Excerpt: Under the bed

As his head wobbled from side to side he swallowed in a deep breath and heard the scrape of a shoe against the ground. As soon as he let out the air though the sound was gone and it left Erin standing still his ears strained as he tried to wonder if he had only imagined it. Looking down at his feet you could tell it hadn’t been him to create such a noise as his feet were swallowed by socks-he had been asleep and was even wearing red checkered pajamas.

“ Stranger guy is that you?” His voice was a little stronger than it had been in the beginning and it held anger as he wanted revenge for being slammed in the back of his head with a staff. Who carried a staff! His fingers flexed at that thought curling and uncurling as he waited for the tall boy to walk out and show himself and start with the stupid questions about a king and those Nightmares. He wasn’t even sure those things existed. The boy wasn’t someone who Erin thought was believed by any group of people.

“Come out you little bastard! Or you still hiding behind your stick?” His words dripped venom and if looks could kill dagger would be shooting from his eyes slaying anything they could reach. Sadly he couldn’t see a damn thing and the only thing suffering from his dagger looks was the darkness and if it seemed to care it showed nothing staying still and thick as it had been moments before.

A high, giddy laugh filled the silence he left as he waited for the answer and the innocent kid like quality to such a noise was immediately at odds with his senses and the area around. This was a place of nothing not kids. “ You talking to me? That’s not nice.” The voice that followed was nothing like the previous sound of merriment. This was a voice of child insanity. It was high yet filled with splintering ice; cold and sharp. Then that laughter again yet it came from no discernable location and Erin found the darkness spinning around him as he turned, turned, and turned again not stopping as he tried to find who or what was talking to him.

Erin’s eyes widened as he finally saw. Light came in a warm glow that parted away the sheets of gloom and yet it set Erin to blinking for a moment before he was able to see who had been so mysterious seconds ago. He was wondering if he preferred the mystery to the truth. Around 4’10” and looking to only be ten years to twelve the silhouette wouldn’t have been to scary. Sadly it was not all he saw. Sagging green tights slouched off long legs and a dirty green tunic; partially laced up around the chest but showing pale skin underneath, that clung tightly to the slightly chubby torso. The man’ thin arms rotated the green felt hat on his head and then crossed his arms in front of his chest putting a defiant look on his strange features. The boy’s face was cherubic and sweet with freckled and reddened cheeks and that small rounded nose that was crinkled up as he stared intently at Erin. Those damn eyes. They had Erin swallowing a deep breath as he stared tried to meet the gaze of those emerald orbs, but failing.He stared down at his feet. As he glanced up the stranger pushed his dark hair out of his eyes, revealing a scar the stretched from his forehead to the middle of his left cheek. It was hideous and if the boy had been cute before he lost his looks as the marring disfigurement made Erin cringe. Looking at him peter nodded at Erin’s expression and then gave a smile. Pale teeth showed up under but that didn’t hold his attention for long as the source of the glow poked its head from behind the new boy’s shoulder. Erin gasped and fell down on his rump.

The little thing was small no more than three inches tall and not even half and inch thick. She the same as the boy she was with, was covered in green but it was a ragged dress and hardly noticed against her luminescent yellow white skin. She glowed brightly and hardly seemed a reality; a perfect match. A slight blur was seen behind her back and he could guess they were the glimmer wings. A small hand waved at him but when he gave no reply other than to rub his tail bone and give her a scrunched up confused look. At that she dived behind his shoulder again and yet the glow hardly dimmed.

\ Tinker Bell?

“An……..is………a…..are you Peter Pan?” The complete stupidity of his statement only reached him after the boy’s eyebrow rose and he smirked down at him. Scrambling up Erin gave a sheepish smile and then waved his hand in front of him trying to wave his words away until his hands froze in the air and he gave the boy-thing a suspicious look and then his face started to turn slack and his body filled with dread as the smile widened on Peter’s face filled with a toothy smile and his head slowly nodded moving along Erin’s train of thought. He was face to face with a fairy tale. A strange kid who lost his shadow and kidnapped kids to take them to place where they stayed immortal yet child like. A place were killing and savagery was the only way to live and survive. Peter made monsters out of innocence and by the smile on his face and the flecks of red dancing within his eyes he liked it.