Carolina- OUTER BANKS

Ch. 31

"JJ! Pope! Kie! Sarah!" I yelled as I ran inside the Chateau looking through the rooms "JJ!" I yelled again and I ran outside to see Sarah on the dock and I sighed in relief. "Sarah!" I called for her and she turned around and smiled "Liv!" She yelled and we started running towards each other, we met in the middle of the dock in a bone crushing tight hug. "Are you okay?" She sighed and I pulled away "Yeah, I'm okay." I said with tears in my eyes then pulled her into a hug again. "How did you get away?" She asked and I shrugged "It was so easy. I jumped out the window at Therapy... they were stupid enough to leave me alone." I told her and she nodded then Sarah looking down at a phone in her hands. "You okay?" I asked and she shook her head "Wheezie's not answering, I just need her to answer. She is the only one who knows Rafe wasn't home the night that Sheriff Pete was killed." Sarah told me and I nodded.

Rafe

I looked down at the floor as my father told me that Liv ran away from therapy and I just couldn't believe that she'd leave me again, she promised. "Um, I've been thinking, Dad. Um, I need to know." I muttered and cleared my throat. It was always hard talking to my dad about my siblings or my feelings because he's always hard on me and not Sarah.

"Uh, this is... this is important to me, okay? If it comes down to that moment, and, um... and it's between me and Sarah, um... And I... I... I hate to even be asking this, okay? But you know as well as I do that she would just rat me out as soon as she got the chance, okay? Like..." I told him and he shook his head. "I don't know that." He sighed and I nodded "One of us is gonna have to go down. That you do know, okay? So, what I'm asking is... who would you pick if it came down to it?" I asked and he looked at his laptop then back at me. "I thought I told you I don't pick between my children. I love you both. I love all of you." "But, Dad... Dad... if you just had--" I said and he shook his head.

"I don't have to." "Okay, well, you are going to have to! All right? You realize that. Sarah went off with our enemy, right? Someone who tried to steal from us. Yeah. And... and... and I'm... I'm here with you. I mean, I'm helping you. Dad... Dad, I saved... I saved your life." I said grabbing his arm as he got up but he shrugged me off. "I just-- I wanna know who you'd choose." "Stop it. I need you to stop it." He muttered grabbing my face then walking away. He just made me so mad, I threw the chair back "You just can't do it, can you? You can't do the hard thing." "I can't do the hard thing?" He questioned and I shook my head.

"No, you can't. You can't even look at me
when I'm trying to talk to you. I'm trying to have a real conversation!" I yelled and he slapped me then pushed me towards the table. "How many times did I bail you out before that, huh? How many?" My dad yelled and i frowned "You saved me? Rafe, you fucked us! All of us!" He yelled and walked out of the room, I paced back and forth on the terrace freaking out, hyperventilating. Liv left me and probably hates me and I can never do anything right with her "Man up." I took a deep breath then I heard a phone ding.

I saw Wheezie's phone and saw a bunch of text to Sarah and I chuckled, she wanted to meet Wheezie but this is my chance to talk to her and get her to not talk to the police. Wheezie came out on the patio and sighed "You seen my phone?" "What?" I interjected and she sighed "Have you seen my phone?" She asked and I rolled my eyes "No, I haven't seen your phone." I lied to her and she walked back inside, I looked back at the texts.

Liv

"Hold on." Sarah muttered then I looked at the phone to see Wheezie wanted to meet up at Deach's Point at 10. "I'll come with you." I told her and she smiled "Thank you." I shrugged and pulled her into a hug then sighed. "Hey, have you heard anything from JJ? How is he doing?" I asked and she took a deep breathe and told me his stupid idiotic plan.

I changed my clothes then me and Sarah made our way to the marina, I looked around to find Wheezie but Rafe came around the corner. "Wheeze?" "No not Wheezie." Rafe said and i frowned "Where the hell is Wheezie?" "Don't worry about it." He said and I pulled Sarah closer to me. "Listen-- Whoa. It's all good. I... I just... I just... I needed to talk to you, like, a little bit. Is that okay?" Rafe held up his hands in defense and Sarah shook her head. "Don't come near us." "'Cause... 'cause what you do, Sarah, affects me, okay? What you two do... You don't... you don't think of that, do you?" Rafe said and I shook my head. "You shot me, Rafe. And Olivia." Sarah told him and he nodded "That's it, right? It's... it's always my fault, right? Like, uh... you know, I... I wanna keep what's mine, that I got by my work,  and I'm the bad guy for trying to... to hold on to it?" He said and I scoffed "It's not yours, Rafe!" I yelled and he got closer to us, inches away from my face. "Like I'm wrong to protect what's mine, huh? You, Liv, your mine." He said and I shook my head "You're crazy." I chuckled and he sighed. "Listen to me, okay? The cops are going to talk to you, and... And I need to make sure the story's straight because..." "You killed Peterkin. My story's straight." Sarah said and he looked at us like we were crazy.

