Slowly, Malou came back to her senses. Her eyes fluttered open, but she instantly shut them again, when a dizzy feeling washed over her. Groaning, the girl reached her hand up to her pounding head. The events from earlier rushed through her head like a movie and she quickly sat up with wide eyes. Where was she? She looked around, but didn't recognize the room she was in. There were no windows, so Malou was sure, that she was on Wards boat. Scanning the room carefully, her eyes suddenly caught a familiar figure. Blonde hair was covering the girls face as she slept peacefully, but Malou recognized her anyway.
"Sarah!", she exclaimed and jumped off the couch with wobbly knees. Malou walked over to the girl and knelt down next to her to shake her shoulder carefully.
"Sarah? Hey, wake up.", Malou said softly and pulled her hand back, when Sarah slowly started to wake up. Malou gave her a moment to come back to her senses and just stared at her silently.
"Hey, it's me. Malou. Are you ok? Did they hurt you?", Malou asked, after Sarah had slowly sat up and looked around the room with a confused and freaked out expression.
"No, I – Rose just drugged me.", Sarah explained quietly and rubbed her face and forehead with her hands, probably feeling the exact same headache that Malou had.
"Bet. Not gonna lie though, was the best sleep I had in months.", Malou responded and casually shrugged her shoulders with a calm expression on her face. Sarah looked at her and cracked a light smile as she shook her head.
"What happened? I thought you were with Kie and JJ.", Malou asked and crawled back a little to rest her back against the sofa she had lay on earlier. A little wobbly, Sarah stood up. She looked down on Malou and breathed in deeply, probably to overcome the dizziness.
"I was. JJ and me went to Tanny Hill right after getting your texts. Rafe got me though.", Sarah coldly told the short version of the story and then walked up to the only door of the room. She pulled and pushed on it aggressively, but it was locked.
"Disappointed, but not surprised.", Malou mumbled and rested her head back against the sofa with closed eyes.
"Rose! Let me out! Rose!", Sarah suddenly yelled and started to hit her hands against the door. With raised eyebrows, Malou cracked her eyes open a little to look at the blonde girl. Well, that temper was new to her.
"Save your strength.", Malou eventually said calmly, after she had listened to Sarah shouting and hitting the door for a good few minutes. Sarah exhaled deeply and let her hands fall back to her sides. Malou closed her eyes again, but heard Sarahs footsteps approaching her. With a sigh, Sarah let herself fall next to Malou.
"Do you really think my dad is alive?" Opening her eyes again, Malou turned her head to look at the girl. Sarah stared ahead though. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them tightly.
"I heard Rose and Rafe talk about it, so yeah, I think so. I'm sorry about that. I mean – not, that he's alive, it must be a relief for you, but you know – that you have to go through all these lies again.", Malou said honestly and suddenly caught Sarahs gaze, when the blonde girl turned her head to face Malou.
"Well, I'm sorry that my psycho family kidnapped you." Malou cracked a small smile again, before shrugging her shoulders.
"At least I'm in good company.", she responded and nudged Sarahs side with her elbow gently, seeing Sarah smirk a little.
"There are probably a thousand other people you'd rather want to be locked in with.", Sarah said jokingly and Malou chuckled quietly.
"To be honest, I'm glad it's you. I wouldn't survive being locked in a room with any other of the pogues. John B and I would eventually fight over who's going to eat who. Pope would make me go insane and Kie and I would definitely kill each other.", Malou joked and heard Sarah laugh lightly. With raised eyebrows, Sarah nudged Malous arm a little.
"And JJ?", she asked and Malou rolled her eyes, before she quickly looked away.
"Oh, shut up.", Malou said with a grin, her rosy cheeks giving away, that she felt caught. Sarah chuckled, but quickly turned serious again.
"Kie told me about John B and JJ fighting. Did he find out?", Sarah asked and Malou shook her head no.
"Not exactly. JJ kind of took the blame on just himself. I feel bad for that, though. Maybe I should have told John B the truth right away."
"Don't worry. JJ knows what he's doing and John B will eventually calm down.", Sarah tried to comfort the girl, but Malou lightly shook her head.
"I don't know, Sarah. The both of them never fought like that. I had a good plan on how to tell him, I thought it would ease some of the tension, but I guess I waited too long. I waited for the perfect moment, but well, I guess things like perfect timings don't even exist. Now we're already stuck in the drama." Malou shrugged her shoulders and smiled sadly at Sarah, who returned the smile.
"What was your plan?"
