Bad Karma

seven

Leilani Elrod

Episode 1. Pilot

"Just hold it on your eye, John B! Don't be difficult!" I shoved the cold beer can over his eye again, despite his struggles.

"No!"

There were footsteps and both of us froze. It wasn't any of our friends, however, because Sheriff Peterkin waked into the bedroom. I dropped the beer can quickly, covering it with the bed-sheets.

"Get decent, both of you. We need to talk." She deadpanned, walking out of the room.

John and I shared a look before flattening our clothing and leaving the room, preparing to face whatever she had coming at us.

"Sorry to break in like this." She said, leaning against the wall while I sat at the table, pushing some more beer cans out of her view, John B trying to tidy up a bit, though she's already seen it all. "But DCS called. They wanted me to check on y'all. See how you're doin'. So, how are you? Besides the-" She motioned toward her eye.

"Oh, no, no, I'm- yeah, great. Fantastic, even."

I smiled at Peterkin, "We're amazing! Thanks so much, how are you? Thanks for coming by and all!"

"I'm so glad to hear you say that, but I heard a few things that worried me. Let me see if I can remember." She pushed herself off the wall, "Oh, yeah. One of the things I heard was that your Uncle Teddy, your guys' guardian, hasn't been in the state for three months."

So, fun fact. Not only did I move into the Chateau three years ago, but Big John took me in and became my legal guardian. Though I never really knew him super well at the time, he said that any friend of John B's was a friend of his. But when he went missing, Uncle Teddy also became my legal guardian. He wasn't around for long, though. So, you could see how the DCS threat was also an issue for me. Though, they were mostly going after JB.

"Yeah, that's false." John B shook his head.

"You don't have to say anything, I know it's true. I called the school. They said you used to be a good student, John B, but now you're failin' all your classes."

One thing I took pride in were my grades. School was a distraction for me, so during the nine months that we were in school, there wasn't much else going on in my mind. John B, however, was the opposite of that.

"No. No. I'm only failing one, and it's history." I did all of his history homework for him because it was my favorite class, but John B bombed all the tests. "The dudes a dick, he's out for me-"

"And I heard there was a fight on the beach yesterday, and a gun was involved."

"Okay. Gun? No. Did I get in a dust up? Yes, but was there a gun, Lei?" I shook my head quickly, "See? No."

"That's okay. I know who it was. I'll get to him. All I'm worried about right now is makin' sure y'all are in a safe home."

"It's super safe!" I stood up from my chair, knocking on the wall a few times, "See? No walls falling down or anything!"

"And Uncle T's coming back, so.."

"Is that what he told you?"

"Mhm!"

"Well, if he is coming home I think you guys should be allowed to stay."

"Thank you."

"But if I stick my neck out for y'all, you have to help me. Tid for tad."

"What- what does 'tad' mean?"

"Let me see, how can you help me? Oh, I know. So, a body was found in the marsh yesterday." I swallowed quickly, sitting back down as her eyes were trained on me, "Were you in the marsh yesterday?"