( CHAPTER THIRTY )
THE EYE OF THE STORM

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    AS TAYLOR SWIFT SAID ONE DAY : If you walk away, I'd beg on my knees to stay. Eden felt every word in that sentence at that precise moment as she ran towards the boy she loved more than anything in the world. She ran without even thinking about her legs which wanted to collapse to the ground. She couldn't afford to take a break to get her breathing back into place, or to just give up. No, she couldn't agree to give up her last chance to join John B before he left for good. She mentally begged him as hard as she could that he hadn't left without her, that she was going to find a way to join him. That their story wasn't over because of this murder. That their story was only put under fire because of Ward Cameron. Because of the treasure, because of her own father. Because the real treasure she found these last two months was him. She couldn't leave her treasure behind, she had to find it before it was taken away from her.

    She went through all the roads she had to take to reach the marsh as easily as possible, but with all the police passing by, she had to be even more vigilant to avoid being followed. Her breathing was short, it was no longer functioning normally with all the steps she was taking. She crossed Figure Eight, walked five blocks, passed about twenty police cars, and even then, she had already lost too much time.

    Let him still be there, she literally prayed at that moment, pulling out her phone to see the time displayed on the screen : 3:23 p.m. She swore at herself and her too-small legs that couldn't run any faster. She took the last road which finally gave way to the wooden bridge that she could take to reach the water of the marsh. Eden passed under trees as well as in front of poorly constructed houses which had probably been inhabited for a long time, then fell, after long minutes of running, on wooden bridges which were at least fifty to sixty meters long. She blew a breath, then moved her legs again, looking from side to side to try to find a boat. JJ had probably managed to get the boat so John B could leave, otherwise Eden was just running for nothing and he was already behind bars.

She shook the bad idea out of her head. JJ was the person who often had bad ideas, but sometimes, and she really emphasizes sometimes, his ideas work. He must have managed to obtain The Phantom, the boat of his father, Luke Maybank, and it was best known as one of the fastest, which would be useful to John B. It had not been used for years, but it was their only chance to escape. His only chance to leave, because for the moment, Eden was not with him. She was running across the wooden planks, but nothing in sight. Her hair was in her face, she had no more power in her. And suddenly, a flashback came back to her. The one when she ran towards John B when he fell off the Hawk's Nest after Topper pushed him.

She saw herself in her white dress, her hair swinging between the trees around her, her breath dry from what she had just seen happen. She had gone down the steps so quickly to get to the beach where John B's body was on the ground, his eyes closed without speaking a word. Eden had been afraid for his life at that point after Midsummers, and it scared her how she had felt, but now she wasn't afraid to admit that she wished he were there, looking at her with beautiful brown eyes so destabilizing that she could remain frozen in front of his gaze for hours. She couldn't lose him, he was her reason for living, the reason she didn't give up on her life this summer. If she lost him, she didn't even want to think about how her life would turn into hell.

    A loud engine noise rang in her ears while she had slowed down without realizing it. She lifted her chin so quickly that her neck cracked, but what she saw took away all the pain she could feel in her body. A white boat — The Phantom — was moving towards her, towards her and her heart, towards her and her hope of seeing John B again. And there he was. She couldn't see his face very well, but it was him in his yellow T-shirt and his long hair. She smiled with a tear, and continued her run on the wooden bridge which creaked with each strong step she took.

    "John B!" She screamed out in all her splendor, her voice high. She raised her arm in the air, trying to catch his attention in any way towards her.

    He heard nothing of what she shouted, completely distracted in his thoughts and by the claps of thunder striking behind him. The storm had moved towards them far too quickly, and it wouldn't be long before it exploded on the island.

    Eden took three more long steps, raising her arm as high as she could, almost stretching it in the process, and again raised her voice as loud as she could. "John B! Wait for me!" She shouted a second time, seeing that she was almost at the end of the platform, and that if he didn't wait for her this time, it would be too late to stop.

But miraculously, the Routledge boy raised his head and followed the sounds of the words screaming in his head. He looked for his light, and it appeared between the gray sky and the bad noises that awaited them. He saw Eden Winslow running on the wooden planks, giving all her power in her movements, her hand raised upwards so that he could see her, and it was an immense relief for him to discover her running to join him. He couldn't believe she still tried to look for him even though he left without her.

His mouth opened, blurting out whatever was on his mind, "Ed— Eden!"

The girl heard him back, which sent a flash of a smile to her lips, now certain that he knew she was there to accompany him. She saw him lean over to stop the engine and move the steering wheel so she could get in. There was a frown in his quick movements, and when he looked up, he saw her in front of him on the dock, her hand swinging forward to catch the boat.

She smiled while gasping, the worry of not seeing him again finally leaving to reach the sky. "Hey." She spoke to him in near silence as he moved to grab her hand, helping her into the boat.

    "Hey. What are you doing? I thought you changed your mind. You weren't at the dock." He hastened to tell her what he had believed, but he was cut off when she was completely on the boat, and she dove into his arms. "I couldn't wait any longer." He added into her hair, holding her tightly in his arms around her waist.

    She shook her head, not wanting to hear any more words come out of his mouth. She tilted her head back, seeking to catch his eyes with hers and lock them together for eternity. "And so you were going to leave after telling me that you loved me? It's not knowing me well, thinking that I would change my mind, pretty boy." Her words were choppy from all the fast walking she had done to reach him.

