~*Chapter Eleven*~

The harmonious sound of panpipes playing quietly woke you up and as your eyes fluttered open, the brightness of the sun making them feel like they were about to burn and shrivel in their sockets. A pounding headache soon followed and you sat up, massaging your temples as you took in your surroundings. You narrowed your eyes as you noticed that you were not aboard the Black Pearl any longer; you were back in the tree house. To be more specific, you were laying on the same bed you had woken up in the morning before. You groaned and fell back down, the sound of panpipes sounding louder, seeming much more annoying.

“Get up,” a familiar voice ordered, the panpipes temporarily stopping.

You groaned again and turned over, pulling the thin sheet that was covering you over your head to try and block out some of the light. You heard footsteps on the wooden floorboards, seemingly coming closer, but you didn’t move. You tried your best to go to back to sleep to try and rid yourself of the pounding headache; it felt like someone was bashing the insides of your head with a hammer.

The sheet was suddenly tugged from you and your arms immediately extended to try and get it back but they just roamed around in the air. You kept your eyes closed, refusing to officially wake up.

“Leave me alone,” you whined turning on to your stomach and burying your face in to the pillow. Someone then began shaking your shoulder, trying to roll you back over.

“Semmi – or whatever your freaking name is, get the hell up!” From that you determined that it was definitely Baekhyun which only made you more willing to keep your eyes closed and sleep to get away from him.

“No!” you shouted back, your voice muffled by the pillow.

“Have it your way,” you couldn’t see him, but you knew that he had shrugged. You heard his footsteps fade away. Relaxing again, you out let out a long exhale, hugging the pillow under you. You almost fell back asleep when you were abruptly turned over on to your back and a cup of freezing cold water was thrown over your face. You let out an ear piercing shriek and sat up straight, wiping the water from your eyes. Your mouth hung open and your eyes found Baekhyun who was doubled over in laughter.

“You little !” you screamed, jumping out of the bed, pillow still in hand. You ran over to him and before he had time to look up, you began bashing him as hard as you could with the pillow mercilessly. “What – the – hell – was – that – for?” you shouted with each hit.

“Yah! Calm down!” he cried, cowering under your attacks.

You stopped hitting him when a wave of sickness and dizziness hit you making you feel like you were going to throw up. Your head reminded you that it was still hurting and your hand went up to your forehead as you sat back down on the bed.

“Are you-uh- are you OK?” he asked, noticing your sudden change in mood.

“Just leave me alone,” you groaned as you curled up in the foetal position to try and conquer the pain.

“Hey, if it wasn’t for me, you’d be dead by now,” he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been on that stupid ship in the first place,” you snapped back.

He opened his mouth as if to speak but closed it again, biting back a snide remark, he knew you were right. He did slightly regret what he did, although you weren’t his responsibility and it seemed like a funny idea at the time he couldn’t help but feel guilty and he knew that Kris was dangerous. When Kyungsoo and Chanyeol guilt tripped him in to going to get you back, he couldn’t refuse. They had watched for a while as you fell around the deck of the boat in your drunken state, waiting for the perfect time to snatch you away when Kris and his crew weren’t looking. When you shuffled yourself on to the plank, Kyungsoo urged Baekhyun to go then, immediately he swooped down catching you just before you hit the water. By the time he flew back to Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, you were unconscious and they carried you inside, laying you down on the bed. Now here he was, stuck for words, feeling bad for you because he knew you were feeling like this because of him.

“I’ll go,” he said quietly, bowing his head as he left, closing the door behind him soundlessly. You didn’t answer him or try to stop him, you just wanted peace and quiet until you could get rid of this hangover.

***

“Semmi,” a deep voice brought you back out of your sleep. You felt a little better now, you didn’t feel sick anymore, but there was still a lingering throbbing pain behind your eyes, echoing throughout your skull. You groaned in response, your eyes fluttering open. You found Chanyeol standing beside your bed holding a glass of water with a huge smile on his face.

“Don’t worry, I won’t throw it over you,” he laughed sitting down on the edge of your bed as you straightened up. He passed you the glass and you didn’t hesitate in gulping down mouthfuls of the tasteless fluid. It felt refreshing and sent a wave of relief over your body as it travelled down your throat.

“We’re sorry for what Baekhyun did,” his smile disappeared as he looked at you sincerely.

You smiled weakly at him to appreciate his words; you weren’t going to say that is was OK because it wasn’t. What Baekhyun had done was cruel and selfish and he had upset you greatly. You missed the sweet boy from the asylum and felt a slight pang in your chest whenever you looked at him and realised he wasn’t the same person, not really. Right now, you wanted nothing more than to go home, but you knew that there was nothing there waiting for you. You weren’t willing to just go back to the asylum, especially since they would probably think you were ten times crazier than before if you ever spoke of Neverland. Just look at how they treated Baekhyun when you were there.

“I have an idea,” Chanyeol spoke up, breaking the silence, “there are some berries and herbs in the forest that can cure you, we can go and get some to make you feel a bit better if you like? Plus, I think it would be good for you to get some fresh air.”

