COUNTRY CLUB

THREE

Don't push your child away from you. 

It has been a week since Dune's arrival to the Outer Banks. A week of neglect and disappointment, nothing new to her. Ever since she got home she was never called for dinner, Topper would leave food at her doorstep. Topper refused to speak to her, to acknowledge her, because it keeps reminding him that no matter what happens they'll always be the two faces of the same sheet of paper. Except Dune's side was stained.

None of the Pogues knew that Dune was back, mostly because Dune never stepped a foot outside the house after that night. She tried writing a letter to Kiara, reluctantly, she'd torn every single paper she could find. Most of them were her school's notebooks. The thing about the Outer Banks and what it makes it different from any other place was that survival required betrayal. Luxury could never exist without betrayal. Dune tried to see everything from another perspective. What if Ward never backstabbed John B's father for the gold? what if Ward gave Rafe the love he deserved rather than having question whether he deserves joy or not. Survival with people like Rafe and Ward, survival between two people who live off hurting each other, will always be non-existent. You could never survive having someone's fingers collar your neck, you could never survive looking into someone's lustful eyes. Luxury and privilege are so dangerous that you always need to have a gun in hand, even around the ones you love. 

No one knows about Dune's gun yet, except for Rafe obviously. Great minds think alike he'd say, if he only knew what's going in inside her head, questioning his reality would be the norm. Hiding the gun in her black purse, just in case, a knock on the door startled her. She looked at the purse, it looks like a purse, she thought. It was Topper.

"Can we talk?" he asked, inviting himself in. He sat on her bed, few meters away from her purse. Her heart pounded, and it was affecting her hearing. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. It should never be this awkward between two siblings, specially if they're twins. 

"What do you want?" said Dune, leaning against the door. For a whole week, he's been avoiding her. He's been acting like she never came back, as if she never existed in the first place. 

"You've been here for a week now, making little to no effort of explaining why out of a sudden you decided to come back." 

"So now you want to talk to me? As twins we're supposed to feel each other's pain. But what did you do? You didn't even want to pick me up when Rafe called you, telling you that I was back. What are afraid of?" hissed Dune, gritting her teeth until they fall off. Topper looked away, he knew what was she talking about. The Thornton Light, she's the thorn while Toper was the light. 

"When you're around, I lose everything. My friends, my parents, even Sarah."

"I think you mean your light, your dim light. Or most likely, there was never a light hovering above your head. Rafe barely acknowledges you. Your parents are as well mine I don't need to remind you. Speaking of Sarah now, where is she? Why isn't she holding your hand? Why isn't she in your room? You think I don't know she's with John B? I think I know what you're afraid of, falling for Pogues. Living off a stolen luxury, all of you." said Dune, this time Topper's eyes ignited with flame. "I am sick and tired of being a silhouette shadowed by your dim light." 

Silence, she was never afraid of speaking the truth. One of the perks of living two years in New York was that she outgrown herself. She became aware of how she was living in OBX. Topper stood up now, walking towards Dune. People with luxury can start over easily, pretending that they've heard nothing. 

"You need to loosen up, there's a bonfire in an hour. You should come, if you're back then everyone needs to know." 

She scoffed at his comment, of course he'd want everyone to know. People with luxury do anything for their image, even if they had to revive dead flowers, they'd make sure everyone focus on the vase.