VOLATILE (I) : peter pan ouat

When A Brawl Happened

When a Brawl Happened

"You decided not to go back into the forest today?" Robert asks, as he sits across form me.

I nod. "There's only so many time you can shoot an arrow. I've improved, but what I gained in skill, I gained in callouses."

"No kidding. You got lucky. Anymore shooting and you would've lost a few layers of skin."

I drop the apple core on the ground behind me. I thought the table would have more boys at it, but the mornings are awfully quiet around here. Not much seems to happen.

"How's the Med tent been?" I ask.

"Not many boys are getting injured. Everyone is still a bit shaken up since the fight. It hasn't even been a full week yet. Give it a month and everyone will be back into the swing of things." He tells me.

I nod, wiping my hands along my cloak to keep the bandages from soiling.

"Do you think we will find the body?" I ask.

"Samuel's?" He asks. "No way, he probably burnt to a crisp in that fire. James told me-"

"I meant Jared's."

Robert tenses, and for a second he doesn't breathe. He hesitates a few times before speaking, and the words fall out slowly.

"No. I saw Lyle's body. I can only imagine something worse happened to Jared."

It hurts my stomach, and I don't want to breathe anymore. I don't like to think about Lyle dying, because it's so vivid in my mind. The screams, the grunts, the blood. Lyle was just an innocent boy. Jared wasn't as innocent, but he was good. I don't like to think about Jared dying, because I don't want to imagine Neverland without him. Lyle's death was gruesome, and unfair to him. Killing Jared is unfair to everyone. I want to hope he hadn't suffered, but knowing his killer, I don't know what to think.

"It'll be alright." I tell Robert.

James comes and sits down next to him. "Robert, we are out of milweed."

Robert nods, getting up. "I'll talk to you later."

I look up at James, before looking back down at the table. I haven't seen him since I abandoned him in a forest fire.

"You saved my life." James says.

I make eye-contact with him. "No, you saved mine. You stepped in while he was chasing me."

"I got myself hurt." He says. "I'm not going to say I had no part. I distracted him, even if for a second."

"I left you." I tell him. I don't feel bad about it, and he can hear it in my voice. It's a fact, one that I thought would make James more upset.

He shrugs. "You left me alive."

I suppose he's right.

"I suppose Pan knows to, and that's why he hasn't punished you." He says. "I mean, he punished Keaton and Gregory after all."

"What, that I killed Samuel?" I ask. "You think he knows."

He shrugs. "I'd be surprised if he didn't. If he doesn't know, than I'm just as guilty as you. I didn't kill him, but I know the truth."

"Do people get punished for keeping things from him?" I ask.

James nods. "Yeah, constantly. Don't worry though, you are in the right. It was self-defense."

He reaches a hand across the table, and puts his arm on my shoulder.

"Thank you."

He chuckles, getting up. "Don't mention it."