Peter by day, Pan by night

Chapter 17

        I clench my fist around the acorn-around the kiss. I tuck it quietly into my pocket.

        Peter walks toward me. His steps slow and hesitant.

        I don’t say anything. I could fly off. This time he won’t stop me. But maybe I am tired of running, of hiding.

        But I am also tired of yelling and fighting.

        I am just tired. Tired and sad.

        Peter doesn’t say anything. He lowers himself next to me, careful to keep space between us.

        The sun dips past the clouds, trailing its way towards the horizon. In a few hours night will come. And Peter’s eyes will darken. He will laugh when I cry, he’ll fight when I no longer want to.

        He will turn from Peter into Pan.

        But for now, he sits next to me and says nothing. This is his fault, not mine. 

        My stomach complainsloudly. I turn red. I’ve gone longer without food, but not on an island stocked with fruit and wild animals.

        Peter smiles and holds out his hand. “Apple?”

        I snap my gaze from the green apple to his matching eyes. My pride says no, but this time my hunger overrides it. “I’ve ignored it all day.” I accept the apple and take a large bite.  

        “You’ve ignored more than your stomach.”

        I look down and chew faster. He is right, but what did he expect? He could have told me this the moment I stepped into Neverland. He could have warned me. He tried to. But I wasn’t ready to listen.

        “What are we going to do?” I swallow and take another bite.

        “I don’t know.”

        My heart falls. Why can’t he save the day? Save me? “I’m stuck here now, right?”

        “I am afraid so. Once you are in Neverland during night…well, we are all ‘stuck here’.”

        He doesn’t say anything else. I finish the apple. My hunger dulls to a manageable ache.

        “Is there any way to break the curse?”

        “No. If there was, I would have found it by now.” Peter flicks his hand and another apple in front of me. “Or would you prefer something else to eat?”

        “This is fine.” Actually, apples have always been my favorite fruit. When I was little, I would steal some from an apple tree in one of the parks.

        “I’ll attack the Indians tomorrow night at full moon. It is the only time the fairy dust will be visible. I mean, for us.”

        “But then why didn’t you attack it before?”

        Peter leans back, his head tilted toward the sun. “Because I couldn’t find it without your help.”

        “So this is my fault? You should have told me not to trust you.”

        “I tried to. In the treehouse I tried to scare you off, but you came back.”

        I think through the days we spent together. The carefree moments and easy smiles. He might have told me, but his actions contradicted his own words. “You’re a good actor.”