~The Sea Flier, Chapter Four~

   Peter sat alone for quite a while thinking about everything so far. He thought to the very beginning, which was just the day before, and went over every piece of time that went by until the present moment. He still could not bring himself to believe that he just woke up in this place called Forever Land with a bunch of dudes who call themselves Lost Boys and that there are creepy things called pirates that can change your life forever in a very creepy way from just a shot. 

   "Brutal, huh?" a voice from behind him said. 

   Surprised at first, and thinking that someone could read his thoughts, he turned around to see Curly. 

   "What do you mean?" asked Peter nervously. 

   "James and the way he reacts to things. Don't worry, he's rude to everyone." replied the boy. Peter was relieved. 

   "Oh yeah.. But it seems like he really had some personal thing against me. He had seen me in his, um, experience or whatever. Apparently he thinks I'm some evil dude-"

   "Well the experience shows things that nobody else can know, and they are always right," Curly butt in. "But don't worry. It's probably nothing."

   Peter still couldn't shake the feeling that him and James were never going to get along. 

     "Anyway, I came over here to give you this." Curly tossed Peter two small sandwiches. It gave Peter some joy to know that Curly thought of him and that he knew he would have at least one friend. Slightly was cool, and Nibs could be nice, too, but Curly was that innocent kid that Peter naturally liked. They ate some together and talked about the layout of the island. There wasn't too much to it; there was the hills where they would play sports, the volleyball pit, the farm, some of the main shacks, and the wall. 

   Peter enjoyed listening and learning about the place. It made it feel more familiar to him. He had trouble keeping his mind on anything, though, because of the memory of the terrible screams from that poor Edwin kid. 

   "Can you tell me more about the walls and the sea?" Peter asked, trying to get the wounded boy out of his mind. 

   "Well..." Curly started, "I haven't really been to sea before."

   "You've never been outside these walls?" Peter asked. 

   "Too much of a risk. Not many have. There's pirates out there all the time! Mostly during the night, but that's why we have the gate." Curly answered.

   "The gate?" Peter looked up at the huge gate in front of the sea. "Don't tell me it actually closes!"

   "Well you missed it last night and this morning because you were sleeping so hard, but every night and every morning it just closes and opens. Nobody knows how and really why, but we are thankful. It would be nothing but dead bodies if they weren't there." Curly said. He was really working Peter up about the pirates that he still didn't know anything about. 

   "And what time do-" Peter was interrupted by a very loud horn. It sounded like a battle horn. As soon as he blinked, the huge gate started moving and closing itself. It was the most grand thing that Peter could remember. Out of all the four things he could. It worried him that he was being trapped in this Forever Land place, but the sea out there looked like it trapped him pretty good, so he was more thankful. 

   "At the same time that everything in the sea happens." Curly said looking off into the distance. Peter looked at him for a second and he could tell that Curly zoned out. 

   "Like what?"

   "Oh!" Curly exclaimed when he came back to focus. "Just movement and whatnot." He answered in a puzzling way. 

   "You're telling me that the water is still all day and then when the gate closes, the waves suddenly start?" Peter asked sarcastically. 

   "No, the directions change. Coral reefs move, and the paths scramble." Curly said nervously. Peter wondered what was so difficult about this sea. It seemed completely regular to him. 

   "The paths?" 

  "Oh never mind. You are impossible!" Curly said throwing his sandwich on the ground. He got up and started walking away. Peter was completely unsure what just happened. First they were having a nice talk about the place, and then Curly explodes and walks off. The paths that Curly mentioned really intrigued Peter and he wondered what kind of paths there could be in the sea. 

  Peter watched as the gate kept closing. It looked like it took maybe a minute or a minute and a half to fully close. Just as it was getting pretty thin, maybe a 15 foot passage way, a small boat sails extremely fast through and comes to the dock right inside the gates. It finishes closing and Peter looked at the boat as two guys stepped out of it. One with a rolled up piece of paper and the other with two oars. Peter turned to ask Curly about the guys, but he was clearly not in the mood.

   He got the feeling that more was out there than just what Curly had mentioned. This sea had a certain specialness to it that was not just fish. It was not a regular sea, and Peter knew that much. He knew that his goal for the tour with Nibs later was to learn more about the sea. 

   "Peter, you mud-faced dingus!" James stomped right up to the tree where Peter was sitting and he punched him in the nose. "I saw you in the experience and I know who you are! You can't trick me!"