You didn’t want to get up and go out, but you knew he was right, fresh air would do you a whole world of good and if there was a remedy for this headache, you were willing to go to the ends of the earth for it right now. You nodded, your lips curling up in to a small smile. He beamed back and jumped to his feet, helping you to get up on shaky legs. He frowned when he looked you up and down and noticed that you were still in the same clothes from yesterday; your shirt was stained with patches of green and brown, your trousers were the same with little nicks in the fabric where branches had caught in them and your socks were practically brown.

“I’d better get you some clothes,” he laughed, “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” You nodded as he jogged out of the room, returning five minutes later with a small pile of clothes, a brown pair of hiking boots resting on top. “Here,” he grinned holding them out to you, “We only have guys clothes, so I got the smallest ones I could find, I hope they fit,” he laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Thanks,” you chuckled, taking the pile from him.

“I’ll leave you to get changed,” he nodded, leaving you alone in the room again. You quickly changed in to the plain white shirt that was slightly big on you and the definitely oversized, grey hoody and clean, black sweatpants. You tucked the trousers in to your fresh, clean socks and put on the hiking boots, tying them as tightly as possible so they didn’t fall off. When you were done, you opened the door and wandered around in search for Chanyeol; it didn’t take you long, you just had to follow the loud, deep voice that was laughing loudly.

You pushed your fringe out of your eyes and huffed as you made your way down the wooden stairs, your heavy boots making a loud, clunky noise as you went. You stepped hesitantly in to the living room you had stormed through yesterday and found all of the Lost Boys and Baekhyun sitting around as Chanyeol told them a joke. Your eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to Baekhyun whose face was stretched in to a huge smile, his eyes the shapes of crescent moons. His laugh was so beautiful you had to abruptly look away to remind yourself that you hated him.

“Oh, hey Semmi!” Kyungsoo waved when he saw you standing in the doorway.

“Ah, you’re ready!” Chanyeol grinned, “Let’s go,” he said, walking towards the door that led to the ladder, picking up a black rucksack on the way. He swung it over his shoulder and opened the door, climbing down the ladder first, waiting at the bottom to help you. You glanced back for a second and caught Baekhyun’s eye who gave you the smallest of smiles and you swore you saw the sparkle in his eye, the same one from the asylum. You turned back around and climbed down the ladder, this time when you jumped from the last rung, the boots you had on stopped the uneven ground from sticking in your soles and you landed gracefully.

“We’re going to go foraging too, I hope you don’t mind; we’re running low on fruit so the guys asked if we could gather some more.”

“No problem,” you smiled, if anything, you were glad to be out and about. Your headache still lingered and you felt slightly weak but being outside was already starting to make you feel even better.

***

“Do you want to get on my back?” Chanyeol asked, noticing how out of breath and pale you looked. You had to admit, walking around had actually made you worse, you were hot and bothered and you still hadn’t found the herbs that were meant to make you feel better.

“No, it’s fine,” you dismissed him, although you wanted nothing more than to rest your feet.

“It’s only a little bit more of a walk to the fruit trees,” he promised.

He was right too, within a couple of minutes, you walked in to a sparse section of the jungle and when you looked up, the trees were littered with dozens of brightly coloured fruits and the bushes were dotted with berries you had never seen before.

“I have an idea,” he said, taking the rucksack off from his back and putting his arms inside, wearing it on his chest. He ped it slightly before turning to you. “Get on my back and you can pick the fruit, pass it to me and I’ll put it in the bag.” He crouched down slightly and turned his back to you, tilting his head, motioning to get on. You laughed and gave in, jumping on his back. You held on around his neck and he gripped your legs tightly, keeping you up. He skipped over to the trees and with his height; you were able to reach some of the fruit on the lower branches.

You couldn’t stop laughing as Chanyeol skipped around with you on his back from tree to tree and soon, your headache was gone and you felt completely better. Every time you looked down at his face, you couldn’t help but be reminded of your brother. He did have quite the resemblance to him; his lanky structure, big eyes and dark hair. Being with Chanyeol right now, you couldn’t stop giggling and laughing and pretty soon, the bag was filled with various fruits thanks to your team effort. You’d eaten quite a lot too; Chanyeol had recommended his favourites to you and you particularly liked the deep purple fruit shaped like an apple. It had a really sweet taste and it was extremely juicy, you had to hold it away from you at one point to stop the purple juice from staining your clean hoody.

“Oh, I almost forgot about the herbs for you,” Chanyeol stopped unexpectedly but you dismissed him.

“It doesn’t matter now, I feel all better,” you smiled even though he couldn’t see your face.

“Really?” he asked, turning his head as best as he could to see you, “That’s great! We should probably get back though, the guys will be wondering where we are…”

“I think I can walk back too,” you wriggled out of Chanyeol’s grip and jumped to the ground.

You began walking back to the tree house, Chanyeol’s rucksack full to bursting point with fruits. The walk back seemed blissful and easier than the walk there; you weren’t as stressed and weak and annoyed.

“Hey, Semmi,” Chanyeol chirped up as you walked, holding on tightly to the straps of his rucksack. You hummed in response. “It’ll get better here, I promise.”