    A beautiful smile crossed his lips before he ran his hand over her cheek, pulling her in for a luscious, love-filled kiss. He was really afraid of losing her when he saw that she wasn't on the platform, so just seeing her, just hearing her speak, it relieved him in a way he couldn't even imagine. She was right. He couldn't do it if she wasn't with him.

    Eden parted from his warm lips, and ran her fingers over his forehead to remove excess hair, then she scrutinized him with admiration. "Dare to leave me a second time and see what happens." She threatened him in a funny way, but deep down she was serious. He placed another kiss, softly but also rushed, with the idea of ​​wanting to prove their feelings to each other without saying them out loud, and they rested their foreheads on each. "Are you ready?"

    He didn't hesitated, they didn't have time to lose. "Yeah. Let's get the hell off this island, pretty girl."

She smiled at him without even considering all the questions that floated under her brown hair, piled up in her head, then she stood next to him, who was preparing to start the boat's engine again.

But John B took a moment to step back, his eyes pointing down and not forward, the sounds of thunder behind him making him stressed and hurried. They had to leave as quickly as possible to avoid having to face the heavy angry rain that was going to spread over them, but a pang of guilt knocked him over. He blamed himself for having taken his friends into this story, as well as the girl he loved, he had not planned any of this. John B had a knife in his chest that reminded him of all the bad things that had happened to his friends and Eden knowing about this adventure, and even before his heart told him that it was not his fault, his conscience whispered the opposite.

A hand fell on his knuckles, now white from how tightly he held the boat's steering wheel. A cold hand — as always — with gold rings and fingers that usually always had polish on them, now felt empty and emotionless. He lifted his chin toward the Winslow girl who was looking up at him with attention as if to read his soul. Then, without taking any more time, John B's gaze softened to exchange his stiff and worried features for a magnificent smile. Not the happiest, but not the saddest. Eden took that as a win.

    He didn't say a word, they didn't need to, just a single look between them was enough, and they could make their fears cross from one to the other. After that, he blew his last breath and circled the gear lever, and pushed it until it was going at a certain speed.

    John B Routledge and Eden Winslow turned around at the same time, accepting the truth : no turning back was possible by now.

__________________

Eden had never seen so many police in one place, under such a big white tent with police cars and black SUVs. Their blue and red lights hanging from their car roofs were mostly all still on, as if they were going back and forth between the tent and going in search of John B.

The darkness hid the blue of the sea, and thousands of stars were hanging in the sky, preventing them from completely sinking into darkness with the moon a little to the side but just as radiant as usual. The storm had now created a real path towards them, which could burst at any second, but at this moment, not a drop of rain had fallen on them. Only the lightning in the distance and the thunder above their heads reached them, but Eden knew that the storm was not going to take long to explode into rain on their faces. John B, he kept his concentration on the figures in the distance, his hand still on the lever in case everything went wrong at any moment. She could have been as confident as he was, but right now, she was mainly trying not to have a cardiac arrest with what was going to happen in the next few hours. She only prayed that everything would go well, that they would arrive in Mexico safely and that they would be able to get away from the Outer Banks for months without worry.

They stood not far from the tent, the boat floating on the cold water of the night, moving a little with the waves that were starting to get rougher. No lights were on for reasons that the two teenagers were unaware of, but they preferred not to pay too much attention to it, and to take the pleasure of being able to be hidden from the police for a few more moments. John B only had to choose the right moment to pass in front of the tents discreetly, and the most stressful would be behind them. The worst would still be in front of them.

Going through the storm was part of their plan to escape in silence. They were not in great danger, they were only going to take nasty rain and average waves, but compared to the core of the storm, they could pass through it easily and finally reach Mexico without taking into account that the police would still be looking for them on the Outer Banks when they would already be far away. Eden wasn't too sure about that part of the plan, which she had told John B, and he didn't wait a second before giving her a life jacket so she would feel less anxious about the water. And of course, she had convinced the boy to wear one too, even though he told her he was a real Captain of the Steering Wheel. She didn't care about that compared to the safety of his own.

"Is it tight enough?" John B entered Eden's thoughts, his hands around the life jacket to tighten it further. She had asked him, having felt it loosen from her body. He raised his eyebrows as he stared at her, smiling with beautiful round eyes. "Pretty girl, are you fine?"

She brushed her hair out of her face, tossing it behind her shoulder and hurried to put one on her lips so she could reassure John B as much as she could. "Yeah. It's just . . . huge for teenagers, don't you think?" He leaned against the wheel, keeping his arms at each side of his body. Eden gave a small grit of teeth. "It's just that, I didn't expect this at the age of sixteen. I thought I'd live a romance with kisses on the forehead, endless hugs when the alarm clock rings, Kinder Buennos every morning . . . But here we are. Stuck with a murder you didn't commit."

John B took a step towards her, placing his hands on her cheeks to keep her focus on him. "Eden, if you want me to turn around, I will. If it's too much for you, I'll turn myself in to the police and give you your old life back. I'll do it if you want me to."

    Eden shook her head, not believing her ears that he would offer to turn himself in to the police just so she could have a normal life again. But what for? Eden Blair Winslow's life had never been normal. "You didn't let me finish." She growled at him, and he gave a surprised look that she captured in her memory. "I don't regret anything, John B. Our lives will be forever changed by what we're about to do, but at least we're together." She took a breath, then exhaled again. She looked around. "Maybe this is what I was meant to do. To be with you and escape to Mexico. Since the beginning of the summer, I've hated every step that fate had me take towards you, but now, I'm kicking myself for not coming back sooner. Maybe it could have been different."

