𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 51.

"You stayin' here, Charlie," John B asked, his voice quiet.

Jj cleared his throat uncomfortably when I didn't reply, to fill the quietness. I inhaled sharply— but quietly— when John B's hand placed itself on my shoulder, squeezing lightly.

And then, with a final glance to everyone, he was sliding his hand off my shoulder and pushing open the door, stepping out into the darkness. Jj let out a long sigh when the door closed shut.

"God damnit," Jj cussed under his breath, "This is not how you do things, he's gonna— he's gonna get himself in trouble,"

"Fuck," Pope paused, rose the blunt to his lips, "The," he inhaled, "Police." A puff of smoke clouded in front of his face.

The car remained silent the whole time after that, only sounds of Jj cussing under his breath a few times, and Kiara tapping her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently.

    A few long minutes has passed by.

"Kie!" We heard a loud shout after those few minutes, "Star the car!" It was dangerously urgent, fear in the voice.

That's when I finally turned my head around to see John B tripping on his feet, running towards the car, as the police station's door banged shut aggressively.

    He nearly fell to the ground as he hit his hands on the car door he had jumped out of, shouting repeatedly.

"What?" Kie's eyes were wide with fear, "John B!"

Then, I saw two police officers stumble out of the station, their hands on their guns.

"John B, what did you do!" Jj screamed.

While Pope scrambled to open the door, I grabbed the key from the cup holders, wasting no time in shoving it in the ignition. The car started, just as John B threw himself into the seat, and as the officers made it to his side, banging on the windows. My chest was heaving in and out heavily, mind racing from all the yelling going on in the vehicle.

But before I could process it, John B was roughly opening his door, causing the officer to trip and fall, and we were driving away from the station, swerving out into the streets in the darkness.

___

    "Someone has to go check up on her."

    The leaves on the trees swayed in the wind, creating a peaceful sound over the sirens blaring in the distance. They wavered and swung through through the soft breeze, echoing the waves of the water, the waves that smoothed into the marsh behind us. The sun shimmered down from the spaces between the clouds, momentarily appearing to soon disappear, and cascaded a certain gloominess over everything, matching just about everyone's feelings and, in visibility, everyone's emotions.

    We had spent the night in Kiara's car, underneath a random carport shed to hide from the cops.

    It was only a matter of time before a body appeared next to me, sitting on the rim of Kie's open trunk. It was Jj.

    Since the moment we had appeared after the runway, I hadn't really said anything. Reasoning for that being, words just didn't seem as important. No one really attempted at first, because after hearing about the Sheriff, my silence was understandable. But now they were seeing it as an issue.

    Jj let out a huff of air, simply sitting next to me as the wind brushed past us.

    I knew that it would be ineffectual if John B sat himself on the trunk instead, because he already knew what was going on in my head— he'd seen the same things as I did. Somehow we didn't even need to talk to one another at all, for we were both thinking the same things. There was no use to converse about it between us.