Wheeling Gull Isle turncoat

There was nothing. There was everything. All a little too much, and he felt it all and nothing at all.

When Dinah screamed.

When Malakai preached.

When Ava finally fluttered open her eyes.

Dad, gone. Juju, gone.

He stared ahead blankly, eyes blurred with a shield of tears. He looked, but did not see. Did not want to see; did not want the last thought of dad to be anything less than who he'd been in life.

Laughter. Love. An image of who he wished to be relected back to him.

He hadn't told him that enough.

Did dad even know it?

Would things have been different now if he had only stayed?

if he'd just broken his promise?

if he had never chased after Dee?

But he had no words. He only stared, jaw clenched, body trembling beneath the weight of tears that threatened to spill if he did not hold them back. They would find the light when he found a quiet place, when he had a moment of quiet thought, when he was alone, and he could be the rock the seawater broke instead of the one they only broke against.