    John B swallowed, then placed a kiss on Eden's forehead which made her blush. "You wish it was different?"

    She let out a chuckle. "No. I think that's the worst part. We got our second chance in our own way. And I love it like that. I wouldn't change a thing about what happened."

    He smiled. "You're the most amazing person I have ever met." The statement came out of nowhere, but Eden still tucked it into her blossoming heart before he placed his lips on hers, causing her to let out a genuine smile.

    They kissed under the loud noises of the storm, then took their places to wait for the signal that the police were going to leave on the opposite side from where they were going. He only had to go see the other side of the Point, and they could pass in front of the tent in incognito mode. If all went well, obviously.

    Eden pressed her hand on John B's arm, feeling him tense despite the nice words they had just confessed to each other. He blinked, and she did her best to hide her anxiety so as not to increase his. They remained silent, keeping their ears open to wait for whatever message in the police microphone would prove that the teenagers could make a path without being seen and finally move away.

    "We need more eyes on the other side of the Point. Go." One of the policemen declared, and not even after a second that these words reached their ears, John B was already turning towards her.

    She pursed her lips into a smile as he confirmed anyway, "We're clear."

"Yeah. We're gonna make it." She told him, making him look at her, and he nodded.

He leaned over to get a better look at the sky and the sea that seemed to never stop moving, and explained how things would go for the hundredth time. "Yeah, we just gotta go north through the swamp, then we just follow the North Star."

She looked back at the sky where the lightning was sending white lights that lit up their faces. The gray clouds were still visible from where they were when the lightning struck, but she didn't pay attention to that. Eden looked away to the North Star where everything was spinning around it. She smiled for some stupid reason, but she had a good feeling in her heart that told her that things were going to be okay from now on. She and John B were going to be able to escape through the police force, get through the shattered storm, get to Mexico safely, find a place to stay for a while, and head back to the Outer Banks when everything had settled down. Everything was going to be okay. She really believed it.

    But everything turned to disaster in less than a minute. Everything she believed was gone in the breath of wind that passed in front of her face, carrying her hopes towards the storm that was preparing to ravage its anger on the entire island. She turned around, hearing more noise in the distance which alerted her, and even if she would have perhaps liked to never have turned around and stayed in her beautiful dreams for the future, she discovered a much worse nightmare than what she thought.

The lights of all the houses on the island turned on in a single burst, carrying the darkness far behind them. Eden took a step back, gasping without saying anything, then she tapped John B on the shoulder who smiled like a child, but it fell from his face so quickly that she thought she had imagined it all along. When he saw the lights of the houses come on and illuminate the whole island, it made him panic. And he panicked even more when the big light of the lighthouse burst into the faces of the two, exposing them completely to all the policemen who were in the tent and outside of it.

"Oh, shit." Eden swore under her breath, crouching down before John B told her to do so.

The Routledge boy's eyes were wide with fear at the light of the lighthouse pointed straight at his face, but frustration rose straight to his throat. "Shit. Get down, get down."

She didn't give a joke about the fact she was already getting down, considering that this was not the time for jokes that were not funny and just innocent. She tried to crouch down even more, but there wasn't enough room for her and John B in that little boat square where there was already the steering wheel and two seats that they weren't even using. They couldn't hide. They couldn't do anything, but let the yellow light of the lighthouse burn their faces.

    The Phantom was caught in the circle of light coming from the tower, located very far from the tents, then followed screams and exclamations of people pointing at them and indicating their position. Eden raised her head when she saw that John B had removed the idea of ​​hiding, trying however to start the boat by moving the key from left to right.

    The Winslow girl took three short seconds to scan all the people who were now completely out of the tents, bulletproof vests covering their entire chests ( well, that's what she thought she saw from where she was ). She remained to scan the surroundings, feeling more fixed than ever despite the meters that separated her from the police. But it would not be long before they arrived from all sides, ready to surround them in a tornado, and their only escape would be to let themselves be carried away in the middle of the whirlwind, that is to say, the storm.

    "It's not turning over?!" Eden questioned him, watching him move the key from left to right without being able to start the engine. John B cursed out loud in a growl that only came out in the most stressful moments, then he slammed his hand on the edge of the boat, frustration burning in his veins. Eden tapped his shoulder, ordered him with as much authority as she could to control him, "Go check the engine."

    Eden had never lost the control of how to drive a boat, having always done it with her younger father or with the boys. And she had continued to take little rides with her brother or some friends from Figure Eight. She knew the stuff, John B did too. They had their chance to get this damn boat going again before the authorities caught them.

Eden nervously tapped her nails on the edge of the boat, waiting for the police sirens to bounce in her ears. Her eyes widened, turning from side to side to find where the sirens that kept going off were coming from. She had no doubt, they weren't cars or anything. They were police boats heading towards them from every corner of the sea.

"John B, hurry up!" She snapped, and in the same movement, he finally stood up after being bent over to fix the engine.

She moved her head again towards the boats approaching them from afar. John B returned to her side with a large step, pushing his hair back. "Come on. Come on, sweet jesus." He hoped when he started to turn the key again, Eden having moved aside to make way for him. He gave it one last twist, and the engine roared to life again, leaving a smile on Eden's lips for half a second. "Here we go. Sit down, sit down." He repeated.

