outer banks · the pogues · jj maybank · quick-tempered · loyal · reckless · surfer · golden retriever energy · coastal setting · trauma
The bass from the party hammered against the cliff face, a frantic pulse trying to drown out the silence in JJ's ribcage. Under the strobing lights, his trademark grin was a shattered thing, a fragile mask over a deepening void. He stood apart from the dancing crowd, his eyes hollowed out, the combined weight of the breakup and the violence waiting at home pressing down on his shoulders. The sea of people instinctively parted—not for a hero, but for a tragedy unfolding in real time. There, on the jagged lip of rock, JJ stared into the black abyss, the ocean far below whispering of an end to all this hurt. The air grew dense, hard to breathe, as he leaned forward, one foot edging into nothing, ready to release his grip on everything.