Golden Hour \\ Outer Banks

Chapter 26

Hazel's POV

All four of us waited in the seats. Everyone was very calm when suddenly the power turned on. All of us were thinking the same thing. If John B is in the water, then the lighthouse will show where they are. And our theories were correct when everybody started shouting that they could see the Phantom.

I heard police sirens sound, so I knew that they were chasing them. I looked at the others with the oh shit look of my face. The cops were chasing John B when there is a storm. That doesn't sound good.

The cops wouldn't let us get up, so we could only hear what was happening. And by the sound of it, it wasn't good. As we waited, Shoupe ended up coming back to us making us all stand up and go to him.

"Did you find them?" Pope asked.

"No," said Shoupe as he shook his head. I sighed in relief knowing the cops didn't get to them.

"So they got away," said Kiara.

"We... we lost them," said Shoupe. "I'm sorry."

"You lost them?" I said.

"What do you mean you lost them? Like they're gone?" Said Pope.

"They took an open boat into a tropical depression, Pope," said Shoupe. I froze in my spot, I knew what he was getting at.

"So they're dead?" Asked Kiara.

"We don't know," said Shoupe hesitating to answer. My eyes started to water at the thought that my best friend is dead.

"You drove them straight through the storm, man!" Snapped JJ. "Are you kidding me! Come here!" JJ through himself at Shoupe.

"JJ stop!" Yelled Kiara.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Yelled JJ as he was pulled off of Shoupe by another officer. Me and Kiara hugged each other since we were both crying the hardest. As I did that though, I let go of Pope's hand causing him to flip out himself.

"He didn't kill anyone and you know it!" Pope yelled to Shoupe.

"We are still looking for him, all right?" Said Shoupe. I let go of Kiara and went back to Pope.

"Pope, just stop," I cried as I hugged Pope. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw my parents, Kiaras parents, and Pope's come up to us. I immediately hugged my mom and dad.

"He's dead..." I cried.

"I know," said my mom. My mom and my dad let go of me and Pope came up to me and hugged me as well. I cried into his shoulder as he cried into mine. Kiara and JJ then joined us in one group hug. Well almost group hug I guess.

—

I woke up the next morning confused on where I was. I looked around and realized that I was in my room. I haven't slept in my own bed in forever. I got out of bed and looked in the mirror. My eyes were swollen from last night. What do you expect though two of my friends died. One of the officers told me last night that Sarah was on the boat with John B, so at least they were together.

"Hey sweetie," said my mom as I walked out in the kitchen.

"Shouldn't you guys be at work?" I asked.

"We took the day off to make sure you were okay," said my dad as he drank his coffee.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Twelve in the afternoon," said my mom.

"Twelve! Dang I slept late!" I said.

"You needed the sleep though," said my dad. "I hated seeing you the way you were last night." I rolled my eyes. My parents never see me anyways, so they probably don't even know what I look like when I'm not crying.

"Anyways, I know you stay home to be with me, but I should see how my friends are doing," I said.

"Honey... no," said my mom.

"Come on! This one day without seeing you guys won't change anything!" I said.

"Hazel, your mom said no," said my dad.

"And I said yes," I said as I made my way back to my room and locked the door. I quickly got dressed, and instead of having to face my parents again, I went through my window. I then made my way over to Pope's place.

As I made my way there, I could feel people staring at me. Word got out pretty fast that John B and Sarah were dead. And also everyone knows that I was friends with them. I tried to ignore everyone though. 

Once I got to Heyward's, Pope was already outside just sitting there. I sat down next to him and looked at him.

"You okay?" I asked even though I knew the answer. No one should be okay after their best friend died.

"No," said Pope as he looked at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to check up on everyone," I said. "Speaking of, do you want to go over to... John B's and see if JJ is there?" I had trouble saying his name. The death was still fresh, so it still hurt.

"Yeah... lets go," said Pope as he stood up and held his hand out for me. I took his hand and stood up as well. After that, we started walking to find JJ.

Again, as we were walking people were staring. I could tell that Pope noticed as well, because he got all stiff all of a sudden.

"Can you guys just stop starring!" Yelled Pope. Everyone quickly looked away.

"You didn't have to do that," I said.

"Yes I did. They were getting in my nerves," said Pope.

"Calm down," I said as I grabbed his hand in hopes it would calm him down.

"I can't be calm when my best friend just died!" Said Pope. "How are you so calm!"

"I don't want to talk about this please," I said. One way I cope with sadness is I let it all build up. Which was what I was doing right now. I just don't like to talk about things.

The rest of the walk was silent. Once we made it to John B's, we knocked on the door only for there to be no answer.

"Should we just go in?" I asked.

"Sure," shrugged Pope as I twisted the door knob. Thankfully it was unlocked. Me and Pope walked in shocked to see Kiara at the table.

"What are you doing here?" I asked making Kie jump.

"Oh, I wanted to check on JJ but he was still asleep," she said.

"Why did you answer the door when we knocked?" Asked Pope.

"I was spacing out," said Kiara. "Sorry."

This was the first time in my life when not one person in our friend group was happy, and it scared the shit out of me. Will we ever be the same again without John B?

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Im going on a vacation soon, so if I don't update that is why!