This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

twenty six

TWENTY SIX
[26]
song: evidence by lo moon

Cassie was asleep in the downstairs cabin when Rafe docked in the Outerbanks. The town was still as the dark night sky hung overhead, the streets empty. Rafe appreciated these last few moments of peace, eyes glued ahead, knowing there was no way this next week was going to go smoothly.

He turned off everything before he woke her, noticing how even the sound of him opening and closing the door, or his footsteps walking past, didn't seem to faze her as she slept.

He knew she was tired, and despite Cassie's reluctance to tell Rafe much about what'd she'd gone through in the past month, he knew she was barely hanging on. He could hear it in her voice, see it in the strain of her movements. And he recognized it all too well, like looking in a mirror.

He pushed on her shoulder gently. "We're here." He spoke, then moved back to lock up one of the doors.

Cassie didn't appear aware of her surroundings for a few moments, the cabin was dark now as Rafe had shut everything down, and she wasn't exactly sure what 'here' meant. Not until she fully regained consciousness, and looked out the glass doors.

Tannyhill sat ahead of them, and although all of its outdoor lights were off, you could still see it perfectly clear under the moonlight, positioned perfectly in the tree line.

She left from Tannyhill to get on that cargo ship. It felt almost poetic for it to be the first place she returned to.

Rafe had already gotten off the boat and tied it off when he looked up and saw Cassie, still on the deck of the boat. Her eyes were glued ahead at the house, she was silent, and still.

He wanted to know what she was thinking. If she was happy to be back, or terrified. If all this house did was bring back memories she wanted to forget, or if it helped her remember how good everything once was.

Rafe followed her gaze to the house, and he felt his heart sink. Knowing he'd never see his family here ever again. In the house he grew up in, where all of his memories were stitched into those walls.

He'd never see his family on this entire island ever again.

Rafe started walking before he could let himself succumb to those thoughts any further, not wanting to distract himself.

"Wait—" He heard her say, scrambling off the boat as Rafe walked further down the dock. "I need— do you have your phone?"

Rafe followed the stone steps up to the backyard, shaking his head. "It's dead."

There was too much to think over, too many possibilities and outcomes for Cassie to decide on the best point of action. She'd been MIA for a month, completely gone, and no one knew where her, or any of her friends, had disappeared to.

It all came rushing back. That fear of the unknown. She'd come back to Kildare after a long time before. So naïve to how much had changed, and how much was about to. Looking back at it now, it all felt so silly. So minuscule compared to this. She'd survived Ward Cameron, being stranded on an island, a plane crash, and now Mr. Singh.

She'd never be scared of Kitty Hawk ever again.

Rafe lifts up one a mat that sat beneath the back door, pulling out a spare key. Cassie, who was struggling to keep up with him, looked around the yard and realized she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do.