Day: 2

I wake up on the dirt. My breath hits my chest like small knives, digging into my flesh. I begin to cough heavily, looking around me. I'm surrounded by nearly twenty boys, all of whom are waking up. I crack my back, which is completely sore from lying down on top of my bow and arrows. I look around for Johnny, when I notice him. His head pops up and he looks around in circles, panic on his face. We make eye contact and he relaxes.

"Alright boys," the voice that belongs to pure evil begins. "The night is up, so we head back."

"Who's moving on?" I hear a voice yell out behind me. It belongs to a boy who I don't recognise.

"Why do you want to know?" Another voice yells. "You obviously made it."

"I know, I just want to know how much competition I have." The first boy boasts.

"Well," Pan Flute begins. "I wouldn't get so cocky Kiki. You made it back with ten minutes to spare."

A couple of the boys chuckle. The original boy, Kiki I assume, frowns.

"Two boys: Fred and Dominique, didn't make it back on time, so they're out. And as for those who have yet to return: Nicholas, Caleb and Wilbur," Pan Flute looks out at everyone, "but let's not dwell on that. It's feast time!"

Several of the boys groan and stand up. They begrudgingly walk back to camp, complaining about the feast. I get up and make my way through to where Johnny stands.

"Hey, thanks for waiting for me," I grumble sarcastically. "Really appreciate it. Makes up for you abandoning me in the middle of the woods."

"Sorry about that," Johnny frowns. "But hey, you made it back on time. Did fine on your own."

"I didn't do it on my own," I bark. "I had some help. From Harry and Alex, did you meet them?"

"I met Alex, if you do recall," he gestures to his swollen eye. "Righteous asshole he is. Who the hell does he think he is?"

"If it makes you feel any better, when I saw him he looked like shit." I lie. Truthfully I could only make out the silhouette of his and Harry's features, since it was so dark.

"So they helped you?" Johnny asks.

"Harry did. He talked me through how to shoot the arrows. Alex was," I pause, "disinterested."

"Seems like the kind to be disinterested." Johnny presses.

"He felt the need to let me know that I was only there to die. I showed him. Only there to die. If I have anything to do with it, that's Alex's fate. Cared more about killing a boar then my life, the sadist."

Johnny shrugs. "Hopefully we will be out of here before we run into him again."

We arrive at the camp, which is already in full swing. Boys bustle about. Some are playing together, running about and others are fighting with swords. The majority, however, are carrying food or giant blocks of wood around.

The fifteen or so of us walk into one of the tents. The tent smells like a rotten stew of smoke and compost. The tent is open in slits at the top, filling the enclosed space with sunlight. Inside the tent there are four or five fire pits. Knives are scattered all over the floor, and there are two barrels at the back of the room. To the left, there is a giant pile of boar carcases.

"You know the drill boys." Pan Flute's voice rings out.

There is a collective groan from all the boys. A few collapse on the ground, going back to sleep, while other walk over to the pile of boar and yank them down.

I walk over to the pile, and with much difficulty, manage to bring a boar down. I grab hold of its hairy arms and drag it to a spot near a fire pit. I look over at Johnny, who is being flocked by a few boys. I sigh, looking around to see what the other boys are doing. The few that are working are cutting off the boars heads. I pull my dagger out of my cloak, and begin to saw at the head.

"Now that's going to take too long," A voice from behind me begins.

Before I can turn around, I see an axe swing down and chop off the boars head. That's what I call raw strength. It's also what I call terrifying. A boy's foot kicks the head aside and sits down. He has his own, already headless, boar in front of him.

"I'm Samuel," his voice is gruff, not the voice I heard from before.

Another boy plops down beside him, "I'm Gregory."

"And I am Keaton," a third boy announces, swooping down to my right, handing Gregory the bloody axe.

I nod at the boy, looking up at them. I haven't seen Gregory or Samuel before now. I would remember if I had. Samuel is a massive boy. He has short, curly black hair that peeks out along the edges of the hood that hides his face. He is very muscular, and wears a shirt that is rolled up just above the elbows, revealing his dark skin. His neck is easily the size of my thigh. He seems to be around my height; if anything he's shorter than I am.

Gregory appears much taller. I'd guess 6'3, but I can't be sure. He has slightly dirty skin, as does everyone else here. Yet, the skin is very fair, I can only imagine what pale white his skin must have been before he began to cake on dirt instead of sunscreen. He has teeth that are slightly yellow, and slightly crooked. His nose is slightly lopsided. Everything about him screams slightly. His strawberry-blonde hair however, is very well kept, nothing slightly about it. It's short and appears to have been trimmed recently. It's combed over to the right, out of his eyes.

