Kiara Carrera groaned as she felt a hefty amount of water pour down on her face. She begrudgingly cracked open her eyes to see that JJ had forgotten to close their water bottle before falling asleep. As a result, Kiara was now drenched in ice cold water.
"Damnit, JJ," She groaned, kicking her blonde best friend in the shins. However, it was useless as JJ Maybank could sleep through a fucking Mount Vesuvius level of disaster.
Being stranded on the island had nudged Kiara closer to JJ in ways she had not expected, and that included learning his unique habits like his inability to wake up. So, Kiara sighed, trying to ignore her wet clothes and skin and fall back asleep.
The universe had other plans, however, as the dawn began to break, a soft light shining in Kie's eyes.
"Ugh, okay, I got it, world, jeez." She grumped and sat up, swinging her legs over the hammock. As her feet touched the gentle island sand, she felt herself smile unwittingly.
"I guess I'll go refill our water bottle and change" She said, though absolutely no one moved a single muscle. Shaking her head, Kiara made her way to her small bag of clothes she had garnered over time and changed into a white lace halter top and high waist shorts, pulling half her hair into a small side braid.
After haphazardly brushing her teeth, washing her face, and applying a small bit of makeup for once, she set off to refill the water from the well they had found in the thick of the island forest. Yawning, Kie paused to observe the breaking dawn. It was her favorite sight, the sky painted purple and orange against the crystal blue sea, and if she could look at the sunrise forever, she would. But she couldn't, so she forced herself to keep walking to the well.
Just as Kiara was about to lower the bucket they had attached down into the well to draw water, the sunrise gave way to a familiar outline.
Intuitively, Kiara dropped the empty bottle in her hands.
"You," She half growled, half whispered as her hands instinctively curled into fists.
However the tall dusky blonde man only smiled gently as he put his hands above his head.
"Hey, Kie." Rafe Cameron murmured and somehow the calm tone in his voice angered her more than any punch he could throw.
"HEY?!!" She roared.
"What the hell are you even doing here? No, better yet, how the hell did you get here? And after murdering God knows how many people, nearly killing your own sister, and pretty much going full psycho and you say HEY?!"
Unwittingly, Kiara socked him right in the arm causing Rafe to immediately look at her with an unreadable expression and she froze, remembering their last meeting.
To her shock, he remained silent, a stark parallel to the violent outbursts Rafe seemed prone to.
"You're a monster." Kie cried, finally allowing herself to feel the emotions she had been repressing.
At that, Rafe snapped to attention, his ocean blue eyes seemingly swimming with pain.
"Kie..." He started, but Kiara was adamant.
"No," She replied, putting her hands up as he stepped closer to her.
"You know, I defended you for so long, after I left. I hated everything about my Kook year but you- you were the one good thing and now..." Kiara trailed off, trying to keep the rising tears in her eyes at bay.
Another surprise greeted Kie as Rafe stepped back, his eyes lowering to the ground, as if her words had pierced something deep, something Kie had attempted to convince herself was long gone.
