TROUBLE | JJ Maybank

Prologue: Eye Of The Storm

THE SKY DARKENED as Amelia Cameron as she stepped out onto her front porch. The wind began to howl as the first bands of the hurricane began to make themselves known. It was the calm before the chaos, the eerie silence that often comes before the worst part of the storm hit like the world was holding its breath. 

Amelia wrapped her arms around herself. Her father had insisted she stay inside, away from the rain and wind, but there was a part of her that couldn't stand the stillness inside the house, her family, ever so composed, had gone into their usual storm-prepping mode. Rechecking emergency equipment, restocking first aid kits, memorising emergency phone numbers, shutting every window, lighting every candle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of movement from the beach. She squinted through the rain, her heart beating faster as she watched. There- against the churning waves were the pogues. Specifically, John B. and one of his friends. Their figures were barely visible in the mist and darkness as they carved through the waves like they had no fear.

Amelia (thinking): Are they insane? A literal hurricane is coming. 

Her stomach dropped, and her heart raced with a mixture of disbelief and- worry, you could say. The storm had started to become stronger. The winds were picking up; the trees began to bend. Although she should be worried about the damage the hurricane could cause and if her family had enough supplies, all she could focus on was the two teens, free and reckless in the face of something everybody feared. Amelia had begun to question things she'd never dare to look at twice.

Amelia bit back a sigh. It wasn't that her parents didn't care or didn't love her. It was just that they cared too much—too much about appearances, too much about everything. And in this moment, all she wanted was to breathe, to do something wild and reckless like the Pogues did. But that wasn't her world. 

"Amelia", Rose breathed out, bewildered Amelia was outside "Ward, she's out here!" Rose called as she draped a blanket around Amelia, wrapping her in it. "Come inside, it's not safe out here", Rose instructed as she guided Amelia inside.

"Honey, what were you doing outside? There's a hurricane," Ward asked, concerned.

" I'm fine, Dad. It's not like I was out surfing. I just wanted to see it up close ", Amelia declared, shrugging.

"Go upstairs and change, please. Then finish preparing for the storm," Ward instructed, sighing.

Amelia entered her room and immediately began drying herself off. She changed into a pair of denim shorts and a faded white T-shirt. After getting dressed, she pulled her hair up in a ponytail, restocked the first aid kit that she kept in her room and finished charging her laptop, phone, headphones, and portable charger. Next, she wrote down all of her emergency contacts and checked to make sure her flashlights were working. Amelia also packed an emergency kit in a waterproof bag, which included three changes of clothes, her jewellery, her birth certificate, her wallet, her laptop, a spare flashlight, another first aid kit that her dad had given her, and a waterproof jacket.

AFTER AMELIA HAD finished storm prepping, she was on her bed, pulling her knees to her chest. She couldn't stop thinking about John B and his friend, surfing in the middle of a hurricane. 

Kiara (message): "Hey, you guys doing okay?"

Amelia was surprised that Kiara would text her after what happened last year, but then again, it wasn't Amelia who orchestrated it. She stared at her phone a moment longer than necessary, her fingers hovering over the screen. Kiara's texting me? A part of her didn't even know how to respond, still reeling from the sharp edges of their last conversation. Had Kiara reached out because she genuinely cared, or was it out of some sense of obligation?