𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟼 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎-

"if you really want to conjure up a ghost / cultivate a space for the things that hurt you most / rake the sands until they surface / blind their tiny eyes."

~

The sunset over the horizon line of the ocean was prettier than it had been all summer, but Tate ignored it as she scanned the lines of boats docked, looking for one with the least security. When she was younger and didn't have a place to stay, she'd gotten really good at sneaking onto Kook boats for the night just to hide out and get some sleep until morning. It had been a good system, but it wouldn't work now. She didn't have it in her anymore. Still, she didn't have any options left.

She heard someone shout her name from behind, but didn't turn around. She didn't care who it was. She didn't feel like talking to anyone. "Tate!" the call came again. Tate scowled at the ground and slowed her walk, letting Kiara catch up to her.

"Hey," she said breathlessly. Tate turned to face her and saw JJ and Pope standing across the street, watching the girls tentatively.

"What?" Tate asked, eyeing the boys curiously before returning her gaze to Kiara's.

Kiara caught her breath quickly and stood up straight, looking at Tate with a steely, determined look in her eye. "Ignore them," she said, jerking her head back towards the boys. "I told them I would handle this one, but they still wanted to be here." Tate nodded her head, which felt heavy and clouded with exhaustion. Kiara kept going, her words coming out all in a rush. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend to understand what you're going through- and- and I totally don't blame you for being mad at John B. Nobody does. In fact, we're all pretty pissed at him too. It was shitty of him to not tell you what was happening and you didn't deserve what happened to you- but look- we made major headway with the gold today. We think it's in the old Crain house."

"Wait, the crazy one?" Tate asked, distracted. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious," said Kiara. "We're so close, man. You've been with us this long- come on- just... just finish out what you started, you know? And then you can cut off John B and the rest of us and- and do whatever you want. Just- please."

Tate took a deep, shaky breath. "I'm not mad at the rest of you," she said, and she genuinely meant it. "And I'm not out of the gold game. I just-" she looked around helplessly, "-I need to figure my own stuff out. I don't have a place to stay. I can't use the boats on the docks anymore because security's tighter now and if I get caught- I can't go to jail again, you know? And since my dad won't let me stay with him, I have to avoid the sheriff at all costs. If she finds out I don't have a place to stay again... well, I'm fucked."

Kiara nodded slowly, thinking. "Stay with me," she said at last.

"What?"

"Yeah, stay with me," said Kiara, sounding more confident now. "Look, you don't have any options at this point, and my parents like you. My dad would probably let you work for rent and we have a spare bedroom you could stay in. It'd be totally on the down low- no cops involved. Just- lemme talk to my dad- I'll do that literally right now- and we'll figure something out."