"Do you know about Code Pink?", Malou asked and Sarah shook her head no.
"It's something we came up with as kids. Whenever one of us messed something up, we had the chance to call in Code Pink. If we'd say it, the other immediately had to forgive us for whatever we did. In return, the other could choose one thing we had to do for them. For example, clean their room, give them our next pocket money. Something like that.", Malou explained with a smirk and Sarah chuckled.
"That's the best thing I've ever heard. So, you're gonna tell him and call in Code Pink right after?", Sarah asked laughing and Malou nodded her head.
"Even better. I still have a wildcard from when JB called in Code Pink last time. So first, I'd ask him to forgive JJ. Then I will tell him about my feelings towards JJ and instantly call in Code Pink right after. I just hope he won't ask me to break up with JJ in return to forgive me falling in love with his best friend."
"If he'll do so, just call in Code Black and I will beat his ass.", Sarah replied and Malou laughed. Maybe Sarah wasn't too bad after all. Suddenly, a clicking noise echoed through the room and their heads quickly turned to the door, that slowly creaked open. First, Rose stepped inside the room. Sarah immediately jumped up and started to shout at the blonde woman, but soon quiet down, when her little sister stepped forward. While Sarah went to hug her younger sister, Malou slowly got up on her feet. Rose wanted Sarah to follow her, who started an argument again right away. Only when Wheezie asked her to come along, Sarah calmed down and decided to do whatever her sister needed her to do. The three of them went to leave the room, when Malou quickly jumped in.
"I need to use the restroom.", she lied, hoping it would somehow give her a chance to flee. Well, she wasn't really sure, where to flee, but even the ocean itself was better than going somewhere with the Camerons. Rose exchanged a look with Sarah, probabaly trying to find out, if both of the teenage girls played a game together.
"Fine, come with me.", Rose gave in and Malou nodded, before she slowly followed the Cameron women. At the end of the hallway, a man brushed past them and Rose quickly stopped him.
"Paul, please lead Mary-Louise to the restroom and bring her back to us right after. We need to talk to her.", she ordered and even though Rose made sure not to mention any name, Malou knew, that she was talking about Ward. The man mustered Malou, before he nodded. He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her along the small hallways. Malou glared up at him. His dark beard looked kind of messy, like it hadn't been shaven in a while. His hair was just as dark, but a few strands shimmered grey. His brown eyes stared ahead as he pulled the girl with him and Malou thought, that the folds and wrinkles on his face made him look way older than he probably was. Guess that comes along with working for the devil, Malou thought to herself and eagerly followed the man.
"Be quick.", he spoke, when they stopped in front of a door. He opened it for her and Malou stepped inside the bathroom, quickly locking it from the inside. Ok, think quick, Malou, she thought and looked around. No window, of course. No radio, of course. She could fight him. But he was way taller than her and probably twice as strong. She didn't have a chance. Well maybe, she couldn't play hard, but she could play smart. As she scanned the room, her eyes suddenly caught something. An idea popped inside her head and she quickly grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the sink. Malou opened the bottle and filled half of it with water, before she closed it again to shake it. She put the bottle in the back of her jeans, flushed the toilet and then reached for the door handle. Malou exhaled deeply to encourage herself, before she unlocked the door. Stepping out of the room, the man tried to grab her arm again, but Malou took all of her strength and shoved him away. He stumbled backwards and gave Malou enough time to pull out the bottle of shampoo. While she started to run backwards, she opened the bottle and poured the mix of shampoo and water on the floor. Throwing the empty bottle away, she turned around quickly and started off running, satisfied when she heard the man groan in pain, once he had slipped and landed on the ground. Malou didn't know where to run, but she wanted to get off this boat. Whenever she found stairs, she would run them up, in hope that she would reach the deck and could jump off. After a few turns, she was stopped. An arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her back while a hand covered her mouth. Malou tried to fight the person, kicked around and screamed as loud as she could.
"Shh! It's me, it's me!", a familiar voice spoke close to her ear and Malou froze.
"Calm down, it's just me.", the voice spoke again and Malou turned around to them, when their grip around her loosened. Her hazel eyes met the blue ones of JJ, who looked down on her softly.
"Oh my god!", Malou let out in relief and wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him tightly. JJ returned the hug and nuzzled his face into her neck, making Malou hold on to him even tighter, when she felt the butterflies in her stomach erupt.
"How did you get in here?!", Malou wanted to know and JJ shushed her.
"Hi to you, too, my love. Nice to see you.", he joked and Malou playfully smacked his arm.
