Escaping Neverland

“I knew you wouldn’t like it. You always hate the
panels that don’t have any people in them.” Jake rolled his eyes and went back
to tracing the pencil lines of the drawing in ink.

An incoming text was the only thing that kept me
from chucking my cell phone at him. I glanced at the screen, but didn’t
recognize the number. I took a deep breath.

“Jake, I’m just saying that I think it’d be cool
to use something else in the next project we do . . . you know, something with
fur instead of bolts.”

Jake looked down at the last page of the graphic
novel we’d been working on together. The metal wolf on the page snarled out at
the world, all rivets and gleaming steel. I could tell he thought it was the
coolest thing ever. I thought it was cool too, but we’d done two novels already
with his metal creations playing the bad guys, and I was getting sick of
coloring everything gray with shiny highlights.

My phone beeped again. Another message from the
unknown number. I really looked at it this time, curious. I didn’t give my
number out to that many people.

I stared at the message.

--Um. . . we haven’t hung out or anything but will
u go to prom w/me???

--Tyler Condie btw. Sorry. I got ur number from
Jessica.

I felt my heart stop and start up again with a
wild flutter as I read the last message. Tyler Condie, captain of the football
team and best quarterback in school history, wanted to go to prom with
me
?
I looked around, wondering if someone was playing a trick on me, but no one in
the coffee shop was even looking at our table.

“Earth to Paige . . . hello?”

I jumped and turned back to Jake. “What?” I asked.
I closed the messages on the screen. Jake had hated Tyler since seventh grade.
They used to be friends, but when Tyler joined football and Jake joined the Technology
Club, their friendship had fallen apart in a pretty epic way.

Jake was looking around, his eyes darting to all
the closest tables. He wiped his hands on his jeans and then looked back at me.
“What I was saying was, we can do the next project on anything you want,
griffins. . .” he grimaced a little and then smiled, “or even unicorns. But
you. . . um . . .”

I stared through him, fingers clenching and
unclenching around my phone. “Um, what?” I was thinking of what kind of dress I
was going to buy and how I was going to get my hair styled. Up, I thought, with
big curls on the top and little diamond pins. I’d have to get my dress
tomorrow. Prom was this weekend and it was already Thursday.

Jake took a deep breath. “But you have to go to
prom with me.”

I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen. My phone
beeped again, saving me from answering. Before I could bring up the message,
Jake snatched it out of my hand.

“Who’s texting you?” he asked.

I lunged across the table, reaching for the phone,
but he pulled back, shooting me a quick look of surprise. I never cared if he
looked at my phone. Most of the stuff on there was stuff Jake had downloaded.
But that was before Tyler Condie asked me to prom.

He stared at the screen, and his face went red. He
looked back up at me. “Since when have you and Tyler been a thing?”

I gave him a weak smile. “Um. . . since right now,
actually.”

Jake huffed out a laugh, the look on his face
bitter and sarcastic. “Right.” He began to type a message, leaning back as I
lunged forward to grab the phone from him. Our coffees tipped and spilled over
the newest panels, but I didn’t care.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked. I looked at my
phone and groaned. I’d accidentally hit the send button when I’d grabbed my
phone away from Jake. I typed in a quick apology and told Tyler I’d call him in
a few minutes before looking back up at Jake. “Real mature. Not if you were the
last man on earth. What’s the matter with you?”

My voice was too loud in the quiet shop. People
were beginning to look.

Jake leaned forward. “What’s the matter with me? I
just asked you to prom, and you’re texting
Tyler-I’m-a-back-stabbing-loser-Condie while I’m asking you.”

“He texted me. I haven’t answered yet.” I was
getting mad now. I had no idea that Jake was going to ask me to prom. I wasn’t
even planning on going. The fact that I would probably have said yes, just
because it was something to do didn’t matter. Jake was my best friend. He’d
always just been a friend. I didn’t like him that way, and I thought he knew
that. It wasn’t that Jake wasn’t cute. He was. His hair was a brown so dark it
was almost black, and it was always shiny and perfect. He kept it long, so it
fell around his face, framing pale blue eyes and sharp cheekbones. It was just
that we’d been friends since pre-school. Dating would just feel weird.

