the girl sat on her porch awaiting the arrival of her father and brother. "you guys should go, i'm not sure how cayman would feel seeing all of you eyeing him up" meilani said whilst biting her nails. jj swatted her hand, "stop that."

kiara got up, the rest of the pogues following her. "if thats what you feel is best, we'll head out" kiara grabbed her bag off of the porch steps. jj didn't budge. "jj you heard mei, let's go" john b grabbed jjs bicep. jj looked down at his girlfriend, picking her nails now. he swatted her hand once again, "you sure you want none of us here?" his bottom lip puffed out. "don't look at me like that, get out of here, i'll call you guys after" she kicked his leg. he scoffed and rolled his eyes. john and pope pulled him by the arms, leading him away from the girls house, jjs eyes never leaving meilani until she was out of sight.

she began to get nervous. the cool breeze left goosebumps all down her arms. she shivered. suddenly she heard a car coming down the avenue to her house. her stomach did flips as the car came into view.

it was her father's sheriffs cruiser. in the passenger seat she could barley make out her brother. the car came to a halt and meilani got up to adjust her self. she wiped her sleeves and stood tall on the porch steps, well as tall as she could for being a 5'4 girl.

both doors of the cruiser opened and the pair got out. cayman got out on the side closest to the porch. he slammed the door and looked directly at his younger sister. there was an awkward pause for a moment until he outstretched his arms, motioning the girl for a hug. she ran towards him and he engulfed her into a hug. the pair stood there for a few minutes until she pulled out to get a good look at him.

his brown hair had gotten longer, probably the same length as john b's, more messy though. his freckles were more prominent than ever, his dimples were still always showing, and he had gotten even taller, meilani didn't even think that was possible, he looked maybe 6'5 now. "i missed you" he whispered, looking down at his sister. a smile spread across her face, she forgot for a moment how much pain he had put her through. "cmon kiddos, lets head inside it's gettin' cold" their father spoke.

"lani?! what did you do with my keys?!" cayman called from his bedroom. "they're in the key pot at the front door!" the girl called back. footsteps approached the lounge.

"cayman?" the brother looked over at his sister sitting on the couch watching tv. "why'd you leave?" her face fell as she asked the question, she wasn't sure if she'd regret asking it or not. he went silent, "answer me" she was getting agitated.

the brown haired boy looked over at her, "i just did" she rolled her eyes. "that's not an answer, why did you leave cayman" "i-i was scared" she looked at the boy, puzzled. "dad was hitting me" cayman said as quiet as possible. meilanis face fell, she couldn't believe what he had just said, "he did it to me too" she looked at him, his expression changing immediately. it was like a fire had just lit in his eyes, he looked enraged. he got up. "cay? what's wrong?" meilani began to get anxious. he ignored her and stormed out onto the porch. the girl got up as quick as she could and followed him.

the boy was pacing around the porch, grunting under his breath. she walked towards him and stopped in front of him. "look at me" he ignored her and pushed her out of the way. she repositioned herself in front of him again, "look at me" she said, more stern this time. he shoved her again.

he began shouting and throwing things around, chairs, the table, he was tearing the porch to shreds.

"GOD DAMMINT CAYMAN LOOK AT ME!" the girl screamed. he paused immediately. he looked up and saw the girl sobbing. he immediately approached her but she was hesitant and took a step back. "lani? i'm so sorry please" he went to grab her arm but she took another step back. "what is wrong with you?" she cried.

"he-he hurt you, and i wasn't here, it's all my fault, i shouldn't have been such a pussy and ran away, i should've been keeping you safe-" he was cut off, "shut up cayman, it's not all about you" his face fell at his sisters remark. she turned on her heels and walked back inside. cayman sat down on the porch, head in his hands.

meilani reappeared with her vans on and a bag over her shoulder. she walked down the stairs and past her brother. "where are you going? it's late mei!" he called out. "out, don't bother looking for me" she replied bluntly.

and with that she walked down the avenue,

hopped her gate and began walking through the cut.