Dreamer | Outer Banks

11 - I'll Always Protect You

"The office." My brother muttered and we all turned to look at him. "What?" Pope asked, did he mean our dad's office?

"Our dad. Our dad's office." John B explained as he began to walk inside of the house and we followed him despite our confusion. "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research."

"Yeah I remember, we used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it." I said while John B grabbed the key from his pocket.

"But now that he's gone, we've just kinda...we just left it as he kept it." John B explained, staring at the door for a second before going to unlock it.

"Yeah, for when he gets back." Kie gave me a reassuring smile but from the corner of my eye I saw the three exchange a sad look. They believed our dad was gone but deep down they knew nothing would stop me from believing.

"Yeah." My brother whispered before unlocking the door and we followed him into the room with wide eyes.

"I've slept over here like six-hundred times, and I've never seen this door opened." Pope admitted while John B walked over to a desk with scattered papers all over.

"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here." John B explained as he grabbed a board off of the wall and placed it on the table before pointing to a name.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, eighteen eighty to nineteen twenty." Kie read before pointing to the picture next to the writing. "There's the lucky compass, right there."

"Actually, um...he was shot after he bought it." I muttered as our roosters began making a lot of noise. Did I mention I hated those roosters?

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. Henry was killed in a crop dusting accident when he had the compass." John B explained pointing to another picture.

"Then after he died, the compass was given to Stephan." I said, pointing to a picture of a man in an army uniform. "Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asked as I glared at John B and he carried on. "Sort of, uh, actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In-in the country."

JJ gave me a wtf look as John B continued down the line of names. "Anyways, after that. Stephan passed the compass down to him, our dad."

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." JJ said and Pope nodded agreeing. "Yeah, you have a death compass."

"We do not have a-" John B argued but Pope continued on. "You have a death compass. Seriously, get rid of it."

"It's cursed, and made its way back to you." JJ added while I watched John B try to screw open the top of the compass. "Look, our dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes".

My brother screwed open the top of the compass and something caught my eye. "What's that? It wasn't there before."

John B flipped the compass over to reveal the bottom had Redfield carved in it. "This is our dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope scoffed, clearly doubting him. "He's right, because he does these weird Rs with the-see it." I explained, pointing to the R in Redfield.

"Can I see it?" JJ questioned and John B handed him the compass. "Red-Rout-No I think that's an A."

"It says Redfield." I corrected him as he gave me a glare as if to say he knew it the entire time and nodded. "Right."

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kiara asked as the roosters began making noise again. I can't stand them. "Besides the most common name in the county." Pope said.