"Long story. But we're all here. Kie and Pope are getting the cross now, I just got done preparing it. JB is looking for Sarah. Well and for you, but guess I found you first. Are you ok though? Did they do something to you?" Malou shook her head no.
"No, I'm ok. What's the plan? How are we getting off?"
"John B was supposed to get us a lifeboat after finding you two. I'm not sure, where he is. Did you see Sarah? Maybe he found her already."
"Yeah, I was with her, but Rose took her to see Ward, I guess." JJ just nodded his head in understanding and pressed his hand over her mouth again, when they heard someone coming close. JJ pressed his back against the wall, holding Malou close to his chest. Even if they didn't know it, right then and there, everything went down the hill. John B had found Sarah and they both tried to get away from Ward, who didn't make it very easy for them to leave. Pope got caught. Luckily, he managed to get the girl on his side, not knowing she knew Sarah and John B. But even though she helped him, he and Kiara lost the cross anyway. It was pure Chaos and the adrenaline made Malou feel, like she was in a movie. Her lungs burned from all the running and she wasn't sure, if she could run any faster, as JJ kept pulling her behind him. They eventually had reached the deck, trying to find their friends, while every crew member seemed to be after them.
"JJ! Malou!", Kiara called and waved her arms for them. Malou saw her with Pope and a strange girl preparing the life boat at the other side of the boat. Kiaras calls did not only get her attention, but also the attention of crew members and Malous favourite person on board – Rafe.
"JJ, I can't – I can't run anymore.", Malou coughed out, when JJ started to pull her with him again.
"Of course, you can! We're nearly there!", he tried to assured her and pulled on her hand. Malou tried to follow him, when suddenly, two other people joined their way. John B and Sarah took a corner around one of the containers and crossed JJs and Malous way. Before Malou could express her happiness and relief to see them, someone else expressed their feelings towards the reunion.
"Sarah!", a dark voice shouted and the pogues looked back to see Rafe behind them. He pointed a gun at them, making them run faster.
"Get down! Get it down, we're gonna jump!", John B shouted at Pope and Kiara, so at least, Rafe couldn't keep the boat from going down. Suddenly, everything went fast. Malou saw, how Pope, Kiara and the strange girl got onto the life boat and how they disappeared behind the great boat they were on. She could hear Rafe shout to stop the pogues at some crew members, who didn't seem to listen to him. He screamed around in frustration and suddenly, a gun shot went off. Malou felt a sudden, burning pain in her lower abdomen, but her mind didn't seem to care, since she was rushed and shouted at by JJ and John B. The pogues eventually reached the railing. John B and Sarah were a few feet ahead, jumping off the railing, right when Malou and JJ reached it.
"Alright, come on.", JJ said out of breath and climbed over the railing, finally letting go of Malous hand. She stood frozen at the other side of the railing, silent. Her hand pressing against the wound, that she knew lost a lot of blood right now.
"Come on.", JJ said again and turned around to her, once he noticed, that she wasn't beside him. Malou was stuck in a nightmare. She felt, like she couldn't move. Like she couldn't breathe. Her body begged her to give up, to let go. Her mind screamed at her to go on. But her mind also knew, that if she would jump into the ocean, she wouldn't survive. She was bleeding out. And there was no way the pogues could take care of that. Not in the middle of the ocean.
"Help me over.", she said quietly, nearly emotionless. JJ frowned a little at her tone, but reached his hands out for her anyway. Malou grabbed his lower arms and stared at JJ, whose gaze wandered to her hands on his arms. Panic rose inside of him, when he saw her bloody hands grabbing for him.
"Wh- what happened?! What happened, Malou?!" Malou gulped, watching JJs eyes travel down her body, until he spotted the blood on her t-shirt.
"No, no, no. Fuck, no.", he panicked and tried to climb back over the railing, but Malou held his arms down with all of her strength.
"What are you doing?!", he yelled at her and stared back in her hazel eyes, that filled with tears.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.", Malou sobbed quietly and saw how the realisation hit JJ. He instantly wrapped his hands around her arms to hold onto her as he kept screaming at her. Malou wasn't sure, if it was her mind playing tricks on her, so she wouldn't think about his last words forever, or if her ability to hear simply had given up by now, but she couldn't understand his words.
"I love you, JJ. Please forgive me, ok? Promise to forgive me. I love you.", Malou whispered and leant forward to lean her forehead against his, pulling him close to her one last time, before she took all of her last strength and pushed him off the boat.