RIPTIDE | Rafe Cameron

49. 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦?

"Home sweet home," Rafe sighs, giving me his hand as I climb out of the taxi, gazing up at the house that would be described as a shack in comparison to the vast size of Tannyhill.

Not that this house resembles a shack, it's far more lavish than anywhere that I've been able to call home. But for now, I suppose this is home. I need to tell my family that I'm okay, but I don't have a phone and I don't even remember their phone numbers, so what good is that?

"Hey, you okay?" Rafe places his hand on the small of my back, startling me as I turn to look at him.

"Yeah," I nod, feeling increasingly drained from the journey, "Just tired."

We barely slept on the ferry, because I refused to use the cabins provided. I hadn't thought anything of it until the sun began setting, and when Rafe suggested that we try to sleep, given that it was an overnight ferry, I freaked out.

The idea of having to sleep in a confined space, just like the one Ward locked me in on the ship over a month ago was enough to trigger an anxiety attack. I could tell that Rafe felt out of his depth, and perhaps part of him wished that JJ had been there to calm me down. But it was just the two of us, Rafe doing his best to anchor me in the storm as I continued to hyperventilate, waiting for the worst of it to pass.

In the end he insisted that we could just sleep on the benches out on the decking. He found some blankets and we managed to get a couple of hours sleep, but most of the night I simply laid awake wondering where my friends might be. A lot of the time I was contemplating whether or not they would be mad at me for leaving. But when we were on Poguelandia I think they could all tell that I wasn't happy, that I needed Rafe as much as I wanted him.

"You can sleep in my room when we get in," Rafe tells me, taking my bag in one hand and using the other to interlock his fingers with mine.

"Thanks," I mutter as he leads me up the path to the front door, panic beginning to set in as I remember that I'm just minutes away from being reunited with the Camerons. I let Rafe push the door open, leading me into the vast hallway of the eerily quiet house, placing my bag on the floor before closing the door behind me.

"There you are!" I hear Rose's familiar voice ringing through the house, accompanied by the sound of harsh footsteps as I look up to see her pacing towards us, "Oh my God, Sidney!"

"Hi," I smile awkwardly as Rafe drops my hand.

"Where have you been?" She wraps her arms around me as if everything that happened on the Coastal Venture simply didn't happen, "We've been out of our mind with worry!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I answer awkwardly as she lets go of me, taking a step back.

"It can't be that bad," Rose smiles, evidently still living in the Cameron bubble of blissful ignorance.

"We were on a deserted island for a month," I tell her, letting the words just roll off of my tongue, "Until we got rescued, well more like kidnapped."

"Rafe?" Rose glances at her stepson, as though she's accusing him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He scoffs, "I didn't kidnap her, we were just reunited by chance."

"What about Sarah?" Rose gasps as though she's just remembered that her stepdaughter exists, "And the rest of the Pogues?"

"She's safe, as far as I know," I reply, having not seen them since Kiara and I were kidnapped from the beach.

"As far as you know?" Rose remarks, folding her arms across her chest.

"She's not on that island, we all ended up in Barbados, and we got split up, that's how I ended up colliding with Rafe." I explain, already feeling tired from regurgitating the entire story.