STRANDED (THE WILDS KIRIN O'CONNOR)

NIGHT 16. + Emma's interrogation

Josh clears his throat catching our attention "Guys. I'm fine. Really. You don't have to, like, put me on some kind of watch or something."

After We ate and calmed down we all gathered into the shelter and stayed quiet not leaving Josh alone, "We know." Ivan tells him sweetly.

"I, uh... I should thank you, everybody, for having my back, you know? Even when I didn't have my own, you know, back. I'm just... I'm sorry." Josh rambles.

"Apology fiercely rejected." Ivan tells Josh "Oh okay." Josh says back as I hide my laugh in Kirin's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Josh repeated himself "Josh, you are not the one who needs to be apologizing. You're the victim here."

"Right. Yeah. That's great." Josh nods "No, honey, don't... There's no stigma. It's your truth, and now you need to own it..." Ivan tells Josh who shakes his head.

"What I need is to never fucking think about it again, and for everybody here to shut up about it... forever! Whether we get out of this place or not. I have been called all of the things...Pussy, chicken shit, little bitch...and I'm so sick of it all that I could choke. And everyone is like, own it, just own it, like if you own it you'll be invincible or something. And that is just... it's not how it works. Owning it just means that you are it."

"Ok, whatever you need Josh." Bo soothes. "For you to just never tell anyone... ...please." Josh sadly pleads with us all. "I promise." Kirin confidently says.

"I promise." I smile at Josh "I promise." Ivan says after me, "I promise" Henry assures.

"I promise" Bo and Scotty say together, all of our eyes trail to Raf who is sitting outside of the shelter.

"I promise." Raf assures us all as he holds eye contact and even though I didn't like that he believed Seth I knew Raf would not tell a soul.

  ..........................................................................

"What happened that day on the beach when Kirin attacked Seth?" Young asked me I lick my lips as I knew this was coming at some point.

"Seth did something that didn't sit well with Kirin, didn't set well with any of us." Faber and Young look to each other as Faber nods. Young sits forward "What didn't set well with anyone?"

"I'm not the one to answer this question." I state, I wasn't lying. Even though I knew what happened doesn't mean I had the right to speak on it, and most importantly I promised Josh and the rest of the guys I would never speak of it. And I won't.

I watch as Faber looks at the brace on my wrist, "How did you injure your hand?" I look down to my brace and pull it closer to my chest "I didn't, Seth did." Young writes down some notes in a book as Faber speaks up again.

"How did Seth hurt your hand?" I swallow thickly "I did something he didn't like, he grabbed me a little too roughly." Faber nods.

"You and the boys have been very tight lipped on the events of day 16, was that planned?" I shake my head "No, just not my story to tell."

"And whose story would you say it is?" Young asked I shake my head and smile "Have yiu ever thought that we don't want to talk about it? To have to relive it? You two pry and pry for any information you can grasp."

I pause as I sit back and cross my arms again "What happened on that island traumatized us, no amount of retelling will change that. And no amount of retelling will paint the picture you do desperately want, you won't know or understand what happened unless you were there living it."

They remain silent and I smile satisfied, "I want to see my boyfriend now. Please.