"Listen, this would go so much better for you if you would..." "Who are trying to protect here? Huh?" Rafe said and Sarah stepped back a bit. "I'm trying to do the right thing." "You're trying to do the right thing? You doing the right thing..." Rafe tried to step closer but I stopped him. "No, you're not listening to me. You doing the right thing is the reason that you got shot. Because you were following John B... and you..." Rafe looked at me and I frowned "You got in front of me, not thinking you could of gotten hurt because of John B." "John B might get the death penalty because of you! My own family!" I glared at Rafe, how can he care about me and not care about my feelings.

"That! That right there. That's... that's exactly what I'm talking about, Liv. You know? You two always been against me... especially you." Rafe said pointing to Sarah but she shook her head. "No. I haven't." "Don't shake your head... And you still are." He said and sighed "No, no, no, no. You're not just against me. You're... you're against us. We're your family, and you're against us." Rafe added, making Sarah frown. "You know, Dad always takes your side, right? 'Cause you're gonna cry in front of him like you cried in front of me. But you listen to me. I'm a proactive type of person, Sarah. And we have a problem, and I gotta solve that problem tonight. Do you understand?" Rafe said and I took a step back "Do you understand?" Rafe yelled and I looked to the ground then back up to Rafe then pushed Rafe away.

"Run. Sarah, Run!" I yelled and pushed her back "Whoa, whoa, Sarah! Where you going, Sarah? Liv?" Rafe yelled and I followed Sarah around the marina but we got separated. I tripped on the step then hit my head on the floor, Rafe pulled me up by my hair then his hand gripped my neck, I could feel him crushing my windpipe "I trusted you... you promised you wouldn't leave. Then broke my heart." He said with tears in his eyes and I tried to breathe but Rafe was making it hard to "I'm sorry. Rafe, please." I choked out as I was shaking in fear. Rafe's grip tightened but I struggled to get out of his grip which it loosened as he started to realize something "Get off of me! Get off!" I yelled then twisted my ankle falling backwards into the water making me gasp. "Rafe no!" I heard Sarah yell as I hit the water and I struggled to get to the surface, the burning in my lungs got more furious as I tried to hold my breathe.

Third person's POV

Sarah looked at the water to see Liv struggling but Rafe pushed her in front of a tub of water "No, Rafe! Stop!" Sarah cried as Rafe's grip tightened around her forearms "Rafe, Rafe, stop! It's... it's... it's Sarah. It's your sister. Please... please don't." "What about me? Huh? You'd have me fry." Rafe said with tears in his eyes. Olivia on the other hand was sinking to the bottom of the water holding her breath until someone would come to save her but seconds turned into minutes and Liv was now struggling for air.

You know when you're drowning you don't actually inhale until right before you black out. It's called voluntary apnea. It's like no matter how much you're freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. Then when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore, it's... it's actually kind of peaceful." Stiles Stilinski once said, boy was he right.

"No!" "You brought this on yourself." Rafe yelled at Sarah dunking her into a tub of water but she tried to fight him against his grip but he was stronger "Rafe! Rafe!" Sarah gasped and Rafe shook his head "This is on you! Your decisions." Rafe yelled dunking her back into the water, Sarah's screams muffled.

Moments later Topper came to the rescue hitting Rafe in the head knocking him down then pulling Sarah out from the tub of water "Sarah, are you okay?" He asked and she nodded then looked around for Olivia "Rafe!" Topper yelled and bent over Rafe's body "Don't you ever touch her again, you got that? You got that, Rafe?" Topper yelled punching him again then went back to Sarah's side "Top... Olivia, she's... she fell in the water." Sarah let out pointing down at the water. Topper looked and saw a figure "Liv!" Topper yelled and dove in the water, he swam all the way down grabbing Olivia. He brought her to the surface and Sarah looked terrified of her friends appearance, Olivia's head was bleeding lightly, her lips were blue and she wasn't breathing "C'mon, Liv. Stay with me." Topper muttered then started doing CPR. Moments later Olivia coughed up water, Topper and Sarah sighed in relief. "C'mon let's get out of here." Topper said picking up Olivia Bridal style then took them to his boat.

Liv

Sarah hugged me from behind with the blanket around us keeping us warm and Topper handed us a thermos of hot water "Here... this should get you guys warm." Topper said and Sarah smiled "Hey, Topper? Thank you." Sarah said and I took a sip then handed it back to Topper. "Yeah, thanks..." I muttered then he nodded "Of course... I know somewhere we can warm up. Somewhere you'll be safe, okay? And we'll clean that cut." Topper said pointing to my head and I nodded, I laid my head back onto Sarah's chest.