Keaton however is completely clean. His brown eyes match his brown hair, which is styled almost identically to Gregory's. The only difference being the side that his hair is combed to the left. He wears a clean brown pirate shirt, and dark brown pants. He flashes his white teeth at me. I recognise him as the boy from earlier, who was talking to Pan Flute about the boys who were kicked out.

Wasn't he called Kiki back then?

I turn back to my boar, skinning it.

"And you are?" Keaton presses.

I sigh, realizing there is no way of ignoring the boys. "I'm Charlie."

"Charlie? Well it's nice to meet you chap." He reaches forward to shake my hand.

Everyone here is uncomfortably British, but him especially. Where Harry's accent is twisted, and sounds more rugged, Keaton's is extremely posh.

I take his hand, shaking it. "Likewise, Kiki."

Gregory burst out into a fit of laughter, rolling on the floor. Samuel does nothing.

I see the anger flash on Keaton's face, but he calms down a few seconds later. "Alex is such a delk. Honestly though, it's not even funny. He's just mad because he didn't get chosen by Pan."

"I take you were then?" I ask, not asking what the word delk means.

"Of course I was. Who do I look like? Almost all of Felix's picks are a load of plunters who didn't make it through the last round. Pan picked 10 people for the hunt, and Felix picked 10. And of course by the time the first round is over, half of the people Felix chose are either out or dead. Alex is the next one that'll go."

"I survived didn't I?" I challenge, skinning the boar, "and apparently I was the 'entertainment' as well."

"How do you know about that?" Gregory demands, his high-pitched Irish accent ringing through the space.

"I know about a lot of things." I challenge.

"But we are the best to approach you." Gregory boasts. "We figured, we'd approach you and get to know the kid who survived."

"Gregory intends to keep talking," Keaton interjects, sending his friend a scowl. "But that's not why we are here. We are here to talk to you."

"Just because I survived being chosen as a sacrifice?" I ask. "You all survived exactly what I did, it's no biggie?"

"Well five people didn't win, and you managed to." Keaton says. "There are lots of people who aren't happy to be shown up by some random New, following me?"

"And so you've come here to protect me? Oh thank you kind sir! How could I, a mere little boy, fend for myself on this island full of mysteries? Thankfully I have you, strong man, to protect me." I tease.

"You're such a faggot." Gregory barks.

"Hey," I snap. "Don't you dare slur in front of me!"

"Let's calm down," Keaton says. "We're friends here right? Take a deep breath."

I pick up my boar and drag it away from them, towards a fire pit away from them. I spear my boar and hoist it on top of the pit, letting it cook. My blood continues to boil. I exit the tent, pausing only for a second to see Keaton boxing Gregory's ears. Keaton looks extremely angry, his cheeks are flushing red.

I walk out of the tent still staring at the two boys, and manage to walk directly into someone. As my luck would have it, it is the dreaded Pan Flute, who has a large grin etched across his face. He grabs hold of my arm and drags me off to the side of the tents entrance.

"Are you allergic to boars?" He demands.

"What are you-" I begin.

"Are you allergic to boars?" He interrupts.

I cross my arms. "I highly doubt I am allergic to boars."

"Then why have you gone red?" He asks. "Is it too hot in the tent?"

"No," I grumble.

"Perhaps you covered yourself in face-paint then?" He continues.

"I have done no such thing," my teeth grind together.

"Then why have you gone red?" He prods further.

"I have gone red," I pause. "Because this, this..."

"Now you're choking too. Are you sure you aren't having an allergy attack?"

"This place," I ignore him, "is full of imbeciles. Complete and utter idiots who I have no time to, to-"

"It was Gregory, wasn't it?" He chuckles at the shocked look on my face. "It always is Gregory. He causes more trouble on this island than anyone else."

"You've yet to see the likes of me," I interrupt. "I can cause a lot of trouble when things don't go my way."

"I'd say we have a lot in common, little Charlie, but I'd be lying. You see, I can cause a lot of trouble if I want to, but I don't need to. Things always go my way. Peter Pan never fails."

"You're so far up on your high horse that I can't see you anymore." I squint up at the tree tops above us. "Is that you, Pan Flute, or a rat? What does it matter anyway, you both are basically the same thing."

He steps back, his smirk growing into a huge grin. "Pan Flute? You've already made a nickname for me? We are going to be so chummy then aren't we? You and me, best of mates?"

"Gag me," I stick out my tongue and make a gagging sound.

Pan Flute rolls his eyes at me, his grin still unfaltering. What is it with this demon? Always smiling like he knows something I don't. He can honestly suck an egg. Thinks he's better than everyone else just because he can kidnap them. Pathetic. I turn and walk away.

"You know, you are going to be here for a long time," Pan Flute calls out, "so it would be less of a pain if you got over yourself. As much as I like to see you irritated it's growing quite annoying, and you've only been here one day."

