2. Jodie

In the wake of her moth­er’s depar­ture, Kya watch­es as her fam­i­ly dis­in­te­grates, with her sib­lings aban­don­ing their marsh home to escape their abu­sive father. Kya, left only with her broth­er Jodie, clings to their moments togeth­er, like shar­ing sim­ple break­fasts and explor­ing the marsh­lands. How­ev­er, the peace is short-lived; their father’s volatile pres­ence looms large, prompt­ing Jodie to leave as well, fear­ing for his own safe­ty. His depar­ture marks a sig­nif­i­cant shift in Kya’s life, leav­ing her to fend for her­self amid the des­o­la­tion and neglect.

Forced into soli­tude, Kya nav­i­gates her new real­i­ty with resilience. Her days are punc­tu­at­ed by the eerie silence of an emp­ty home and the harsh real­i­ties of sur­vival, from prepar­ing sparse meals to con­fronting her father’s destruc­tive out­bursts. A sig­nif­i­cant turn­ing point occurs when he ignites a bon­fire, destroy­ing rem­nants of their moth­er, sym­bol­iz­ing a final break from the past.

Kya’s iso­la­tion pro­pels her into a new rou­tine of self-reliance, seek­ing solace in the nature of the marsh and devel­op­ing a cau­tious coex­is­tence with her father’s spo­radic pres­ence. Her for­ays into the vil­lage for sup­plies are fraught with chal­lenges, from nav­i­gat­ing the judg­ment of the towns­peo­ple to man­ag­ing her mea­ger bud­get. Despite these tri­als, Kya’s encoun­ters in Barkley Cove, like a tense moment evad­ing reck­less boys led by Chase Andrews, under­score her sta­tus as an out­sider and for­ti­fy her resolve to sur­vive on her own terms.

As Kya adapts to her soli­tary exis­tence, she embod­ies the resilience and resource­ful­ness required to face a world that views her as ‘marsh trash’. The marsh itself becomes a refuge and a teacher, guid­ing Kya through the com­plex­i­ties of lone­li­ness, sur­vival, and the pur­suit of a sem­blance of fam­i­ly and belong­ing that has been cru­el­ly stripped away.