Shit goes down.
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Jade had now woken up and she was laying in Kie's bed alone with a faint headache. That's what you get when you don't some weed for a month straight. She wasn't sure what time it was exactly, but she knew it was around 9 o'clock. Kie was out getting the food for tonight for her parent's anniversary celebration later on tonight.
She sits up from the bed and yawns loudly before getting changed into real clothes and walking out of the house to the front porch.
☸
"I don't want to hurt Jade." A very familiar voice says.
"Hurt me?" Jade asks, walking towards the couch that Kie and Sarah were sitting down on.
"Hey!" Kie smiles, sitting up straight as well as Sarah.
"Hey." Jade smiles, sitting down next to the pair.
"Where have you been Sarah? I couldn't find you all of yesterday." She asks, looking at her with a confused look.
"Oh. Well, uh... look." Sarah looks down with a sad face clearly trying to avoid eye contact. "I was..." Her mood suddenly heightening. "I was looking for you." She says, smiling at her.
"Uh, ok. What for?" She asks, nodding her head.
"Well, I was just... looking." Sarah says, looking at Kie for help.
"Yeah, she needed to find a place for you and her cause she was worried... and stuff." Kie adds, nodding her head.
"Ok... look I'm going to head to the Chateau to change for the party tonight. It's at 5, right?" Jade asks, standing up and grabbing a bike.
"Uh, yeah. Talk later?" Kie asks, standing up.
"Yeah, of course." Jade nods, "See you Sar." Jade smiles.
"Bye." Sarah says, closing her eyes and nodding her head.
☸
"JJ?" Jade asks, walking into the run down house. "John B? Big John?" She yells, sitting down on the couch when she loses hope of finding them in there. "Great."
Looking around it was clear that the three of them had been here recently. JJ's old but still functional phone was sitting on the rotting table and John B's shirt that she had last seen him wear was scrunched up in a messy ball in the corner. She gets up from her spot on the couch and continues to walk into the room she had dubbed as hers when Big John first went missing to get changed. She enters the room and opens the closet door that was barely holding together. She squats down and pulls a variety of decent looking clothes from the floor and hangers and stands back up to assess the situation. Her actions are stopped when she sees that JJ's gun is hidden in those said clothes. "JJ." She whispers, picking it up and throwing it to the side.
As the blonde goes to stand up a rough hand reaches around her mouth and pulls her towards their body. Jade screams into the hand and begins to struggle against it. She continues to fight until a very familiar voice pauses her movements and causes her to push away from them violently.
"Jade. It's me." Ward says, watching as the girl turns around with a betrayed face. "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."
"What the hell!" Jade shouts, observing his all-black outfit and his new cane. "What are you doing here?" She asks, her breathing heavier than before. "You could get arrested!"
"Your brother needs some snapping back into reality." He says, sitting down in an old chair. "He melted the cross." Ward explains, looking down and brushing his hair out of his face.
"What?!" Jade yells, hurt evident in her voice as well as the loss of hope. "You caused all of this." She says, glaring at the man who was supposed to hold her when she cried over ex-partners or tell her it's ok when she's sick. "None of this bullshit would have happened if you weren't blinded by greed!"
"I know. I know, baby. Listen I came to help you." Ward says softly. "I talked to Sarah, I know that you guys have nowhere to go and no money."
"Like you give a shit." Jade snaps. "You didn't care when I was 14 and you kicked me out because of Rose!"
"I know that I haven't been good to you in the past. I know that. I also know that I can't fix it." Ward says, looking at his daughter with tears in his eyes.
"While you were trapped in the shadow of your gold-digging wife, I had to fend for myself. You're lucky Big John took care of me for that week." Jade says, leaning towards the desk in front of her father. "You know what else your bitch of a wife did? She told me the truth. The real truth."
"Honey, I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Who's my mom." Jade says, looking at her father with a stoic face. "My real mother."
"Jade... I was going to tell you-" He starts to reason with his daughter but is stopped when Jade slams her hands on the counter.
"Cut the bullshit, Ward. Who. Is. She?" Jade stares at her father waiting for him to tell her. "Please." She says softly, letting a tear fall down her cheek.
Ward lets out a sigh, nodding his head and tearing up as well. "Her name was Annabelle." He says, looking down at his feet. "She was someone I met on a night out. It was never supposed to happen the way it did. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry- I didn't think it would turn out this way. If I knew it, I would've never gone out." He pleads with his daughter, explaining that he never wanted to have her in the first place.
She scoffs, crying even more. "Was? What happened to her?"
"Jade, baby... maybe that's enough for today-" Ward tries to calm her down but fails when she pushes him away from her.
"What happened to her?!" She screams, more tears falling down her face at an uncontrollable pace.
"We had a disagreement." Ward explains.
"Fuck. Fuck! You murdered my mother!" Jade shouts, her voice raw and nearly overflowing with emotion. "You- You ruined everything!" She screams.
"Jade it was 16 years ago... I promise-" Ward tries to reason with sobbing daughter but fails when she starts screaming at him again.
"Get out!" She begins, "Get the fuck out! I hate you so much!" She sobs hysterically.
"Here's some money." He says softly, placing a card on the desk. He wipes his hand under his eyes and clearing some tears. "Sarah has the keys to the condo. I'm sorry."
"Get out!" Jade yells. Ward nods at her words, new tears falling. He walks out of the house leaving his grieving daughter to sob alone in the bedroom.
☸
Walking into the party with dried tears evident on her face and an emotionless look, Jade stands by the bar and watches as Mike begins his speech dedicated to Anna. The music comes to a clean stop and Mike grabs the microphone.
