TAKE ME OVER | HENRY MILLS [1]

LI. tiger lily

Chapter Status: Edited. 

Howls fill the air, the night sky making the fire seem so much brighter. Tahlia sits by herself, watching the boys dance around the dancing flames, seeming to be having the time of their lives. A boy sits next to her, but she does not look at him, much too tired to do anything but stare ahead.

"Hi, you must be Tahlia," the boy says.

Tahlia looks at him in confusion, he sounds much too young to be in a place like Neverland.

He smiles at her, "my name's Fletcher but they call me Fletch here," he introduces.

"How old are you... Fletch?" Tahlia questions, turning to face him.

"11, Shadow found me on the side of the road after my mum and pops left me there. Glad he did, I had gone 3 days without food and water, I was on my death bed," he says with a thick New Jersey accent, it reminds Tahlia of Frenchy from Grease.

"That's terrible!" Tahlia frowns sympathetically.

"It isn't all bad, it brought me here, this place is more of a home than that place ever was," he admits.

"Now, now, Fletch. I hope you aren't making Tahlia uncomfortable," Jamie says suddenly standing over the two of them.

"He's not," Tahlia says quickly.

Jamie looks at her and smirks. "How are you liking Neverland?" he then asks, a sick smile playing on his lips.

"I'd rather be home with my family to be honest," Tahlia replies dryly.

"You liked it here once upon a time, you'll learn to like it again."

"Maybe," she whispers, her voice so quiet she barely hears it herself.

Jamie walks away and Fletch looks at her again.

"You don't want to be here?" he asks in confusion.

"Not really," Tahlia replies softly.

"Then why are you here?" he asks.

It is obvious that he is not in on the plan, Tahlia can tell he looks up to Pan and the older boys, and she does not want to be the reason he goes against them and is killed for it.

"I had to get away from everyone," she says.

"Why?" he questions.

"My life isn't ideal," she admits, "you know I used to come here when I was your age."

"Really?" Fletcher's brown eyes brighten and a smile crosses his face, "why did you stop coming here?" he asks.

"Well, I grew up", Tahlia shrugs.

"Then why are you back?" he asks.

"I guess I didn't grow up as much as I thought I did."

Tahlia looks back at the fire, some boys are banging on drums, all the boys standing around the fire have stopped dancing and are hitting sticks together. Suddenly two boys drop their sticks and flip through the tip of the fire. But they are not burnt, they pick up the other person's sticks and all the boys begin to dance again. Tahlia watches in amazement as some boys do flips and other tricks like skidding on their heads.

"You think that's cool? Wait 'til you see Marcus, he spins 49 times on his head! He's going for 50" Fletch smiles; having to yell so Tahlia can hear him over the boys.

On the other side of camp Pan and Jamie are watching Tahlia closely. Pan is actually surprised that Tahlia has not taken off running yet, but that can happen any minute now. Pan has Nick and Hank positioned near her, they are the fastest runners, so if she does run, they can easily get her back.