Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
────001, heart of the hurricane.
THERE WERE MANY THINGS CLEO BENNETT DID NOT MISS FROM THE OUTER BANKS.
The familiar sweltering heat of early summer so dense that the inevitable sticky sheen of sweat that forms on every possible inch of exposed skin the moment you step outside, the stubborn and irritating bites from the pesky gnats that never falter no matter how many times you think you've swatted them away, the narrow-minded residents and their great divide emphasized by seemingly daily disputes from both the south and north sides of the island━━to name a few.
But the water was the worst part. Maybe it was foolish of her to return to the one place surrounded by the vast expanse of the Atlantic ocean, but the fear hadn't always been there. She had grown up to love the water as she lived on the coastline, had learned to swim and fish and surf. The water, to her, was just as much as home as Outer Banks was. It's part of what drove her away from the island in the first place, sure, but even now, with the looming sound of the ocean's waves in the near distance, she could learn to admire it from afar but not tempt it or test it. She knew it was a force to be reckoned with, but she couldn't bring herself to step foot into it. Just the mere thought made her skin crawl, and made her lungs burn as if she were drowning, sinking further and further to the depths of the ocean.
There were more, of course, but these were just some of the aspects Cleo was reminded of the moment she stepped foot off the ferry to the island and realized, with a wretched deep guttural feeling, that she was home, and that she did miss. The sensation, the familiarity, the knowing that you're welcomed in a community and that you belong. But the only issue was: Cleo Bennett does not think she can call the Outer Banks home anymore. That perhaps her year away has made her an outsider altogether, unwelcomed and shunned. She certainly feels the difference, though that could all just simply be in her mind. She could not lie she was already missing the chaotic thrumming and buzzing of the city of Charlotte that she had left, and the solace in knowing that she was just one of the many random faces blending into the foreground.
But here? Here in the Outer Banks, everyone knows who everyone is━━and Cleo Bennett has just become a ghost from the past. A haunting spectacle to stare and point at, with forked tongues following her and lurking in every shadow, for more reasons than not. It made her wonder if she made a mistake deciding to spend the summer back in the Outer Banks. After all, a year was a long time. Things change, and people change, and life is a constant flow of mishaps and mistakes. She just couldn't tell, in that absence of her presence, whether the place she once called home changed, or if she changed━━and that was perhaps the most terrible thing she could think of.
