I. A Moth To A Flame (Burnt Child) / Stig Dagerman  II. Gone Girl  III. Postcolonial Love Poem, 'Wolf OR-7' / Natalie Diaz  IV. The Brother's Karamazov / Fyodor Dostoevsky  V.  Anne With An E  VI. 'Lifecycle OF The Mole Woman', from How Festive The Ambulance / Kim Fu

I ask mother if she believes in ghosts.

                  She says she does

But not the ones that live in haunted houses or spend eternity wandering graveyards. She says the real ghosts are the memories of the dead— the questions, the what-ifs and what could have been, the whys and endless strings of bargains people make as they pray to their unforgiving God each night, seeking an answer that will never come. Memories haunt the living, slowly chipping away at their psyche and breaking down every ounce of sanity they have. Memories are ghosts that kill.

I ask mother if she believes in ghosts.

                  She tells me she will be one
                  someday.

Gone Girl / The Haunting Of Kildare

SOLEIL CAMPBELL HAUNTS KILDARE WITH A SMILE !

KILDARE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.
TUESDAY,  JULY 27TH  6:36 PM

[SEVERAL TAPES LAY STREWN ABOUT ON TOP OF A WOODEN DESK, EACH ADORNING A STRIP OF SCOTCH TAPE WITH A DIFFERENT LABEL (FROM RIGHT TO LEFT): SUSPECT INTERVIEW: RAPHAEL CAMERON, SUSPECT INTERVIEW: JOHNATHON ROUTLEDGE, SUSPECT INTERVIEW: JESSE MAYBANK, SUSPECT INTERVIEW: KIARA CARRERA, SUSPECT INTERVIEW: SARAH CAMERON, SUSPECT INTERVIEW: TOPPER THORNTON]

[A HAND REACHES DOWN, GRABBING THE ONE TITLED SUSPECT INTERVIEW: RAPHAEL CAMERON AND PLACING IT INTO A CASSETTE PLAYER BEFORE PRESSING PLAY. STATIC RESOUNDS THROUGH THE ROOM BEFORE A WOMAN SPEAKS]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: This is Sheriff Susan Peterkin interviewing the first suspect in the Campbell Case of 2023. It is currently 6:36 PM on Tuesday, July 27th. [A STERN VOICE SAYS INTO THE TAPE, SLIGHTLY MUFFLED AND STATICKY. A SLIGHT BANGING SOUND IS HEARD] State your name for the record. [HER VOICE IS SLIGHTLY DISTORTED, LESS CLEAR THAN IT WAS A FEW MOMENTS AGO.]

   ???: Rafe [A MALE REPLIES, VOICE A BARELY AUDIBLE MUMBLE. A BRIEF SILENCE FOLLOWS, BROKEN BY SOMEONE CLEARING THEIR THROAT] Raphael Cameron [A CLEARER REPLY COMES]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: What's your relationship to Soleil Campbell? [THE WOMAN'S VOICE COMES AGAIN, STERN AND DEMANDING]

   RAFE: Uh- I don't know- she was my girlfriend I guess [HE MUMBLES AGAIN, SEEMINGLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH WHAT HE'S BEING ASKED]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: You guess? [A BEAT OF SILENCE FOLLOWS, ALLOWING THE BOY TIME TO CLARIFY, BUT HE DOESN'T] What can you remember about the day she went missing?

   RAFE: I didn't see her that day [THE REPLY IS SUSPICIOUSLY QUICK]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: That's odd [HER TONE IS ACCUSING, A SCREECHING SOUND ECHOES AS HER VOICE GETS CLEARER] Your friends told me a different story

   RAFE: They're not my friends [HE SCOFFS, CLEARLY AGITTATED]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: They seem to remember you and Miss Campbell being at The Château that day, and they also remember that you left to take her home, making you the last person to see her alive, so I'll ask you again; What can you remember about the day she went missing?

[THE DOOR OPENS ABRUPTLY, A FAINT, UNKNOWN VOICE MUTTERING AN OBJECTION]: Sir, you can't go in-

   ???: This interview is over. I'm taking my son home. [A MAN'S VOICE SAID, LOUD ENOUGH FOR THE TAPE TO PICK UP CLEARLY]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: Mr. Cameron, your son is legally an adult, and he has agreed to be here. [SHE ANSWERED CALMLY]

   WARD CAMERON: Raphael, tell them you're through with the interview [HIS VOICE WAS DEMANDING AND HARSH, DARING RAFE TO OPPOSE HIM]

   RAFE: But dad- [HE TRIED TO OBJECT WEAKLY]

   WARD CAMERON: Now. [THE VOICE GRITTED OUT]

   RAFE: I'm done with the interview. [HE ANSWERED, COVERING HIS DEFEAT WITH COURAGE]

[A SCREECHING SOUND ECHOED THROUGH THE ROOM AND FOOTSTEPS RECEDED. A SIGH WAS HEARD BEFORE A WOMAN'S VOICE SPOKE.]