    Eden sat down as John B pushed the gear lever as high as it would go to gain speed. They had a narrow escape, discovering two police boats arriving at the same time behind them. She spun around when they were hidden from the light of the distant lighthouse, and gritted her teeth as she realized that their plan was no longer as certain as it had been ten minutes ago.

    The two police boats soon became five . . . six . . . seven boats surrounding theirs. Eden couldn't look anymore as John B simply focused on the front and how to get out of there before the storm broke. It might be their only way if the storm decided to delay a little. She almost heard the prayers John B had hoped for, but it all flew away quickly. Because the heavy and howling rain fell on them in the next minute before Eden could have time to pray in turn. Everything was going against them at that moment. Their chance of getting out of this had just decreased even more. Eden who believed not really in much things, almost believed more that their life in Mexico still awaited them. It was above all the drowning life that awaited them.

    "John B, we're being surrounded!" She didn't even know why she was telling him this information, he knew it very well thanks to the device on the boat that showed everything that was nearby.

John B already had his hand wrapped around the wheel when he indicated, "Hold on. Okay, ready?"

She couldn't answer before he turned the boat in another direction as she saw a boat coming directly towards them. They were now, effectively, surrounded by every boat that could be on the water at that precise moment. She screamed as she clung to something on the boat, her hand already soaked from the rain that hit them as if it were personal towards them. It only seemed to intensify the more they rushed towards the spluttering rain.

She stared at the device, taking in all the arrows that indicated the seven boats positioning themselves all around them. "Shit. They're coming from around the cut!"

"We've gotta go south." John B informed her, his gaze fixed in front of him without moving to look at her, because he was afraid of seeing her reaction.

She opened her mouth wide, letting out the surprise in her chest. She had no idea how to react at this precise moment. "Into the storm?!"

"Yes, into the storm." There was something in his tone that told Eden that he didn't want to do this either and that he was aware of what it could lead to.

The waves were strong and demeaning, they didn't want to let them leave under any circumstances, but John B mastered the controls of the boat like he had never done before, making the boat bounce from all possibilities. Lightning pointed in the sky, making white zizzles in the gray color above. Nothing good and beautiful was towards where they were heading.

    "Hey, look at me!" John B called out to her, looking at her face through the light of the lightning. She allowed him to stare at her, and he took a deep breath before confessing in all sincerity, "Tell me if you want me to turn this boat around because I will, Eden! Tell me and I'll already be obeying you." She remained silent, biting her lip. He shook his head, then suddenly grabbed the gear stick. "You don't deserve this. Let me take you back—"

"John B, don't touch that gear stick." Eden stopped him in his tracks, making him turn his eyes wide at her and her fear streaming down her face and her entire body in fact. "It's not just me in this, okay? We're going into this storm no matter what. Although I sincerely hope you love me as much as you say you do, because I want to die knowing that we ended on good terms and even get married in the future." She exclaimed louder than the rain pounding against the roof of the boat that protected their heads.

John B took a moment to move his eyes from Eden to look ahead, and they hit in an angry wave. The blue sea water, but now black from the darkness, came floating over them, scooping them up in the water. When he caught his breath, he wrapped his arm around Eden's waist, keeping her close to him. "I love you, Eden. If we can get through this storm, I promise to marry you someday, okay?"

    It was a stupid promise. It was stupid to promise her that when he could try to reassure her by promising to get her out of this storm alive. But it was better to make stupid promises than promises that ended in lies. He had no idea how to get out of the powerful waves, but he knew that nothing magnificent awaited them in the next ones that would follow. But he couldn't give up. He had to cross these waves one way or another to save Eden. To save her and her smile that so many people need to see to survive their day. She had to survive. She had to survive for . . . for him.

    She smiled stupidly at him and hurried to kiss him under the rain that hid the tears that ran down her cheeks. It was a brief kiss, something simple but that transmitted everything she had for him. They were interrupted when a large wave made them rise and then fall again, hitting the blue sea in its night anger. The thunder and lightning around them were only sounds that burned their breaths, hearing nothing but the water crashing against the boat.

She held on tighter to John B as she stared at the horror that lay before them. They were in an open boat that probably wouldn't make it through this storm that was getting worse and worse, never stopping their chances of survival. If a fully equipped boat couldn't survive this, there was no damn chance they'd make it out alive. If they did, then they were guaranteed immortals.

"Eden?"

Yasmina Winslow's voice echoed from the radio over the frightening sounds of the storm. Eden looked away stupidly, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out if it wasn't her conscience playing tricks on her. So she turned to John B, and saw his expression, she knew it was real. Yasmina was talking to her daughter who was heading towards death with the boy she loved.

"Eden, my dear, I know you're there. Can you hear me?" Silence fell for a few seconds before she continued with her voice that seemed about to fade from boredom, and at the same time forced, "Honey, don't do that. You're walking straight into a storm that will cost you your life, is that what you want?" Eden heard so well that her mother didn't want to be there, it was as if she was repeating a text already prepared. "I've told you a hundred times : John B is not a good guy. Do you see what he's doing? He wants to take you with him to his death, he wants to commit even more murder. It's in his blood. I've been telling you since you were seven that he's not who you think he is, Eden. Will you ever understand?"

