"𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚 / 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪"
𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨...
♪ 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙟𝙚𝙖𝙣 - 𝙘𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙩 ♪
SURVIVIAL.
The most basic yet crucial human instinct. Just as instinctual as breathing, or flinching when startled, or blinking. Just as necessary as oil in an engine or gunpowder in a cartridge. Survival is an innate part of all humans, woven through each individual with distinct precision, but it was especially ingrained upon the Pogues more so than any others.
Growing up on the Cut meant a person's instinct for survival had to be higher than your average Kook's. On the South side of Kildare, you had to be prepared for anything. House getting evicted, parent vanishing into the night, losing your job, etcetera. Not only did you need to be prepared, but you also had to anticipate it. Otherwise, you were just another throw-away fish left to die - alone and penniless.
It was how John B and Blue were still afloat after their father went missing. It was how JJ had yet to wind up in a jail cell despite committing crimes daily. It was how Pope was the highest ranked student in Kildare despite not having the same resources that the rich kids did. It was how Kiara was able to balance a foot in both worlds, Pogue and Kook at the same time, despite her parents' constantly trying to pull her away. All of it was for survival, whether it was survival of the present, survival of the past, or survival of the future. Physical, emotional, or mental, the Pogues knew how to survive better than anyone else.
And that instinct was what propelled them into action once they heard truck tires pull up outside the Chateau.
"Somebody's here."
Once those words left John B's mouth, everyone gathered at the window, watching timidly as a black truck parked in the overgrown lawn. The air was so thick with tension, it could be cut with a butter knife. Blue could practically feel the nerves radiating off her friends in waves. Just as she went to stand closer to JJ, two men exited the vehicle, and she immediately became frozen in place.
"Guys, guys, is that them?" Kiara asked, her voice quiet and slightly trembling.
Blue wanted to nod, she wanted to say yes, but all movement and words were completely amiss to her at that moment. All she could think about was Miss Lana's house, the horrific sounds of breaking glass and vicious threats, and the sight of the broken widow crying in the corner. She realized then that Lana's fate was about to be her own.
"No." JJ said, not answering Kie's question, but instead voicing his dread at the oncoming scenario. As Pope and Kiara looked at Blue, JJ, and John B's terrified faces, they already knew the answer without having to hear it.
Still, Kiara asked once more. "Is that them?" Her expression was now pulled into a pout, eyes wide and lips curled downward. Blue was sure she shared the same look.
"This is suboptimal." Pope muttered.
As Blue was still frozen in her spot by the window, JJ began to pace the room, his panic resurfacing in quick fashion. "John B, I told you! Why does it always-"
All of a sudden, before the blond's trepidation could escalate, John B grabbed the boy and pinned him to the wall in order to steady him. "JJ! Hey, look at me." He put his index finger up to shush his friend while JJ began to breathe heavily out of his nose. "Where's the gun?"
"Gun? I, uh, I can't-"
"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?!" Kiara cried, pulling her hands to her face in a sort of praying motion, her alarm becoming more and more evident with each passing second.
Blue, whose attention was fading in and out subconsciously, finally looked over at JJ in the midst of the panic-fueled conversation. She watched as he anxiously rubbed his eyes before stumbling out a response.
"It was in my backpack, and then I-"
"On the porch." John B came to the conclusion before the blond did.
"It's on the porch."
Right as the words left his mouth, JJ was moving, quickly leaving the office before Blue could beg him not to.
"Go, go!" John B whisper-yelled, encouraging his friend to move faster. No one had eyes on the square groupers anymore, so urgency was raised to a new height.
Seconds after JJ left the room, a loud voice came yelling out, carrying its startling volume into the small house. "John Routledge!"
"Guys!" Kiara cried at the sound.
"River! Come on out now!" The sound of her name sent a cold sweat down Blue's spine.
JJ came stumbling back into the office, quickly shutting the door behind him. The Pogues stared at him while the men continued to shout in the background.
"Where's the compass?!"
John B was the first to speak to the blond. "Where's the gun?" He asked.
