Down

Chapter 2

I was holding JJ's hand,
JJ said" DCS! I know you're in there!" As he hit John B's door, then he let go of my hand and jumped to the window, where John B was sleeping. He laughed, looking at John B," Gotcha, slick. You should have seen your face. Your face was like..." I giggled, and wrapped my arms around his leg, he smiled at me." You shoulda seen his face, Munchkin."

JJ said" I'm just saying, I don't understand why you don't at least try with Kiara. She clearly likes you. She's like, Oh, John B."
John B said" Is that what she does?"
" She's sketching about you diving, then she kissed you, bro."
" She kissed me on the cheek. It's not like we were makin' out."
" Low-hanging fruit, bro. Don't pretend you don't notice. I see it in your eyes. You're like, I kinda like that, and you start blushing and shit."
" I blush?"
" Yeah."
" Really?"
" Yeah."
" Hey, don't-"
" I was just looking at it. I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat, that's freaky."
" Yeah. That's why we're going to talk to Ms. Lana, figure this whole thing out."
" I'm sure she would just love to talk to us. It's not like her husband just drowned or anything."

We got to Ms. Lana's,
JJ said" We'll be right back, Munchkin." He and John B got out, I sat on the floor and began playing with Turtle.

They got back in, looking scared,
I said" Bub?" John B hit JJ's shoulders, JJ turned to me, he smiled,
He said" Hey, munchkin, sorry we took forever!"
" Okay." I smiled and went back to playing with Turtle.

I was eating crackers, Kie brought them for me, cheesy whales my favorite!, then they walked in.
John B said" But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... I just left it as he kept it." They walked to the locked door, I scooted off the bed and followed them.
Kie said" Yeah, for when he gets back."
" Yeah." John B opened the door and went in,
Pope said" I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened."
Kie said" Mm." JJ lifted me up, John B got a board thingy,
John B said" Here, look. This is the original owner, right here."
" Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there."
" Actually, um... he was shot after he bought it. Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. Henry was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen has the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."
JJ said" Let me guess, he died in action, right?"
" Sort of. Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In-In country. Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad."
" Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here."
Pope said" Yeah, you have a death compass."
John B said" I do not have a-"
" You have a death compass."
JJ said" Seriously, dude, get rid of it. It's cursed, and made its way back to you."
John B said" Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment In here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes." He opened it, and shook it,
Kie said" What's that?"
" That wasn't there before. This is my dad's handwriting."
Pope said" How can you know that?"
" Because he does these weird Rs with the- See it?"
JJ said" Can I see it? Red- Rout- No, I think that's an A."
Kie said" It says Redfield."
" Right."
" Okay, well, what's Redfield?"
Pope said" Besides the most common name in the county?" JJ put me down,
John B said" Oh, maybe-maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."
" A clue? Come on, that's- But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"
" Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper. Here you go."
" How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?"
" JJ loves the rooster."
Kie said" I love the rooster." I sat down, yawning, I watched Kie, Pope and JJ talk fast.
John B said" Guys! Somebody's here." They walked to the window, where John B was,
" Guys, guys, is that them? Is that them?"
Pope said" This is suboptimal." I got scared as JJ walked away from the window, he looked scared.
JJ said" John B, I told you, man. Why does it always-"
John B said" JJ! Hey, look at me. Where's the gun?"
" Gun? I, uh, I can't-"
Kie said" Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?"
" It was in my backpack, and then I-"
John B said" On the porch."
" It's on the porch."
" Go, go." JJ walked out of the room,
A man screamed" John Routledge!" JJ ran back in,
Kie said" Guys." I got scared,
JJ said" They're on the front porch, guys." I heard yelling, my lip shook,
" Guys, window. Window." She lifted me up, shushing me," Hurry. What-What's happening? Why is it taking so long?"
" It's painted shut, okay?" Kie walked to drawers,
" I'm gonna put you down for 5 seconds." She put me down, and looked into the drawers," Okay, guys. Guys. Here, I got it." She walked away from me, and to the window, Pope grabbed my arms and pulled me up onto his hip.
" Come on."
" I'm going as fast as I can." He walked to John B, both of them shushed JJ and Kie,
A man said" You better not be in there!" The door started shaking, Pope covered my mouth as I went to scream. They ran away from the door, JJ grabbed me from Pope and put my face into his neck, I squeezed my eyes shut as a loud bang happened. He climbed out the window, holding my head down so I couldn't look up.

We were hiding in the coop,
JJ said" Do something, Pope, shut him up."
Pope said" What do you want me to do?"
Kie said" Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." I made grabby hands to JJ as I got more scared, JJ looked at me then to John B, John B grabbed me and put me onto his lap, pushing my face into his neck. I squeezed my eyes shut, he covered my ears.

John B said" I mean, it's obvious, right? A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
Kie said" Yeah. It's possible."
Pope said" It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels."
John B said" Pope?"
JJ said" Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."
" I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message."
Kie said" If it helps you believe, John B."
" Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out."
JJ said" It's okay to trip, bro, but-"
" Look, my-my dad is missing, okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."
Kie said" It's been almost a year."
JJ said" Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility."
Pope said" Yeah, could be in a soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere."
" Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."
Kie said" JJ. Look, what do you think the message is?"
John B said" Redfield. Redfield lighthouse. That's my dad's favorite place."

We got out of the lighthouse,
John B said" Right. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"
JJ said" Wait.. why me?"
Pope said" Because you're not coming."
" Why?"
" Look, JJ, there are independent and dependent variables. And you're an independent variable-"
" Shut up, shut up-"
" We don't know what you'll do."
" Shut up!"
John B said" Listen to me for a second. Just listen! Pope, you stand look out with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."
Kie said" Great."
Pope said" I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum."
JJ said" Alright, would you just shut up already?" I sat down next to JJ, watching as he kicked the hakki sack.

They were throwing the hakki sack back and forth, then I heard sirens,
Pope said" Oh, shit!" JJ grabbed me and pulled me up as they ran to the van, JJ started driving as Pope held me on his lap as JJ drove fast.

I was climbing on the ramp, twinkie pulled up, John B honked the horn.
JJ said" Let's ride."
Pope said" This better be good." I jumped off the ramp, hitting my knees on the ground.
" You good, Munchkin?" I pushed up and sat on my butt, looking at the cut on my knee." Ooh, hurt? Gnarly, Bubba." He lifted me up," No blood, though." I giggled as he swung me as he got into the van, and put me down, nudging me to go sit in the back.

Pope walked out of The Wreck, it was Kie's family's restaurant.
Pope said" She says she's not comin'."
JJ said" Why not? What'd you do to her, John B?"
John B said" Shit. Hang on. I'll deal with it." John B got out, walking into The Wreck.

JJ said" You mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low. Oh, did you want a hit of this?"
Pope said" I keep the signal clear."
" Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then-"
John B said" Look, I-I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, alright? And wrong about everything else going on. But I-I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something." My eyes closed, I laid down, laying my head on my arm-

I woke up a little,
JJ said" Oh, yeah, she's down for the night."
Kie said" She should be okay, right?"
" Yeah, as long as she doesn't wake up... in front of a creepy-" I rolled over, hearing them all shh-