cast no shadow. (the lost boys).

12. life imitates art.

IT WAS around one in the afternoon when I awoke to Laddie gently poking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to find him looking at me innocently with his adorable smile.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked him as I got out of the bed to stretch. He nodded happily and hopped out of the bed.

"Lizzie... could we maybe get some breakfast?" Laddie requested quietly.

"Of course we can. I don't want you to feel scared to ask me for anything, okay?" I kneeled down and put my hands on his cheeks.

"Okay." Laddie replied with a smile.

"And after breakfast, we can go and buy you some stuff. But first, I need to get ready, so stay here, okay?" I told Laddie and he nodded cheerfully.

Laddie ran over to the fountain where his shoes were sat on the edge, I left him to it and went deeper into the cave where mine and the boys 'room' was. Luckily, I had quite a few clothes here, most of them were still at Max's though.

As always, it was scorching outside so I decided on wearing a cropped white shirt and a vintage brown skirt that ended just below my knees. I continued to get ready and then slipped on some white converse shoes as I made my way back to the main area of the cave.

I found Laddie patiently waiting on the couch, swinging his legs back and forth.

"Ready?" I inquired as I grabbed my purse and Laddie nodded, hopping off the couch. I held onto his hand as we made our way out of the cave, along the way out I pondered on how we were going to get to the boardwalk. From the cave, it was quite a walk and I knew it would make Laddie extremely tired. And there was no way in hell I was taking one of the boys' bikes.

"Uh... I'm gonna do something," I told Laddie as we stepped out of the cave, shielding my eyes from the sun, "and I don't want you to be scared, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. But you can't tell anyone, okay?"

This was the only thing I could think of, and not to mention I wasn't going to compel him afterwards, either. Compelling Laddie is something I would never do, just thinking about it felt so wrong. 

"Okay, I promise." Laddie replied as he held his pinky out to me with a smile. I laughed quietly as I moved my pinky towards his, locking them together. I retracted my pinky from his, picking him up as his legs wrapped themselves around my waist.

"Close your eyes." I advised quietly. Laddie nodded and buried his head in the crook of my neck. I started making my way to the boardwalk, using the inhuman speed I was blessed with when I became a vampire. I heard Laddie's heartbeat speed up as he held onto me tighter. I stroked his head soothingly, hoping to calm him down a little. 

We made it to the boardwalk safely and stopped where no one would see us. I put Laddie down on the ground gently as he looked at me with a beaming smile.

"That was awesome!" Laddie bounced up and down with glee.

"I'm glad you thought so." I chuckled slightly, grabbing his hand and leading him onto the boardwalk.

We decided to go to Jack's Diner, the place where we had our little incident not too long ago. Luckily, Cindy wasn't working, so I didn't need to worry about her.

"What would you like, little one?" I asked Laddie once we had sat down at one of the empty booths.

"Pancakes!" He decided.

"Alright, pancakes it is." I smiled. "Anything else?"

"Orange juice?" Laddie suggested, tilting his head slightly.

"And orange juice." I nodded. Laddie begun colouring on a sheet of paper with crayons that the diner let kids use to keep them entertained. I sighed happily and looked out the window, beginning to subconsciously people watch.