"They're on the front porch, guys." JJ whispered.
Although Blue still wasn't moving, she could feel her eyes begin to well up with tears. The realization that her home was about to be broken into gnawed at her mind, causing an insatiable fear to run through her body. Her sense of survival was screaming at her, begging her to do something, but she found that she couldn't listen to it. Why, she wasn't quite sure, all she knew was that something very bad was about to happen and she was powerless to stop it.
"Get out here!"
"Routledge!"
"Where you at, kids?!"
She could hear them throwing things around, the familiar sounds of falling furniture made her stomach churn and her first tear to silently fall down her cheek. Her bottom lip quivered, holding in the sobs that were begging to escape her mouth, biting the flesh so the sounds wouldn't reach the air. Blue watched as her friends scrambled around the small office and felt guilty that she wasn't springing into action like they were.
"We gotta leave!" Kie whispered as the group began to turn away from the door. "Guys, window. Window."
The Pogues raced towards where Blue was standing, hustling towards the glass as they maneuvered around her. She took a step back and watched JJ and Pope attempt to open the window, but it wasn't budging.
"Hurry!" Kie encouraged them, her voice nearly becoming buried under the men's threats and violent movements still occurring in the near distance. "What-what's happening? Why's it taking so long?" The curly-haired girl asked.
JJ's head turned to her as he scowled. "It's painted shut, okay?!"
Hearing the words and seeing the blond boy struggle was enough for Blue to finally unfreeze from her still state. She quickly stepped over to her father's old desk, grabbing his letter opener before walking back to the window.
"Routledge!" One of the men yelled again, his voice accompanied by the sounds of tables and bookshelves being brutally thrown onto the floor. Blue tried her best to ignore it.
"Guys, guys." Blue muttered as she stepped up to Pope and JJ, who were still trying to push the window open. Her voice was small and unsteady, but clear enough to get their attention. "Here, I got it." She said as she held up the sharp object.
The boys moved aside as she attempted to cut through the paint that sealed the window. Her trembling hands were making the job ten times more difficult, and she could feel JJ's concerned gaze burning a hole through her back.
"Let me help you." He mumbled, placing his hands on top of hers, adding a much-needed force to the knife.
"Where the hell's that compass?!"
"Hey, check the back room!"
"Come on!" Kie exclaimed as she watched the two work at the window.
"We're going as fast as we can!" JJ said, his jaw clenching as he spoke.
While John B and Pope stood with their backs against the office door, they both raised their pointer fingers to their lips, shushing the other three as their volume got too loud. "Be quiet." John B ordered.
The sound of the doorknob turning sent everyone back into a panic. As soon as the intruder realized it was locked, he shook the knob and began hitting the tarnished wood. "You better not be in there!"
Blue looked back as she continued her rushed movements with the letter opener, another tear falling as danger kept crawling closer and closer, its near presence sending the girl's mind into a terrible spiral. The man started kicking the door, causing John B and Pope to move as the wood began to splinter and break off.
"Hey, hey." JJ's soft voice got her attention. Their hands never stopped moving as they locked eyes. Blue felt frozen again once she saw the worry etched on the blond's face. "It's gonna be fine, okay? I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
She believed him. Throughout her whole life, despite the recent ups and downs, there was always one constant - one thing she could be sure of: JJ Maybank would always protect her.
As her gaze locked onto his crystal blue eyes, she could feel her terror begin to shrink in size, the overwhelming feeling no longer coursing through every vein and shocking every nerve. When she looked at him, she could feel the fear that had been simmering and building throughout the day now be placed on the back burner. It was still there, still bubbling along the surface, but no longer going over the edge and spilling over. It was contained.
Just as the sound of a gun being cocked resonated from outside the demolished office door, Blue and JJ finally managed to cut through the rest of the stubborn paint. They quickly threw the window open. JJ immediately grabbed Blue, his rough hands grasping her hips and hoisting her through the frame in quick motions. When her feet were on the ground, she watched as her friends climbed out one by one, JJ coming last as he had stayed behind to help them escape.