“You should tell him no. He’s a jerk,” Jake said.

“He’s not a jerk. You just don’t like him because
of that trick he pulled on you in eighth grade.”

Jake’s face went from flushed to beet red, even
his ears flushing. “Oh, you mean the trick that put me in the hospital for a
week and ruined my laptop?”

I felt my own face heat. “That was an accident. He
didn’t know you’d fall when he tripped you.”

I thought back to the incident. It was one of the
last times I remembered my mom actually being around. She’d driven me to the
hospital to see Jake and then left me there in the room for a couple of hours.
We’d played cards, laughing over Jake’s attempts to shuffle one-handed.

“Yeah. . . huge surprise. People fall sometimes
when you trip them.”

“He’s older now. I think it’ll be nice.” I thought
of arriving at prom in a limo, Tyler escorting me inside on his arm. The mental
image gave me a little shiver of anticipation.

Jake laughed. “Yeah, I bet it’ll be just great until
he goes to take you home and realizes you’re not going to do anything with
him.”

I sighed. “Jeez, Jake. Don’t be such a perv. He
won’t ask.”

“Like he didn’t ask Marissa or Shannon?”

“Those are just rumors.” But Jake’s comment
dissolved the happy little image I’d created.

Jake smirked at the sour look on my face. “Right.
They date Tyler for a week, then all of a sudden he dumps them and he’s off to
a new girl, just like that.”

“I don’t care,” I said. I wanted Jake to leave. I
wanted to sit here and drink my coffee and bask in the idea that I was going to
the prom with the most popular guy in school.

Jake looked down at the coffee soaked panels. They
were ruined. The full page spread he’d been inking was a blurry mess.

“I suppose you don’t care about finishing this
either,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t say that. Why are you
being such a jerk?”

Jake balled up the pages. Coffee dripped through
his fist onto the floor, filling the air with the scent of amaretto and
caramel. “So I suppose you don’t want to go to the prom with me then?” he
asked.

“Thanks, but I’ve already got a date,” I said. My
voice was snotty and cold, the one I usually reserved for the people who made
fun of me at school. I’d never used it on Jake before.

He snorted, lips twisting into a sneer, and
snatched his book bag off the floor. “Right. Whatever.” He left, throwing the
pages away on the way out.

I sat there for a minute, too surprised to do
anything else. Jake never got mad. He was the calmest person I knew. I shook my
head and dialed Tyler’s number.

“Paige?” he answered on the first ring.

“Um. . . hi. Sorry about that. Jake took my
phone.” I winced. I sounded whiny.

“Jake McIntire?”

“Yeah. We’re friends.” I wondered if my being
friends with Jake would change Tyler’s mind.

“Oh, well. That’s cool I guess. So do you want to
go to prom with me?”

I took a deep breath, holding the phone away from
my face, before putting it back. “Um…how do you even know who I am?” I asked. I
was worried that asking would make me sound pathetic, but I hadn’t even talked
to Tyler before tonight.

“You came into my class to give that presentation
about getting ready for college. I thought you were cute.”

“Oh, ok. Um…yes. I’ll go with you.” I didn’t
remember seeing him in any of the classes I’d went to the week before for extra
credit in my speech class, but at least now I knew how he knew who I was.

“Awesome. I’ll pick you up at your house at six on
Saturday. What color’s your dress?”

I felt my cheeks redden. “Um. . . I’m not sure
yet. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

“Okay. See you at school tomorrow then,” he said.

“Sure. Bye.” I hit the end button.

I was going to my senior prom with Tyler Condie.
And I didn’t have a dress. I scrambled to put my stuff away, not caring that
everything was dripping with coffee. If I hurried, I could make it to the mall
before it closed.

