GIRL, INTERRUPTED → outer banks [1]

1.9 chapter nine

CHAPTER NINE
BELL TOWER
"i'll be the one you
love to hate"
˚✧₊⁎*⁎⁺˳✧༚

     The gunshot rang loudly in the air, leaving a sickening smell of gunpowder lingering in her nostrils.

     It took a moment before anyone managed to react. It sounded cliche, but Farrah swore everything moved in slow motion. It felt as if a lifetime had passed her by between the gunshot and the body hitting the ground. Her eyes were clenched shut, hands covering her ears at the loud sound. And when she finally reopened her tawny brown eyes? It was worse than what she had ever expected, more than she could've ever prepared herself for.

     Sheriff Peterkin rested limply on the tarmac, blood seeping through her previously brown police uniform. It took a while for Farrah to register what exactly had happened, and most importantly who was responsible. But the girl swore she'd never forget the moment her eyes connected with his cerulean ones. A sickening grin rested on his lips as he stepped into view. Ward appeared just as panicked as the rest of them, his eyes flickering between the sheriff and his very own son.

     "Rafe, no." His words were barely audible, voice shaky as the reality of the situation dawned on him. "Rafe. No. What did you do?"

     Farrah's breath hitched in her throat, eye blurry with tears. The familiar feeling of suffocation clenched at her throat when the small chuckle escaped the proud looking Cameron boy. "I saved you, Dad. I saved you." The dark haired girl could feel tears prickling her eyes as she stared at the boy she once knew. A hollow feeling took place where her heart once was. Her eyes slipped down to his hands clenching the gun, bite rising up her throat knowing that the very hands that had fired that gun once traveled her body.

     Farrah began shaking her head vigorously. It was as if reality broke off into tiny bits and pieces and began floating around as her mind desperately tried wrapping itself around what was happening. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. Her breaths were superficial and shallow as she began hyperventilating. Her dark eyes scanned her surroundings, her ears entirely blocking out all sound. Sarah was on the ground crying as she watched it unfold, John B diving to Peterkin's side. Rafe held the gun tightly while Ward tried talking him down. This isn't real, she kept repeating in her head, hoping that if she clenched her eyes shut hard enough, she'd wake up in her bed when she reopened them. That if she shut it all out for just a moment longer, this nightmare would be over with.

     It didn't work.

     "Farrah help!" John B's continous pleas for her snapped her out of her panicked state. She didn't hesitate to throw herself down next to him. Her knees scraped against the asphalt hard enough to draw blood, but she couldn't be bothered to care. "Put pressure there. Okay. Okay that's good." John B instructed. Farrah did as told, pressing her hands against the open wound to stop the bleeding. Peterkin coughed loudly, her eyes coated in fear as she watched the two teenagers try to save her life.