Before any of them could run off, John B motioned to the chicken coop, where the rooster had been screaming it's head off far too long for their liking. Blue sent her brother a look, expressing that she thought it was a bad idea, but he waved it off as he ran towards the enclosure.
And of course, wherever John B went, the Pogues followed.
They all clambered into the small coop, backs pressed against tarnished wood, shoulders brushing up against one another with little space between them. Blue was smushed between Pope and JJ while John B and Kiara were facing them on the other side. She watched as the rooster ran back and forth, constantly crowing, obviously confused and stressed by the people invading its home. She knew exactly how it felt. Blue wished she could have comforted the animal, but she knew nothing could calm it down until it was all over, and the realization made her frown grow deeper.
Although they were all visibly breathing very heavily and their faces were struck with exhaustion and unease, they were motionless and silent, trying their best not to attract any unwanted attention. But despite their attempts at being stealthy, the animal in their company did not seem to be on the same page.
The rooster continued to cluck as John B watched the square groupers through the holes in the chicken wire. Blue took a peek, noticing the loads of books and papers that the men were carrying back to their truck. They were stealing her father's research, all of the documents and discoveries he had spent years trying to obtain. Anger began to swell in her battered heart, and as the feeling started to turn into despair, she tore her eyes away and leaned closer to the blond next to her.
The crowing grew to an unbearable and dangerous volume. The Pogues all looked at the rooster, wondering what to do before JJ finally spoke up. "Do something, Pope. Shut him up." He said to his friend in a hushed tone.
"What do you want me to do?!" Pope answered incredulously.
Kiara, whose face was still wound up in a miserable glower, chimed in. "Pet it, or something, or talk to it. I don't know." She cried, her voice cracking as she spoke.
The sounds of the truck's hatch closing rang throughout the yard. Blue was grateful for the sign that the men were about to leave, but it was also a reminder that they were still there - that they weren't in the clear yet. John B suddenly moved back from the chicken wire, and when Blue quickly glanced through the small frame, she saw one of the square groupers staring at the coop as he stood by his vehicle. She instantly moved back before he could notice her.
"You do something." Pope said to JJ, gesturing to the animal that was still clucking it's head off.
The blond boy looked over at Blue. When she turned to him and their eyes locked, she could see the apology and the regret swimming in his eyes. Her heart sunk at the realization and she began to shake her head, a sob already resting on the tip of her tongue even though the deed hadn't been done yet. But before she could plead with the boy, he was already springing into action.
"Pope, cover her eyes. Don't let her look." He ordered before getting up from his seat.
In an instant, Pope's hand was in front of her eyes, shielding her from the horrific scene occurring just inches away. She could hear the rooster's wings flapping rapidly and its distressed crows grow louder before being cut off completely. The sound of a bone snapping resonated in the small coop and Blue let out a quiet cry, her hands shaking uncontrollably as her chest tightened into a tangled knot.
Blue could hear Kiara's small sob as well as JJ's faint apology. As Pope lowered his hand, she still kept her eyes shut, not wanting to see the reality of the sickly scene in front of her. The girl began to fall back into herself, detaching her aching soul from the disturbing events, too tired to be fully conscious at that moment.
"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go!"
As the sound of tires pulling out of the yard and into the dirt road filled the hot summer air, Kiara's cries grew louder, and the boys all let out collective sighs of relief all while slightly shaking from leftover fear. Blue let her tears silently fall down her face, coating her lashes and the overheated skin of her cheeks, not bothering to let her sobs escape from her mouth. The only thing she could manage to do was place her shaking hand in Kiara's, giving it a comforting squeeze before pulling away.
Although the intruders were finally gone, the trauma they left behind stuck to her like glue, keeping her in yet another frozen-like state until a familiar hand wound itself around her wrist and pulled her out of the coop. A wave of nausea rolled over the girl as she stepped over the dead animal and she tried her best to ignore the disfigured twist of the carcass's neck. Despite craving comfort more than ever, Blue followed the boy aimlessly, not meeting his eyes or intertwining her fingers with his like she usually would.