I thought of Jake as I raced across town in my
beater car, wondering why he’d had the idea all of a sudden to go to prom
together. He’d gone our junior year with some girl from another school he’d met
through the Technology Club. No one had asked me to prom, but it hadn’t really
bothered me. I knew that if I put in a little effort in, I could get some guys
to ask me. I wasn’t ugly. I had long, naturally blond hair with a petite face and
hazel eyes. My skin was clear, and I was tall and skinny. I just wasn’t that
interested in guys my age. Most of the guys at my school were shallow and
obsessed with sports.

I preferred to work on the graphic novel series
Jake and I had started a few years before. Every night after school and on the
weekends, I spent my time fiddling with the website and promotional materials.
I was using all of it as part of my portfolio to get into the Rhode Island
School of Design, and I didn’t have time left over for anything else. I didn’t
even realize that I kind of wanted to go to prom until Tyler asked me.

I tightened my hands on the steering wheel. I’d
call Jake later and tell him the truth: that I hadn’t expected to go to prom at
all, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to go with Tyler. Yeah, it was shallow,
only wanting to go now because the most popular guy in school had asked me, but
every girl deserved to be a princess for one night. Jake would have to
understand.

I slammed the car door as hard as I could, so mad I
almost decided to kick the side mirror off while I was at it, but Tyler,
probably seeing the look on my face, sped off before I could do any damage. It
was probably safer for me anyway. I’d probably break my leg trying to kick
something in four inch heels.

Tyler had picked me up for the dance and taken me
out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. We’d been having a great time at
the dance, until he’d suggested we leave early and head to his parent’s house
out by the lake. I’d told him no, but he’d promised it was just for some
privacy, so we could talk. We weren’t even out of the parking lot of the school
before his hand was on my leg, trying to pull my skirt up.

I’d slapped him and told him to drive me home or
I’d call the police. With tears in my eyes, I stood there in the road in front
of my house, hoping Jake hadn’t seen. He lived right next door, and I could see
the light on in his room. Realizing that all he had to do was look outside to
see me, I dashed towards my house. The front door was locked and the lights
were all off. My dad had already gone to work.

He worked the late shift at one of the factories
outside of town and wouldn’t be back until morning. Since my mom had up and
left three years before without even a goodbye, he’d started working more and
more of the late shifts. I think it was because he couldn’t sleep at night,
although sometimes I wondered if it was because he didn’t want to be around me.
Everyone used to tell me I looked just like my mom. After she left they stopped
saying, but I’d seen pictures and knew it was true.

The thought made me want to cry harder. Instead, I
pulled a carton of butter pecan ice cream out of the freezer and went to hide
in my room. I sat on my bed in my dress and thought of how irritating it was
that Jake had been right. I was always the smart one, the one with the good
ideas. How could I have been so stupid? I wished Tyler would come back to
apologize so I could punch him the face for ruining prom for me.

I groaned and stood up to set the empty ice cream
container down on my desk. As I stood there, looking out the window at the
stars and trying not to cry again, a black panel van pulled up in front of
Jake’s house. Three men got out and went to the front door.

I watched, confused. Who delivered at eleven
o’clock? I waited, but the men didn’t return to the van. When I was about to
give up and go to bed, they came back into view. They were dragging Jake
between them.

I looked around at the dark street and the neat
line of houses for help, but the windows were dark. Everyone was asleep. Jake’s
dad worked for the Governor and was gone at some conference. His mom had gone
with. No one was going to come running out of the house to save him. My hand
went to my pocket where I usually kept my phone, but I was still wearing my
dress. My phone was in my purse, which was still in Tyler’s car. My Dad had
disconnected the landline after we’d both gotten new cell phones the year
before, so that was out. I wondered if I could send an email to the police
department.

“Crap,” I said. If I’d said yes to Jake, we’d be
at the prom after-party right now, eating stale chips and drinking crappy
punch. It was my fault Jake was alone with no one to save him.

