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“It will all work out. You just have to have a little bit of faith.” She says, pulling me into her arms. “And just imagine, five, big, burly, beautiful men worshipping your body.”
My head pops up at that.
“Do you think they'll they be better than my satisfyer?”
She smirks, “Just hope they didn’t forget to charge their batteries.”
We both lose ourselves in hysterics.
Chapter Nine
Pike
I’m woken by the sun shining through the window of our apartment. I groan covering my eyes, longing for just a little bit longer but unfortunately, it seems my body is ready to rise.
I think back to yesterday and how carefree I felt. A feeling I haven’t felt for a long time. There is a lot of pressure being a part of the Thunderbirds. Not only from our parents but from the leadership. We take true pride in our main calling. But saving people’s lives can be heavy. Especially if you aren’t successful every single time. A sentiment the guys and I all know too well. Not everyone can be saved. It's a dangerous business. Lives will evidently be lost.
“Fuck, I miss you Scarlett.” I say aloud, looking out over the water. “You would have loved it here. You would have also loved the other Scarlett that we met.” A smile tilts my lips. I imagine the two girls would have had the time of their lives teasing us. Aussie Scarlett seems to have that kind of carefree, live life to the fullest kind of attitude our Scarlett used to have. A sharp pang goes through my chest. Our precious Scarlett. Ripped from us way too fucking soon.
It still hurts just like it was yesterday.
The complete chaos. Being utterly terrified. Mum was almost full term pregnant with Ezra.
That fear of not knowing where my parents were, if they were okay. If my friends were okay. It's still so vivid in my head. Sending fear through my body still ten years later.
We lost her that day.
We lost a lot of people that day.
But not having her anymore, that kind of hurt is indescribable.
Young Scarlett Crux was the centre of our universe. Where she went, we went. We were her sheep. But you never heard a single complaint from us. She had this energy about her. This light.
Dacre used to call her his Star. Partially because he struggled to pronounce her name. But also, because she shone so bright. The ability to light up any room she walked in.
Sonny then ran with her little nickname and called her mi estrella, which is Spanish for ‘my star’. And fuck, if she didn’t beam hearing those nicknames.
I think back to Aussie Scarlett. How similar the two of them are. They could be twins.
While they share things like similar hair colour, eyes and name, the differences are too obvious.
For starters, our Scarlett died ten years ago. This Scarlett is alive and well. One has a brother that is begrudgingly alive, the other Scarlett’s brother passed away along with her Dad. Yet, we know all too well that our Scarlett’s Dad is alive. Considering he's the president of the Thunderbirds.
There is also the tiny issue of one being American and one being Australian. Really, the accents alone solidify it.
It's just a wild coincidence.
Almost like our little Scarlett sent her to us, just to keep us on our toes in the only way she would know how.
I let out a deep breath and rub the sleep from my eyes. I look out over the beach, the all too familiar feeling of grief rearing its head a final time.
“I hope you are running amuck up there Scarlett. I love you.”
I stuff down the grief back into its box in my head. An all too familiar routine I seem to have down pat at this rate. Ten years of practice but it doesn’t get any easier.
Grief is like that. It has no rules. It's complex. There is no precise or guaranteed way to deal with it apart from navigating it the best way you can.
Grief and of that at the magnitude we experienced and how young we were, was complicated. Some of us retreated into our selves for a little while, eventually coming out once the initial shock was over. Some of us let it all out at the start. Some of us went on a path of self-destruction. Unfortunately, that’s the path Dacre went down. Not only were we grieving the loss of one of our best friends, but we were also terrified that we were going to lose him every day. Some days we almost did.
