𝘈𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝
I stand with Kiara and John B, waiting for Pope and JJ to appear from the wooded area surrounding us. The sound of a twig snapping catches our attention and a flock of birds fly from their places in the trees, clearly terrified by the noise.
"Oh, shit!" JJ shrieks, frightened by the birds.
I let out a laugh and Pope looks at the boy next to him in exasperation, as if to say 'how on earth did I get stuck with you?'.
We turn to the small wooden door that we're sure leads to the basement and Kiara grabs my hand.
"Look at us, just a pair of girlfriends with their favourite boyfriends and the group's token straight friend" I declare to ease the tension, pointing from Kiara and I to JJ and Pope before grinning at John B.
"I'm straight" Both JJ and Kiara argue and I share an unconvinced look with John B.
"Y'all are about as straight as the rainbow" I retort.
"Here we go" John B mumbles before entering the house, not wanting to hear anymore arguing.
Kiara follows behind, pulling me with her and then Pope follows behind us with JJ.
"Down came Mrs Crain and cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood" JJ sings behind me.
"Can you stop?" Pope snaps at the blonde.
"See any water?" Kiara asks as we all continue our search for water.
"Another dead end?" She asks when no one answers her.
"There's not even water on the pipes" JJ observes.
"There's no water here" Pope sighs.
"Not a dropamino" JJ chirps.
"Know why we didn't find it? Bad karma" Kiara announces and I sense a shit load of bad energy which is why I move to stand in between Pope and JJ.
"Oh, God. Here we go" John B groans.
"You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trail's gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not" Kiara rants.
"This is exactly why I didn't wanna tell you about Sarah" John B huffs.
"Yeah?" Kiara replies.
"Yeah. What the hell's the deal with you two?" John B snaps.
"Nothing" Kiara states.
"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" John B asks smugly and Kiara smacks the boy in the face, his head whipping to the side.
"Oh, shit. That echoed, dude" JJ gasps as he and Pope wince for the Routledge boy.
"Attagirl. You tell him, gorgeous" I encourage her.
"Stop treating me like I'm some girl what's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you" Kiara spits.
"Did you, uh...hit me?" John B asks, looking pissed.
"Skeeter" Kiara replies, showing him the crushed bug on her palm.
"Skeeter?" John B mumbles.
"Yeah, you see it?" She asks.
"Yeah" John B replies before slapping Kiara in the face.
"Oh!" JJ grimaces, his eyes widening.
"Wow" I murmur.
"Where's your proof?" Kiara snaps at the brunette and he holds up his hand to show the smushed bug on his palm.
"Skeeter" He replies smugly.
"Yeah? There was probably one right there" She sneers, slapping his arm.
"There's one right there" He retorts, slapping her arm back.
They continue slapping each other like children, giggling and laughing. I hear a slap a lot closer and I turn my head to see Pope holding his arm with a glare pointed at JJ.
"It was her" JJ lies, pointing at me.
Pope and I share a wicked grin before I lunge at my brother who squeals like a little girl, trying to fight me off. I manage to grab him in a head lock and I nod at Pope who rubs his knuckles roughly on the blonde's head.
"You're scrambling my brains!" JJ whines.
"What brains?" I retort.
JJ grabs my legs and sweeps me off my feet, causing me to scream. Pope catches my shoulders before my head smacks the floor and we both look at my brother in disbelief.
"You almost killed me, you clumsy ass bitch!" I shriek, kicking my feet until he lets go of my legs.
"You grabbed me first!" JJ objects as Pope helps me up.
"I didn't drop you on your head!" I argue.
"Neither did I" He shrugs "Just almost"
"I'm gonna just almost beat your ass" I threaten and he rolls up his sleeves with a cocky grin.
"Hit me with your best shot, hoe" He challenges me.
I quickly lift my fist, pretending to reel back for a punch and he jumps back behind Pope.
"That's what I thought, bitch ass" I scoff and he sticks his tongue out at me.
I stick my tongue out right back and notice that Pope is looking around with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Oh, my gosh! Okay, can we leave? Cause I'm already itchin to leave" JJ groans.
"Hah, punny" John B scoffs and Kiara slaps him again.
"Ow! All right!" The brunette shrieks.
"I just found Mrs Crain's voodoo doll, guys" I hear my brother declare and I turn to see the doll in his hands.
"Oh, shit" Kiara giggles and I snatch the doll from JJ.
"Heads up, Booker!" I holler, throwing the doll at him.
The Routledge boy catches it with a grin and throws it back at me, but I dodge it. A crashing sound is heard as the doll hits an old vase, smashing it and I turn to my friends, all of them giving me disappointed head shakes.
"I'm a horrible person for that, aren't I?" I declare and none of them answer, making me look at them in disbelief.
"No, you're not, Addy! We still love you, Addy!" I mock sarcastically and JJ snorts.
"You know you're wrong for breaking that vase, girl" Kiara replies.
"All right, can we leave this? Cause it's getting-" JJ stops when the sound of water echoes through the basement.
"Hey, guys!" Pope hisses and we all turn to him.
"Hey, Pope" JJ replies in a hushed tone.
"Shh!" Kiara tells them.
"Hey. Help me move this" Pope demands.
"Okay, just...quiet" John B agrees.
We all help to clear the crap off the large wooden panels and then start lifting them.
"Guys, guys, guys" Kiara snaps.
"Right, shh" Pope nods.
"She's probably right upstairs" Kiara scolds us "And Addy has made enough noise to wake the dead"
"Thanks a lot, Kie" I scoff sarcastically.
We pull multiple wooden panels away to reveal a well hidden beneath them.
"Well, well, well" Pope jokes.
"That was a good dad joke" John B mumbles in return.
"They built this part of the house right over it" Kiara observes.
"This is where she hid the bodies" JJ adds.
"Oh, dude, come on" Pope huffs.
"No, I'm dead serious. It was never an outhouse" JJ states.
"You're gonna be dead full stop if you don't shut up" I warn him.
"She probably doesn't even know it's here" Kiara snaps.
JJ shuts up and I look up to John B who is still looking into the well in amazement.
"So...we found water" Pope speaks up.
"We're gonna need a really big rope" Is all John B says.