Chapter Text
Death consistently contradicts itself. It can be silent like a predator sneaking up on its prey, but it can also be loud. It can be loud as hell like a roaring fire, or blaring sirens. It doesn’t matter whether it creeps up on you from a distance, takes you by surprise, or makes itself known from miles away. We’re taught to fear it. We treat it like it’s something so foreign, but it’s just as natural as life. We’re all slowly reaching towards it, and it stings when we see others touch it. We watch with bloodied eyes and quiet voices as people brush their fingers with death. It’s all the same, yet different. Some yearn for it, some fear it, and some ignore it.
You ignored it, but it becomes difficult to ignore something that’s right in front of your face.
You had just turned sixteen and summer was fast approaching; however, the last thing on your mind was planning out the perfect summer. The fact of the matter was that no matter how much you planned and scheduled, your summer would not be perfect. It couldn’t be, not with the sudden passing of your father.
The whirlwind of emotions was far from settling, and the tempest would only pick up again with the news your mom had decided to dump on you.
You would be moving back to Maria Bay, a small town situated along the coast. Some would call it paradise, but you'd beg to differ. Paradise? That’s not how you remembered it. Between the less than rare storms, poverty, and violence, your hometown left a lot to be desired and you doubted that you’d be bunking in a mansion on the rich side of town. With no friends, no money, and the absence of your dad, the ‘perfect summer,’ you had been looking forward to all year felt like it had slipped right through your fingers, and there was nothing you could do to stop it.
Your thought process did little to ease the tension and turmoil festering within, and before you knew it you were aboard a plane with all you could stuff into one suitcase and an old backpack.