—— 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 :ocean:

The waves hit the side of the boat with a steady rhythm, the kind that used to calm Sarah Cameron. Once, the ocean had been her escape—an open highway of freedom far from the suffocating expectations of her family and the chaos that followed them. But now, it felt different. Heavier.

Sarah sat on the edge of the dock, legs dangling over the water, her fingers playing absently with the key to a small boat she’d taken to calling *Horizon*. John B was somewhere in town, helping Pope fix an old engine. JJ and Kie were tangled in their own mess of unresolved feelings. And Sarah—she was trying to figure out what it meant to have survived everything and still feel… lost.

She thought leaving her father behind, giving up the gold, and choosing love over legacy would be enough. For a while, it was. She and John B had carved out something real. But the silence that followed the storm made her think. Without the chaos, who was she?

A seagull screamed above her. In the distance, tourists lined the beaches, oblivious to the scars this island held for people like her. For Pogues and Kooks alike. Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it. The truth was, she missed her sister. She missed the version of her dad that used to tell her bedtime stories. She missed the simplicity of believing people were either good or bad.

Footsteps approached, and Sarah didn’t need to turn to know it was John B. His presence was familiar, grounding.

“You didn’t answer,” he said softly, sitting beside her.

“I know,” she replied, finally looking at him. His eyes still held that boyish warmth, the one that had made her leap from yachts into the unknown.

“What’s going on, Sarah?”

She hesitated, then said, “I don’t know who I am without all the running. Without the danger. It’s like... we survived everything, and now I don’t know how to live.”

John B reached for her hand, and she let him take it. “You don’t have to figure it all out right now. We’ve been through hell, but we’re here. And maybe that’s the point learning how to breathe again.”

She looked out at the horizon, the wind tugging at her hair. Maybe he was right. Maybe healing didn’t come in a storm it came in quiet mornings, in rebuilding trust, in long talks under stars, in forgiving yourself.

Sarah Cameron wasn’t just a runaway princess anymore. She was a survivor, a fighter, a girl trying to find her place in a world she no longer recognized.

And for the first time in a long while, she felt like she might be okay.