Chapter V

"My name is Dilly," the lady troll introduced herself to Amorivia.

This was her dream to see all the mythical-- well, now real creatures in the books she always loved yet... it scares her.

"Don't be frightened, I'm a good one. I don't eat children." Dilly assured her.

Amorivia gulped. "I'm Amorivia." She was shaking in fear. The troll has a big rock nose and her hair was like of those vines Tarzan would grip on to when he swings.

"What a lovely name!" The troll smiled with her big teeth showing. "So, what is a lovely girl doing in these woods alone? You know this place is very dangerous for kids like you."

"I-I'm looking for Peter."

"Peter?"

"Yes, Peter Pan!"

Dilly started mumbling words that Amorivia couldn't understand at all. So she breathes in and gather the courage to ask, "May you teach me your language?" That way she won't be laughed at by the lost boy.

"Oh, dear! That will take you forever to learn our language," Dilly chuckled.

Amorivia looked down.

"But I would like you to try!" exclaims the troll that made Amorivia lift her head up and smiles sweetly.

"Oh, thank you!" Amorivia couldn't help but hugged the lady troll despite the ugliness of Dilly.

Suddenly they heard a rumbling noise that stopped their happy moment. Then Dilly immediately looked down to Amorivia with a worried look. "Quickly! Hide in my rock shell."

Dilly was like a turtle somehow. If a turtle's shell is covered with scutes that are made up of keratin then Dilly's is covered with a flat- rocklike surface made of different mixtures of minerals. Amorivia fit perfectly inside since Dilly kind of lost weight.

"Dilly! one of our guards saw the lost boy with a girl running in our woods. Have you perhaps seen them?" The chief of the Trolls asked her forced wife.

With her head held up high she answered, "Why must I care if random humans roam the woods? They are having fun."

Pesky gritted his big teeth and throw Dilly a glare. "You will never become the chief's wife!"

"I am not claiming the title and never will I," she bravely uttered.

Pesky's feature was clouded with madness to kill. Before he loses all control he turned to his men and commanded, "Seek for that boy with in our land. Once we find that lost boy, we shall see his captain!"

"Peter!" Amorivia accidentally yells.

Pesky turned to see Dilly with his hideous face. "Did I just heard you--"

"Run Amorivia!" the lady troll screamed, immediately, Amorivia shrink down from where she once came in. Before Pesky could even chase the girl, Dilly jumped to his husband and tackled him.

"Chase her!" the chief could only yell, his voice loud that made the birds on the tree branches fly away.

Amorivia on the run, thought her life ends here as she saw the big rocks rolling towards her. She could tell, if she don't run faster enough she'll lay flat and her organs would scatter all around. Her only hope is if Peter would ever come and save her.

Suddenly, her feet became too tired to keep running and her visions got blurry as waters started to come out from her eyes. Save me, Peter, is all she could think of.

Before she could even stumble down with her own feet, she was scooped high up in the air. Her eyes widened when she gazed the lost boy's face. "Y-you save me..."

The lost boy meet her gaze and smiled sweetly. "A great encounter, was it?"

Amorivia wrapped her arms around the lost boy's neck and cried. She almost died there! This wasn't Neverland! This was more of a deadly land!

When they reached the meadow again, the lost boy puts her down gently. "You should not run away on your own like that again."

"Tell me, is this even Neverland?" she asked.

"It is your Neverland."

"I don't get it, lost boy. If it's my Neverland it should be happy."

"You mean lonely."

"What?" She frowned. "Neverland is Peter Pan's happy place! You said he is your captain! You said you knew--"

"I know him." The lost boy cut her off. "He's the boy who ran away from home and lived with the fairies. The boy who returned expecting his mother would stay open the window for him but instead he saw a replacement. He's the boy who claims that he doesn't want to grow up when indeed he does so want to but just can't."

That shut Amorivi's mouth. She gets it now, this lost boy know of Peter from the book just like how she knows Peter from a movie but then... how could she explain the time when Peter brought her here? Or the time when the lost boy said Peter was his captain.

"This is not Neverland, is it? And why act like you know him?"

"Because when you get too lost in this world, you can hardly tell which is real and not." The lost boy's eyes darted at Amorivia. It was as if he was relaying a message through a stare.

This situation, like Amorivia had happened to him but unlike her, he knows what is what but pretends to not notice. From the looks of it, the girl had already forgotten her family. The more she forgets, the sooner she will have to go.

"Too lost... I'm already lost," she whispers.

"Don't forget who you are while you're in this world. Never forget your name as well," he told her and sat down the grass.

She did the same and stare at the bunnies far from them. "I'm sorry about running away. I just felt humiliated and I feel so confused in this world."

"Why did you come here in the first place?"

Amorivia thought hard for a possible reason but she couldn't know of any. Her head hurts trying to remember such reason why she was in this place. "I forgot."

This is bad, the last boy thought. He moved closer to her and cupped her face. "Peter Pan is the name you always mentions, so I'm guessing you didn't want to grow up."

Amorivia gasped as her eyes went round. The memory flashed her mind and that made her remember her family. Perhaps they are what she has been missing.

The lost boy let go of Amorivia and showed a grin. "Try to hold on of them as much as you can."

Those memories that flashed her head made her sad and lonely. They must be worried sick about me, she thought.

"Peter was probably lonely in his Neverland like you are in yours."

She turned to stare at him. "Why are you in my Neverland?"

"I'm a lost boy. I might've been lost in yours."