"Cassiopeia."
The low voice silenced her conflicting thoughts.
Rafe towered over her, "We need to get going, Topper is waiting at the house."
She looked up at the boy from the ground, her eyes filled with a clear illumination, like glass, they would shatter into pieces if dropped.
She looked from the boy to the pale blue house.
"I'm going to stay, I need to say goodbye to my grandmother."
Rafe scoffed, "You think there is time for that? We have no time."
She shook her head, "You don't understand."
"Why is that?"
"You just run off and don't care who you hurt. It's like you would rather sever your connection with someone then say a simple goodbye to them."
"I always do, with you. You think anyone else matters to me?" His words erupted through her eardrums, burying itself into every doubtful crevice of her brain.
"Rafe, go."
"Cassiopeia," He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "I am not leaving you here."
"Just get your bag ready," She spoke calmly, even though she was scared to death, "When you come back, I'll be ready."
"Are you sure Maybank will be at his house?" The words roll off his tongue naturally, like the sound of killing JJ is fluent to him.
"Positive," She said firmly, "He won't know what's coming to him." The words sting as she utters them.
Rafe nodded and took a step forward. He cupped her face with his cut-up hands and kissed her in the rain. She wasn't sure what was louder, the sound of the rain beating around them, or her heart ready to explode in her chest.
He pulled away for a moment, their lips gently ghosting over each other's. He continued to hold her face close, "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"
She bit her lip, refusing to make eye contact with him, even though he had the ability to see right through her.
Did she have a choice? The sketch of her was already in the public's hands, Rafe had murdered two people, possibly three depending on Samuel's dismembered finger which just happened to be in the boy's room of all places. Not to mention JJ had an active role in her brother's death, whether he chose to accept that or not. The idea of the island made her want to throw up.
"Yes," She mumbled weakly, "I want to get the fuck out of here."
Rafe flicked his eyes back and forth between her brown ones, "I'm talking about Maybank."
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"He needs to die," She spoke monotonously, "And I want to be the one to kill him."
--
She watched Rafe take off into the night rain, the sound of his bike fading in the distance.
She hurried in the house, realizing her ability to breathe had grown slim. She rushed to the sink and put her mouth underneath the faucet, struggling to take in any amount of water. Her body fell back against the counter, and she wiped a shaky hand across her mouth, catching the remaining droplets.
The clock had struck five, and she knew the sun would be up soon. The first flight off the island was at nine. The window for them to encounter JJ and make it to the airport was closing. She tiptoed up the stairs and opened her grandma's room a jar. To her surprise, the woman was sitting up in bed, looking out the window.
"I would hope you would say goodbye."
She shut the door quickly behind her, her eyes wide, "I didn't think you would be awake."
"Intuition," She spoke softly, bringing a teacup to her lips, "When you get older, you feel it in your bones."
Cassiopeia nodded and drifted over towards the elderly woman, sitting at the end of her bed.
"Tell me honey, were you involved in that man's death?"
The room fell silent as Cassiopeia looked over at her grandmother who was taking gentle sips of her tea.
Cassiopeia took a deep breath, "Truthfully, no."
"The news is making you a prime suspect."
"How did you know it was me?"
"Illustrations are remarkable you know."
The girl sat on the edge of the bed, her leg beginning to shake, "Why didn't you turn me in then?"
Her grandmother shifted slightly, smoothing out the wrinkle in her nightgown, "I know you sweet girl, you are a terrible liar."
Cassiopeia looked down at the ground, wishing this conversation was over.
"Was it your boyfriend then?"
The girl looked at the elderly woman with a puzzled expression, "Boyfriend?"
"The Cameron boy."
Cassiopeia sighed loudly, letting out all the air in her tiny body, "I don't know."
Her grandmother took another sip of her tea, "His father came around the other day, warned me of this relationship between you two."
"We aren't together." Cassiopeia responded flatly.
Were they? She wasn't sure.
Her grandmother smiled, "They all say that."
