(chapter thirty four)

There two times in her life that Clara felt such physical pain that even breathing hurt. The first one was when Susan let go of the wheel of the car, making it lose control and another car drive straight into her side.

The car spinned, and she could remember the impact of it hitting the ground, then there was a darkness, after that she remembered voice, yells all around and ambulance sirens. She remembered trying to move but being unable to, blood dripping from her forehead and her arm burned. Clara's screams of pain where mixed with the sobs, and she heard a man's voice trying to reassure her she would be okay.

It took an hour for the fire fighters be able to get her out of the car wreckage, and she remembered her mother crying. Clara wanted so much to believe they were real tears.

She lost consciousness once more and woke up with the paramedics performing CPR again.

Clara left with an broken arm and many stitches on her scalp. They said she was lucky.

The second was when she was left bleeding in the middle of the road. Everything hurt and she couldn't tell how much time it passed until JJ and Pope appeared.

But now, she could barely feel the hands of Sarah hugging her up as they all sat around the fire. She needed to warm up, but her whole body was burning.

They all tried to make her stay awake for a couple hours. The pogues were able to grab a few fish with made up spears, and coconut water, but Clara was barely able to keep down the food, she was in the verge of throwing all up.

And she was so tired. Clara just wanted to sleep. The voices of her friends around the fire were distant, and everything was slow. She caught herself falling asleep when her head dropped to the side and her eyes opened in shock.

"Hey, you're okay, it's okay," Sarah said lowly to her, brushing Clara's hair back as the older girl could see the blonde girl's lips moving slow. "You need to drink more water..."

Clara blinked a few times, trying to wake her brain a little more, and she shook her head slightly. "No-"

"Clara, you need to, c'mon," Sarah brought the coconut to the girl's lips once more, but she tried to moved it away.

"I don't feel so well," she managed to say, as bile rose up her throat once more, she started feeling her body heat up. "I just- I wanna sleep."

Everyone could tell Clara was pale, her body covered in sweat and it wasn't for the fire. She wasn't okay.

Sarah looked up to Cleo, who only nodded. It had been a few hours since the incident, and Clara wasn't, but she was awake and breathing, maybe it would be okay. JJ and John B got up to help her walk to the boat. They had decided it would be better if she slept there cause they were scared sand would come in contact with the injury.

And she was out cold even before the boys could lay her down, JJ having to be even more agile in catching her head before it hit the ground.

++++

Topper stood in front of the glass doors of the Cameron estate, but all of the doors were locked, lights out and no sign of them even being there, which he found weird, since Tannyhill would never be vacant. He retrieved his phone from his pocket, typing out on it for a second as he walked away from the mansion.

Top:
Hey, you wanna watch the rest of the Marvel movies?

And he waited, staring at his screen with only the delivered message. Like he said it once, Clara would always be with her phone, she would always answer and that made Topper become alert. He thought she had slept in when he called on the morning, but then he remembered the last time she didn't pick up.

But maybe he was just exaggerating, right?

He started his car, bringing his phone to his ear as it ringed. "Hey-"

"Oh, thank God-"

"It's Clara. I'm probably busy at the moment, but leave a message-" he hang up, tossing his phone to the passenger seat.

Something was wrong, he could tell.

So he drove to her house, not minding to even lock the car as he knocked on the door, rocking on his heels as he waited. With no answer Topper felt even more anxious.

"Clara?" He knocked once more, this time calling out his best friend's name, not noticing the pair of eyes getting closer to him.

"Topper?" The boy turned to the voice, seeing the older Campbell man with a confused look on his face. "Are feeling okay? You look a little stressed."

"Mr Campbell," the boy turned to him, looking back at the door slightly and then shaking his head. "I just- Clara's not answering-"

Richard's eyes analyzed the boy before him, watching him scratching his head as he tried to come to an explanation without sounding insane.

"I've not talk to Clara in two days, and most of the time is no problem, of course, but she didn't answer today when I called to go to school, I thought maybe she slept in, but she's still not answering, and I don't know..."

Topper continued rambling and Richard furrowed his eyebrows even more as he crossed his arms.

"You know when you have that gut feeling that something's not right?" he finished and the man pursed his lips, pondering the question.

Richard knew for a fact that Clara went out with the pogues the night before, and that she maybe was still with them. The man was not really keen on his daughter skipping class, but the anxious boy before him needed an answer, one that Richard himself also needed.

"I was just going to check up on her too," Richard answered, nodding his head so Topper could follow him as he unlocked the door.

The keys dangling as the man opened the door of his childhood house, and the complete darkness from inside, the silence was so loud as the two walked in.

"Hey, kiddo!" Richard called out, but with no response. The man's eyebrows pulled together as Topper shook his head, picking up his phone.

"I'll try calling her again," he brought the phone back to his ear, and when the first ring echoed on his phone, the small buzz was heard from inside the house.

The two followed the noise until they found Clara's phone on the kitchen table, and Richard could only grab it as he cursed to himself.