Before I could think about what I was doing, I
slid the window up, climbed up onto my desk, and swung myself over into the
scraggly rose bed. The thorns caught and tore at the satin of my skirt, and
with my usual grace, I tripped and did a face plant in the wet grass. I pushed
myself up and dashed into Jake’s yard, muddy dress flapping against my legs.
The three men were shoving Jake into the van when I ran up.

“Wait. Um…stop. You can’t just kidnap people in
the middle of the night.”
Oh God,
I thought
, even when faced with
kidnappers I’m lame.

Two of the men just looked at me and then got in
the van after Jake. The third turned and put the oily barrel of a gun against
my forehead.

He looked me over, eyes lingering on my green
satin dress. “You should have stayed in bed, Princess,” he said.

Standing there, sweating with fear in my ruined
prom dress, I couldn’t disagree. Beyond the gun, I could see that the man’s
eyes were a cruel, electric blue set in a tan face. He looked familiar. In the
silence, the sound of the safety clicking off was deafening.

The gun, slicked with my own sweat, bored into my
forehead and I closed my eyes.
Jeez, I’m an idiot
, I thought, and then
screamed when the van door rumbled back on its tracks.

One of the men leaned out. “Hey, the boss said no
bodies. Just let her go and let’s get out of here.”

Blue Eyes tapped the gun against my eyebrow.
“Can’t do that. She’s recognized me, haven’t you sweetheart?”

I tried to shake my head, but only managed to roll
my eyes like a frightened horse. I did recognize him, but I couldn’t remember
how I knew him, and I wasn’t going to admit it anyway.

“Who cares? We’ll bring her too. Let the Captain
deal with her.”

The gun pulled back from my forehead, and I found
myself stuffed into the van next to Jake. His eyes widened when he saw me.

“Paige! What are you doing here? Why would they
want you? I thought you were at the dance with Tyler.”

I frowned and kicked at him. “What’s that supposed
to mean? I’m not worth being kidnapped? I was coming to save you.”

Jake pulled back, blinking in the dim light from
the dash board, and one of the men laughed and elbowed Jake in the ribs.

“Yep, you’re a computer geek alright. Real way
with the ladies.”

I glared at the man and turned back to Jake. “Is
that why they’ve kidnapped you? Because of all the computer stuff?”

The man who’d elbowed Jake pushed me onto the
floor. “Shut up.”

Slumped up against the side of the van, unable to
speak, I had a sudden, fierce desire to be back on my bed with my ice cream.
When the van squealed around a corner and threw me up against Jake, he leaned
over and whispered in my ear.

“They haven’t told me what they want with me.
They’re mentioning some guy named the Captain. Do you know who they might be
talking about?”

I shook my head, my eyes on the driver. I could
just see his profile from where I was on the floor.

“I know that guy from somewhere,” I whispered.

Jake leaned forward and shook his head. “I
recognize him too. Can’t remember who he is though.”

The guy sitting in the back with us smiled, baring
a set of blindingly white teeth, and kicked me in the leg. I gasped and grabbed
my thigh.

“I said shut up.”

With my leg cramping underneath me, I rested my
head on Jake’s shoulder and shut my eyes.

When the van stopped, the cloying odor of greasy
french fries and burned meat filled the cab. We were somewhere near downtown:
close enough that I could smell the fast food, but far enough away that I
couldn’t hear the traffic. The thought gave me a chill, and when the men pulled
us out into a muddy parking lot and through a dented metal door into an old
storage building, I began to tremble.

Blue Eyes noticed my shiver and dug his knuckles
into my back. “What’s the matter? Don’t want to play anymore?”

I darted a look at him under my lashes and the
sneer on his face filled me with recognition. He was the Governor’s senior
assistant. Gregor something. I’d met him when I went with Jake and his parents
to some party the year before.

Gregor saw my look and gave a nasty smile. “Oh,
finally clicked did it? Well, it won’t matter. Not where you’re going.”

He pushed me into Jake and we stumbled. The boards
underfoot were slick and littered with rat turds.