    Before she knew it, Eden had the radio in her hand, anger rising in her throat. "Hi, Mother." She slammed, her tongue clapping against the roof of her mouth, trying to keep her composure as she clung to John B's arm. A false sense of relief escaped Yasmina's lips, causing the girl to roll her eyes. "I'm going to tell you and every police force that's around you right now . . . Rafe Cameron killed Sheriff Peterkin. What more do you want, exactly? John B isn't who you think he is. You're just afraid that what happened with Dad will happen between him and me, right? John B is never going to cheat on me, okay? He's not Thomas, and I'm not you."

    "We'll talk about it when you're back home, sweetheart. John B, please. I offered you a place in our house, Fred gave you a job, we deserve to have our daughter back, don't you think? She's not like you, you know? She's got a whole life planned out, friends waiting for her, a family that loves her." Eden chuckled at that last fact, a cold smile playing on her face. "You can't deprive her of a good life because you didn't get yours. Eden . . . Eden is an incredible girl who has nothing to do with you and your group of friends. She's from Figure Eight, she's my sweet daug—"

"Don't you dare call me your daughter." Her wet lips had already spoken those words before she could even think of another answer or wait for her sentence to finish. Yasmina had no right to call her that, she no longer had any right to after everything she had done. After all the years, Yasmina had lost all the love she had left of Eden in a jar. The jar was empty. Completely. "I'm not your daughter. We may share the same last name, but believe me when I say I want nothing to do with you anymore. You're not my mother. And . . ." She turned her brown irises to John B who hadn't taken his eyes off her since the beginning, listening to their conversation. "And I'm leaving with John B. No matter the consequences."

And those were the last words Eden Winslow — or just Eden at this point — said to her dear bad mother. She didn't care about ending her life on a bad note with her mother, nothing ever worked out between them, and it wasn't by risking her life that Yasmina was going to suddenly change her behavior and finally love her daughter for what she was worth. Eden was done with all this shit. Yasmina wasn't her mother anymore, and she would be ready to sign a contract just to finally admit it out loud to everyone. To make it finally true. But for now, there were more important things. Like getting out of this storm.

"Don't believe a word she said." Eden spoke out loud to John B, sticking to his chest which was literally wet as if he had received thousands of buckets of water on his head. Eden was in the same state. "Listen to me, I'm not changing my mind. Nothing awaits me on Figure Eight. My life is here. With you."

The Routledge boy would have liked to answer her, but a new voice rang out over the radio, chilling the blood of the two teenagers. "John B?" Ward Cameron was preparing a fake speech, both of them knowing full well that he wanted John B dead. It was all a set-up to make them turn around. "John B, I know you're there, son. I know you can hear me, so listen carefully. Eden has nothing to do with this. She's the daughter of someone you've known since you were young, and if you love her so much, then you'll turn around. You'll make the right decision. You're going into a storm that you cannot survive." First silence, and they charged into another wave, taking even more water on themselves and into the boat. "John B, I will make it right. Think of her and turn around. She has a whole family waiting for her here."

Second silence, two more waves in between making them rock in their places, Eden letting out a scream while John B growled trying to keep control. They both knew that Ward Cameron was not someone to trust, he had demonstrated it multiple times, so Eden didn't understand when John B slowly took the radio in his hands too.

"John B, what are you doing? He's a liar, this—"

She stopped talking immediately when he turned on the radio, and started sending words through it. "Ward Cameron, do you hear me?"

The answer only took a second before reaching their ears. "Yes. Yes, son, I'm right here. Bring her back, okay? We'll work it all out when you get home."

Ward's promises were just promises a parent makes to their child when they promise them a toy but they never buy it. Ward Cameron was a liar, a manipulator. A selfish man. He had nothing to assure people from the Cut. He could keep lying to John B just to protect his son, Rafe, but they weren't as much stupid as he pretended.

John B scanned Eden, searching for the right words to say even though everything was already ready in his throat, the red anger rising in his face and blood. He couldn't help it. "You killed my father!" It caught the girl's attention as if she had seen the greatest wonder in the world. Shock washed over her. "And you framed me for a murder I didn't commit. You took . . . everything from me!" Eden pressed her head against John B's shoulder, placing trembling kisses on it. He let too many ragged breaths escape his mouth, the radio close to his lips. "You took everything from me. But I'm still here. And I swear to God, Ward, I will come back one day and take what's mine. So, you listen to me, all right? I'm coming for you. I'm coming . . . for you."

The radio cut out completely after John B's last words, and Eden felt so bad for him. She couldn't even complain about being in the position she was in. John B was more concerned about saving her life than ending up in jail. He had lost everything because of Ward, and he would end up in jail just to give Eden some semblance of a normal life. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't get it into her head that John B would do all this for her.

She turned her head away as another wave of rain and sea water ravaged the boat, making them tiny in the middle of the ocean. She also couldn't believe that she was here, in the middle of the ocean, about to die for running away with the boy of her dreams. So, this is really love? Yeah, it was scary. But no one had ever told her it would be this scary.

She searched for John B's gaze, and when he finally turned to her, she didn't waste a second in taking his face in her hands and kissing him as hard as she could while holding on to something so as not to fall off the boat in a bad move. He kept one hand on the steering wheel and one on her hip, and Eden could be sure that between all the drops of water on his face, there were drops of tears.

    "If we die, I want to know where the bracelet you gave me when we were fourteen is." Eden grumbled against his lips, still glued to him after their kiss ended.

