The Princess and The Piper

Chapter Fourteen

Stepping out into the fresh morning atmosphere, my solemn mood only added to the figurative sulfur that consumed the oxygenated air. Pan stood a good fifty yards far afield, conversing with his second-in-command, Felix. Even from this distance, the long, pink scar that stretched across his sculpted cheek could be seen as easily as a shiny quarter in a bag filled to the rim with dull copper pennies. Every so often, Pan would glance toward me and cast an expression of pure pity, igniting my nerves and frustration, and sending them into a frenzy.

However, my erratic morning took a long walk--no, more like run-- off of a short pier the second a person or thing wrapped its hand around my wrist and dragged me into the nearby bushes. I yelped for help, but a mud-caked hand quickly muffled my screams.

"Déjà vu, isn't it?" They asked. My pleas for them to let me go stopped when I recognized that voice. That voice that could wipe the smile off of your face within a minimum of three milliseconds flat. That voice that sets you on edge. So on edge that you start to throw objects at your innocent pet and yell 'bad cat' at the top of your lungs like someone that belongs in a nuthouse. That voice that makes you want to punch a guiltless, fluffy pillow to death. That damned voice.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Parker?" I asked, disgust dripping from the tip of my tongue.

"I've pulled you aside to warn you," he disclosed.

Sure, that makes sense, I thought sarcastically while huffing out a breath.

"Oh, really?" I sarcastically inquired. "Because it is so in your nature to warn me, right? I mean, why wouldn't you?"

"Real funny, but it's about Pan." That sentence dug its hook deep into my flesh. I was unable to escape. "He's done this before."

"What?" To say I wasn't the least bit curious would be a complete and utter lie. "Wait, why would I listen to you? You tried to kill me!"

"Yeah, so?"

I was taken aback by his remark. Could he not process what effect that has on a person? "Where I come from, if someone makes an attempt to take your life-- well let's just say that believing anything they tell you is absolutely stupid." I expressed, placing my hands on my hips and cocking my head, blinking blankly at his idiocy.

"You're just like her, you know. Naive," he told me as he situated himself on a large oak log. "It's so hard to loathe and despise you when you're exactly like her."

I furrowed my eyebrows in bewilderment. 'Her'? Who's 'her'?

I guess I had thought aloud when he responded, "You don't know about anything, do you? They didn't tell you?"

"Who?" I found myself asking but a second later.

"Your parents," he shared. "They didn't tell you what really happened to her, did they? Why he took her life?" Parker tilted his head sideways, obviously puzzled.

I assumed that Pan killed Melody, but Parker confirmed it. Maybe I didn't want to believe it because I never knew why. My parents had become more distant and never told me anything after that day. Nothing.

"No," I blurted out, squatting onto the uneven earth, waiting for him to reveal anything.

"Well, get yourself comfortable because it's story time," he let out a small, crooked grin. "Once upon a time, meaning about a decade ago, Pan sent out one of his most trustworthy lost boys, who was only but a mere lad at the time. Seven years old to be exact. His mission was to observe and report."

"Who did you have to-"

"Shh. My story," he declared. I complied. "His target was a young girl, around the same age as him. Her long black hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back like a goddess, and her vibrant turquoise eyes shone light in the darkest of caverns. The two had grown extremely close. He had even helped her get past a grim part of her life when everything seemed hopeless. He accompanied her through the period of realization that she, indeed, did possess power and magic as well as the rejection and lack of attention from her royal parents after her younger sister's birth. Years flew by in the blink of an eye and, before they knew it, the boy had grown feelings toward the girl. When he was with her, nothing was impossible. He had his very first taste of love, but she didn't feel the same way."

"But-"

"What did I tell you about interrupting story time?" he complained in a whiny voice like a five year old throwing a tantrum.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Thank you," Parker nodded. "Anyway, over time, the boy's brain had further developed, granting him the ability to think for himself. But her, she had only grown more beautiful. She was his princess, but he wasn't her prince. He began to question why his leader had sent him in the first place, and many times had the thought crossed his mind. Before he could come up with the correct conclusion as to Pan's true intentions, the devil himself yanked the boy out of his love's life in fear that the adolescent would switch sides, for the boy had already refused to inform him any more. The cowardly leader soon replaced the missing boy as the now young teenage girl's interest, subtly implanting thoughts and beliefs against everyone she knew and loved into her brain. The dumb girl almost instantly swooned over Pan's charm and charisma, completely forgetting about her best friend's disappearance just days prior."

"But how did-"

"Who's telling the story here, huh?" he asked, widening his eyes and raising his eyebrows.

"You," I muttered, looking down and fidgeting with my fingers in my lap.

"Now, months had passed after the girl's sixteenth birthday-- a perfect time for her fraudulent love to strike. By this time, she had undoubtedly fallen for Pan's false front, not at all seeing through the fracture in his mask, which, little did she know, would ultimately lead to her most unfortunate death. She was naive, much like you. That was her fatal flaw. He murdered her, the only girl the young boy had ever loved. He felt lost, and she was his map home. During his king's absence, the boy had become quite-- what's the word Pan had used? Meddlesome. He snuck into his leader's tent, and ravaged and ransacked his drawers, trying to find anything that could get him off of the island and back to her kingdom. In little time, he stumbled across a piece of old parchment on which a prophecy was written."

"Well, what was on-"

"Stop it!" He exclaimed. "He now knew why Pan had chosen to apprehend and execute his lost beloved. He finally realized the truth behind it all." Parker took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he did so. "Much later, the boy became aware of his unforgotten love's younger sister and her presence on the island. He grew angrier and more vengeful, uncovering a reason to hate her by using her as a scapegoat for her death. He cultivated into an aggressive and combative person, now a matured man trapped in the body of a young, foolish boy. This time, he vowed to stop the true master mind that pulled the strings behind the stage. This time, he could stop him from killing again. But it wasn't for the lively sister. No, he didn't care about her. It was for his Melody."

By now, Parker's face was drenched in tears. I'd never seen anyone so crushed, not even my own parents. Yet, a part of me refused to believe him.

"I'm sorry, but you expect me to believe you? I'm not saying I believe everything Pan says, but you don't have a heart of gold. There's no way you're giving me this information for free."

"Then see for yourself. Sneak into Pan's hut, alone, and search for a small, rustic chest on the shelf above his night table. It has gold knobs, each on one side then the last on the top, and bolts along the ridges of the box."

"Okay, easy enough," I stated as I stood up, feeling confident in his ill-advised lies. I sleep in that tent every night and I hadn't seen a chest remotely similar to what he was describing.

"It is. There's only one problem," Parker grinned sheepishly as he stuffed his hands in his front pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "You need a key."