CASTAWAY ⚓ R.C, J.M

S I X

This morning had been an overwhelmingly rough start. Warped nightmares turned frightening memories had shattered Harley's mind and stabbed relentlessly at her nervous system. The air in her lungs had evaporated as she woke to the sensation of being choked by Rafe and drowned by her creepy uncle. 

Half stuck in her dream state, all she had been able to do was struggle to breathe as she stared up at the cherry stickers and fairylights on her ceiling. Nothing would trump the trepidation of feeling a seizure coming on and the gut feeling it would be grand mal, but this... not being able to catch a breath was up there.

JJ had made it all better. In true JJ fashion, he had been panicked and cursing, but something had quickly clicked and he was able to soothe Harley and cocoon her in safety. 

Naturally, she had felt bad about waking her boyfriend and that he had to spend so much time comforting her. She wasn't the only one going through shit and she had really wanted JJ to know she'd be there for him in the way he was for her. So, she encouraged him to talk about his feelings and how he might have felt when JB had gone versus now that they all knew he was alive. She wanted to make sure he was ok and not bottling anything up; her mind flashed to the time in the hot tub when she had seen JJ cry for the first time. Bad things happened with his dad and the group,  and his reaction was to be the embodiment of chaos. Instead of that bad habit she wanted to be a healthy coping mechanism for him.  It took a lot of coaxing but he spilled a little and Harley appreciated it. 

"What's the most prominent emotion you feel?" Harley had questioned.

"Adoration... for you... always."

"Jay..."

Harley played JJ's words again and again in her head, permanent pink and gold hearts stuck in her eyes as they hypnotised her into swooning over and over again at how smooth JJ had been. Her giddy smile hadn't left her face all morning. 

Excitement buzzed through Harley since she got to ride JJ's dirt bike with him. Originally, she wanted to ride it and she had successfully persuaded JJ to let her; her hazel puppy dog eyes doused in unrelenting charm topped with her long fluttering lashes left JJ very agreeable. It was if it would physically pain him to say no to her. So, with giggles and laughter she confidently almost had them flying over the handles, that's when JJ decided he'd drive them for their own safety. 

She hopped along dragging Kiara with her as they came up to the end of a drainage system that spilled into the marshland. JJ said it was the North drain and that they should find the gun that Ward dropped. If they did, then there was no way Ward and Rafe would get away with what they had done.

Heaps of plastic littered the area which made Kiara frown. Plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic bottles and other waste floated in the murky water and got caught in the reeds. 

The anger radiating off Kie at the sight of all the litter was extremely obvious. The teen loved nature so much it would be impossible not to react so emotionally at the sight.

"Oh my God," Kie huffed. "People who use plastic should be shot."

"Well Kie," JJ started matter of factly. "Personally, I like plastic. Love it even. It's very useful, use it everyday. Love the stuff."

"'Hopefully, you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean."

JJ didn't comment, carefully looking away into the horizon.

Harley smirked. "Y'know Kie, I think people who don't recycle should serve jail time." Her Hazel eyes tracked over to JJ with a cheeky glint. She knew for a fact JJ didn't recycle mainly because he was messy and didn't separate his trash.