John B smiled. "On my wrist. I put it on before I left this morning. I was waiting for you to ask me for it again—"

"I want it back if we make it through this." She assured him before he could finish his sentence, her hand in his wet hair. He nodded, and Eden was almost glad she was so drowned in water and hidden behind the sound of the lightning because John B couldn't see and hear how much she was crying right now.

    She wrapped her arm around his neck as another wave so big rushed towards them, knocking them forward with the boat. Eden caught her breath, not even taking into account all the salt water floating in her stomach. John B ordered her to hold on to something, which she did, then opened her eyes one last time before seeing the tallest of the waves heading straight for them and the boat.

    They weren't going to do it, she knew it and he knew it. It was a tragic end for two innocent teenagers who had only wanted to find out the truth about their fathers' death, and finish what they had started. Eden had many apprehensions about death, but she had never prepared herself for it. She was never ready for death. So, she did what she was best at : closing her eyes and pretending nothing had happened.

    And then . . . darkness.

__________________

Eden had a special imagination when she thought about life after death. Some people think that there is nothing after death, that it is just over. Life ends with this tragic end or in a hospital bed, on the floor of their house, or in a storm. Eden did not like the thought that there was nothing after. She enjoyed spending her nights imagining all that could await her in heaven, the better life she could have a second chance at. She thought she could fly above the clouds and protect her loved ones from where she was. She believed in a second life. In a better life. In complete white, enjoying each other's presence for infinity.

That's what she had thought about when the last wave overturned the boat, and threw them into the water with their life jacket. As she tried to fight the sea to take even the little air she could have, she had in mind to reach heaven if she didn't make it, then she would either wait for John B, or enter heaven with him. He too, had been the reason why she tried to survive all the other waves after the boat capsized. She didn't know where he was, but if she managed to make it, she would live for him. So, for almost a minute, she had the image of heaven and John B, but nothing worked. She sank into the darkness without being able to keep herself alive.

Well, that's what she thought when her eyes closed last night. But, seems like she thought wrong.

Her eyes, closed maybe hours or days ago, slowly reopen to face a distant sunrise. Eyes squinted, unable to cope with the light suddenly illuminating her, she blinked repeatedly. Her body moved slightly because of the waves around her that she took a while to see, realizing that she had her hand around a rope on the boat to keep herself in place. Eden seemed lost, having no notion of time but also not knowing where she was and how . . . she was alive. Because she was alive, right? It was as if her brain didn't enter the word alive in her head, and she thought she was in heaven.

    But it wasn't heaven. In her thoughts, heaven is in the sky between the white clouds, and everything's beautiful and warm. Nothing around her was supposed to be blue and cold, and orange on the horizon. This wasn't heaven. Why would there be a boat in heaven? Eden frowned, but her imagination was cut off when she began to cough deeply, the salt water saved inside her suddenly coming back up.

    Her throat was dry, and like an idiot, she looked for a bottle of water somewhere. She turned her head in all directions, discovering the endless ocean. It was infinite. She was alone, in the middle of the ocean. with a stranded boat. She was in the middle of the ocean . . . middle of the ocean . . . the
ocean . . . alone.

Her whole brain went on pause when she looked down, seeing half of her body in the water, her legs moving so as to keep her balance despite her life jacket on her body. She panicked completely, her breath suddenly cutting short. She still hadn't experienced her fear of the oceans since Thomas disappeared, and she was currently not in heaven, but in the middle of the fucking ocean!

"Eden?" The girl thought she was dreaming, starting to hear her name everywhere she was. But it repeated itself again. "Eden?"

    She recognized that deep voice from the morning, those coughs, those deep breaths. She could recognize him just by seeing a vein on his arm. She widened her eyes now wide open despite the light, and turned her head in all directions to find him. He was alive.

    "John B? Is that you?" She questioned him anyway to be sure she wasn't dreaming, feeling the nausea rise in her just by feeling the waves hitting her.

    His voice rang out again, maybe seven meters from where she was. "Yeah. Yeah, it's me. Hey, I'm coming." He assured her, finally appearing in her field of vision.

    The two exchanged a sigh of relief, their facial features softening. Eden struggled, keeping her hand firmly on the rope. "I can't move, John B. We're in the middle of the ocean. This isn't heaven, this is the middle of the ocean! Oh, my God, I'm going to die of an anxiety attack. Ooh . . ."

    The boy finally arrived at her side after swimming, and grabbed her by the hip to bring her closer to him. She breathed quickly, her inspirations completely disordered. Her heart was beating too fast, everything didn't make sense. She was going to die.

John B took her hand in his, then placed his other on her cheek so that she looked at him carefully. "Hey, everything's okay. You're with me. Just focus on me and my lips, okay? Don't move your gaze from my face."

She nodded silently, pinching his hand as hard as she could to notice that he was indeed there in front of her. "You're here. You're alive."

John B smiled with all his teeth, touching Eden's cheek with his thumb before scanning her everywhere. "You too, pretty girl." He almost laughed, and she shook her head amused before pressing her forehead against his, playing with his hair. "I really thought we were going to die."

"Mmh, you don't think we're going to die now? We're lost at sea, our boat is capsized and we have nothing to survive. We'll need a miracle, John B, but I think we already had it by surviving this storm." She sniffed, moving her head from side to side to find something that could help them get out of this new mess.

