The Bell Tower: Scared

We spent the night in Kie's car at an abandoned shed on someone's property, all of us squished in the back to try and sleep, somehow I ended up on top of JJ to make room for everyone. It breaks my heart to know things are different between us, I can see the pain in his eyes when he watches me be distant towards him, but it's because I'm so exhausted. Pregnancy pains, what he did to me, being on the run and coming down from an adrenaline dump; I feel horrible.

I quickly scramble off JJ and throw the door open, hunching over as I throw up the small amount of contents in my stomach, feeling hands grab my hair but I can't see through my tears. 

When I finally stand up and wipe my mouth, JJ cups my face while rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs, "I'm sorry." He leans in and kisses my forehead, "You still mean something to me. You're too good for me, Willow, I hate that I hurt you."

"I hate it too." I sigh and lean into him, "I'm scared." 

"We'll figure this out," He wraps his arms around me, "if we have to go on the run then we will, okay?"

"Probably the best idea, maybe go to Mexico." I kiss his chest out of habit, "Go eat some lobsters."

He chuckles, "That's my girl."

Am I though?

"I need to sit down, I'm really tired." 

He helps me into the car and rests his hand on my thigh. I'm too weak to push him away right now, especially since I might have to go away for a long time, so I lean into his side, letting him wrap his arms around me. 

I sigh and relax when he presses light kisses on my head.

"And still, no arrest in the shooting death of Sheriff Susan Peterkin. The state police have issued a statement regarding a local person of interest, a pregnant juvenile from..." Kie turns off the radio.

"Let's game this out. Maybe you guys can help, being the smart ones and all, but..." JJ sighs, "who are the cops going to believe? Ward Cameron or us? So the accuser is a bigshot developer, kind of lord of the island, got the governor on speed dial kind of person, and the accused... is Willow, who is... pretty much a homeless pregnant 16-year-old girl at the moment."

"Thanks." I mutter.

"Yucatan, alright? I'm saying that's the only option for her." JJ brings up Mexico again, which has been an argument between him and John B since last night,  "What other option does she have?"

"Enough with the Mexico bullshit." John B huffs from my other side. "I've already told you, Sarah will bail her out."

"She did witness the whole thing." Kie chimes in from the passenger seat.

"And she's gonna snitch on her brother?" Pope asks, annoyance in his tone. "Not happening, bro. Okay?"

"Sarah would side with me over Rafe." I speak up, "She's closer to me."

Pope scoffs, "He's her family, Willow."

"That doesn't matter." I argue, "If Johnny went fucking psycho and murdered someone and tried to pin it on one of y'all, I'd side with you, not him." 

John Bs jaw drops, "I am not a psycho, thanks Will."

I chuckle, "I'm just saying if it did happen, I'd tell the truth." 

"We've gotta get her off the island." JJ states, his arms tightening around me when I tense.

"The ferry. It's the only way." Pope tells us, "Once we get her off the island she can go anywhere to hide." 

"Exit stage left while we still can." JJ pushes me down sirens blast past us, "Before the entire island is on lockdown. Guys, just stay down."

"I'll be right back." 

We drop the subject while Pope runs down the street to the ferry to check the departure times and scope it out for police. I drag myself onto JJs lap and nuzzle my face against his neck. I might as well savor the time I have with him before I go to prison for life or run away to Mexico. His hands play with my hair while we listen to the world around us; the constant sound of sirens in the distance keeping my nerves on edge.

"Okay. Okay." Pope leans into Kie's window, "Alright no." 

"Pope, can you act normal?" Kie exclaims, clearly frustrated with him being way too high to function.

"So, um... okay, so, bad news." He stresses, "The ferry's closed, and there is this."

I turn around and lean over to see what he's passing to Kie, my eyes go wide when I see the wanted persons page with my face front and center, with a twenty-five thousand dollar reward for turning me in.

I pout, "I'm not worth more than that? Damn."

JJ kisses my neck, "You're worth more than that, way more."

"You sure? Cause you chose 25k over being with me."

He grimaces, "I'm sorry." 

"Shit." Kie sighs, "That is a lot of money though." 

"Well, Willow, uh... this is a good framer of you." JJ tries to joke to lighten my mood, though our faces share the same pained expression.

Pope clumsily climbs into the drivers seat, "Okay, so the whole island's lookin' for Willow right now."

