𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 // 𝘫𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘣

𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢

Everything that followed came in a blur. It felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. Affinity didn't even hear the blaring sounds of the approaching ambulance, or her friends trying to convince her to let go of John B. She physically couldn't move. Affinity didn't know why, but she refused to let go of him. She had this urge to protect the boy that had been burdened with such a heartbreaking past and present. She told him that she would help him. They even vowed to protect each other from any other thing that might hurt them. What was she supposed to do now?

Then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind. Her teary eyes raised to lock with a pair of bright blue ones that pierced the darkness, to which belonged to her father. Her fuzzy hearing finally started to clear up as his muffled voice rang through her ears, chasing the shock out from her frozen body. He placed both hands on her cheeks and gently shook her back to reality. Affinity's attention was now his.

"Fin? Fin! Come on, come with me, okay? You're okay, Peach."

"Dad?"

"Kiara called me. Come on, I'll take you to him. He'll be just fine."

Affinity's attention was now his, adrenaline suddenly shooting through her body as she shot up to her feet. Her eyes scanned around her surroundings, finding Pope ready at the van while JJ hurried to Kiara and helped her pull her focus away from where she stared at the ground. He wrapped his arms around her, she hung on tightly.

"You got her, Mr. McCormick?!" JJ called out over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys there!"

Affinity was already ahead of him, racing to the passenger's side and getting into the car. Her father was right behind her. He threw himself inside and jammed the keys into the ignition. The car jolted back in reverse and then forward to speed off after JJ. Affinity sat there quietly, her heart still beating a million miles per hour. The scene replayed in her head over and over, but what was even worse, is that she couldn't get the sound of John B's body slamming into the ground to stop ringing through her ears.

"What the hell happened, Fin?" Mr. McCormick asked, concern laced in his voice.

Affinity took in a shaky breath. "I-It was Topper."

"Topper? Topper Thornton? What was he doing there?"

"He was there because of Sarah Cameron."

Now Mr. McCormick was now thoroughly confused.

"S- What? Sarah Cameron? And why are you all dressed up? Did you go to Midsummer's?"

"Trust me I didn't do it for that witch," Affinity scoffed. "Dad, I'm going to give it to you straight. When John B and I went to the mainland, we discovered that the gold has been on the island this entire time. We found a letter describing the location so we needed a platmap of Tannyhill. I knew they were in our house so I sent Sarah to get them."