CASTAWAY ⚓ R.C, J.M

T W O

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T H E   B I T T E R  
T R U T H

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Dark clouds had descended and burst like balloons. Explosions of icy water drowned Harley in a biting numbness she couldn't escape.

It was happening again.

Another person she cherished had died and there was nothing she could do but sit there and take the unrelenting punches life kept hurling her way.

It felt like Harley hadn't taken a breath since Frankie led her to his car. The entire drive had been a blur of colours and deafening silence. Her stomach had churned as she drew parallels to the way both Big John and John B had died - at sea. Bad things kept happening in the deep blue, ominous expanse and it unnerved Harley, because the island was surrounded by the stuff. Maybe living on an island wasn't so fun after all. 

Bad things keep happening to good people. All John B ever wanted was to find the Royal Merchant gold, so that when he found his father he could proudly look him in the eye and tell him what they'd achieved. All he truly wanted was his dad.

It only took a glance of her surroundings for Harley to realise they were in Figure Eight. Kook territory. Home of the Cameron's. Harley's being stuttered with fear as her mind immediately tried to calculate the proximity to the home of the snakes. She had escaped just to be brought back so close.

The fear Harley felt consumed her so much, she didn't pay the grandiose beauty of the house in front of her any mind. Instead, she rushed to trail her brother, and hide within the empty home. She didn't want anyone to see her.

Frankie led her through the bare halls and into a large kitchen. He ushered Harley onto a seat and began speaking though his words fell on deaf ears. Her ears were fixed on the haunting voice of John B spewing rich venom and poisoning words at her. He had died hating her. She never got the chance to try and fix things or get him to see that she never meant to be a nuisance. She just wanted a family. A family that liked her and wanted to be around her. 

"I'm sorry, Charlie. I thought you knew."

Charlie.

That was Harley's real name. Charlie Isabella Rain Rochester. Youngest child and only daughter of Mia and Frank Rochester - also known as Mia and Frank Wayne.

Harley was a nickname given by her father, who had wanted to call her Isabella, when he realised how much she liked the motorcycles. Mia wanted to give her children gender neutral names. Happy wife, happy life.

"Hey."

Harley took a heavy breath. "Why did Billie come here and not you?"

Her gloomy eyes found Frankie's holding him in a scrutinizing gaze. She didn't want to be lied to, in order to spare her feelings. She wanted the truth. It was bad enough her family had left her for a year.

"I should have come. I knew that then and I know it even more now. I never thought it'd hurt you this much."

"How could it not?" Harley bit out in bewilderment. "You're supposed to be my family, but you left me stranded on an island with amnesia."