"What?" Topper asked, more confused now at his best friend's father as Richard turned around, big steps until he disappeared up the stairs, not long after the man appeared again, this time with his phone in hand. "What's wrong?"

"She left last night with her phone, the cups from the juice is still on the table the same way they were when I left," Richard typed out on his phone, then he looked up to the boy. "Her bed is clean. She didn't come back last night, so why is her phone here?"

Topper stared at the man, his head running around the information Richard just gave him, as the man pressed his own phone to his ear, waiting until it picked up.

"Hey, Vic." The Campbell man greeted, and Topper could only stare at him. "Actually, yeah, there's something wrong, I can't find Clara. Can you come to my mother's house so I can explain what happened?"

The boy looked around the house. It looked so still, it wasn't normal. He didn't feel normal.

"Great, thank you." richard hung up, looking at the teenage boy in front of him. "He told to his cops to look around the island, and he's arriving in ten."

"I can go if you-"

"I think you better stay, Topper. Shoupe will want your testimony, if your gut feeling is right." Richard said, trying to keep his voice still, but the boy could see how worried he actually was. "Let's just hope you're wrong."

And in that moment, Topper never wanted more than ever to be wrong.

++++

Rafe's head was hang low as he took a intake of air, hands gripping the sink of the hospital in Guadaloupe. His breathing was shaky.

Ward wasn't recognizing that he was there. All he ever did was for him to be proud of him. He just wanted Sarah. It was always Sarah, even Clara-

Clara, Clara, Clara. His mind echoed and he shook his head.

Clara's dead.

The dirty blonde haired boy pulled on his hair as he remembered the scream his sister let out when she saw the Campbell girl. Clara was dead, she was dead because he didn't have the courage to tell Rose the girl would be better if she stayed behind. She was dead because he was too damn selfish. It was because of him.

Rafe could barely register the moment tears started spilling out of his eyes, until his hands gripped on the sink once more to balance himself, a sob leaving his lips and his body trembled.

Crying over the only person who actually cared about him. Over the fact he would never see her smiling again, the warmth she once radiated.

Rafe cleaned his tears angrily. Angry at the incompetent crew from preventing the pogues from sneaking in, from shooting recklessly. Angry with himself and his choices.

He was just never enough.

And he stared at himself in the mirror, hating everything he saw.

"Rafe?" Wheezie asked from the outside of the bathroom, and Rafe clenched his jaw, turning on the sink and splashing his face with water, grabbing the papers to clean himself and then he opened the door.

His younger sister was the only thing he had left. The only thing he could protect now.

"Hey, Wheez," he tried to gave the girl a small smile, as she hugged herself. They weren't able to go back to the house, since Ward was brought to a hospital after he fell unconscious once more.

Wheezie could clearly hear the rasp in his voice, his eyes red. She wasn't entirely sure why he was crying, but he was and she was worried. They lost Sarah, they lost Clara, and she was so, so scared of losing her father again right when she just got him back.

"They're looking for you," her voice was small, and Rafe could tell, as he nodded, wrapping his arm around the younger Cameron's shoulders, bringing her into a side hug while they walked.

As they got closer to the room Ward was staying in, Rose was pacing around, and when she saw her two step kids, she moved to them. "I've been waiting for ten minutes-"

"I don't care," Rafe cut her off, looking at the doctor who was standing with papers on his hand, then he gave the two kids of the man he was treating a tight smile.

"Now that you're back, like I was telling your mother..." the doctor said, not noticing the murderous look Rafe sent his way as he still pulled his sister closer to himself and away from Rose. "Your father had a bad trauma on the back of his neck, closer to the skull, which lead him to fall into a comatose state, where the body shuts down. We ran a few tests to determinate what was the cause, and it showed it was by the compression of the blood vessels and the secondary damage from the shifting of structures inside the brain, that increased intracranial pressure."

"And what we can do?" Rose asked after a few second of silence, and the doctor put the papers down.

"You can wait. Injuries like this are not expected to heal quickly, but you're lucky that it wasn't much more serious," he answered, looking between all of them. "He needs to rest, and time for his body to heal. Usually we suggest for the patient to stay over the hospital facilities, but since your case is... off the record, I suggest you to clear a room and hire a nurse to take care of his needs from inside your house."

Of course he was off the record, Rafe couldn't expect anything less. So before Rose could say anything, Rafe nodded his head.

"Do you have any suggestions and a list of what we need?" The boy asked, and Rose turned her head to him.

"Of course, you can come to my office so we can discuss all that," Rafe gave him another nod, squeezing his sister's shoulder  as he pulled away, but before he could even walk to the office, Rose grabbed his arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" She almost hissed and Rafe shook her off.

"I'm stepping up."

He gave her a last dirty look as he walked away, closing the office door behind him.

Writing short chapters doesn't feel right anymore, it's a problem for sure.

Like I said, this and next chapters would most probably be the reaction of the characters about the missing group on OBX and some Rafe parts too. Also flashbacks! (they will be in italics)

Clara's not okay, but you can't expect someone who was shot and drowned to be okay, right?

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