I storm off, not pausing or looking back. That god damn sadist won't leave me alone. If I'm so annoying already, why won't he just send me back home? Probably not only because he feeds off of my suffering, but it probably gets him off. Disgusting.

I keep walking along the camp grounds, which seem to be larger every time I re-enter them. I walk over towards the end of the long bench. It's made out of dirty wood that's peeling off in thin strips. I sit down and bury my head in my hands. I let out a frustrated groan as I slam my head against the table.

I hear someone plop down beside me. I look up to see someone who looks familiar. I can't quite put my finger on where I've seen him before. The boy throws down a bloody knife on the table. The blood has dried, and comes off in chips where it landed.

"Pan kept us knocked out way too long, look what happened to Gertrude!" The boy shouts out jokingly. It's Harry's voice. "Now I'm going to have to spend the next seven years scrubbing it off."

"You could replace Gertrude," a voice from behind him says. Alex.

"Blasphemy!" Harry laughs. "I'll just have to wash her."

Alex just looks at Harry, confused, before cracking a smile.

Harry rolls his eyes and begins banging his head against the table. Alex immediately grabs him by the neck of his shirt and pulls Harry up. I look over at him. Harry looks quite crooked. He has scraggily black hair that reaches just past his extremely large ears. His hair is greasy and dirty looking, much like his face. Beneath the layers of dirt however, I see what remains of what he used to be before he ended up here. He has dark grey eyes, and barely visible freckles on his olive skin. His left ear is pierced, and he has a few thin braids in his hair, one of which has a brown feather attached to it. He is quite short, smaller than me. He looks to be around sixteen.

Who knows how old that really is?

Harry sticks his tongue out at Alex, who just rolls his eyes and jumps over the table, sitting down across from us.

"So," Harry pauses. "How did boar-cooking go?"

I shrug.

"We were going to go over and help you, but Kiki and his crew of imbeciles were there," Harry shrugs. "You should've seen Alex, he crossed to the other side of the tent and hid in the corner as far away from them as possible."

"Don't talk to them," Alex adds. "Don't, Keaton means bad news."

"You think everyone here is bad news," Harry rolls his eyes.

"That's because we are on an island filled with dumb boys who don't have any sense of self-control, and who have free reign to essential beat, bruise, and murder each other, all for the attention of someone who doesn't give a damn about anybody here." Alex rants.

Harry gives Alex a look of disgust and anger, but says nothing. He just glares, with his mouth slightly agape.

I feel weird listening to this conversation, like I'm invading their privacy.

"I'm not going to apologise for saying the truth," Alex says.

"You can say what you want," Harry grinds his teeth. "That doesn't mean you're right."

Harry stands up, "I'm going to the bathroom."

He storms away. I don't think I've ever met someone so self-assured as Alex.

"Aren't you going to get him?" I ask.

Alex looks at me, and chuckles. "Harry isn't sulking. He's going to calm down."

"Why are you so rude?" I demand. "You've been here for a while, and you still seem to have managed to stay alive. Why can't any News?"

"Because people are generally stupid, sadistic or all of the above." Alex answers dryly. "News are just inherently stupid to everything."

"You're a sadist then?" I ask.

"Thanks for implying that I'm smart, but I'm not a sadist." Alex snaps. "I said generally, generally they are a sadist or stupid or both. I'm neither."

"I doubt that very much," I say coldly.

"That's because you belong to the stupid group." Alex retorts.

He glares at me out of the corner of his eyes, but doesn't say anything more. Alex is an odd looking guy. He has dark black eyes and very fair and very dirty skin. His hair, at least, what I imagine beneath the mud, is white and it sticks up in every which direction. He has a very crooked nose, from being broken many times over, and a permanent scowl. He seems to be much taller than me, and has large arm muscles, with little veins popping through.

Harry comes back over and sits down with us, facing Alex. He has a scowl on his face but doesn't say anything.

"Honestly, you guys are such a pain." I sigh.

I stand up and walk away from them, leaving them to get over their problems. I see the young boy who I first met here out of the corner of my eye. He's sitting on a log and talking to two boys who appear to be the same age as him. I debate whether or not I should actually go over and say hello, since I've completely forgotten his name, but decide to anyway hoping that someone will say it.

"Hey," I smile walk over and standing across from the boys.

"Hey Charlie," the boy from early smiles. "Guys this is Charlie. Charlie, this is Lyle and Thomas."

Lyle grins at me, and takes my hand shaking it. Thomas looks up at me and smiles for a second before looking straight back down. The boy must be terrified. The two of them seem to be very clean, at least compared to the other boys here. They must be two of the new boys as well.

"How do you do?" Lyle asks, his voice has a thick British accent. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Max was just telling us how you got chosen to be in a competition with the other boys."