The girl looked at the Chateau, a place she used to find peaceful, but now only felt a sense of dread as it settled a harsh weight at the bottom of her stomach. Blue's bleary eyes latched onto the old fish shack, and for the first time in her life, the feeling of having a safe haven was slowly washing away, dripping into a fallen memory.
Now, Blue felt like nothing was safe.
𑁍 𑁍 𑁍
"I MEAN, IT'S OBVIOUS, RIGHT?" John B spoke from the driver's seat of the van. "A family heirloom. I mean, what better place to hide a message?"
Blue didn't latch onto her brother's words like she normally would. Although she was there with the Pogues - sitting right by them and breathing the same air as them and hearing the same noises as them - she wasn't really there. Not mentally. No, her mind was somewhere else, stuck in the grim events that had plagued the early hours of the day. How her friends were already acting normal, she had no idea - she was surprised that she seemed to be the only one shaken up from all that had occurred in recent hours. Though she had always been a tad more sensitive than her fellow Pogues, she hadn't thought they would be this immune to such horrifying tragedies.
Her tired gaze swept around the inside of the beat-up hippie van. Pope was sat on the bench, holding the infamous compass up in the air, the dial facing the boy as it swayed with the vehicle's movements. Kiara was residing in shotgun, seemingly trying to appease John B's delirious rambles as she wore a worried frown. JJ was closest to Blue, as always, sitting just on the other side of the cushioned seats. He had been unusually quiet, his eyes occasionally resting on Blue in a constant pattern, only speaking mumblings under his breath every now and then. He seemed to be the only other person that was somewhat affected by the invasion and rooster slaughter, but Blue had been too caught up in her own mind to truly notice.
"He had to know it was gonna get back to us, right?" John B continued, taking his eyes off the road for a swift moment in order to look back at Blue, who just returned the stare with a weary gaze. She didn't have the strength to speak, and she really didn't want to think about her dad at that moment.
Kiara hesitated before responding to the outlandish claim. "Yeah. It's possible."
"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope suggested.
"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels." JJ chimed in. "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." The blond boy said the ridiculous words casually, but as he spoke, he looked to Blue with a cautious smile that fell once he noticed she hadn't reacted to his humorous reply.
John B groaned loudly, cutting his friends off as he got back to the topic at hand. "I'm not concocting, okay? Our dad's trying to give us a message." He sent another look to Blue as he spoke with conviction.
"If it helps you believe, John B." Kiara said, her voice slow and calm, holding a sweet tone that she only utilized on rare occasions. It was like a mother talking to her tantrum-throwing toddler, saying and doing anything to get them to calm down and go back to normal.
The Routledge boy didn't seem to like the coddling, though. "Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay?" Blue would disagree with that, but whatever. "I'm not trippin' out."
"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ tried to assure him, but he was quickly interrupted.
"Look, our dad is missing, okay? Missing." The words caused an eerie feeling to envelope the air, bringing everyone to an intense and somewhat uncomfortable silence. Blue could feel her tattered heart sink further down into her ribcage, the reminder of her father's tragic predicament not doing anything to help raise her lowered spirits. "You guys don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."
Hearing her brother talk like that and put their tragic situation into words was almost enough to make Blue start crying again. Although she could see where their friends were coming from, she also knew that no matter how hard they tried, they could never fully understand. They didn't have to wake up one morning to a sheriff at their door with the information that would completely change their lives. They didn't have to deal with the uninhabited bedroom and the locked office and the lack of noise in their home. They didn't have to create and get used to a new routine after the one they had shared with their dad completely disintegrated. They didn't have to drive themselves mad wondering if someone had hurt their family or if they really were dead or if they were trying to communicate with them from unknown regions. It was a wholly unique situation, one that only Blue and John B alone could fully comprehend.
After a few moments of sullen silence, Kiara spoke again. "It's been almost a year." Her words were a reminder that despite the Routledge siblings having hope for their father's wellbeing, the reality of that possibility had been dwindling down as the months passed by. Every day that came and went was less and less of a chance that their father would return home.