"Congratulations, Will." John B mumbles as he stares at the paper, "You're famous now." 

"Guys, we got to get to the HMS. We need small, no running lights--"

"It's at the Château, Kie." John B cuts her off.

"And I wonder if the cops got the entire place staked out. Let me think." JJ sasses, "Oh, yeah. No. They definitely have that place locked down."

Kie sighs, "Yeah, copy that."

"Let me think. Just give me a second." Pope exclaims, "JJ!"

He caresses my face when I look at him, "What?"

"Does your dad still have that boat? The cigarette boat... the Phantom. The one he used to race."

"Maybe." JJ avoids eye contact now that his dad was brought up, so I kiss his neck and cuddle into him, making him relax under me.

"She could get right up the coast, no problem."

"It won't be easy, Pope." JJ argues, "I don't know where the keys are." 

"The surf's running from three to four." Kie mutters to herself.

Pope starts the car, "Why is nobody moving forward?"

"Can you relax?" Kie asks, "JJ, how much weed did you give him?"

"Guys. Guys." John B whisper shouts, "Kie, your cars on the poster."

"Leave, Willow."

"We have to go, I'm not safe here." I wearily look around, "I can't be out in the open like this."

Pope starts to honk the horn, so I bury my face against JJs chest when I notice people looking our way, "Can we move guys? I don't like being this exposed."

"Pope!" Kie scolds him.

"Mom. Look." A kids voice yells from outside the car.

"Don't honk the horn." Kie exclaims.

"It's the girl. Right there."

"Shit. We got a snitch. Pope, drive." JJ shields my face and turns us towards John B so he can help cover me.

"Fuckin' a man." I stress when Pope continues to honk and yell at the car in front of us, "Chill, Pope, goddamn."

"We get $25,000 if we find her. Hey!"

"She's right there!" Someone starts to bang on the window, while alerting cops where we are.

"We gotta go!" Kie yells, "Drive!"

Out of nowhere we lurch forward, hitting the car in front of us. I cling to JJ so I don't fly off his lap, "Pope! Jeez! Who let him drive?"

"Dude, back up!" Kie grabs onto her seat and the door handle, "The other way."

"It's okay! Pope, just go!" JJ yells when he starts to panic.

"Sorry!"

I glance up to see us driving across the grass between two streets. This is not how I thought my weekend would go. 

"What are you doing?" Kie gasps.

"We'll bump out." JJ tightens his grip on me. 

Pope takes off down the road, ditching the cops behind us.

"Watch out! Pope!" Kie screams, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch out!"

I wildly look around right as he hits someone's mailbox.

"Oh, my God!" Pope yells out in glee as he laughs.

"This isn't safe, Pope! Chill!" I wrap my arms around JJs neck while he holds my waist, "Please pull over so someone else can drive." 

"Pope!" John B frantically holds on for dear life.

"I'm livin' my best life now." Pope happily exclaims, "This is so much fun!"

"My mom will kill me." Kie cries, "Oh my God my poor car."

"I should be the last to say this, but you are not okay to drive. Stop!" JJ yells when Pope swerves for the hundredth time. "My girl is fucking pregnant dude, you're going to hurt her driving like this."

He hits the breaks as hard as he can, sending us flying into the front seats, JJ grabs me when we stop, "Willow get out."

"Oh, jeez. That hurt." I groan and rub my face, "What do you mean get out?"

"Fuck, he's right. We can draw the cops away from you now that they think your in this car." JJ rushes out, "I'll get the rig, and I'll meet you in the dump tomorrow, okay baby?"

"Okay," I lean over, connecting my lips with his, letting him pull me in as close as he can while the world goes silent around us. I've missed those sweet lips, when we break away he smiles softly and caresses my face, "In case I don't see you for a while," I give everyone one last look before slinging my backpack on and pushing open the door, "I love you."

"I love you too, Princess." JJ calls out while I run off towards the trees, "Three o'clock, okay? Three tomorrow at the dump." 

"Okay."

