Peter Pan Imagines

Hold Me Close (And Don't Let Go) Part 1

Suffering.

I thought I had done everything right, I had given her the world! But clearly, it wasn't enough. My demons chased her away again, this time for good.

My devils are always up for a good hunt.

No. This wasn't me, she was weak! She couldn't handle it here, in fact, no one can! The lost boys, weak. The merfolk, weak. This island is for the strong and clever, like me.

She wouldn't have made it far anyway, I would have killed her before she did.

Everyone is gone, the island quieted and fully clothed in its burial gown. The silence pierces the air with discontent and remorse. I rubbed my index and middle fingers into my temples, trying to rid of the sheer madness of the rapidly draining power from my veins.

"Peter!"  A soothing voice murmured through my mind, a mist clouded in  memory. "Peter, please come back to camp we miss you!"

That's right. I had completely forgotten, I had wandered quite far when walking as I always do. Brooding by myself, that was, until she came along. That memory, just like last time, I had wandered, becoming more lost than the lost boys themselves.

I turned about and nearby I saw a mossy log. I sat upon it in exhaustion and found myself drifting off to sleep once I laid my back across the softened wet-wood mat.

"Peter..." The girl giggled. "You need to cheer up a bit, stop brooding so much!"

The girl had long black hair, curled by the forest humidity. Her eyes, a flaming brown-red tinted with golden-orange sunbeams. Where had she gone? She was here a minute ago...

"P-p-peter..." Her voice was weaker now, as shallow as a whispered word. Tears spilled from my eyes upon her plain white tunic as she appeared cradled with fragility in my arms. "Don't be afraid..." She held up her thin hand weakly and cupped my face, smoothing the hair from out of my green eyes. "To die... would be an awfully big adventure."

I was shaken awake my my own cries. I was once again in the forest alone. I must've fallen asleep. Where was she? She was just here! Has it been that long already? I suppose it has...she's been gone for years now.

"Peter..." The voices echoed around the trees again, a whisper of wind through the snake-like vines and green branches.

"Who goes there?" I summoned a tiny of fire in the palm of my hand. I no longer could summon the great fires of dragons between my fingers; I, reduced to mere magician tricks as the island drew to a close.

"The cliffs....the cliffs....the cliffs..."
A great gust of air nearly knocked me to my feet as the message roared in the quiet of the forest.

"This is a trick, come on out you creature! Show yourself!" No answer. I paced about, searching behind trees and boulders nearby. It must've been a witch that arrived on the island. Still, what was waiting at the cliffs? Even if it's a trick, it should be interesting to see considering that my time is running short.

I sauntered through the forest with a meloncholy glare, this would be the very last time I was here. The trees cast giant shadows overhead, the sunset beams just barely able to pattern the forest floor. The breeze, cool and salty like the ocean just ahead.

Nimbly, I climbed the great rock cliff that loomed over the rest of the island. The rocks slid and crumbled to dust beneath my feet as I walked up, the end had already begun. Each flower I passed on the way up decayed and shriveled in my path, not having enough regenerative energy to sustain the eternal nature of it.