𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 ★ 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞

•Chapter 8: Everly•

After an unknown amount of time, the throbbing pain at the back of my head brings me back to reality after my forced nap. As soon as the memories of the night before came flooding back, my senses quickly returned before my eyes flashed open, only to find two boys smirking at down me. Confusion filled every inch of my body as I quickly sat up to see a numerous amount of boys watching me from behind. Another wave of pain from the back of my head broke through my lost state before I attempted to reach back with my hand to address it, only to find my arms bound in front of me. My attention stayed on the rope around my wrists for a long moment before it was drawn to the brown-haired boy in front of me when he cleared his throat.

"What's your name, boy?" he asked as he squatted down to about a foot away from me. The two of us studied each other for a long moment before the cocky smirk on his face was quickly replaced irritated at my lack of response. The next thing I knew, he roughly grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eyes before brought the level of his voice down to a whisper. "You think you're so smart, don't you? Think you're better than the rest of us here. But don't worry, we'll break you. Just like the others."

My eyes stayed plastered onto his as he gave me one last lookover before getting to his feet and turning to the blonde boy behind him, who had a scar running diagonally across his face. The two had an inaudible conversation before the brunette walked away from us. After watching his retreating figure disappear into the surrounding forest, my eyes fell on the blonde boy, who was approaching me with a club resting on his shoulder and another rope in his hands. As soon as he reached me, he squatted down before placing his means of protection on the ground next to him then used the rope to tie my ankles together.

"Just to make sure you don't try to run," he smirked as he gave the rope one final tug to make sure it was secure before he went to the other side of the clearing to sit on another long while the rest of the boys left the camp.

As I sat there with nothing but the sounds of the forest to break the stillness, my mind races with thoughts of how the brunette boy could break me more than I was already broken. My hope shattered the moment Jason left my side. My sanity soon followed when I became the only surviving knight of my squadron. In my eyes, there was nothing left of me to break. After letting out a long sigh, I tried to relax on the log they left me on before another thought accrued to me.

How many of these boys did he have "to break" to get them to follow him?

As I continued to reflect on their leader's words, a piece of paper came out of nowhere and landed right in front of me. After a moment of just staring at the scroll, I look up to see if it caught the attention of the boy left in camp with me, only to find him fast asleep on his chosen log. Another sigh escaped me as I leaned over to grab the paper before unrolling it after struggling for what felt like forever to reveal a note.

If you are alone, stomp your foot twice. If it's just the tall, blonde there with you, once. If Pan or anyone else, not at all.

Once I finished reading the note, I looked around to try to figure out where the note came from, only to be greeted by the silence of the surrounding forest. The confusion I felt when I first met the brunette returns as I reread the note a few more times before staring off into space and letting my thoughts consume me once again. After coming to the conclusion that whoever gave me this note was probably better than these boys and their leader, I stomped my foot once then wait in silence for more instructions.

When the stillness of the island is the only thing that responds, I feel the small bit of emotion within me quickly fade before something small hit the back of my head, causing me to look up to see the girl I saw earlier up in a tree. At the sight of who I assumed was my savior, I sent a smile her way, only for her to put her figure to her lips in return. After sending her a quick nod, I gestured over to where Felix slept, causing a small smile to form on her face before she slipped down the tree then made her way over to me.