Blue and John B didn't respond to that.
Their friends seemed to take the hint that any talk of Big John being dead was not helping anything. JJ spoke up once more, his voice raising in volume as he attempted to brighten the aura a little bit. "Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." Blue pulled a face at his words, knowing he was just trying to help, but that possibility wasn't exactly one that she favored.
"Yeah, he could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope joined in.
"Absolutely. Uh...or Atlantis."
"JJ." Kie rolled her eyes as she sternly cut the boy off before turning back to John B. "Look, what do you think the message is?"
Blue took in a small breath as she looked out the van's window, recognizing where her brother had been driving them to. Coming here after reading the inscribed word was inevitable. "Redfield." She whispered softly, making everyone look at her since it was the first time she had spoken in nearly an hour. "Redfield lighthouse." She continued as they passed the monument's sign, pulling into the deserted entrance despite it stating that it was closed due to the hurricane. "Our dad's favorite place."
The Twinkie stopped just a few feet away from the white picket fence that encircled Kildare's most famous monument. The Pogues quickly piled out of the van, Blue exiting last as they stepped onto the lush grass and walked towards the wooden border. After a couple moments of them just staring at the lighthouse, John B spoke up, facing the group as he walked with an eager stride.
"Right, here's what's gonna happen." The boy said as he looked to JJ. "You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"
The blond clearly seemed confused by that plan. "Wait...why me?" Blue knew this wasn't going to go over well. JJ liked to be the one on the frontlines, so being cast to the side was not exactly a welcoming ideal for him.
Pope answered before John B could. "Because you're not coming." He pointed out the obvious.
"Why?"
"Look, JJ, there are independent variables and there are dependent variables. And you're an independent variable-"
"Shut up."
"We don't know what you'll do-!"
"Shut up, Pope, just shut up!"
As the two boys bickered, their voices jumping on top of each other in annoying layers, John B cut them off before their argument escalated. "Listen to me for a second! Just listen!" He yelled to JJ, who finally removed his finger from Pope's face and turned to look at his friend. John B addressed Pope first. "Pope, you stand lookout with JJ and Blue. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."
Blue furrowed her brows at the plan. "That's stupid." She mumbled, not necessarily disagreeing with JJ staying behind, but more so wondering why her brother thought it was a good idea to go to the Maybank residence at all. The Pogues never went there; Blue couldn't even recall the last time she stepped foot in that house. She knew the Chateau wasn't exactly a viable option at that moment, but Heyward's or literally anywhere else would be a much better idea.
John B sighed, shrugging his shoulders in an annoyed and exasperated fashion. "It's the best we can do right now, Blue." She shook her head, but it seemed to go unnoticed.
"Great." Kiara spoke up as she attempted to finally put the conversation to rest so they could move along.
With that, John B and Kie turned to leave, jumping the fence and making their way towards the ominous lighthouse. With a tired yawn, Blue made her way to a nearby tree, sitting against the bark as JJ and Pope traded words back and forth.
"I'm gonna work on my scholarship essay." Pope said as he stepped towards the Twinkie. "I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum." If Blue had been feeling, well, normal, she would have laughed at his remark.
"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ spat out as he pulled his hacky sack out of his pocket, kicking the small ball and catching it repeatedly in talented motions.
Blue leaned her head against the tree, closing her eyes, trying to focus on the salty perfume that the wind carried and the distant sounds of squirrels running around and the white-hot sunrays that stretched from the highest planes of the sky down to her tan skin, casting a pleasant warmth that she was desperately craving. She wanted to distract herself from everything and pretend that nothing had happened. In that moment, she wanted to take on the starring role of her former life, the one that had gotten discontinued in order to make room the new show about shootings and home invasions. What a sucky reboot, she thought.
It was like he knew she was longing for a distraction. Just as Blue was getting lost in daydreams, she felt a presence next to her, plopping onto the ground and brushing against her arm lightly. She didn't need to open her eyes to see who it was.