Max, Max is the boy's name. I can't forget it again. Max, Max, Max, Max.

Lyle rambles on. "That must've been awfully frightening, seeing as you are the under-dog here. I mean, yesterday you didn't know Neverland existed and today you've just succeeded in a competition. How did you even manage to do it?"

"It was like a hunting party," I answer calmly. "I used a bow and arrow at a few summer camps I went to. I'm not good, I'm quite bad actually, but I manage to shoot a boar."

"You managed to shoot a boar?" Lyle asks, talking a mile a minute. "Oh wow, I could never do anything like that. Mum's a little bit of a nutter, I'm not allowed to play video games or touch a kitchen knife let alone an actual weapon. It's not all bad though, on my Dad's weekends he lets me shoot water guns, so long as I don't tell her. I don't like keeping secrets from my Mum, even if she is a tad mad she still is my Mum, but as long as I get to use the water guns I don't think I'll tell her. Plus I'd probably stopping getting to see my Dad on weekends if I told her."

I smile back at Lyle. I feel bad for him, he seems to think that he's going to leave here one day and go back to his Mum and Dad. He just seems so young, so innocent, in fact the whole lot of them do. They can't even be fifteen.

"How old are you guys?" I ask.

Thomas looks up, slightly confused, but Lyle doesn't miss a beat. "I'm 13, Max is 14, and Thomas is 12. Are you 15? If you are, that'd be excellent, because then we'd all be in an order. That'd be so cool!"

"Actually I'm 17, but I'm sure we can find someone who's 15 and someone who's 16 so that it'll all fit together," I smile. "It'll be hard though, because I hear some people here are almost 200 years old."

Thomas glances back up at me.

Lyle grins. "You mean we don't age here?"

"That's what I've been hearing," I answer.

"That's incredible, how old d'you think Peter is?" Lyle asks. "I mean, he must've been here the longest. He's probably at least 1000 years old!"

"Maybe," I shrug, ruffling his dark black, curly hair. "I think I'm going to go find something else that needs doing. I'll be back later to see you."

I get up and walk away, back over to the long table, which still only has a few people sitting at it. I see Alex and Harry, talking to each other. I walk across to the far side and sit across from them.

"So you made up then?" I cock an eyebrow.

Alex says nothing to me, he just continues to scowl and looks down at the ground. Harry has the trace of a grin on his face but says nothing as well.

"We've agreed to disagree." Harry finally says. "Otherwise I'd have to fight him."

"You'd lose," Alex says straight-faced. "No chance you'd win."

"He's right you know," Harry laughs turning to me. "I'm terrible at hand to hand combat. I can beat anyone with Gertrude, and Judy is nearly as fantastic-"

"Judy?" I ask.

"My other knife," Harry elaborates as Alex rolls his eyes. "-but give me nothing except my fists and my feet and I will die."

Harry laughs but Alex doesn't. He just continues to scowl. That kid needs to loosen up.

"Anyways, see those boys behind you?" I ask.

They both turn their heads backwards to look.

"You're going to have to be specific," Alex snorts.

I resist the urge to say something snarky. "The three on the log? One has really dark skin and curly black hair? Another is tan with black hair-"

"And the elephant ears?" Alex laughs.

Harry looks over at him. "I have elephant ears."

"Well, your head is slightly bigger, so it fits more. That kid's ears look like they are as big as his face."

Harry tries not to laugh, but ultimately fails, bursting into a fit of giggles.

"That's so mean," I boil. "That kid is terrified out of his mind. He couldn't even speak! Kidnapped by Pan Flute, has no idea where he is."

"It's so funny," Harry chokes, "because it's so true. May be rude but it's funny."

"Did you just say Pan Flute?" Alex asks.

"Maybe I did." I shrug. "So what?"

Alex laughs at me. Asshole.

Suddenly there is a giant bang that shakes the table. I look up and see Pan Flute standing on the table, between me and the boys.

"Attention everyone!" Pan Flute shouts. "Dinner is served!"

He hops off the table and the boars appear, lining the table end to end. Alex grabs a leg as quickly as possible and dashes off. Harry grabs another leg and looks at me. Taking the hint, I grab a leg and look back at Harry, who is already running away from the table.

"Run!" He shouts.

I run away from the table, just as it is swarmed by a hoard of hungry boys.

~~~~~

Alright, so this chapter is super long. Like 4000 words long. All the same, it's going up tonight. Another tomorrow, hopefully. I'm a little drained after this, but I'll see what I can do.

Like always, thank you for reading this. I hope you are still enjoying it. Let me know what you think of the characters so far. I'm introducing a lot in a very small amount of time, but I know them all so well, and I love them all so much.

Anyway, keep existing and I'll see you next time.