   SHERIFF PETERKIN: This is Sheriff Peterkin. Raphael Cameron has opted to exit the interview early. Note that suspect lied about seeing victim on the night of the disappearance. It is currently 6:52 PM Tuesday, July 27th.

[THE TAPE COMES TO AN END. BEFORE THE HAND PRESSES THE REWIND BUTTON, REPLAYING A CERTAIN PART OF INTEREST TO THEM]

   RAFE: Uh- I don't know- she was my girlfriend I guess

[AGAIN, THE HAND REWINDS THE TAPE, REPLAYING IT ONCE MORE AS IF THEY COULD HEAR SOMETHING WITHIN IT THAT NO ONE HAD BEEN ABLE TO UP UNTIL THIS POINT]

   RAFE: Uh- I don't know- she was my girlfriend I guess

Anyone that met Soleil Campbell would agree that, as her name implied, she was the embodiment of sunshine.

Her pineapple and coconut perfume would invade your senses when you approached her, eyes drawn to the little hearts, stars, and various other cutesy shapes imprinted on her chest near her heart that her signature white bikini adorned with pale blue flowers displayed, a temporary tattoo formed from two simple ingredients— sunscreen and sun. It was tradition for Kiara and Soleil (the pair having been practically attached at the hip since elementary school) to draw little shapes on each other in sunscreen and let the sun do the rest. JJ and John B had begged to participate one summer, ending in giant dicks on Kiara and Soleil's backs for like half a month. They got their revenge three weeks later when John B and JJ let their guard down, falling asleep in the sun and they drew little dicks on their cheeks (you seriously should have seen their faces).

Soleil was Pogue through and through, but that didn't stop her from catching the eyes of Kook boys— whom she'd sworn off dating (you'll see how well that pans out for her). Her energy was indescribably inviting and alluring. She was like a drug. When you didn't have her, you wanted her (enough to do anything for her), and when you did, you couldn't help but want more, forever chasing that high.

But even though Soleil was known for her bright spirit and innate ability to brighten the atmosphere of any room she was in, she was even more known for something else— her ability to keep secrets. Sarah Cameron's cheating scandal, the shoplifting she and Kiara did of lip gloss from that little boutique on Main Street (which was totally justified because who charges sixty bucks for a lip gloss?? && as Kiara always says "don't give in to an oppressive capitalistic society"— whatever that means), the times she told her parents she was going to study at the library when, really, she was going to make out with her (totally hot) boyfriend in the back row of the Kildare movie theatre, the sketchy financial records of Kildare's wealthiest residents (insurance fraud, she was sure of it), and the extra pocket change that those in the sheriff's department seemed to have in their pockets (who can afford to eat steak dinner's at The Vista with their mistresses every night on a cop's salary?) to name a few of them.

If you had a secret, Soleil Campbell knew what it was.

She wasn't in the habit of blackmailing of course. It wasn't in her nature to be so vindictive. She'd simply tell you with her sugary sweet voice and mango chapstick-coated lips that your secret was safe with her, and how could you not believe her when she batted those oh-so-innocent brown eyes at you, the kind you want to stare at forever, picking up the slightest differences in hues?

Soleil Campbell was Outer Banks' resident sweetheart.

The summer of 2023 was meant to be her summer. She felt unstoppable. She was ready for bonfires (at which she'd get hammered and skinny dip in the ocean, summer flings (Rafe Cameron would come to ruin this one for her), the annual Surf's Up surfing competition (which she was going to win this year and finally show JJ that she's a better surfer), and overall, just the best summer of her life!

All of that changed on July 22nd when Soleil Campbell walked out of The Château (with or without Rafe Cameron is still unclear) and was never seen again.

Well, never seen again alive.

All of her friends and acquaintances were interviewed in detail to put together a timeline of that day's events, but a particular few were interviewed several times over the course of six months as suspects because they were the last people to see Soleil alive that day— Jesse Maybank, Johnathan Routledge, Kiara Carrera, Pope Heyward, and Sarah Cameron. Rafe Cameron was also interviewed as a suspect, but he was the only one out of the group to claim he had not seen her that day (despite several eyewitness accounts claiming he was at The Château that night and was the one to drive her home).

