02:12 AM,
Myra headed out the door of the island club with Cheyenne next to her. Another worker had come to take over, her shift running through the rest of the night and into the early morning. It was dark outside and a little murky as if it was going to rain, Myra could feel it in the chilly air. It hung there, not to be ignored. Living on an island like this made one awfully aware of the signs to look for when it came to the quickly changing weather. Cheyenne had agreed to drop Myra off at her home, which she was ever so thankful for. Myra definitely did not feel like waking, not at this late hour in this unpleasant weather. However when the two coworkers got outside a surprise awaited them. A large black SUV stood parked by the curb just a little to the left from the large front doors. As Myra stepped out onto the pavement, the window rolled down, revealing a face she knew all too well by now.
"Do you need a ride home?"
Rafe's voice rang clear and direct out into the late night air. Myra's gaze flickered in between the kook boy in the car and her coworker next to her. "Uhm" was all she managed to speak before Cheyenne nudged her. "Seems like you're all set girl" the aging woman spoke, something funny lingering within the tone of her voice. Myra rolled her eyes playfully, to which Cheyenne stroked her cheek. "See I told you to go for a kook boy and here he is at your feet honey, take it and appreciate it" she then added. "First of all I don't need a kook boy to take care of me Cheyenne, I'm fine" Myra commented lowly, "secondly, he's not at my feet at all, he's just being nice". She did not want to seem impolite to Rafe. He had sat in the lobby of the island club flipping through his book until one thirty in the morning, then he had disappeared only to show up now behind the wheel of his expensive car. It was almost as if he had purposely awaited for her shift to end, but that couldn't be... right?
Rafe waited patiently as Myra kept chatting with Cheyenne. "I can of course drop you of at home if you want me to dear" Cheyenne spoke, giving Myra some comfort. She smiled, glancing in between her coworker and Rafe once more. "No it's fine, but thank you" Myra assured Cheyenne before she turned back towards Rafe, offering him a polite smile. "About that ride... it would be appreciated" she added. Rafe nodded his head firmly, "alright, get in". He then leaned over a little further, seeking contact with Cheyenne, "mam do you need a ride?". Cheyenne seemed flattered, laying a hand on her heart. "Well aren't you a sweetie" she cooed, looking at Rafe, "thank you young man but I'm alright, I've got my car over there"
Cheyenne soon headed home and Myra opened the passenger door to Rafe's car, hopping in. She buckled her seatbelt as Rafe sat watching her, his blue eyes scanning over each part of her body. It was as if he was searching for something. "What?" Myra questioned upon catching him doing so. "Nothing" he shook it off with a smile, gazing away. He sat still for a moment, not starting the car. It was tempting for Myra to ask if he did in fact wait for her shift to end, but she held back. It felt too risky and she didn't want to embarrass herself if she was wrong. Rafe suddenly moved, starting the ignition of the car with a swift motion of his hand as he turned the key to the right. He lifted his foot from the break pedal and they began to move, Myra's gaze wandering out of the window. It was hard to see anything in the darkness of the night, she mostly just saw her own tired looking reflection.
Her and Rafe sat quiet. The radio wasn't on and the night was still and silent. Myra wasn't sure what to say, or if there needed anything to be said in the first place. Rafe drummed his fingertips onto the steering wheel, as if he was humming a silent tune within his mind, one she couldn't hear. "Did you finish your book?" Myra asked after a little while, gazing over at the tall boy. Rafe's eyes stayed glued to the dark road ahead of them as he answered, "uhm no, not yet"
Another moment of silence engulfed the two of them, making them one with the stillness of the night. Myra was tired, but she was still able to appreciate the calmness. She had always been a night owl. She liked the way everything just slowed down a little after sunset, it gave her a moment to think without interruptions or distractions. She liked the long cozy nights when everyone was asleep except her. The pouge girl glanced at the digital clock in the car, seeing it brightly beam 02:24 now. She yawned slightly, her gaze wandering up towards Rafe who was driving. He didn't look tired at all, his blue eyes beaming with light. He was looking straight ahead, some of his blonde hair stroking against his forehead. He kept on drumming his fingertips along the steering wheel, his lips pushed together. Myra found herself wondering if he was a night owl too, and if he enjoyed the late night as much as her.
They weren't exactly the same. Rafe was a night owl too, but for very different reasons. He didn't stay awake yawning to sit by his desk drawing in the dim light of a desk lap or the bright moon zippering in through a nearby window. He didn't stay awake to watch the end of his favourite movie. He didn't stay awake to look at the stars or enjoy how still and calm everything was after all the people around him had gone to bed. Rafe laid awake tossing and turning with a million disturbing and conflicting thoughts battling with his conscience. Rafe laid awake biting down on his nails until he could feel the metallic taste of blood on his tongue. Rafe was awake at two in the morning, gazing at his dead eyes in the bathroom mirror after a long shower. Rafe was awake at three in the morning aimlessly flipping through a book he had secretly read a hundred times before. Rafe was awake at four in the morning, out swimming in the marsh to desperately try and clear his mind. Rafe had struggled with insomnia for longer than he could remember. Rafe dreaded the long lonely nights when everyone was asleep except him.
