Foreverland

Chapter 13

•Peter•

I turned slowly to find a spear pointed at my face. Not a word came from my mouth. I wanted to believe it was true but- how could it? Yet it was obvious that it was her that stood before me. Even more obvious because of the wolf that sat at her feet, it's paws red like they'd been dipped in blood. The top layer of her hair was braided back, the lower layers like waves over her shoulders. Although a mask covered half her face, I knew instantly. I didn't know how it was possible, yet here she was. Flesh and bone.

Slowly she removed the mask and I almost collapsed then and there.

She looked even more beautiful than the day I first saw her. Or the day that I betrayed her. At that moment I started to panic. Because at first I thought I had her back, but by the look on her face I realized I hadn't. Not quite. I still lost her, and I may never have her back.

"Rose." I breathed and watched her grip tighten around the spear.

"Don't take another step." She snapped, her voice was the same as before. I hadn't realized I'd started to walk towards her.

"How..." I whispered and suddenly I was falling. The ground came up to meet me too fast and as my mind shut itself off, my last thought was of her.

My Rose.

↢ ↢ ↢

This time as I woke I was not gazing up at the sky, but a roof instead. I did not wake to the sound of my jagged breath, but to the sound of hushed voices. I wasn't sure if what I remembered was real or a figment of my imagination. I wanted it to be real. I wanted nothing more than to see her smile again.

"You know, I totally get what you saw in him." An unfamiliar voice whistled an I closed my eyes again. I didn't know where I was. I wouldn't let them know I was awake until I knew more.

"Flynn, do you ever shut up?" I almost shot up if not for the dull ache returning to my body. It was her voice. That beautiful voice that I tried to replace with Ara's.

I was safe here, I could open my eyes. With a small groan I sat up, my joints screaming as I did so.

"Look what you've done, you've woken him up." Rose snapped with a sharpness I should've expected. I looked over in the direction of her voice and sat there dumbfounded. Maybe I was dead.

Her hair fell in tight waves cause by the waves she'd been wearing, it was so much longer now. Her eyes were painted with a dark substance which only made the colour pop more. I grinned as she started to walk towards me- I shouldn't have.

My head snapped to the side as she slapped me across the face. I was surprised by the force that she wheedled. I shouldn't have been surprised by her anger. She had every reason to hate me.

"Don't you dare smile at me." She grabbed my chin and forced my head to look up at her. Maybe this wasn't my Rose after all.

"I think it's time for me to go." The other voice spoke up, the one Rose had called Flynn. He sat behind Rose at a round table, carving marks into it with a knife. He didn't look much younger that Rose or I, but he was the skinniest kid I'd ever seen. The sides of his head were shaved yet the top was left long and was tied into a bun. He had a stupid grin on his face as he got up to leave. It probably looked even stupider than how I looked when I had first lay my eyes on Rose. I was taken aback when he winked at me before exiting the small shack-like room we were in.

"Don't look at him, look at me." Although Rose's grip on my face tightened, I didn't complain about being told to look at her. We sat there for awhile, neither of us knowing what to say.

"I've missed you." I said finally and she let out a breath of anger, releasing my face. "Every day I've thought about you and-"

"Don't." Rose turned her back to me, I suspected she did so hide her tears, "you don't deserve to do this to me. You tried to kill me."

"I didn't know it was you! If I'd had know I... I..." I shouldn't lie, I had planned to kill her that day.

"You killed Micheal." She said quietly, her voice filled with pain. I tried to stand, to comfort her, to- my legs gave out and crashed to the ground. "You're not the same, are you? Your weaker than before."

"You're not quite the same either." I grinned up at her, she didn't return the smile. "You met Ara, didn't you? You're the 'girl in the woods' she was talking about."

"Yes."

"So you're the reason she figured out what I am."

"A monster? Yes, I told her, but she already knew that." Rose finally offered me a hand and supported my weight as I stood. It was obvious she was uncomfortable being this close to me- I felt the opposite.

"She said something else..." I frowned, trying to remember Ara's words, "she said that's why I was staying young, healing, living forever. It was because I- I-"

"Killed them?" She was so blunt about it and I had to look away. I didn't want to see the disgust on her face. "I think she's right. I'm almost certain she's right because, it happened to me too."

"What?" I looked back to see tears in her eyes.

"I didn't mean to but, on that day, I accidentally," she took a long, shaky breath, "I accidentally pushed Thomas off the cliff and- and I killed him."

My eyes grew wide. I knew Thomas had died that day, however I didn't know it was Rose who had done it. She looked so broken, like she thought about it everyday. I didn't doubt she did.

"If you hadn't noticed, I haven't aged in these five years." I hadn't noticed, but she wasn't wrong. She looked almost the exact same as she had the day I met her. "I even healed fast for the first few years. Not as fast as you and I suspect I could've still died, but I think that's why I survived the fall. That and because the mermaids helped me."

"The mermaids?" I questioned, the mermaids had always been viscous creatures, I couldn't imagine them helping Rose.

"They gave me three options. They could either allow me to keep sinking and die peacefully, I could become one of them, or- since my body was already trying to heal itself- they could give me a second chance at life. I'm sure you can tell what I chose." She looked almost guilty about it.

"Wow." I whispered, surprised I would ever be grateful for the mermaids. "Why didn't you go back to the pirates?"

"I did, at first. It wasn't the same without Micheal there and I was too worried you'd fly by someday and see me there." Her words stung, even if I knew I deserved it, "so they dropped me off over here. They said they didn't know what lay on this side of the island, only that you never allowed anyone to cross to the other side of the mountain. And well, Tiger Lily found me and I've been living here ever since."

"I missed you every day."

"I don't care Peter, we only brought you here because we're concerned for the Lost Boys. You said Ara was going to hurt them?" I could see the doubt on her face. She didn't believe Ara was the bad guy this time, she didn't believe I wasn't the monster.

"Yes." Panic rose in my chest as I thought about what she could've already done to them, "Yes, she's going to kill them! We have to-" I tried to walk forward but stumbled when I was no longer holding onto Rose. "Damn it!" I yelled angrily, grabbing for the glass of water on the bedside table and chucking it against the wall. Glass and water exploded everywhere but Rose didn't even flinch.

"I see you haven't lost your temper." Rose noted and it was the first time I glared at her. "Don't worry just yet, Flynn when to check on them, they're all fine."

"They won't be for long."