RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

EPILOGUE

THE END

The Pogue's had created a fire pit, they'd worked on it all day and as the sun dropped and the darkness wrapped them up the only thing to do was to light it and see if it withstood the wind from the tide.

River laid her head down on JJ's shoulder, she was drained but settled, somewhere inside of her she felt as though she'd reached a perfect end goal and that there was no where else she would rather be.

She missed Silas, that was a given but the boy was a cockroach never to be killed always to be there when you least expect it. Or at least that's what she was hoping for.

The group sat around the fire talking and for the first time everyone saw eye to eye, Kie had distanced herself speaking to Cleo the new comer and John B and Sarah had seemingly bonded back together like a welded ring.

Pope however had taken himself off into the darkness, he'd settled back into the sand to stare up at the stars creating patterns within them to occupy his mind.

"I'm gonna go and speak to him." River whispered towards JJ who had hoped she'd say such a thing because nobody knew Silas quite like River did and Pope needed someone like that.

"Hey." Pope smiled as the girl laid down flat in the sand looking up towards the sky linear to Pope, he reached out to hold her hand and she linked their fingers together.

"I know you miss him." River spoke up running her finger over his knuckles soothingly, "I miss him too but we'll see him again, he's not getting away that easily."

"That's the thing." Pope responded shaking his head and biting the inners of his cheeks "I don't think Rafe was going to shoot at us, he had plenty of chance when the boat stalled, I think he was trying to tell us something." He continued not exactly wanting to say it.

"Silas wouldn't let Rafe even try." River responded jokingly but when she glanced at Pope he seemed awfully serious and her heart started to pound.

"You didn't see him, Cross." He sighed rubbing his eyes to get the picture out of his head but no matter how hard he tried he could just see the way that Rafe punched his jaw and his head buckled to one side and blood dribbled out his nose onto his top lip.

"Was he injured?" River questioned looking back up at the stars, she created a line drawing between them to distract her mind from over thinking. Pope was never usually wrong about his intuition.

"I think so. Rafe was on top of him and he was just smiling at me like he wanted me to know something. He even made a joke, fuck." Pope ran his hands over his hair and knocked his head backwards on the hard sand, "I just have this feeling deep down that he's gone. I just can't feel him anymore."

River let out a shaky breath, if Pope was right then she wasn't yet ready to believe it and until Rafe told her with his own lips that he'd killed Silas she was going to happily stay in denial.

"I never told him I loved him." Pope blurted, "He's such an asshole, why couldn't he have just got on the goddamn boat." He shook his head as he spoke, his eyes threatening to spill tears that he didn't even know he was brimming.

"I think he knew you loved him." River responded with a smile she remembered the countless messages he had sent her begging for her to help him figure out a way to tell Pope his feelings, "He was crushing hard for you, dude." She laughed wiping a stray tear.

"You think?" Pope asked hopefully.

"I know." River whispered nudging his side, "He was always trying to find out the perfect way to tell you and he was never certain that the time was right, I guess he just wanted to make a good memory for you to remember." River laughed shaking her head because only Silas could have overthought telling someone he was into them.

"He was such a dork." Pope cry laughed.

"He is a dork." River laughed back trying to stay positive though her throat had started to close with a horrible feeling as if she was going to let out the loudest sob ever, "I loved him too, not like you of course but he was my best friend so believe me when I tell you, he adored you, Pope."

Pope let out a sigh of relief, even though he still believed that Silas wasn't alive just knowing that he felt the same towards him was such a weight off of his shoulders and he let go of Rivers hand to use both of his palms to wipe away his tears.

With both of them looking up towards the stars, Pope turned his head to look at the flame of the bonfire and the Pogue's sat around it.

"He should be here and I know I shouldn't dwell on it because hey? Maybe you're right and he's still on the ship waiting for it to dock." Pope took a shaky breath, "But I'm happy to be on this island with everyone that I love, John B is with Sarah and they're both safe. We have a new member and Kie is finally making female friends. JJ is completely and utterly in love with you. And you're the best person I've ever met, River."

Pope turned to look at River wondering why she was so quiet but when he did so he noticed that the girls eyes were glazed, her chest wasn't moving an inch, and her lips had parted. Her hand in the sand was cold and her skin had started to turn pale.

"Cross?" Pope questioned waiting for an answer as he reached across to shake her but she didn't respond, "Help!" He screamed across at the others and they all immediately stood up and started to run.

"Pope?" JJ shouted running through the darkness, "Pope? What is it?" The sand was flicking up behind him as he tried sprint as did the others.

Pope let out another scream and this one hit deep in everyone's chest and they knew it was serious before he answered in a panic,

"It's River."

wrote by lucidgravity