SUNSTRUCK | outer banks ¹

TWENTY FOUR. (what the fuck was that for?)

    "Who's Hollis?" I asked, stepping over a large branch. "Hollis is Mrs. Crain's daughter. She was my babysitter and she told me all about it. Told me the truth, about her mother and what happened in this house." JJ paused, looking towards the house.

    "so as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and she was a murderer and all. Hollis didn't believe it. Until that night" JJ said, looking down dramatically.

    "What night?" John B asked, feeding into JJ's story. "it all came back to her. When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs. So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink... full of blood. Her mother just says that she cut her finger." JJ continues.

    "The next morning, she says her father and her split up. But then Hollis noticed something, her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out and in and out with plastic bags. Weeks pass, and Hollis decides to use the outhouse. And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her father's head, looking straight back at her." JJ finishes and John B instantly speaks up.

    "god you are so full of shit" He let out. I rolled my eyes at the two.

    "dude I swear to god man." JJ argued, scoffing as John B pushed by him and started walking towards the house. "Hey, wait. wait" JJ called out, making his way over to John B.

     "you sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer. You got a cast on." JJ adds. "I don give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? And besides Elle's got one too and you don't seem too worried" John B ranted and JJ laughed.

     "yeah cause she's tougher than you pretty boy" JJ jokes, watching amused as John B tried not to laugh too. "shut up" John B scoffs. "I got nothing to lose, right? You comin' or what?" John B says to us before turning and walking closer.

    "C'mon," I said, nudging the blonde boy as I passed. I leaned down a bit and walked slowly behind the pogues, JJ close to me. "Hey, come on. Come here" John B whispered. We were hunched over and standing close to him.

    "So here's the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter" John B explained, no louder than a whisper.

    I lost their voices as I looked around, taking in the old building that was surrounded by overgrown grass and statues. I was barely paying attention to their conversation when I realized John B and Kiara had walked away and Pope was moving away too.

    "C'mon princess" JJ whispered, tipping his head to the side. "let's find some gold" I let out, following close behind him. "So you really believe all that stuff happened here?" I asked, genuinely curious if he was serious or not. "what gave it away" JJ sarcastically remarked.

    "Okay asshole" I scoffed as I pushed past him. "Hey, psst!" I heard and I grabbed JJ's arm to pull him with me. "Hey, come on. It's the only place we haven't looked" John B said.

    I stepped over the broken branch on the ground as I walked over. "oh shit" I heard and when I turned around JJ was moving fast towards me, two birds flying off behind him.

    John B waited for us to get closer before he opened the door and crouched down to go through. We followed him in. It was dark and felt muggy, the feeling already sticking to her skin. JJ and I shined our flashlights over different areas, searching for the gold.

    "Down came Mrs. Crain And cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood-" JJ sang before being cut off by me. "shut up JJ" I let out, rolling my eyes at him. The boy let out a huff before following my lead to where John B and Kiara were.