    They were completely lost in the middle of the ocean with nothing with them, except John B's backpack still on his shoulders. No food, no water except that of the salty sea, and everything was vast around them. It wouldn't take long for a shark to eat them, or for them to end up burned by the sun, or simply dried up by thirst. They had had their miracle, but now, it was really the end. And it was a hurtful end, they were going to suffer while dying. She would have preferred dying in peace.

    Well, did they really deserve that end after all they had been through? No, and God understood that requirement quickly.

    Eden continued to try to spot something to allow them to survive, and at the moment she began to literally lose all the hope she had managed to build since the moment she had reopened her eyes, everything began to fly away before the two teenagers melted into the bottom of the blue sea. She didn't believe it anymore, and John B hadn't opened his mouth since she had spoken, but the gasp she let out as she opened her eyes like a fish drew the boy's attention to her.

    A boat appeared in the distance, so big that she couldn't even count the number of meters it was wide. It must have been one that transported goods or something, but it was not a simple fishing boat. The colors of the bright sun drew themselves on Eden's cold face, and she pointed to the boat in the distance despite John B having already seen it when she had gasped.

    "It's a boat. John B, it's a boat." She repeated to him, and like a spark, her hope shot up all at once.

    His gaze was distant, staring at the boat that was sailing on the horizon. He didn't think for a second longer, completely still by the fact that this might be their only chance to get out alive, then cried out with just as much force, "Hey! Help! Hey!" He beat the water with his arm as if it would be able to alert the boat, but nothing worked.

    "Help us!" Eden added in the cries for help of the Routledge boy, raising her arm as high as she could, but like him, nothing worked.

Eden then changed her technique, noticing John B's backpack soaked with water, and remembered something. When they had separated in the marsh, he had told her that he had to go back home to get the gold, claiming that it was all that was left of his father. She never knew the end of it if he had managed to get what was his, but she hoped so deep down when she opened the backpack to look for the lump of melted gold at the bottom of it. The gold was there, intact, and even more golden than usual with the sun beating down on it.

With the last of her strength, the girl moved in front of John B, and without knowing it, he took her by the hips to assure her that she was okay and that she was not going to end up at the bottom of the ocean. He didn't quite understand what she wanted to do, but when he saw her raise her arm in the air, the piece of gold in her little trembling hand, aligning it with the rays of the sun hitting it, he understood her technique quite quickly in turn. He kept her in place, still being moved by the calm waves of the morning.

At the very last second when Eden was about to give up and lower her arm back down, accepting that she was going to die in the middle of the ocean, a new miracle lingered over them. First, there had been the one of surviving the storm, then the one that a boat happened to show up at the place where they were stuck, and the third was even more incredible. The boat signaled them with a flashing light, warning them that they had seen them.

    Eden couldn't contain her tears of joy, letting everything that had happened since last night sink back down. She clung to John B's arm, her fingers digging into his muscles to make sure she didn't sink to the bottom of the water. He pressed multiple soft and warming kisses on the girl's forehead, silently comforting her by holding her tightly against him, not letting her move an inch.

    They waited in the water for long minutes in the cold that covered their entire bodies until the large boat finally positioned itself close enough to them for them to board. Eden already had no strength in her arms and legs, but she did her best to climb into the boat, John B following closely behind her. She did not regret her hard efforts when she finally set foot on the platform, leaving the coldness of the water. She squealed and a man helped her take off her life jacket, not being able to do it herself with her fingers that would not stop shaking. The same man gently placed a blanket over Eden's shoulders, covering her still fresh shoulder wound, the bandage completely torn. She was going to have to fix that. But it could wait a little longer.

"Y'all lucky that we came through here." Another man spoke, the one who gave John B a blanket after helping him onto the boat. He wore a black beanie with a khaki shirt and a green T-shirt underneath. Eden thanked the man, then looked at the man who ordered, "Hey, Larry! Get some coffee on!"

Eden smiled kindly at the man one last time before leaving with John B and the guy in the black beanie. John B let her go first, keeping an eye on her hand injury and the surroundings, feeling wary of where he was despite himself. They followed the man up the steps, holding on to the railing to keep themselves in place.

"Anybody I can call, let 'em know that you're okay?" He questioned the two teens, but Eden shook her head, grinding her teeth with shivers all over her body.

John B whispered even with trembling lips, "We don't really have anybody to call."

    The old man didn't answer, remaining silent despite the fact that he was hesitant about the fact that they had no one to call. He thought that two young teenagers like that must have family somewhere, but he was very wrong. There was no one waiting for them on OBX. And no one they could really trust.

    They passed through the doorway, calmly joining the small watercraft of the boat, being judged by some of the people on board the boat. Eden then lowered her head, not feeling at all good in front of all these faces turned towards her. Their coffee soon arrived, and a little girl of maybe around ten/eleven years old, handed her a metal coffee cup. The two girls exchanged a brief glance, but Eden seemed to find her much too young to be on a boat with these old men.

    Eden gave her a warm smile, not even caring what she must look like now. "Thank you . . ." She left her sentence hanging, not knowing her name.

    The girl with dark brown, almost black hair, understood and said to her, "Vi. You can call me Vi."

Eden nodded silently before feeling John B's arm encircle her shoulders, bringing even more warmth to her and her cheeks pink with cold. She gripped her metal mug tighter in an attempt to make the warmth of the coffee flow through her blood.