"I just want to say a few words... and uh, I'm not much for giving speeches but I do want to say thank you for coming out and thank you for your support after a rough few months. I want to say thank you to our daughter for being here." Mike smiles, looking at his daughter to the right with a permanent glint of love etched in his eyes. "Hey, we love you." Mike says.
"Love you too." Kie smiles, attempting to hide her face.
"But most of all. Come here." Mike says, pulling his wife onto the stage. "Thank you, Anna..." The crowd cheers, watching the couple with love. "... For 15 years, for making this restaurant a symbol of our life." Mike says, kissing his wife on the cheek. "I love you." He says.
"I love you." Anna smiles right back at him with the same glint of love Jade had been starved of.
"Figure 8, The Cut. Everyone's together here." Mike says, holding his wife close to his chest. "As one Island. So, thank you for putting up with us." Mike laughs. "Cheers!"
The speech ends there and Jade chugs down a drink from the bar with a sad soul. She starts to walk towards Kie to confide in someone and beg for some sympathy. "Kie." She says, watching her hug her parents.
"Jade, honey, are you ok?" Anna asks, watching the girl with concern.
"Jade." Kie says, stepping away from her parents who watch the blonde with cautious looks. "Are you ok?" Kie asks, grabbing her arms gently.
Jade shakes her head as new tears spring to her eyes. Kie wraps her arms gently around the fragile girl and pulls her into Kie's warm body. "He killed my mom." Jade whispers, feeling Mike and Anna wrap their arms around her as well.
"Sweetheart, you need to sit down." Mike says, helping Jade to a nearby table.
The couple go off to find some cool water for her to drink. "I don't wanna ruin the party but I really need you or someone." Jade says, holding her chest.
"Of course." Kie says, holding Jade's face gently. "What do you mean 'he killed your mom.' Who did Jade?" Kie asks, sitting next to her.
"Ward. I saw him a couple of hours ago. He cheated on Sarah's mom with mine and covered it up. I just want everything to stop for a second. So, I can breathe." Jade says, looking down at the glass table.
"That doesn't make any sense. You and Sarah are twins." Kie says, confused with the whole situation.
"No. It was a lie. We're half-sisters. Ward just covered everything up and claimed I was when we were babies. Probably threatened my- Sarah's mom into keeping quiet." She mumbles the last part as Kie lets out a shaky breath. "Annabelle, my biological mom's name, and Ward got into a fight or something and he killed her." Jade explains.
"Shit." Kie says, slumping into her chair before grabbing two cups of alcohol off of a nearby waiter's tray. She hands one to Jade and they both down them instantly.
"Hey, Kie!" Lily yells, running up to the pair with a bright smile on her face. Kie lights up instantly and looks toward Jade who smiles. "Um, awkward question, that you can say no too, but do you wanna go dance?"
"Oh, um, sorry Lily. Jade-" Kie is cut off when Jade notices the disappointment of not being able to go.
"She would love too. Won't you Kie?" Jade smiles at her friend. "Go. I'll be fine." She encourages her to go.
"Thank you, Jade." Kie says, walking off with Lily.
☸
It was now later in the night and the sky had gone dark. Jade was still sitting at the table, now with a large glass of water and zero tears streaming down her face. Kie was yet to come back which did get Jade's hopes higher than when they were smoking weed.
Turning around and noticing how the music was getting quieter, Jade sees a fuming John B standing chest to chest with an emotional looking Sarah. Behind John B was Topper who seemed to be egging on the whole situation.
"What the fuck?" Jade thinks aloud, standing next to a tense Kiara and her parents. "Kie?" Jade asks, wanting to know what was going on.
"I- I don't-" Kie stumbles over her words as she watches the three of them.
"You need to chill out, bro!" Topper yells. "You're ruining Mike and Anna's party, dude!"
"Is that what you're worried about?!" John B yells, shoving the boy back.
"For once in your life, would you please just turn around and walk away?" Sarah yells, grabbing John B. "Please!"
Mike and Jade begin to creep forward as does JJ who's on the pier still waiting for John B. "Stay here." Mike instructs his daughter and wife.
"Please don't." Sarah begs, her emotion overflowing with guilt.
"Hey, no hard feeling, bro." Topper mocks, smiling widely.
"Topper." Sarah says, still trying to calm down John B.
"We good?" Topper asks, watching as he turns around to face him.
"No. John B, no!" Sarah yells, watching as her now ex-boyfriend throws a powerful hit to her other ex. Topper grunts and falls to the ground from the impact, drawing even more attention to the situation.
"You like that shit, Top?" John B laughs, shaking his hand sadistically.
"Jesus!" Anna yells.
"You ready for this?" John B says, leaning down.
"Stop! John B!" Sarah yells, watching him punch Topper again and again leaving him bloodier than before.
"Stop!" Kie yells, trying to get closer.
"John B!" Jade yells, running towards the fighting pair with Mike.
"Hey! Hey! Get out of here!" Mike yells, pulling John B off.
"Jesus! Get him out of here!" Anna yells.
"Hey!" Mike yells again, challenging him to get closer.
"Come on, man!" JJ yells, grabbing John B and glancing at Jade angrily who was helping Topper.
"Stay still. Christ, what'd you do Topper?" Jade says, holding Topper's head still as he begins to writhe in pain. "Mrs. Thornton!" She yells in a panic. She looks over at JJ with a sad look, one full of sadness and hurt.
"Oh god!" Topper's mother yells, rushing over. "Don't you move Topper." She says, gripping his shirt as tears fill her eyes.
"Call 911!" Anna yells, watching as Mrs. Thornton begin to panic even more as his state worsens.
☸
:)