(To be rewritten!)
Shortlisted for the Wattys 2018!
Peter Pan. The boy who never grew up. The boy who makes all your wishes come true with the help of a fairy.
What if I told you that was all a lie?
That the boy who never grew up was really a monst...
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We were now walking on a large rocky mountain-like terrain cascaded by tall trees. It was only me, Sam, Libby, Athena, Will and the latino boy whose name I recently learned is Ryder. When they had first woken up on the boat they were super surprised to learn that me, of all people, saved them from sirens. Sam hasn't spoken since I saw the inside of his mind.
I say, out of the blue, "Sam? I, uh, just wanted to say that I'm sorry about earlier," I sigh, "Honestly, I don't even know how I did that. So yeah."
He walks a few feet beside me, Athena leads, Ryder and Will do some dumb stuff and make jokes and Libby hums a song I don't know in between coughing. Probably allergies from all these plants everywhere.
"It's okay," is the only thing Sam says in response. I know it isn't though, but that's all Sam will say though. It's silence for many moments until he says, "It's stupid, isn't it? I mean, a lot of people would've probably wanted something a lot better than what I had seen, I guess. Actually, I can't imagine wanting anything else right now. Kids my age would probably imagine going steady with a girl or something."
"First of all, no that's not stupid, Sam. Anyone in your situation would want their family--their life back. I mean, I imagined the same thing. Second, 'going steady?' Sam, what year do think it is?" I ask, raising an eyebrow and smiling.
He says innocently, "Uh, 1951?"
My smile fades. He has no idea it's over sixty years later. He's been stuck here for sixty years, most of his friends or either dead or so old they don't remember him. Not to mention anyone else in his family has likely passed on. The fear of not finding Lucas suddenly increases by like one-thousand percent. What if get stuck here like everyone else? Like Tori and Athena and Sam and Will and Ryder? What if everyone I loved just passed on and I never got to see them again and didn't realize it until they were long gone?
I say, calmly, "Uh, Sam don't freak out--but it's 2018."
The realization hits him like a garbage truck. He asks, "What? No, it can't be." He shrinks away to himself, not saying anything just having the same shocked look on his face.
"What's going on?" Will asks walking over to us, his smile goes away in mere seconds when he sees his brothers face, "Sam, what's wrong? Sam now sits on a tree stump in the middle of the jungle.
"You guys have been here for sixty-seven years," Libby says between coughing. She's also pretty out of breath.
"What?" Will asks, "No, that's ludicrous."
"I'm sorry but it's not," I say looking down, "It's 2018."
It's apparent that Will is angry. You can tell by the way his veins are popping out in his very, very muscle-y arms. He walks to Sam whose face is buried in his hands. His eyes have both anger and sadness in them--the same look he had on his face when I first got to his ship and he told me why Sam barely speaks and what happened to his parents. Except this time it's more reckless and wild like he might do something stupid with no remorse and without thinking about it.
