Natalie boarded the Washington State ferry that would take her from the safety of the mainland out through the open sea to the place that filled her nightmares. It had been five years since she had stepped foot on that land that time forgot. Five years since she had left Shane and her home of Harper's Island behind. Now, she was living in a town not unlike this little hamlet. Only now, her home wasn't surrounded on all sides by water but by seas of rolling corn. She lived in a tiny town in Iowa called, Whiting. A place where you could escape from the perils that life had thrown you and just settle. A place where you could fall into the cracks.

Even still, she missed that little white clapboard house that she once lived in as a tiny girl, that one on the island in the middle of the Pacific, and she missed the smell of heavenly nature, touched by the sound of thrashing waves. Most of all Iowa made her miss a certain blue eyed man with a dark streak.

Natalie and her half brother, Jimmy Mance had grown up on the island. Natalie and Jimmy had the same father. Their father got divorced from Jimmy's mother and Natalie's mother had died of cancer when she was eight leaving both children to be raised by their dad. When she was 17 and Jimmy 19 their father was in very bad health from working with asbestos. The doctors told them they should try their hardest to help him out and to let him "go peacefully" as they called it. Jimmy started working on the docks at The Marina while Natalie finished her senior year of high school and soon after she joined Jimmy by getting a job at the Maritime Museum along with Trish Wellington. Two years later their father passed away leaving Jimmy and Natalie to hold on to one another.

Now, at 26 she was going back to remember a time, and a place, and a man who had haunted her mind every waking moment for the last five years. It wasn't her fault that she left. He had sent her away! Natalie had been so in love with him while the outside world never knew the side of Shane Pierce that she saw. When she got pregnant Shane swore that it wasn't his and he wouldn't help her. He made her life torture until she decided to leave. Carrying only the belongings she could fit into a backpack and a baby in her belly Natalie boarded the ferry and left good old Harper's Island behind. That wretched place had brought so much pain to so many. Not long after Jimmy wrote to her and told her that Shane had slithered his way into Kelly Seaver's clutches. Kelly, Nikki Bolton, and Natalie had all been the best of friends when they were younger. They all had that devil-may-care attitude and a wild rebellious streak.

Everyone who was a local knew what had happened seven years ago with the Wakefield murders. No one ever thought something like that would happen again but, it did. Natalie remembered Henry Dunn from when she use to date his brother, JD a long time ago in her youth. JD, Henry, Abby, Trish and Jimmy all use to hang around together at one time until JD turned into a nightmare. Maybe she was the reason JD and Shane hated each other so much.

As Natalie held onto the banister of the ferry, watching that hunk of evergreen grow ever looming in the foreground she thought about everything that had happened. She breathed in that aroma of stiff salty air and piney greens. Her stomach twisted into a million knots at the thought of seeing the man that she once loved so much laying inside of a coffin. They were having a mass funeral service for all of the victims of John Wakefield and Henry Dunn or would that be Wakefield? Natalie hated them! They had ruined so many people's lives! Jimmy and Abby decided to stay back in Seattle on the mainland in their new house. Abby couldn't stand that thought of going back to that God forsaken place. She wanted to be rid of it for good.

Natalie had dropped four year old son, Jacob off with them earlier that morning so that she could attend the funeral. There was no way she wanted Jacob to see his father lying in a casket, pale, unmoving, and cold. Better the boy remembered Shane in pictures than to see him like he would be. Natalie had dated JD Dunn for only a brief period of time until she left him after a fight and went to Shane. She and Shane Pierce dated for almost 3 years in their youth. He was a few years older than her but she didn't mind that. Parts of Shane were always immature and sometimes because of his hard upbringing he was more mature than she could ever dream of being.

Jimmy hated it for the longest time that his best friend and his sister were dating. He always tried to avoid the two of them when they were together. Natalie had been so innocent until she and Shane had crossed paths. She glanced down at her arms forgetting how cold the island got during winter. The psychedelic colors that glanced back at her made her chuckle. Her arms were covered in tattooed sleeves from where Shane had left his indelible signature pierced into her skin. Natalie's hair was naturally dark brown except now it was cut short unlike the long down her back mane she had kept in her youth. Long hair was just too hectic to keep up with when you had a young son roaming around the house.

The boat docked and Natalie picked up her duffle bag and stepped the first step down on home. She let out a sigh as her stomach twisted into one humongous lump and for a moment she swayed on her feet. Catching hold of one of the newly crafted wooden posts to the dock she steadied herself. Tears clawed desperately at her eyes trying their hardest to spill over her dark lashes. Natalie the fearsome strong woman kept them in. Blinking she let go of the post and smoothed out her black dress. She started to make her way to the newly renovated Candlewick. Nothing about this day was going to be easy.