After about half a year, the investigation slowed to a halt. All their leads went cold, and they had found no concrete evidence that indicated foul play that night. Soleil Campbell was labeled a runaway, and though her memory remained in the hearts of many unwilling to forget the girl that once lit up the Outer Banks with her smile, no one advocated for further investigation into her disappearance.

As the years passed, the Pogues all moved on.

Pope Heyward got the Merit Scholarship he had been working toward since freshman year, landing him a spot at his dream college where he began his studies of Forensic Pathology.

Jesse Maybank and Kiara Carrera ended their relationship at the end of their senior year. She was going to college; he wasn't. He was stuck living in a shithole on The Cut, working day in and day out serving drinks to rich assholes at the country club, and selling drugs on the side to afford his rent. Kiara went on to pursue a career as a veterinarian, using her weekends to attend and organize environmental protests.

Johnathan Routledge quit working for Ward Cameron after what happened to Soleil. He couldn't stand to look at Rafe's face. Even if he didn't do something to her, which he wasn't entirely convinced that he didn't, he still lied about seeing her that night. He investigated her disappearance for two years before JJ gave him an ultimatum. JJ told him that he was driving himself crazy with all that shit and that he either needed to drop it or JJ wouldn't be able to hang around him anymore. In his defense, John B really was driving himself crazy with it. It was taking a toll on his life for the worse, and JJ just needed John B to be himself again. Soleil was gone and nothing would change that. John B got himself back together and managed a job at The Wreck, working under Kiara's parents.

Sarah Cameron went to college in California, hoping to get as far away from her parents as she could. She adapted nicely to the lifestyle and enjoyed the freedom. She originally pursued acting but switched to modeling when she realized she was getting more modeling jobs than acting ones.

One thing that remained the same with all of them is that every summer without fail, they came back to the Outer Banks to see each other. If there was one thing they took seriously, it was P4L.

Unfortunately, this meant they were all around to witness as a skeleton was recovered from an old church. A demolition team was tearing up the floorboards, making room for more housing, when they discovered a human skeleton dressed in a white bikini with pale blue flowers. Upon examination, the remains were found to have belonged to Soleil. To make things worse, perimortem injuries marked on the bones indicated that the cause of death was stabbing.

Soleil Campbell was murdered.

Birdie Peterkin, having watched her mother work tirelessly over this case for years— Sheriff Peterkin being the only one who wasn't buying the runaway angle— developed a fascination for it over the years. She was desperate to know what happened to Soleil that night.

Did Rafe kill her and his dad used his power and influence to cover it up?

Did the Pogues kill her and say Rafe took her home to frame him?

Did she make it home safely and die at the hands of someone else?

The possibilities and theories were eating away at her bit by bit, and no one seemed to be doing anything useful, too afraid to touch the case that's been cold for the better part of three years, so she decided to take it into her own hands.

Birdie Peterkin was going to find out what happened to Soleil that night whether the truth was what the people of Kildare wanted to hear or not.

SUMMER OF 2023 !

As Described. / SOLEIL CAMPBELL
Pogue.  Gone Girl. Sunshine Personified.
Kildare's   Very    Own   Tragedy   !

4 YEARS LATER
SUMMER OF 2027 !

Amandla Stenberg. / BIRDIE PETERKIN
Pogue.  Curiosity Kills. Teenage Angst.
Kildare's   Resident    Nancy   Drew   !

Kristine Froseth. / JUNIPER DURHAM
Kook.  Daddy's Money. Craving Adventure.
Kildare's   Current    Kook   Princess   !

✸ Also Starring
I. Drew Starkey / Raphael (Rafe) Cameron II. Rudy Pankow / Jesse (JJ) Maybank III. Chase Stokes / Johnathan (John B) Routledge IV. Madison Bailey / Kiara (Kie) Carrera V. Johnathan Daviss / Pope Heyward VI. Madelyn Cline / Sarah Cameron VII. As Described / Other Original Characters VIII. As Portrayed / The OBX Cast

It's a story of sacrifice and betrayal, and good people dying in stupid, pointless ways.

✸     Author's Notes.

  I know the synopsis is very long, but I really wanted to do that little tape-recording segment and I don't think it gives enough information, so I wanted to make a more detailed one since this plot is kind of complex-ish.

  This will follow three different storylines all weaved together— Soleil's summer before her disappearance, the interviews between all the suspects that will slowly lay out more and more details of that night, and the investigation that Birdie is conducting four years later.

  I'm not sure how I feel about this layout. I always try to do something new and better when I post a new book, but idk if I outdid myself or if it's not that good

  I need a good cover for this book desperately tbh

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