I can hear everyone else yelling that they love me and to be safe, but I don't turn back. Instead I run like my life depends on it, I guess it sort of does.

~~~~~

I ran for hours through the island, until I made it to the old church I used to play in with Sarah; we'd come here to escape our homelives when we needed a break, or if our brothers were making us mad. Now I'm cowering in the corner of the dark bell tower, wishing I could go back in time to fix the wrongs in my life.

How did things go down hill so fast? 

Within the span of a few weeks I went from hating my life to finally being perfectly happy to hating my life again. I mean I'm pregnant, alone and on the run for murder at sixteen years old.

How much worse does it get?

The door on the floor creaks open, making me hold my breath in fear. I breathe out when I see Sarah pop up and let out a sob after she see's me crying in the corner, "Oh Brookie."

"I'm scared, Sarah."

"I know, sweetie." She scrambles across the floor and wraps her arms around me, "I'm so sorry my dad and brother are doing this to you."

"Not your fault. Don't apologize for them."

She sighs, "I saw Kie earlier, she came to my window and told me the plans for the boat. I want to go with you. I can't stay here either, my dad and Rafe are upset that I want to protect you from them, they told me I had to chose between the pogues or them, so I chose y'all and escaped."

I sniffle, "You'd leave with me?"

"You can't go alone." She smiles softly, "We can go together."

"Okay." I cry, "I don't want to leave when I haven't fixed things with JJ. And.. and I don't want John B to feel alone. Fuck, my body hurts and my head hurts."

"I know, I know." She soothes me, "We'll see them again soon, they can find us in Mexico once the heats off of you." She sighs and rubs my back, "Why don't you lay down and get some sleep?" I shift to lay down while she curls up behind me and hugs me, tracing her fingers up and down my arm to lull me asleep.

~~~~~

"Sarah, I really don't think this is a good idea," I link my arm with hers while we sneak through the island, "we shouldn't split up, and Ward isn't going to let Rafe go down for this, if you try to go tell the cops, he could try to hurt you too." 

"I have to try." She stops me from walking and ducks down behind a short picket fence in someone's yard when police blare past us, "You're being stalked by my psycho brother and my dad's trying to pin a murder on you, it isn't right to just watch it happen when I saw what Rafe did." 

"I know, but it isn't that easy." I tell her, "It's our word against their, it's not really a fair fight for us. Ward has the whole damn island in the palm of his rich manipulative hand. I already tried talking to the police and it ended badly." 

She groans, "I know he does, but I'm going to try. The worst that happens is the police don't believe me, it's not like they are after me, I won't get arrested for being there. But you on the other hand will, so you have to stay hidden." 

"I will, I'll meet you at the dump." I hug her, "Please be careful, be there no later than 3." 

"I should be telling you that," She laughs, "Don't let Rafe get his hands on you. I don't know how he keeps popping up everywhere we are." 

"It's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah girl, I never would have thought he'd be like this."

I nod, "It's kind of sad. I miss the old Rafe."

"I do too." She pats my shoulder before running off, heading for the police headquarter tents set up at the point.

Time for me to navigate the last few miles to the dump without getting kidnapped or arrested. Doesn't help that I still have a raging headache from Rafe hitting me in the head and my body hurts from being hit by a car.

Oh what a wonderful summer I'm having. 

~~~~~

JJs POV

"You sure he wasn't just being weird Pope?" I ask Kie, trying to understand why Pope stormed out of the Wreck this morning. 

Him and Kie have been in some kind of fight or something ever since we stopped by Tannyhill last night. 

She grimaces and hands me food to pack for the getaway in the phantom, "It wasn't really the kind of thing that needed interpretation." She sighs when she looks into the box, "Is that going to be enough food for her?"

"For both of us," I correct her, "and I mean for a couple of weeks, that's all we need, I think." 

"You're going with her?" 

"Why wouldn't I?" I furrow my brows when she shrugs, "Kie, she's pregnant with my baby and I love her, why wouldn't I go with her? She can't go to Mexico alone anyways."

"I know, I know." She frowns, "Do you think she wants you to go with her? Maybe you should focus on yourself for a bit before trying to get back together."

"I fucking hope she does, I can't lose her." I panic internally when I think about Willow possibly telling me to stay behind, does she hate me for the things I did and said to her? Fuck, how could I treat her the way I did when I told her I never wanted a dude to hurt her, "We'll figure it out but I already focused on myself for a couple months, I don't want to be away from her anymore."

How do I make Willow see that I do love her and that I didn't mean what I said to her?

I know she probably doesn't believe that I didn't actually get with another girl, but it's true, I could never be with someone else. I don't think I could even get it up if I tried. I can't believe I physically hurt her... fuck don't think about that right now, I'll lose my shit if I do. 

"She did kiss you yesterday, so maybe she's trying to forgive you." Kie gives me a sympathetic look, "I know she loves you, JJ, but you have a long way to go to win her back. You really hurt her. If she does chose to walk away from what y'all had then there are plenty of girls who would love to have a chance with you."

"I know I hurt her, the bruises make it pretty fucking obvious that I went too far." My heart aches, "I have to live with the shit I did I did to her, but having to watch her live her life without me, especially now what we're having a kid... that would really fucking suck. And I know there's girls out there that want me but they can be disappointed, I don't want them." 

Kie rummages through one of the boxes off food, "How are you handling the fact that she's pregnant? You haven't said much about it." 

"It makes me nervous, for obvious reasons. Honestly, it took everything in me not to panic and run off after she showed me her belly and the stupid bruises on her side right next to our sweet baby. But I can't back out of this, it's my fault she's pregnant, I knew better than to have sex without condoms but I talked her into not using them anyways. Then I forgot to get her plan B when she had told me to get her some." 

Kie gives me a weird look while squeezing my arm, "It's okay to be scared, you can always come to me to talk, okay?" 

"Yeah I know." 

"Well y'all have time to figure everything out, and hopefully we will all be in Mexico with you when the babies born so you'll have help." She picks up the box and heads for the door, "But I think I really hurt Pope's feelings, and I don't know how to make things right between us."

"How?" I ask while carrying the second box of food, pulling open the back of her car to set the box down.

"He told me he's in-love with me while he was high and I sorta shot him down." She admits, keeping her eyes on the ground, "I felt bad about it because I wasn't exactly nice when I told him it wasn't going to work for us."

I blow out air and run my hand through my hair, my hat in my free hand, "I did not think he'd just blurt it out, but Kie, he's liked you for years. Its gonna hurt but he will get past it if y'all stay friends. Just give him time to process, things are crazy right now."

"Yeah, I hope so. I don't think I like him like that, you know?" She frowns, "You just knew with Willow, right?"

"Yeah, I knew I liked her, I just avoided the feelings. But there wasn't ever any doubts about her being the one for me." 

She nods, "See, there's doubts with Pope. We want different things in life."

"Then tell him that."

"I tried." She complains, "He didn't seem to understand me though, he kept saying he wanted what I want in life, but I know he doesn't. He has college mapped out, but I want to go see the world." 

I lean my leg against the car bumper, "Then go see the world, Kie. Don't settle for someone just because that's what they want."

"I hate to admit it but I miss the old Pope, at least I knew what to expect from him. Now he's always high." She jumps when her mom pops up behind us.

"Where you been?" Mrs. Anna asks, frustration in her tone. 

I back away and watch from a few feet away.

"I'm.. I'm fine. I slept here." Kie points to the restaurant, as if that made sense, considering her best friend is on the run for murder.

Anna scoffs, "Right well, we were up half the night, scared to death lookin' for you." I shut the back of the car and stay behind Kie, "Were you even gonna tell us?"

"Well I'm telling you right now."

Anna looks between Kie and myself, "Alright, what the hell are you two up to?"

"I'm sorry Mrs. Anna but we have to go." I tell her while fidgeting with my hat when she starts to get agitated with us. 

"No, absolutely not." She calls out when we get into the car, "JJ, do not drag my daughter with you when you help your pregnant girlfriend, who happens to also be a murderer." 

"Don't say that mom." Kie exclaims while struggling to start the car with shaky hands, I slip the keys out of her fingers and turn it on for her, she grimaces and nods at me as a silent thank you. "I'm sorry mom, we have to help Willow. I'll explain what happened later."

"Have you seen the storm coming in, honey? This is not safe!" Anna stresses, while trying to keep Kie from shutting the car door, "These cops are armed, Kiara, you'll get shot."

My heartrate picks up while I watch her mom stress out, God I wish I had someone care about me like that. Shit, I did but I hurt her. Maybe I am just like my dad, he hurt my mom and pushed her away just like I did to my beautiful Princess. She deserves so much more than how I treated her, all because I wanted the attention off of myself, just like she said, she knows me so well and was willing to forget everything I did if I stayed that day, but I didn't, instead I destroyed any trust she had for me by abusing her, which is something she never should have been exposed to. 

"I have to go, Willow needs me," Kie cries after she finally pushes her mom away from the door and closes it, "I understand, I'll be careful." 

I look away, tears brim my eyes when reality sets in. Willow could get killed over this shit, she's considered a damn cop killer now. Is running going to wind up with her dead? 

Kie sobs while we drive away, her mom screaming at us until her voice finally fades away. We stay silent the entire drive to my house.

When she parks in my driveway we stare at the house for a few minutes before she turns to me, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah, I'll only be a few minutes." I fake a smile, "Stay out here." 

I push the door open and force myself to get out before I can sike myself out. My feet feel heavy while I trudge into my dirty ass house, my dad being too lazy to clean up for himself after binging on beer and pills for weeks on end. 

"Dad?" I walk up to him passed out on the couch and stare down at his peaceful expression, "Dad, I need the keys to the phantom." I sigh when he doesn't move, my eyes land on the pill bottle on the coffee table a few feet away.

Out of habit I pick it up and read the label, Ambien. 

Piece of shit, wasting money on pills instead of worrying about me, his own damn son. Whatever. I quietly grab a pencil and tweezers, blowing out a breath before kneeling next to him to somehow get the key off the chain around his neck. My breath hitches and heart drops to my gut when his eyes pop open, hazily watching me hover over him. 

"I didn't expect to see you." My dad says as he sits up and takes a swig from the warm beer next to us, "You're back."

I back away a few feet, trying to keep my composure, "Just checkin' in."

He sets the beer down, "School out already?"

"What?" 

Does he not know what day it is? Its been summer for months now.

"Did you ditch?" He chuckles, "It's alright, you can tell me."

I nod, "Yeah, I hit the brake, you know?"

He laughs, "I hated school too, my boy!" He smiles up at me before unsteadily getting to his feet, I flinch away when he puts his hands on my shoulders, "Hey look, I know I'm hard on you somethings." Fuck don't cry idiot, I bite the inside of my cheek to keep my emotions off my face, "But sometimes, I see.. I see your mother in you and it gets me a little tweaked, you know?"

I chuckle to hide my pain, keeping my eyes on his shirt instead of his face incase he reads into my emotions as a weakness, "You're a good boy." I hum in response, not knowing what to do with this soft side of the man who beats the shit out of me for no reason every week. "I love you, son." I grimace as tears come to my eyes after he pulls me into a rough hug, "Come here, I love you... I love you, son." 

I sniffle and hug him back, tears rolling down my face as he gets weaker in my arms, the pills he took making him pass out again, "Love you too dad." I cry, "I'm sorry."

"Ain't got nothin' to be sorry for." My dad breathes out, "You're a good boy." 

His breath goes heavy after he fully passes out, I drop him onto the couch and rip the necklace off of his neck, taking a deep breath to settle my emotions before I have to go face Kie. I don't like when people think I'm weak. Only Willow gets to see my soft side, the side of me that has feelings and emotions that usually stay bottled up until I explode and do something stupid... something stupid like hurting her the way I did. Shit stop thinking about that right now.

I walk out of my house, the key in my hand, dropping into the passenger seat in Kie's car.

She gives me a soft smile, "How'd it go?" 

I hold the keys up and force a smile while not making eye contact. She nods and drives us through the cut to the boat storage, avoiding the cop cars when they fly past us, sirens blasting. 

Looking for my beautiful Princess, I wonder what she's doing right now. 

It was absolute hell going so long without seeing her or feeling her in my arms, but I was scared to confront her, especially after seeing her at work when her jaw was still bruised from my stupid hand. I had my first panic attack that day, almost lost my job because I was freaking out after watching her leave while crying over seeing me. I couldn't tell if she was upset because she was scared of me or if she was sad about losing me, maybe it was a mixture of both since she flinches around me now, fuck I hate that I did this to her. 

We eventually pull into the storage lot, making my heartrate pick up when I see the phantom. This is real. I'm leaving, well if Willow lets me go with her. If not then she will be gone and I'll be alone. I guess I deserve that. 

"There she be." I run my hand down the side of the boat, "Hey, girl. A 1983 Formula 402 SR1. The Phantom. The first boat to make the run to Bermuda in under 16 hours. Forty years old! Forty. And still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen."

"It's kind of a junker."

I scoff, "Really? She's right there, Kie. She can hear you. Let's just put it this way. You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

"You seem to love this thing more than Willow."

I shake my head, "Not even possible, Kie. I could never love anything as much as I love Willow and my unborn child."

"I just hope it runs." Kie continues to hate on the poor boat.

"Oh, no, she'll run all right. She's faster than any cutters the boys in blue got." I call out as I move around inside the boat. 

We hear a dirt bike pull up outside the storage building, so I jump down from the boat and round the corner to face the doors. 

"Pope. Finally." Kie calls out.

"Hey, there. What's goin' on?" Rafe's voices fills the air. I whip my head around and look at him, seeing the scary look in his eyes that Willow had told us about, "How you guys doin'? Where's my girl?"

My heart pounds while anger washes through me, "Not your girl, man, she's mine." 

Rafe laughs and looks past me, I turn around to see Barry walking in. Shit. I don't have time for this right now. 

He lets out a whistle and grips his gun in his left hand while walking up to me, "Whoo-hoo! Well, well..." Barry points his gun at my chest, "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road. I'm here because I want my fuckin' money." He screams, I hold my hands up in the air, the only thing on my mind is making it out of this alive for my girl and our baby, "Not to mention a little birdie told me that you put your hands on Willow and uh, we can't let that shit slide. Ain't that right Country Club?"

"That's right." Rafe chuckles from somewhere behind me, "Did Willow tell you that we started dating after y'all broke up? That baby could be either of ours." 

"You're fucking lying--" Pain courses through my head after Barry's pistol connects with the side of my face, knocking me to the ground, my hands come up to clutch my head while I spit out blood.

"JJ!" Kie screams in fear, "Jayj!"

"That's what I'm here for." Barry slams my head into the ground, causing a wheezing sound to ripple up my throat. 

I can hear shuffling and Rafe talking to Kie about Willow. But I can't focus on them while Barry kicks the shit out of me, until a loud slap echoes through the metal building after Kie hits Rafe, shit that wont end well for her.

"I know what you did," Kie yells, "You murdered Peterkin and you're trying to kidnap Willow."

Barry's head snaps up to look at Rafe with a shocked expression on his face, giving me enough time to scramble to my feet, stumbling around before he grabs my shirt, "Where is my money? Huh?" He throws punch after punch into my face and torso before throwing me to the ground again, "STAY DOWN."

"WHERE'S WILLOW?" Rafe screams, I glance over to see him holding Kie by her throat, panic settles in when her face goes red. 

How can I get us out of this? Think JJ, think. 

I breathe out a sigh of relief when Pope runs up behind Rafe and smacks a pole into the back of his head making him drop Kie. Barry gets distracted when he looks over at Rafe falling to the ground, so I grab his ankle before he can turn the gun to Pope, he trips causing the pistol to fall to the ground. 

"Kie!" I yell, "Kick it." 

"Shit." She runs over to the gun and kicks it across the room while clutching her neck. 

I jump up and throw my fists into Barry's face, taking all my frustration out on him. He's the reason I hurt Willow, he's the reason my dad was addicted to drugs, he fucked up my life. I finally stop when he lays on the ground under me, no fight left in him. When I stand up, my eyes land on Pope strangling Rafe, he looks like he's in a daze while Kie screams at him to stop. 

I run over and claw at his hands to make him drop the rope, "He's had a enough dude." 

"He's good." Kie cries, "Please stop."

"Snap out of it, man." I snap my fingers trying to get Pope to look at me, "Stop it, dude!" I wrap my arm around him to pull him away, "Bro come on."

When the hell did he get this strong? 

"Pope, get off of him!" Kie grabs at the rope while looking into Rafe's eyes, "Baby, breathe." She cups his face when he starts to pass out, "Rafey." 

"Pope!" My voice goes up an octave, "Let go." 

Pope screams in frustration and tightens the rope even more.

"LOOK AT ME." Kie's voice pierces our ears, causing Pope to snap his head up to look at her as he drops Rafe to the ground.

"Shit." I steady Pope while he pants. 

Kie kneels down and rubs Rafe's arm while he coughs, trying to catch his breath, "Why, Rafe, why?"

"I'm.. sorry, Kie." He chokes out, his hand reaching up to caress her face before he drops it and rolls to the side, spitting blood on the ground. 

Kie silently cries as she stands up and runs to the car.

"We have to go," I tell Pope, running off to hook the boat up to the car hitch before jumping into the drivers seat, "Come on , Pope!"

Time to go see my Princess. 

-