One Stupid Thing

3:9:101

As the hours tick by and the sun begins to sink in the sky, JJ's time dwindles down to nothing. John B paces back and forth on the pavement in front of me, keeping an eye out for any sign of his best friend. Clouds lion ominously overhead and I swallow hard at the sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning.

"Has he called?" Sarah asks her boyfriend.

"Have you heard from him?" Pope adds.

"No. Nothing."

"We have to go," Sarah tells him. "We don't have eight hours. And Topper might've already called the police."

"Okay. Okay, I'll call him."

"Okay."

Just as John B goes to pull his phone from his pocket and dial JJ, the sound of a motor comes into earshot.

"Wait. That might be JJ right there," Cleo points out. Two people on a motorbike careen down the tarmac towards us, coming to a screeching halt just a few yards away from me. Both have helmets on, but even with their faces hidden from view, I know that it's not JJ and Kie, but two people that I don't want anything to do with.

Rafe swiftly removes his helmet and parks the bike. I stand there frozen in shock. What the hell is going on? The second rider I recognize instantly. The once-great Ward Cameron groans in pain and as he tries to get off of the bike, his legs buckle beneath him and he falls to the ground. I almost wish that Rafe wasn't going to take off my father's helmet. I don't want to see him, not after finding out about what he did to my mother.

"Hey. Hey, Dad. Hey, come on. You're okay," Rafe says between breaths. He crouches down to Ward's side and tries desperately to help him. "Come on, help! Help!" my brother urges, but no one, not even Sarah or I, make any move. "Don't just stand there. I need some help, please, come on."

Beside me, Sarah struggles to decide what to do. I know she feels torn between her duty as a daughter but also staying true to what she believes in after everything our dad has done.

Ward groans in agony as he struggles to get to his feet. Rafe is hardly being helpful. My father grasps his thigh which is soaked through his pant leg with blood. I avert my eyes, unable to watch the scene unfold in front of me. If I can't see it then it's not happening, right?

Sarah however, can't peel her gaze away. She takes a few steps forward, hesitates, and then walks over to help Rafe.

"Please, please. Come on!" my brother pleads.

"What happened?" Sarah asks.

"Let's go on the plane." Both of my siblings each take a side and with our fathers arms slung around their shoulders, they support him as they make their way towards the plane. "You're good. A fisherman spotted him, all right? They know he's alive. We gotta get him off the island right now."

Pope, Cleo, John B and I stand there and watch in frustrated silence. Tension hangs in the air. Rafe practically drags Ward up the stairs and into the plane and Sarah makes sure he doesn't fall back down. As the other two disappear inside, Sarah turns back to us and seems to contemplate every single decision she just made seconds ago.

"Shit. This cannot be happening," she says to herself, rubbing her forehead with her hands before turning back and hurrying into the plane.

"No. Hell, no," Pope protests sternly. "We can't. We're not getting on a plane with him. No way! Hell no!"

"Are we still going?" Cleo asks genuinely. Sarah appears again, hurrying back down the stairs. "'Don't worry, he's not coming'?"

"He wasn't supposed to," she breathes out. "We told you.

All eyes turn to me, looking for confirmation. "This is as much a surprise to us as it is to you."

Sarah walks up beside John B. The boy dissociates, staring coldly into the distance and lost in thought.  He doesn't glance at my sister. "He stays on this island, he gets arrested," she reasons.

"No, no, Sarah, I don't think you understand. I don't know if I can get on a plane with that guy—"

"I don't want to be anywhere near him or have anything to do with him either, John B. But what choice do we have?" I ask him.

"John B, this is his plane. We can't stop him from leaving. But he will still give us a ride to Orinoco, so if you don't wanna get on the plane, I get it. We'll find another way." Sarah's voice strains in frustration.

"There's no other way," John B mutters in response. "Let's go." Sarah looks at the boy in confusion, almost suspicious as to why he suddenly had a change of heart. John B reaches up and cups her face. "If you're going, I'm going. It's you and me. Let's get on the plane. Come on, we're getting on the plane. We gotta go."

"With them?" Pope confirms.

"Yes. We don't have any other choice."

Cleo turns to the hesitant boy. "Just stick to the plan. Come on."

As we begin to approach the steps leading up inside the plane, Rafe's voice carrie's through the doorway. "You're going to be alright, okay? You're going to be alright." My brother appears in the doorway and stops as he comes face to face with Pope. The two boys eye each other up for a moment, before Rafe stands down and continues to descend down the stairs. Pope places a hand on my brother's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"We're not done," Pope says coldly. Without a snarky reply, Rafe moves onward. When Pope turns to go after the boy, Cleo is there to prevent him from making the mistake of starting something.

"Hey. Don't let the devil tempt you. Go." And with that the two disappear inside the cabin. I follow shortly behind, passing Rafe on the way. He gives me a cold look but doesn't say a word.

Behind me, I watch as Sarah starts to follow me. She stops in front of Rafe. "Please take care of him," he pleads. Sarah avoids his prying gaze, not promising anything.

As I enter the plane, I make immediate eye contact with my father. His gaze is pitiful with no hint of resentment or blame. It's as if he actually respects why I act the way I do towards him, and to my surprise it feels less freeing than I initially thought. I feel a longing to just be his daughter again, but the more I think about it the more I realize that the relationship I want with him has long been tarnished since even before everything about his true nature came to light. The father I want isn't Ward Cameron, and he never has been.

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Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long. I had a huge case of writers block, but I'm back now and on track to finish season three soon :)