CASTAWAY ⚓ R.C, J.M

T W E N T Y T W O

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I T' S   A L L   G L O O M
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Nobody had really seen Harley except Big John. When he was around, which wasn't often anymore, he'd check in on his little girl and make sure she was okay and functioning. She didn't really leave her room or move from her bed, so he'd leave food or snacks sometimes.

Ever since Rafe tried to drown her, Harley had been very vacant. She hadn't felt like getting up, eating or going outside. The whole ordeal kept replaying in her mind. Everything he said and did. How she was nothing without him. She had no friends or blood family. She wasn't smart. How at the end of it all she was a Pogue, and to him, Pogues were the lowest of the low. It was so easy for Harley to sink into a gloom that felt immense and unshakable. Why try fighting it when there's nobody on the other side waiting for you?

Harley rolled onto her side and looked out the window. It was sort of sunny and definitely no longer the morning. She had slept through.

"Harley... are you up?" John B's questioning voice hummed through the closed door. He tapped twice and repeated himself before pushing it open.

Harley didn't bother rolling over, instead she shut her eyes.

"Lee?"

"Mmm."

The bed dipped and his hand touched her arm. "Do you want to come outside? The others are here. We're just hanging out."

"They don't like me."

"That's not true."

It was. It had been like this since they assumed she was choosing the Kooks over them. It didn't seem to matter that she was essentially neither, though she had been branded the Castaway.

"It's fine. I just want to stay here."

"What about coming to the kitchen? I can make you a smoothie and pancakes."

"Thank you. But no thanks."

Harley could hear John B's sigh. He had been trying to get her to be her old self for some time. At first he thought she was ill and had kept asking his dad if Harley was alright. Then he had tried to speak to her though her door, in a bid to give her privacy. However, he grew worried pretty fast when he rarely saw her around the house. She hadn't even left to see Rafe like she usually would, which led him to think they had broken up. Maybe Harley was heartbroken. That thought made John B angry at Rafe. How could he break Harley's heart? She was the sweetest, kindest person ever.

"Lee, you have to eat something. Dad's been pretty AWOL lately. So it's just you and me. I don't mind making you something." John B was practically pleading. The last time he had seen her eat anything was a day ago and it had only been a snack bar. He wasn't sure if not eating could contribute to seizures, but either way he didn't want anything to happen to Harley.

Harley, nor JJ, had mentioned the seizure she had suffered the day she had come back drenched and depressed. She hadn't even mentioned it to Big John.

The other Pogues had been curious as to what was going on, even trying to overhear conversations across the island. They had ended up at the Wreck at the same time as some Kooks, including Rafe and Topper. They had heard Harley's name mentioned at one point. Both boys had seemed to get worked up. Where Rafe looked pissed and hostile, as usual, Topper looked more regretful and annoyed. The conversation appeared to be dropped just as fast as it had come up, but they did notice that Rafe looked to be perfectly fine otherwise. No signs of sadness. No signs of heartbreak.