with every one of the players

I could faintly see him smirk and I thought I'd been found but just as I thought my soul had left my body he took a few steps away and then he was gone, just like that, it was as if he had evaporated

***

It was latter in the game and I was seeing a lot less lost boys running around, I though they may have gone back to their hide out to sleep but I wasn't really sure, the thought of sleep made me want to curl up in a ball right here in the branches of the tree, I sure wasn't going to be able to get back to Tink or the tree house, either I wait for Tink to find me or I find a place to sleep, I thought it over and decided Tink wasn't very trustworthy, but the ground still had some lost boys wondering around on it.

Maybe I could just get further enough away from the camp and then I would be in the clear but I didn't know which way the camp was in, I was completely lost.

***

I had been jumping around for hours and I was starting to wonder if day would ever come, I haven't seen any lost boys for a while but every now and then a yell would sound somewhere in the jungle, keeping me up in the trees.

I was wondering if calling out to Tink would do any good but I decided agents it.

Looking up through the trees I could see the sky getting lighter but the thick leaves made the sun useless in the jungle, I jumped along, branch to branch, every now and then I would sit to take a break, while sitting I fiddled with a string on my pants.

I practically jumped out of my skin when a loud caw came sounding through my ears, it was close, I looked up and in the distance I could see the tree house, Tink was standing on a branch next to it, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before.

My heart jumped and I bounced over to Tink, stumbling on the last branch but she pulled me up.

"I was starting to think you'd died" she laughed

"I got lost" I said

"I could tell, anyway get inside I got some food and water stored up" Tink said opening the door and walking inside, she collapse onto some animals skins, her hand raised and pointed to a cupboard or sorts, "the foods in there" her voice was muffled by the animal skins

I walked over and looked through the cupboard, there wasn't much, some fruit and a single mushroom. I picked out some berry's and sat down next to Tink.

"how did you get away from peter?" I asked

Tink shrugged, "he didn't seem too set on finding me, I'm bleeding in a few places but other than that I got away easily" she said turning her head to the side to face me, "got a name yet?"

I thought for a second and shook my head no

"well that's fine, there's no rush, we've got all the time in the world" she laughed, "did I mention that time stands still here?"

I didn't answer, was I really going to be stuck here forever?

"it's not all bad though, the island forces you to be stronger, harder, in some ways a killer but its best you don't think about that"

It was very strange, all of this, Tink didn't look crazy, she looked perfectly normal, apart from the dark flashes in her eyes.

"you also don't need as much sleep, you get more energy, I think its peter pan's doing, so his lost boys can play all night and all day, but cause your new I would suggest getting some sleep, you look awful"

I forced a laughed, "thanks" I shrugged my bag of my shoulders and laid down next to bean, eventually my eyes shut and I fell into a deep sleep.