The Importance Of A Lost Knife

Sinbad wandered along the hallway, playing with a knife that was not his own as he opened doors to rooms and quietly shut them again when he realised they were empty or didn't have the right person inside it.
Eventually he found the right one, hiding the knife behind his back when he saw Jim lying on one of the beds.

'Hey kid!' he shouted, hoping to startle him if he happened to be sleeping right now.

Jim was laying on his stomach on the bed. He was right away, but bored and caught up in his own thoughts. He never knew what to use his time on around here. He jumped when he heard Sinbad's voice behind him. He turned his head without changing his position. "What do you want," Jim asked in a tired voice, wondering if Sinbad was just here to mess with him again.

'Woah! What's with the attitude?' he said as he defensively put one hand in front of him, 'the utter boredom and soul crushing loneliness of this place finally getting to you, huh?'

Jim turned around and sat up in the bed. "Yeah.. it's just the same day out and day in," he said annoyed. To begin with Jim had thought that maybe this was better than the life he had lived in England; he always had to search for a place to sleep, some way to get food and do his best to stay out of trouble. Here he had both a bed and food. But it was boring.
"Do you think we ever get away from here?" he asked more to himself than to Sinbad.

'Come on there's loads to do .. I haven't even explored half of this island yet,' he said, but he knew that eventually even he would be bored out of his mind if he didn't get off of this island soon.
Sinbad didn't know how to answer him, surely it shouldn't be that hard to leave this island. But he wondered where else he would go if he did escape, one thing he was certain of was that he wouldn't go home.

'Hey, I have something that might cheer you up,' he said with a grin as he remembered what he was hiding behind his back.

"At least you can do that.. I have to stay close to here or I'll just get lost.." Jim said in a depressed voice. He hadn't left the tree since the time he had met SInbad in the forest. Except for the one time he had followed Ping.
"What?" Jim said and looked up at Sinbad. At first he hadn't really cared at all, but Sinbad grin somehow made him think that it might be something interesting.

'You know if you really want to get out of here but you need a babysitter, you could always ask me .. being alone out there just makes me miss my crew so I wouldn't mind having someone to talk to,' he said, sad for a moment that he left his friends behind when he ran away like he did.
He quickly shook his head and turned to Jim, 'do you recognise this?' he said, grinning again as he brought the knife in front of him so Jim could see it.

Jim didn't like being mocked by Sinbad like that, but he kinda liked his suggestion about coming with him. It would make him able to get out of there.
A surprised look formed on Jim's face. "Where did you get that?" he asked excited as he quickly got up from the bed and walked towards Sinbad.

As he walked closer to him he held the knife above his head, just out of Jim's reach, 'I found it .. and what's that old saying about "finders, keepers"?' he said with a playful smirk.

For some reason Jim had thought Sinbad wold just give him his knife. But as soon as he realised he had been wrong his smile faded. "That's not fair, you know it's mine," he complained.

'Correction, it was yours, but then you abandoned it out there .. all alone. You can't blame it for wanting a new owner,' he said, pretending to be serious as he teased Jim, lowering the knife a little but still keeping it out of his reach.

Jim stretched, trying to reach the knife. It was no use. Why did he have to be so small? And why did Sinbad have to be so tall?
"It would never want to belong to anyone else... Epsecially not you" Jim cried out as he tried to jump for the knife.

'Oh really? And what's so bad about me?' he questioned as he continued to keep the knife out of his reach, though he knew what those things were he tried not to dwell on them too much.

"Lots of things," Jim answered frustrated without thinking about the fact that Sibad held the knife he wanted back. "Just give it to me."

'Oh yeah, like what?' he said, knowing that if Jim really wanted his knife back then he'd have to answer him.

"Like.." Jim started angrily as he thought about it. "Like keeping the knife away from me when you know it's mine, you jerk," he shouted. "Give it back."

'Ok ok,' he said and lowered his hand as if he was finally giving in, but as Jim reached to grab the knife he lifted it out of his reach once again, 'I'll give it to you if you tell me why this thing is so important to you.'

Jim made another jump for the knife, but failed. He stop up and looked at Sinbad. "Do you promise to give it back to me if I tell you?" he said after thinking about it for a little while.

'I promise,' he said, genuinely meaning his words.

Jim nodded as he finally decided to trust Sinbad and tell him.
"I got it from my sister... it's the last thing I have left from her," he said and looked up at Sinbad, wondering if he would give him the knife now.

Sinbad stared at him for a while, surprised he actually told him something like that.

'Where is she now?' he asked as he sat down on the bed, placing the knife next to him for Jim to take when he wanted.

Jim looked at Sinbad, then down at the knife on the bed. He wondered if he could really take it Slowly he moved closer to it without replying to Sinbad question. He carefully watched Sinbad. When he was close enough he reached down and took the knife and then took a few steps back before he placed the knife in its rightful place in his belt.

'I'm not going to bite you .. not right now anyway,' Sinbad said with a playful smile as he saw how cautious Jim was being.

"Why would you care about that anyway," Jim asked as he watched Sinbad.

'Curiosity, it's just part of my nature,' he said and shrugged before falling back onto the bed, not caring if Jim really wanted him to stay or not.