“Welcome, Gregor. Another fine job I see.”

The voice came from the shadows ahead, and I
instantly relaxed. The voice was like honey over a light, fluffy pastry. It was
like the softest silk. No one with a voice like that could be bad. We would be
fine. Jake turned and smiled at me before rushing forward. I followed him, only
to collide with his back when he stopped short. I lost my balance in my heels
and fell onto the filthy floorboards with an echoing thud.

“Who are you?” Jake asked.

I peered around Jake’s legs and the comfort I’d
felt at the man’s voice vanished. The man was around my father’s age, in his
late thirties or so. His hair was long and greasy black, and his face scarred
with knife cuts. His clothes, a rag tag assortment of stained leather and silk,
looked like they’d been dragged through a slaughterhouse. And instead of a hand
on his left arm, he had a hook.

He saw my scrutiny and frowned. “What is this? I
requested only the boy, not some worthless female.”

Again the warmth in his voice nearly overwhelmed
me. The difference between his voice and his looks made me sick.

Gregor cleared his throat. “She came out of her
house while we were taking the boy. We had to bring her with, Captain.”

The Captain stared at me for a moment and then
walked forward. Before I could stop him, he’d wrapped his fist in my hair,
scattering the little diamond pins holding up the curls. He pulled me up off
the floor to his face, close enough that I could smell his breath. The mixture
of cigar smoke and swiss cheese made me gag.

He shook my head, pulling my hair. “What skills do
you have, girl?”

I tried to shake my head, not sure what he was
talking about, and he shook me again.

“Skills! What are you good at?”

Some weird, panicked part of me wanted to lie and
yell ‘Algebra!’, but I bit it back, sure that this man wasn’t the type to get a
joke. “Drawing,” I cried out, tears stinging my eyes from the pain in my scalp.
It felt like he was tearing my hair out.

Jake stepped forward. “That’s right, sir. She’s
the best artist I’ve ever met.” He looked scared, but he gave me what I guessed
he thought was a reassuring smile before dropping his eyes back to the ground.

The Captain let my hair go, and I fell to the
filthy floor with a thud. He stalked over to Jake and grabbed his shoulder.

“Is that so, boy? The best artist you’ve ever met?
And how many artists have you met?”

Gregor and the other men sniggered, but the
Captain didn’t look away from Jake. At the intense scrutiny, Jake’s ears turned
red and he began to stutter, something I hadn’t heard him do since he was a
little kid.

“I m-mean, I’ve n-n-never seen such r-r-ealistic
drawings b-b-b-before. She makes s-s-s-s-stuff jump off the p-page.”

The Captain sneered down at Jake and then pushed
him away. “T-t-t-thank you for you the explanation, young man. Very
enlightening.” He motioned to the men. “I’ll take her, but I won’t pay extra.”

From his pocket, the Captain pulled out a small
leather bag tied off with a piece of twine. He tossed it to Gregor.

“Your payment,” he said. “Make sure it gets to the
Governor.”

Gregor nodded. I looked over at Jake. He stared
back at me wide-eyed. How could the governor be involved with kidnapping?

With a rough shove, Gregor pushed me and Jake to
the back of the room. A freestanding doorway waited in the gloom. The wood of
the door and the door knob were plain, something you’d see in any condo, but it
stood unsupported in the middle of the floor with no frame. The latch for the
door extended out into nothing.

The Captain stepped forward and pushed the door
open. “After you,” he said and gestured us through.

I hesitated, not caring that the door only opened
up onto the rest of the building. I’d seen enough movies lately to know that
magical worlds on the other side of doorways weren’t all fun and games. I’d
almost rather stay here and take my chances with Gregor.

Jake had already gone through the door when I felt
the cold hardness of a gun on the back of my head.

“It’s the doorway or a dark street somewhere,
Princess. Your choice.” Gregor sounded eager, like he was just itching to pull
the trigger.

I chose the doorway and fell into darkness.