Myra could see that something was bothering Rafe, he was physically in the car but his mind wasn't really there. She leaned over a little closer, stroking her fingertips along his arm. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked, pulling Rafe out of his lost trance. His gaze flickered to her for a split second before returning to the road ahead of them. Myra heard him swallow hard before he answered. "Yeah" he said, his voice low and a little raspy, almost trembling. "Are you sure?" Myra pushed gently, keeping her gaze onto the kook boy, "you seem a little... down, I suppose". Rafe gritted his teeth slightly, a deep breath filling his lungs before he released the air once more. He didn't answer, alluding to Myra that he wasn't exactly telling the truth. "Are you tired?" she asked, trying with something else. Rafe shook his head, taking a left turn, "no"
Myra tried as gently as she could to reach through to Rafe, but did so without any success. As they drove through the island centre, the middle of the island, a beach appeared. The very same one Myra often went surfing at. "Stop the car" she urged, to which Rafe turned to look at her. He kept on driving, his glance questioning. "Rafe" Myra spoke again, her voice louder as she grabbed a hold of his shoulder, "I said stop the car". Rafe sighed, muttering a displeased "you can't tell me what to do"
"Please stop the car"
Rafe finally did so, pulling into the parking lot nearby the beach. He turned the engine off before he snapped his head around to look at the girl who was sat in the passenger seat, her small frame almost sinking into the nice leather. "What?" he questioned, his voice coming out a little louder than he had originally thought. Myra pulled back a little, her breath getting caught in the back of her throat. She was so used to getting yelled at, yet the harshness of it still always took her back. She hated it. Rafe seemed to notice, for he pulled back himself, lowering his chin. He collected himself before he spoke once more, a little nicer this time, "I've stopped the car Myra, what do you want?"
"To talk" Myra hummed, blinking her blue eyes vigorously. "About what?" Rafe questioned, raising his eyebrows a little. "I don't know" Myra shrugged, gazing around the dimly lit car, "about whatever's bothering you I guess". Rafe sighed, gazing off as he dragged a hand through his hair. It wasn't as nicely styled as usual, but it still looked good on him, better actually. Seeing him like this, at this hour of the night, with his messy hair and dressed in a hoodie and a pair of loose khaki pants made him feel a little more real. Like he had a human side to him, other to the rich entitled boy in a expensive suit tailored to him. "Nothing's bothering me" Rafe mumbled, biting down on his thumb. It was one of his many stressed and nervous habits. "Really?" Myra questioned, leaning in a little closer. "No" Rafe snapped, his eyebrows now furrowed as he stared at her with the edge of his thumb still stuck in between his front teeth, "nothing is bothering me Myra"
"Okay" she spoke calmly, leaning back in her seat with her eyes still glued to Rafe, "but just so you know, if anything was bothering and you wanted to tell me about it then that's okay too"
There was a moment of silence in the car as Rafe took her words in, thinking about it. Tossing it back and forth within his mind. He then let his thumb fall from his lips, his gaze wavering from her sunkissed skin and bright eyes. He scanned the empty beach, seeing the reflection of the moon upon the water. The waves rolled onto the shore so gently, like the world didn't care about anything bad. It just kept on existing, doing the same thing as it had done for a million years before him and would continue to do long after he's gone. It the grand scheme of things, his life really wasn't important. The stars didn't know that he was stood on the earth looking up at them, admiring the way they shine. The ocean didn't know that he carried its blue hue within his eyes. The sand on the beach didn't find the soles of his feet any special. The earth didn't care about him even if he was one day to give his body back to it, to rot and return to murky dirt.
Rafe looked back at Myra, seeing the simple grace that surrounded her. In the darkness of the night he thought he saw it once more, as he had done before, the angelic light that surrounded her. It didn't just surround her, it came from her, from within her. She created light just by simply existing. Rafe admired her like the stars, wondering what it was like to live with such light. He himself created darkness wherever he went. He didn't mean to of course, it just happened naturally. Everything he touched he seemed to infect with the very same darkness. He could feel it in his heart, slowly making him angrier and angrier. It was eating away at him, turning him worse with each passing day. Sometimes it felt as if he was dying, or supposed to do so. Like he was a science project gone wrong and set off into the world to roam wildly, slowly and painfully awaiting his own inevitable demise.
"I'm gonna take a walk on the beach" Myra declared after a while of agonizing silence, her eyes finding Rafe's, "do you wanna come with me?". Rafe nodded, not verbally answering. The two of them got out of the car, slowly walking side by side down towards the water. It was dark, but still as gentle as always. Rafe relaxed a little as he heard the way it flowed back and forth, the waves moving with the nightly phase of the earth. Myra glanced up at Rafe as they reached the sand, feeling it getting into her shoes. Rafe had his gaze locked forward, as if he was trying to avoid her. He wanted her close, yet he felt scared opening up to her. It was one of his many conflicting thoughts.