"Tommy, bring some soup, please!" The man announced another instruction as he began to write on a sheet of paper, and the teenagers didn't even care. "You just made my day a whole lot more interesting. Where in the hell were y'all trying to go?"

Eden hesitated, blinking in the man's direction. Clearing her throat, she grumbled through dry lips, "Um . . . Could you just drop us off at the next port? It doesn't matter where."

He turned around, showing a smirk on his dark skin and his half-white teeth appearing in the meantime. "I was young and in love once. Turned into a goddamn disaster." His voice changed tone, now more annoyed and bored by his old story that had probably just come back to him in a flashback. "It was fun while it lasted, though. Vi, where's your father, damn it?"

The little girl didn't answer, then simply rolled her eyes as if she didn't care. Her clothes were somewhat in the same style as the man —dirty, dark colors, and she wore her headphones around her neck. Eden snickered silently at her reaction, but Vi noticed her from her spot. They exchanged a second glance, and Eden was the first to break away from her piercing eyes.

John B, still with his lips buried in Eden's wet hair, finally lifted his head, examining the small room, then rested his brown irises on the man by the wheel. "Where'd you say you were going again?"

He turned his attention to John B, the answer already crossing his lips. "Nassau. Tommy, where the hell is this soup?"

While the man yelled again at a certain Tommy, the Winslow girl and John B had a revelation hit them in the face. Even though they were on an unknown boat, they were still heading towards the treasure. Some good was still there for them out there. She moved her eyes from her cup, then looked at John B. "The Bahamas." She stated, smiling for a second before it faded.

The boy seemed completely taken in by this news because he didn't even move his eyes from what he was staring at to look back at Eden, but still, he nodded. "The gold."

"Yeah. We did it." She confided in him, now truly smiling at all, and he took her in his arms fully, forming a smile as he placed his head on her skull.

    Taking her time for them for the next few seconds, she let herself swing in his arms, taking in the feeling of being alive and not drowning at the bottom of the sea. Not everything had gone as planned, but at least they were alive and might be able to recover the gold. Everything might, and she strongly hesitated on the might, go in the right direction soon.

"Tommy! There are hungry children here. Hurry up!" The man snapped for the third time, making his impatience resonate throughout the boat.

The supposed Tommy finally made his way into the watercraft, two bowls of soup in his hands. "I'm coming to the rescue. The microwave on this boat is broken, we need a new one, Terrance." A deep male voice joked, making Terrance roll his eyes.

"Dad. Relax for one minute." Eden heard the same girl talking again, supposedly mocking her father.

Suddenly, Eden felt John B's body tense, taking a much straighter position and he suddenly stopped moving. She frowned, raising her worried eyes to him, seeing him staring at something in silence. A light floated in his brown irises that she couldn't decipher, but his joy had completely disappeared from the surface. He seemed almost . . . angry. No, shocked. No, more like, upset, shocked and angry. She couldn't tell.

"John B? What's wrong?" She asked him, but he didn't answer, and only told her to look behind her, still in a silence that was too silent when there were at least five people in the room with them.

She remained confused, then in a slow and hesitant movement, she turned her head back, her eyes blinking with the light on the ceiling. Everything stopped in a deep freeze, people no longer speaking a single word, hands falling from her cup of coffee which went to collapse on the floor. With her mouth half open, she could try to speak, but nothing worked. Brown hair, but a few gray strands appeared on the top, making him look older after the ten months without seeing him. His eyes were tired, but she could still discern the same surprise on his face as on hers. She must be dreaming. She must be in heaven right now. She must be dead.

She reached under the blanket, pinching herself as hard as she could to make sure. She was alive. And in one fell swoop, the elements clicked into place in her head. Vi, the girl with the brown hair, but actually, Violeta. The Bahamas, the gold, Tommy . . . or should she say . . . No, it couldn't come out because it couldn't be real. Or maybe it was, there was only one way to find out.

    With the little courage left in her, her hand intertwined with John B's, she breathed out between short breaths, "Dad?"

    Tommy took another step, the bowls of soup shaking in his hands, and the girl sitting in the corner suddenly stood up. He showed a smile that she recognized, but she wasn't sure she recognized him anymore after everything she had discovered in the last few weeks. But nothing stopped the man from saying the words that had touched Eden the most since her childhood.

    "Cutie pie?"

    Oh, hell no.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

authors note: And... WE REACHED THE END OF SEASON ONE!! I had the end planned since the beginning and I hope it shocked you guys 🫣 Omg I actually have so much to say about this book and everything that happened during the year that I wrote this story, but should I start by a ENORMOUS thank you!! This story would never have ended if I wouldn't have had so many beautiful comments and your love for John B & Eden 🫶🏻

I wanna thanks my best friend ( lizzieolsgff ) who was probably the person I told everything about this book from the beginning to the end. Also thank you for reading one chapter, three chapters or the whole story. It warms my heart just to know that you clicked on this book 💞

I actually can't get the fact that this first book is done. It was a crazy year and I worked so hard on this book, I really hope you guys loved it 'till the end. I can't explain how proud I am of this book, having started from a simple idea to end up with a story with 90K views, it's incredible!! Thank you to the people who are still there since the beginning, it means a lot <3

This story will indeed have a book two that will be released in a while, but I have to take the time to organize things well because one thing is sure, the second book will be much more eventful than this one. It will be more plot twists, family affairs . . . anyway, don't miss the sequel to come 😉🤍

Love you all and take care of yourself until next time . . . See you soon <3