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Fight Together

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EVELYN'S BLUSH FADED away and she felt tears brim her eyes.

"You weren't watching me sleep were you?" Pan asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No," she replied, admiring his effort to cheer her up.

"Evelyn..."

"Why bother with me?" she asked, the tears getting harder to fight.

Pan's eyebrows raised in the dark. "Why not? You're caring — that much showed with the boys — you're beautiful—"

"Stop. I'm not beautiful and I know it."

He grabbed her chin and moved her face gently so she could look at him, but she looked down still. "Evelyn, look at me," he said softly. The girl complied and looked at him just as a tear fell down her cheek. "You are beautiful. You are bright. But you are lost. Everyone here is lost, and you know what? I'm lost too. I have demons I fight every day. And you have demons too. We will fight our demons together but you have to promise me you'll tell me whenever you feel sad or whenever your demons show up. And I will promise you, I'll do the same. And we will fight them together."