"Wheezie." Sarah let out a sigh of relief, bringing in Wheezie for a hug, quickly pulling Athena into it as well.
"Why are the police here again?" Wheezie asked her sisters.
"Go inside." Sarah ordered, her voice shaking. "Don't come out."
Athena pressed a kiss to the girls head before pushing her towards Rose and the door. Sarah grabbed Athena's hand, the twins rushing towards the docks.
"Dad!" Sarah shouted.
"Dad!" Athena called.
"Hey, hey. You gotta let us through." John B told the officers.
"That's Sarah and Athena Cameron. Let them through!" Shoupe ordered.
"What are you doing here, girls?" Ward asked the two.
"Dad what are you doing?" Sarah questioned.
"Vic, you gotta get them out of here!" Ward shouted. "They can't be here!"
"Just come on in, and you... you... you can talk to them!" Shoupe tried to reason with the man. Athena stared at him, confused on what his plan was.
"Sarah, I'm so sorry, baby. I can't!" Ward told her, pressing a button so the anchor began to come up out of the water. "Athena, baby. I'm so sorry! You are my daughter, you always will be."
"What are you doing?" Athena questioned, tears welling in her eyes.
"Dad! No, no, no, no!" Sarah begged.
"Ward, this ain't gonna end the way you want it to." Shoupe told him, police boats beginning to surround the druthers. "You don't need them seeing this."
Ward then climbed down the ladder, walking in the boat.
"Dad, don't leave! Where are you going?" Sarah called.
"Dad! No, stop! Don't go." Athena begged. "Where are you going?"
"I love you!" Ward shouted. "I love you both."
"Dad, no!" Sarah continued to shout.
"Hey! Damn it, Ward! Turn around and get back here!" Shoupe demanded.
"Dad! Come back!" Athena shook her head as she cried for him.
"Please don't leave!" Sarah begged.
Ward disappeared inside the boat, the wails of the sirens being the only thing Athena could hear until suddenly the boat exploded, loud crashes and a harsh fire roaring from the inside. Athena gasped, moving back as the waves crashed up onto the docks. The girl stared at the boat, the one that only a few moments ago her dad was stood on, the one her dad went inside.
"No, no, no, no." Athena muttered, stepping forward as if she was going to dive in the water and go to the boat. JJ caught her just in time, pulling her back and closer to him as she cried. "Dad!"
Athena heard Sarah sobbing, crying for their father but she couldn't do anything, struggling against JJ's grip as he tried to keep tears at bay at the girl's heart breaking cries.
"Dad! No! No! No!" Athena continued to sob, turning around in JJ's arms to hit him. "Get off. JJ get off of me. Dad!"
JJ tightened his grip on the girl, bringing her into his chest as she cried. "Hey, hey, shh."
Athena wished on every star in the night sky that her dad's death didn't hurt her as much as it did. She knew that if it hadn't happened in front of her it probably would have. But it did happen in front of her. She watched the man that raised her, the man that took her to school and karate as a kid, the man who would bake her cookies when she couldn't sleep, the man that she used to watch movies with her when she ill, the man that would drop everything if she told him something was wrong, blow up right in front of her eyes.
She knew he deserved to go to jail but he didn't deserve to die. Athena thought that maybe she was so upset because he gave up. He could have gone to jail, done his time and come out a better man but he didn't and she was not just mourning her father but she was mourning the man she wished he was.
Athena's knees buckled, JJ now being the only thing holding her up as she sobbed in his chest, staining his shirt. Pope, who was stood next to the boy, didn't know what to do and so he simply placed his hand over her hand, that was gripping JJ's shoulder for support, in a way to try and comfort her. It was a simple gesture, he didn't know if Athena even acknowledged it but she did and she was grateful for the Heyward boy.
It was him just saying that he was there, always and with the way JJ was holding her up, stroking her hair as she sobbed, she knew that even with her dad gone she had everything she needed to survive.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦 this chapter was uh... anyways next chapter has some rafe and athena and wheezie and athena :)
also if any of you read it, i finally finished writing make you mine so if you want updates more often tell me as well as this book
i also have a stranger things book in my drafts with an oc as the love interest that i've posted about on my tiktok so if any of y'all want that tell me
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