"I'm sorry about your rooster."
Blue didn't know how it was possible to want to laugh and cry at the same time. She took a quick peek at the blond boy, taking note of his wary yet attentive stare before looking away once more. "I'll forgive you."
JJ didn't miss the wording of her response. "Not now?"
"In a minute."
He laughed, and the sound alone was enough to make her crack a small smile - the first one that had graced her face in hours. He bumped her shoulder with his own before replying. "Should I set a timer?"
Blue shook her head as the corners of her mouth fought to stay in their pleasant positioning. "Don't bother. I've already forgiven you, Jayj." She spoke, knowing she needed to say it and that he needed to hear it. While Blue had been undoubtedly freaked out by her best friend killing her pet, she didn't hate him for it. She knew that when it came to their friends' safety, JJ would do anything, literally anything in order to keep them all unharmed. And if that meant strangling a rooster, then that meant strangling a rooster.
She also knew that JJ would be worried that he had forged a crack in their bond, doing something that was damning enough to make Blue see him in a different light, anxiously wondering if he had crossed a line that could never be uncrossed. But he hadn't. And he needed to know that.
JJ's gaze softened as he looked at her, the previous humor resting in his expression no longer there. It was now replaced by relief and gratefulness. "Good." He mumbled, nodding his head a couple times before clearing his throat and speaking again. "I guess I owe you a new one, then."
She laughed once more, her cheeks beginning to grow pink, a welcomed contrast to the tear-streaked look they had displayed throughout the morning. "Yeah, you kinda do." Blue teased, though she didn't truly mean it.
"Okay, I'll get right on that." He said with false determination in his voice. "Know any neighbors that got chickens?"
Blue let out a gasp that was mixed with a giggle. "You can't steal someone's chicken, J!"
"Watch me."
The two erupted in a fit of laughter, and if someone had told Blue that she would be feeling better after narrowly escaping a pair of square groupers just an hour earlier, she wouldn't have believed them. But she knew then that doubting JJ's ability to raise her spirits was a dumb and uncharacteristic mistake.
Once the pair had calmed down and their giggles reduced to quiet breaths, the blond took in a moment of quiet before speaking up again. "So..." He asked, his blue eyes trailing over to the lighthouse that John B and Kiara were currently roaming around in. "Do you believe John B about this whole message thing?"
The question was one that she had been asking herself all day, and she somehow hadn't formed a real answer yet. The girl had gone back and forth, weighing what her heart said against the logic and reason that pounded at her brain. She didn't know how her brother was able to believe so easily. She supposed he was either really gullible, or he just had that much faith in their dad that he didn't need to question if he had truly left them or not.
She wondered about her own faith, then. Her loyalty to her father. Was she a bad daughter for not fully believing in what seemed to be impossible? Did her doubt mean that she didn't love their dad as much as her brother did? Realistically, she knew all of that wasn't true; Blue loved Big John to the ends of the earth, and her mind-numbing grief that had encompassed her in the past nine months was proof enough of that. So why was she questioning herself? Why hadn't she come up with an answer?
"I don't know." She settled on but felt weak while doing so. "I think it's a message...but I don't think it's the kind that John B thinks it is."
JJ pulled a face at her words. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's obvious that my dad wrote in the compass lid, and I'm sure he meant for us to find it, but I don't think it's leading to his whereabouts." She tried to explain. "If it was supposed to be a clue for where to find him, why did Scooter have it? Why do the square groupers want it so badly?"
Her reasonable questions made the blond boy look away as if he was in deep thought, pondering over new information he had yet to acquire. The concerns were ones that Blue had kept to herself, mainly to protect John B in his fragile and somewhat manic state, but also to not seem overly worried to her friends. She didn't want them to think that she was putting too much thought into it or giving them reason to be afraid. In a weird way, she wanted to protect them.
"I think it's a clue for something else." She spoke again, looking from the blond next to her and then over to the lighthouse in the near distance.
"Like what?" JJ asked, his curiosity obviously peaked.
