22. Bonnie
An hour maybe after Carlo locked me down here, the door above the stairs opens again, and heaving his way down the creaky old steps is my father, a smug smirk on his face.
“That’s one problem solved, now for the last.”
“Where is he?” I ask, walking myself up to the bars caging me in this concrete box.
“Firstly, you don’t ask questions. When the fuck have you ever been important enough to ask questions?” Carlo laughs, and I frown at him.
How is this my father? I was aching and desperate for his attention for years. I looked up to him, pined for him. I wanted nothing more than the love of my father from the first moment I can remember.
Shame washes through me, sickened and disgusted with myself that I could ever want to be anything to this man.
“Now, how far along are you?”
I step back a little, shock crossing my features.
“What?”
“How far along are you?” Carlo asks again coldly, and I stammer.
“I, I don’t know. I’ve literally only just found out, and then you dragged me away. Wait, where’s Maria?”
But Carlo just shakes his head again. He said he wasn’t going to answer any of my questions.
“I dragged you away because you were stupid enough to get knocked up. You have never been any use to this life, or my world, and you never will. It ends now.”
My heartbeat slows, almost as if it knows this is its last moments.
My palms grow clammy, my eyes welling up.
“Why do you want to know how far along I am?” I ask shakily, terrified to even hear the answer.
Carlo steps up to the bars, a hideous smirk masking his face.
“Because I wanted to know if I’d be killing more than one person today.”
My world stops.
You don’t know what evil is until you look it in the eye. They say the devil is evil, that the fiery pits of Hell are where all evil comes from. But after looking into Carlo’s eyes, even I can’t believe that.
Because whilst the devil”s eyes may dance with flames of fire, my father’s eyes are blank, and that is more evil than any spirit or demon.
“You, you can’t do this to me,” I whisper, stepping back up to the bars, trying to plead my case.
“I can and I will,” Carlo replies coldly, snatching Puck’s journal out of my hand.
“Give that back,” I shout, but Carlo flips open the pages and scoffs at the words written on each page.
“Till Neverland.” Carlo reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter, flicking it on until a yellow flame dances from it.
“No,” I whisper, a hand reaching through the bars, desperately trying to reach for it. But it’s no good, he’s too far away.
“You always did live in a fairy tale.”
With that, Carlo lights the corner of the journal on fire, burning all my letters from Puck with it.
“Daddy,” I whisper through my tears, feeling the last of my fight and my soul disappearing from my body.
“Fairy tales aren’t real, and your life, Bonnie Rhivers, has always been the furthest thing away from one. There is no Neverland. There is no happily ever after. You get a disappointing, empty life that ends in nothing but darkness. Welcome to Hell, Bonnie.”
He nods at two of his men, who open the gates and hold me by the arms. They seal my mouth shut and tie my hands together roughly behind my back, and I slump to my knees on the floor, watching Puck’s words burn into ashes on the ground.
Through blurry eyes, I watch Carlo pull out his gun and aim it directly at me.
Memories of my life flash before my eyes. My brother, Dax, Maria, even my mum.
And Puck.
My life has never been grand or exquisite. But it has been a life I’m proud of. It’s been a life I’m grateful for. Because even though this is my end, I got to know what living really felt like. I got to know how it felt to be loved and cherished and adored.
I got to know how it feels to be in a fairy tale.
I am not a Lost Boy anymore. I became Wendy Darling. And Puck was my Peter.
The sound of the gun firing is the last thing I hear as I clutch my stomach and disappear into a void of darkness.
And my last thought, which sends me away in peace, was even though I know I’ll never see them again.
I’ll never see King again.
I’ll never see Dax again.
I’ll never see Maria again.
And I will never see Puck again.
I know for sure that I will be with them one day soon.
In Neverland.