𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗨𝗟𝗦𝗘𝗦 | 𝖮𝖡𝖷

𝟬𝟲, rip lenny

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗫
episode two

          aj occupied the majority of her day wandering aimlessly along the beach. She ensured to be awake far before either of the boys, and quietly escaped the chateau. Last night's events were something she harshly shoved to a dark dusty corner of her mind, and left alone to discard. Staring out to the incandescent golden glow that pigmented the sky and her skin in a soft orange, she breathed deeply the gentle breeze. The relentless pulling sensation in her chest, like barbed wire strangulated and dragged all her insides, remained a prolonged sickness in her stomach. She wanted to scratch it out. Like a stain of wine on a carpet. Scrubbing for hours to get clean.

And her day would only get worse.

Laughing amongst themselves walked another grossly frightening reminder of who she once was. Rafe Cameron ( the older brother of what John B had dubbed the 'kook princess', Sarah Cameron ), his comedically shorter friend Kelce, Topper ( the lovely guy that almost killed her best friend ), and Samuel Shoupe. Though AJ knew him better as Sam, the deputy's son and the first boy she ever fell in love with. But that was a long time ago. She had met him at the police station when she was fourteen, under the frustrated observation of her mother who had caught her attempting to steal from Joni's convenience store. ( Joni, since then, had banned her from ever returning to her store, especially after she accidently smashed one of her windows — whoops ). Anyway, the pair ended up dating for nearly nine months — AJ once thought she would marry him. But that was before everything happened.

Kelce in the midst of a discomforting grin pointed in AJ's direction, nudging the brunette beside him. AJ remembered when he once let it dry into his natural curls, ringing around his ears softly. Now he had cut it shorter so they were completely gone. He used to hate getting haircuts. The brunette's smile faltered slightly seeing her sat there, hands digging into the sand, hair longer than he last remembered it. Before he had the chance to deter his friends from approaching the girl, Rafe smirked in her direction as he stood in front of her. "Heard about that little party on the beach the other night, Topper tells us you had fun." He commented in his usual monotonous tone as his friends around his chuckled to themselves. Sam seemed to linger behind the group, not wanting to engage but not stopping them either.

AJ rolled her eyes and climbed up from the sand, significantly shorter than the group of boys that had surrounded her, and significantly more uncomfortable. "Mm, was a blast. Thanks for asking, Rafe." She glared at him before attempting to walk away, but they continued to follow. "What do you want?" AJ rarely felt brave, but her firm tone always gave a different impression. If you asked anyone on the island, they'd say Aven Jones was the most fearless person they knew. But she never seemed to feel that way.

"Just being polite, Jones, no reason to be rude." Topper spoke up from the group. "Hey, how's your little pogue boyfriend, by the way?" When she turned around, her brows furrowed in annoyance as he grinned further. Before living on the cut, her life as a kook was entirely structured around rumours and lies that nobody ever seemed to believe her when she had told them the truth. Labelling her a 'slut' was easier than dealing with a traumatised girl. "Which one is it you're with? Or is it both?" His statement caused an eruption of laughter between the boys. But when she looked to Sam, he could barely hold eye contact — staring at the ground like it could erase his terrific choice of friends.

"Guys, c'mon. " He eventually spoke up, his voice darker from when she last heard it – then again they were fifteen the last time they had an actual conversation. Though, it wasn't exactly a conversation, more so an argument.

The privileged boy band eventually began walking in the opposite direction, chuckling amongst themselves as they left the brunette to stand solitary on the sand, her jaw clenched in frustration that she couldn't do anything about their behaviour. She couldn't convince them she wasn't how they perceived her, and she couldn't push them away if she was in danger. She hated how weak she felt sometimes. It was what recklessly drove her destructive impulses to light — it was some of the few times she felt in control of her life.