She shrugged. "I don't know. Those men took my dad's research, so maybe it has something to do with that."
He seemed to be mentally connecting the dots as she brought them into existence. "That would make sense." He turned to the girl, his eyes roaming over his face, and he seemed to frown a little once he noticed a smile was no longer resting on her lips. A teasing expression came over his face as he opened his mouth to talk again. "You're pretty smart, you know that?" He asked as he ruffled her hair, sending the dark tendrils into messy knots on the top of her head.
The girl let out a small laugh before smacking his hand away. "Shut up."
JJ joined in on her laughter before swinging his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to rest against his side. She found herself melting into his comfort. "How you feelin', Baby Blue?" He asked. The question somehow filled her with dread and relief at the same time. "I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier."
She shook her head, "It's okay." She countered immediately. "I'm just..." She trailed off, hesitating, not knowing how to mold her emotions into words. On one hand it was obvious - fear, weakness, exhaustion, etcetera. On the other hand, it wasn't that simple. Going through one disastrous situation to the next had left her mind muddled beyond recognition and she wasn't sure when she would feel fully like herself again. "I'm just ready for this day to be fucking over." She finally spat the words out, figuring they had adequately captured what she was feeling, not needing to go into more detail.
JJ sighed before bringing her closer. "Oh, I hate to burst your bubble, but I have a feeling the day's just getting started."
Just as she was about to berate him for saying such a thing, Pope wandered out of the van, stepping over to the pair sitting underneath the tree. "What are you two doing?" He asked.
The blond shrugged with his arm still thrown over Blue. "Oh, you know, committing felonies and whatnot."
Blue laughed as Pope rolled his eyes, a scowl resting on his face at his friend's sarcastic response. "Ha, ha, ha, so funny." The boy looked over to the lighthouse, noticing its lack of activity and an annoyed grimace replaced his previous expression. "What's taking them so long?"
"Don't know. I bet they're macking in there." Blue joked, causing the two boys to fake-vomit at the suggestion.
"That would not be ideal." Pope muttered.
JJ didn't seem to catch the double meaning behind his friend's sullen reply. "Yeah, making out in a lighthouse wouldn't be too fun. Too many cobwebs."
In the middle of chuckling at the blond's observation, a siren rang out, interrupting their conversation. All three of them stilled as they looked behind them and saw the all too familiar red and blue lights attached to an approaching police car. Just as she was beginning to wonder what the hell John B and Kiara had done to warrant a cop racing to the monument, the boys instantly propelled into action, not bothering to stick around and find out.
"Oh, shit!" Pope said as he immediately made a break for it. Blue barely had time to process what was happening before JJ was pulling her to a stand, dragging her along as he ran behind Pope.
"Wait, what about-" Blue breathed out, looking back to the lighthouse as her feet pounded against the earth, her concern getting cut off before it could be fully spoken.
"You know what he said, Bluey." JJ panted as they made it to the Twinkie. After throwing open the passenger door, he picked the girl up for the third time that day before settling her into the seat and shutting the door. He quickly rounded the van before getting into the driver's side, looking back to make sure Pope was seated on the bench before hitting the gas pedal and speeding off. "We get split up; we go to my house." JJ finished as he harshly jerked the steering wheel.
Blue huffed, feeling the worry in her chest grow along with the distance they were putting between them and the lighthouse. "I still think that's stupid." She mumbled.
JJ nodded as his eyes never strayed from the dirt road ahead of him. "Yeah, well, that's John B for ya."
She really couldn't argue with that.
𝗼𝗺𝗴 𝗵𝗶
𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗴 :'(
𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗷𝗷 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲'𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 <3
𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿.𝗶.𝗽. 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿
𝗢𝗛 𝗕𝗧𝗪 𝗜 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗔 𝗧𝗜𝗞𝗧𝗢𝗞 𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬 𝗕𝗟𝗨𝗘!!! 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 @/𝗷𝗷𝘀𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝘆'𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 :))))))
𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲
𝗷𝗷 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿: