༄ 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗒－𝗈𝗇𝖾 ༄

THALIA KNEW SOMETHING was wrong the second she slipped into her bedroom window. The air in the Cameron mansion was thick and tense and terrifying. Thalia snuck into the hallway and made her up a flight of stairs into Sarah's room. The door was shut so she pushed it open, slipping inside and closing the door behind her. "What the hell is going on?" Thalia asked quietly, wanting no one to know that she was home.

Sarah was lying in her bed and she sat up, face covered in tears. "Rafe shot Sheriff Peterkin." Sarah sobbed, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

Thalia's eyes widened, crossing the room to Sarah's bed, sitting down across from her. "Peterkin's dead?" she asked, feeling her heart breaking. Thalia loved Sheriff Peterkin more than she loved her own mother some days.

Nodding, more tears fell from Sarah's eyes. "She showed up to the airstrip to arrest Dad, and Rafe came out of nowhere and shot her. She's dead." Sarah cried. Downstairs, the front door opened, and both girls knew Ward was home.

"Why was she arresting Ward?" Thalia asked, reaching out and brushing Sarah's long hair from her eyes.

"He killed John B's dad. John B was telling the truth." Sarah said, and she was crying harder now.

Thalia was the worst at comforting people, but she held Sarah, though she was shocked and confused and terrified. Rafe and Ward were murderers. Rafe and Ward were murderers. Downstairs, Ward shouted, and Thalia now sat beside Sarah, holding her cousin tightly around her shoulder. Sarah melted into Thalia, her head on the redhead's shoulder, crying.

Thalia wanted to go downstairs and talk to Ward and Rafe and understand what had happened, but Sarah begged her to stay, so she did. They fell asleep on Sarah's bed like they used to when they were little, and from afar, they looked as innocent as they once were. Maybe Thalia had never been innocent, but Sarah had. Ward and Rafe had taken that innocence from her, and Thalia hated it.

When morning came, Thalia's dead phone was blowing up with messages from Pope and JJ. They were worried about her, she just didn't know it. When Ward came upstairs to talk to them, Thalia had to fight to be calm. Ward sighed when he saw Thalia. She always managed to be everywhere he didn't want her to be. "What's gonna happen to Rafe?" Sarah asked, clutching Thalia's arm, leaning into her like she was a stuffed animal.

Ward was sitting at the foot of Sarah's bed. "Baby, nothing's gonna happen to Rafe." the man said quietly with a sigh.

Sarah sat up straighter as Thalia's eyes widened. "Excuse me? What do you mean, nothing'll happen? That makes no sense!" Sarah said, angry.

"I know it seems that way." Ward spoke lowly.

"He shot her!" Sarah reminded her father.

"Listen to me, sweetheart. You grow up in this world thinking there is good and there's evil, and that's how it should be, because that's helpful when you're young, when you need some kind of... structure. But there reaches a point when you realize that the world isn't organized along some divine idea of right and wrong. It's not. It's something else. It's family... and tribe. Do you understand? You both have to pick a side, girls." Ward said, and Thalia scoffed.

She rolled her eyes, huddled close to Sarah. "No. Not happening." Thalia voiced, Sarah nodding in agreement.

"Them or us," Ward gave the ultimatum, and neither Sarah nor Thalia had an answer. There just wasn't a way to pick between the Pogues and the Camerons. "Thalia, let's give Sarah some space." Ward stood up, giving Thalia the face that read she needed to do the same.

Thalia wasn't in a position to argue, so she winked at Sarah as she left her room, walking down the stairs to her own, ignoring Wheezie. Thalia knew she could escape out her window. Or, at least, before Ward put a lock over it, she could. Unfortunately for Thalia, as she went to question Ward for what he had done, her door was being slammed in her face, the lock clicking from the outside. "Are you kidding me? What the hell did I do, Ward?" Thalia shouted, slamming her palm against the door.

Her efforts were in vain. There was no way she was going anywhere, even if she tried. And she tried. Her phone was dead and in Ward's possession, so after she tried to bribe Wheezie to let her out through the locked door, she laid on her bed and elevated her knee. There was nothing else she could do. Rafe and Ward were murderers, and she was probably next on their hit list.

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IT WAS DARK out, and Thalia's patience was gone. She was a rather antsy person, so she couldn't sit still for long. Thalia had no alcohol and hardly any joints to smoke because she needed to make a run on weed, and she was losing her mind. Thalia tried to get anyone to talk to her, to let her out, but the most contact she got was Rose pushing her nightly dosage of depression and ADHD medication under her door, the woman even giving her step-niece a pain pill for her knee.

Thalia was reading a boring novel on her bed when there was a light explosion outside. She ignored it until a series of rocks were shot at her window. Hoping it was a certain someone, Thalia brought herself to her feet and rushed over to the glass, opening the curtains to see Pope kneeling on her roof. "I'm locked in!" Thalia shouted in a hushed voice to Pope, pointing to the lock over the inside of her window.

Pope nodded, understanding. "Back up." Pope responded, and Thalia raised her eyebrows, stepping away from her window. Her eyes widened as Pope ripped off his unbuttoned shirt he had on for his interview and wrapped it around his fist, proceeding to punch through Thalia's window enough to make a hole for her to climb through.

"You're crazy." Thalia said in awe, checking to make sure no one heard.

Shrugging, Pope pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it for Thalia to see while she pulled her sneakers on. "Did you know about this?" he questioned. Pope wasn't accusing Thalia, which she was grateful for.

Thalia shook her head, seeing that John B was wanted, and that he had a bounty on his head for 25k. "Fucking Rafe," the redhead heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and Ward's voice shouting Sarah's name. "Shit." Thalia cursed, knowing they were running out of time to escape.

Pope reached through the window and gave Thalia his arm, which she took, never taking her eyes off of him. "I got you." Pope muttered, completely wasted, Thalia could tell.

She was halfway out the window, Pope holding her by the waist, when her door was unlocked and pushed open by Rafe. They just stared at each other, Ward checking on Sarah in the distance. "Please." Thalia said quietly, not seeing Rafe for the murderer he was, but as the little boy who practiced soccer with her when she had no other friends. Rafe was her family, and she hated that she loved him.

Rafe's eyes moved from Thalia, to Pope, and then back to the redhead. "Go." Rafe said darkly, breathing heavily.

Thalia nodded and slipped out of the hole Pope had created, sliding off of the roof and into his arms as Ward found Rafe in Thalia's room. Hand in hand, the two ran, crossing the lawn and meeting up with Kiara. "Where's Sarah?" Pope asked Kie, Thalia looking up at him.

"I couldn't get her out. She's okay, though." Kie answered, continuing to walk to where JJ was waiting in her car.

"Wheezie's with her. She'll be fine." Thalia said, more to herself, trying to stay calm.

When Thalia looked down, she saw that she was still holding Pope's hand. "Sorry about your window." Pope said, having a bright and confident glow about him that Thalia didn't recognize.

Thalia smiled to herself. "It's fine. Is your hand okay?" she asked, reaching over and lifting up Pope's other fist. It was a little bruised, a small cut here and there, but it seemed okay.

"Yeah. It was easy." Pope brushed off, winking dramatically at Thalia. Kiara noticed this, her eyes wide.

"Are you still high?" Thalia asked Pope, the three arriving at Kie's car. "How much weed did JJ give him?" the redhead asked Kiara.

Kie shrugged, crossing the front of her car. "Way too much." she gestured to the beating the front of her car had taken.

Thalia turned to Pope, standing clear in JJ's line of sight. When he leant down to kiss her, she ducked away with an awkward smile and light laugh. "Not now, okay? We'll talk about it when you're sober, yeah?" Thalia said, dodging Pope and slipping into the front seat of the car, leaving Pope standing outside.

He brushed off the encounter casually and gave JJ a look that clearly said he didn't want to talk about it. "Where've you been? Just chilling at home?" JJ asked his sister, passing her a joint as Kiara started driving.

"Locked in the weirdest day of my life. Ward really did kill Big John, Rafe is also a murderer, Sarah's losing her mind, and poor Wheezie knows nothing." Thalia said, taking a hearty hit from her vape.

"Well, you missed a lot on our end." Kiara said, running a hand through her hair.

"Like what?" Thalia questioned, passing the joint back to JJ, tucking her red hair behind her ears.

Pope remained quiet, so JJ spoke. "We're trying to get John B off the island. We're gonna crash at Kie's restaurant and then get him Dad's boat." JJ updated Thalia.

The redhead frowned, eyebrows raised. "Dad's boat? You mean the Phantom?" Thalia asked, turning to look at JJ.

"Yeah. I think the keys are at the house." JJ said, head pushed to the back of the seat, inhaling the fumes from his joint.

"You're crazy if you think Dad's giving that boat up." Thalia said, turning back to look at the dark road, taking the joint. They set up shop at The Wreck, Kie's family restaurant. Pope wasn't talking very much, and Thalia knew why. She had ruined everything.

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