Cassiopeia shifted uncomfortably, "I'm leaving here grandma. I wanted to say goodbye before I left."
The older woman didn't turn to look at her, "I know, but he's not coming with you."
Cassiopeia looked at her in bewilderment, the old woman continued, "The Cameron boy, killed the man on the news."
"You don't know that."
"I do, from his father."
"What does he know?" Cassiopeia shouted suddenly, "He let the Maybank's go free when they were involved in Ethan's death."
"Ward Cameron has done much good for this island, his son though, is a menace."
Cassiopeia shook her head, "You're so wrong," She stood up abruptly, "He's leaving with me, and there is nothing you can do about it."
"The cops know," Her grandmother spoke weakly, "I just alerted them before you came up here."
Cassiopeia stared at her wide eyed, "You're going off of hearsay. You have no proof."
"I've lived here my whole life," Her grandmother responded coolly, "I can tell the runts of the batch before they even grow up."
Cassiopeia felt her teeth clench, "JJand his father had Ethan's death covered up by Ward, and you, you are just okay with all of that, your grandson's death? Ethan will never have justice, it will always be considered an accident when it wasn't."
"It was accidental," Her grandmother said sharply, "And Ward Cameron did a good thing by getting Mr. Maybank off the island, his son has stayed out of trouble just like Ward promised."
"His son could've saved Ethan's life," Cassiopeia realized she was shouting.
Her grandmother tsked, "Sweet child," She reached over to touch her face as Cassiopeia stumbled backwards, shaking her head.
"Rafe didn't do anything," She breathed out, "All he has ever done is help me."
"Oh honey, you always try to find the good in people, don't you?"
Cassiopeia frantically shook her head, thinking of the chloroform that possibly was sitting in Rafe's backpack in her room.
No, she couldn't, but she had to.
Without another thought, Cassiopeia bolted out of the room, her grandmother calling after her. She could hear her heartbeat in her chest as she located his backpack and frantically searched through it, finally grabbing the bottle of liquid and a rag.
She raced out of the room to see her grandmother standing in the hallway, a small pistol trembling in her vein colored hands.
"I feared this would happen," She breathed out, "You leaving every night, doing whatever on this island, opening your legs to a monster."
Cassiopeia breathed heavily, holding the bottle behind her back.
In the near distance, she could hear the roar of his bike, but it was not close enough. However, the sound distracted her grandmother, the elderly woman glancing out the window. This gave Cassiopeia the opportunity to run forward and knock the pistol out of her hands. The gun hit the ground, immediately going off, hitting Cassiopeia in the foot. She screamed in pain, but managed to shove her grandmother against the wall, her hand holding the rag, going up to cover the elderly woman's nose. It was only a few seconds before the old woman fell limp against the wall and crumbled to the ground.
Cassiopeia's breath hitched in her throat as she looked down at her grandmother.
"Please forgive me," she mumbled, using the remaining energy she had left to drag the frail woman into the closet.
The sound of the bike grew closer and Cassiopeia looked down at her bleeding foot. Rafe would take care of her. He always did. She grabbed what she could, including the gun and limped down the stairs, a trail of blood behind her. She winced in pain as she reached the front door. She grabbed the handle and looked back behind her, her eyes settling on the stillness of the house. Besides the sound of the grandfather clock, it was awfully silent. She leaned against the front door, thinking of the times her brother and her would run up those steps right after the beach. The specks of sand littered across the cherry wooden floors. Now instead of sand and gentle memories, blood and panic now filled the broken house, making it easier for Cassiopeia to detach herself from this nightmare.
With one deep breath she opened the door. The roar of the bike came to a halt.
"Let's go," She called out to the boy and shut the door behind her. When Cassiopeia turned around she was met with a bike, but it wasn't Rafe's.
Standing there was JJ, his eyes bloodshot and his blonde locks arranged in a messy pile on his head. Behind him was the Twinkie with its headlights on bright, the gang of Pogues standing in a half circle around their friend.
Fuck.