JJ woke up to the sound of the waves, brushing against the sand. John B and Sarah's shelter didn't do much, as he was soaked by the midnight rain. He got up, being careful not to wake the others up, and brushing as much water as he could off his clothes. He then decided to take off his shirt, because it was soaked, and he didn't want to get a cold. The last thing they needed here was for them to be sick.
As he laid his shirt where he slept, he realised Kiara's spot was empty. He quickly looked around, and felt relived when he saw her sitting down, close to the tide.
At first, he didn't want to go up to her, but when he heard soft sniffling, he immediately felt filled with sadness. Why was she crying??
As he got closer to her, he could hear her sniffling louder and louder. When he got close enough, he put his hand on her shoulder.
"Kie? Are you okay? What's wrong??" She wiped her tears away as soon as she felt his touch.
She sighed, and JJ sat beside her, keeping his hand on her shoulder. When he was sitting completely, he put his whole arm around her shoulder, and pulled her closer. She leaned her head on his shoulder. The moonlight was enough for them to see eachother.
"I love this place," she started "and i never want to leave it, I'm so scared of what my parents would do to me if I came back." She paused, letting out a sob, and then continued "you guys are more like family to me than anyone else"
JJ pulled in for a hug, and after looking into his eyes in the darkness, she hugged him tighter than ever. She never wanted to let go.
It felt good to cry in JJ's arms, she felt like he would always understand her.
"what are you most scared about when we get back?" Kie pulled away for a second to look into his eyes. "My dad. I don't want to ever see him again, and if he ever comes back to obx I will kill him" JJ quickly looked into kiara's eyes to make sure what he had just said hadn't triggered her.
But no, she was smiling. It felt good to see her smile, but when JJ realised they were inches away from touching lips, he pulled her back into the hug.
"We don't have to come back to obx, don't worry" He tried comforting her. "What are we going to do then? We can't live here forever" Kiara sighed
"We'll figure it out" He smiled, even if she couldn't see it as they were hugging.
Kiara woke up in a startled, as she just had a nightmare. She was still beside JJ, who was so close to her she could feel his warmth under her soaked clothes. One of his arms was still around her, but not gripping on too tight.
She tried to slow her breathign down, even if she was still scared. The memories of the nightmare started coming back to her.
"GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE KIARA" Anna would have yelled at her
"YOU SHOULDN'T BE CALLED OUR DAUGHTER, WHAT A DISCRACE!" Mike would have added
she pictured the van taking her away to wilderness camp once more, her parents yelling, and her crying. The chaos, the emotions were just too much.
Suddenly, they all stoped when she felt JJ's thumb rubbing against her arm, and his soft, barely waken up voice saying "Hey, it's okay kie."
She then closed her eyes, gripping onto JJ's arm who was still around her, and fell back asleep.
JJ woke up to Kiara shifting in her sleep. He barely remembered just comforting her, as he was half asleep, but he knew she didn't feel safe.
"Please, no. Pease. Help. No" Kiara whispered in her sleep. JJ immediatly sat up, took her in his arms "Kie, Kie, it's okay, I'm here" He could feel her waking up. "I'm here, it's okay, we're still in poguelandia! Our little slice of paradise."
when she opened her eyes, he saw a tear running down her cheek. He wiped it, giving her a moment to fully wake up "I'm here, you're okay. I promise"