Minutes passed as Rafe and Myra walked along the beach, the damp sand against the soles of their shoes and the night breeze stroking their cheeks. They walked next to each other, gazing out at the dark horizon. "John B is living at tannyhill now" Rafe blurted out, his gaze still locked forward. The words suddenly ringing out into the previous silence caught Myra's attention, making her drag her gaze away from the ocean to look at Rafe. He turned his head down, meeting her gaze as he went on, "did you know?". Myra nodded her head carefully, unsure how Rafe felt about it. He wasn't fond of pouges, she knew that. "He broke his arm and..." Myra began to speak, only to be interrupted by Rafe. "He accused Topper of breaking his arm actually" the tall boy managed to croak out, seemingly angry by the whole thing. "Yeah, I don't know what happened" Myra spoke, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn't there to see the whole thing so she didn't want to take sides. "He fell from the watchtower and broke his arm, that's what happened" Rafe urged, glancing at Myra with something dark now burning within his eyes, "but he thinks he can blame it on my friend"
Myra kept quiet, not wanting to anger Rafe any further. She had nothing more to say on the matter. She wanted to question Rafe how he could know. She wanted to blurt out a where you there question, knowing that the kook prince had in fact been with her that very same night, but she held back. It wouldn't help the situation she thought. "Is it bothering you that he's at Tannyhill?" Myra asked, assuming that Rafe's home was as precious to him as her home was to her. Rafe pushed his lips together, his gaze flickering away as he thought. Myra watched him, seeing the way the moonlight danced upon his skin. "I mean yeah, but it's not like he's there a lot" Rafe answered after a moment, "I suppose he's at..."
"The chateau?"
"Yeah that place" Rafe muttered, sticking his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. "Once a pouge, always a pouge" Myra laughed to herself, knowing that John B could never stay away from his childhood home. It didn't matter that Ward Cameron had taken guardianship over him, it didn't matter that his current address on paper was now on the figure eight side of the island. John B belonged on the cut with his dad, he was child born to the marsh, just as most of the kids out there. Except Kiara, she was chosen by the marsh, a honorary pouge. A thing she could never leave now.
"John B lost his dad not long ago" Myra tried to explain, causing Rafe to stop in his tracks, standing still in the sand. "Yeah I know" Rafe muttered, furrowing his eyebrows as he stared at Myra, "but does that give him the right to intrude on my living space huh? Or go hook up with my sister while she has a boyfriend, a good one, or take... take my dad?". Myra took a step back, a little surprised that Rafe was feeling like that. He wasn't wrong of course, he had every right to be upset. Myra could understand that he felt insecure, like he was being pushed out of his own home. He feared himself being replaced by a pouge. "I-I uhm, yeah no" Myra rambled on, unsure what to say to the tall kook boy. Rafe turned away, sighing once more.
"Dad's taking John B out fishing tomorrow"
Ah, there it was. The origin of Rafe's nightly worries. "Oh" Myra hummed as she nodded her head, "so that's why you can't sleep". Rafe snapped back to look at her. "Who told you I can't sleep?" he asked harshly. "Uhm, it's like two thirty in the morning and you spent the entire evening at the island club reading so I just assumed" Myra answered. Rafe nodded his head, gazing off again. "Why were you there all evening?" Myra asked, taking a step closer to Rafe. He looked back at her a little dumbfounded, as if he had expected her to understand. He parted his lips, swallowing hard before he answered in a rushed manner, "I just didn't want to be home with that pouge there"
"That's okay" Myra whispered, taking another step closer to Rafe. He reached his right hand forward to stroke her cheek, his rough fingertips trailing along her skin for a few seconds before he caught himself. He pulled away, their bodies loosing their connection. He wanted to admit that he had gone to the club, not only to escape the anxiety he had felt in his own house, to seek her out. He wanted to admit that he craved her presence and that he felt good around her. He wanted to admit that he felt something special within himself whenever he heard her speak and that more so her voice had a calming effect on him. He wanted to say it all, he just couldn't define it and turn it into words that were speakable. He simply couldn't get it out.
"Your dad didn't invite you to go with them?" Myra asked, trying to be supportive. Rafe shook his head. "Have you seen him today? Maybe he just missed you since you weren't home" Myra suggested with a shrug of her shoulders, "I mean your dad seems like a busy man". Rafe scratched his left temple. "He is" the tall boy agreed, fully aware how much of his father's life was occupied by work, "but I've seen him today and no, he didn't ask me to go with them so I suppose he'd rather spend his time with his new make pretend son than me". Myra shook her head, "I'm sure that's not what he thinks Rafe, I bet he just wants John B to feel welcome to the family or something". Rafe sighed, gazing away, "yeah that's probably it". Yet Rafe couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he was getting swapped out for a pouge, and he couldn't handle it very well.