- At that Hearing Circle meeting, Cole and his father get into a yelling match where his father calls him a liar. Cole asks his mother to back him up, but she doesn't say anything, letting him down yet again.
- Then they get to Peter's mother, who starts to cry and talk about how Cole has damaged her son. Peter has speech and coordination problems now, and he wakes up screaming from his nightmares. She thinks that Cole should definitely go to jail.
- When it's Peter's turn to speak, he says that someone should smash Cole's head into a sidewalk until he knows what it feels like. Apparently, he hasn't forgiven Cole for attacking him.
- Cole wanders around the island trying to figure out what to do next. He drinks water, but finds that he's starving. That's when he goes back to what remains of his shelter—which is just a bunch of ash.
- He's still filled with anger as he tries to tidy up and set up a situation where he can find some food and stay alive. He distinctly remembers one time when he came home late and his father hit him with the metal buckle on his belt.
- That was the one time when his mother came in and said that he was hurting Cole, but as soon as he threatened to beat her, too, she disappeared.
- He also thinks back to how Garvey explained Circle Justice to his parents and to Peter's parents—how it isn't a punishment but rather a way to reevaluate and heal.
- Before it all becomes official, Garvey tells him that banishment is much harder than jail…but Cole doesn't believe him.