John b drives the twinkie down a sketchy road, we're on the way to this warehouse that the woman told us about.
"So, they keep the money out here?" Pope looks out the window.
"That's what she said.." Jj says.
He then realised what he had said.
"Heh, that's what she said." He chuckles.
I start to laugh when Pope shuts us up real quick. "Stop."
We both look down in defeat.
"I've never heard of Resurrection Drive.." Sarah says, referring to the address given to us.
"That's 'cause you're rich." Jj says, thinking we will agree.
"You've never heard of it either." I say to him.
"Thank you." Sarah nods.
"There's nothing but weeds back here." Lie says, looking out the window.
"Alright, just 'cause it's just weeds doesn't mean it's, like..." jj gets cut off by siren whoops.
"Cops? Out here?" I ask, in shock.
"God! Are you kidding me?" Jj groans, holding the gold.
"What did we do?" Sarah asks, confused.
"jj! Stash that!" John b tells jj.
Jj puts it in the storage box he is sitting on.
"Chill guys." I say.
"I hate cops, man." jj sighs.
"Did you bring the gun?" John b says, hoping for a no.
"No. Okay?" jj wraps up the gold and closes the box. "Everybody told me to leave it back at the place."
"Thank god." Kie huffs.
"Please.. just everything else in your bag - put in there." I say, rushing jj as I hear footsteps.
"I am! I am.. all right?" I see many many plastic bags.
"How much weed do you have on you, bro?" I whisper.
"Go, go." Pope says, helping him.
"Hurry up!" Kie whispers.
Suddenly we hear a gun cock. I look up and see a huge long ass gun pointed straight at John bs face.
"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands in the air?" The masked man says.
I feel my heart beat race faster.
"All of y'all's hands up in the air now!" He pushes the gun further in the window.
We all raise our hands in fear.
"You, out of the car! Let's go!" The man says to John b.
John b slowly opens the door, and steps out.
"Let them out!" The man points to the car as he backs away with John b.
John b slowly walks over.
"what you waitin' on? What are you waitin' on? Let them out!" The angry masked man screams.
John b pulls the back door open, I step out first as I'm closest to the door.
"There you, pretty girl! Here we go! Get out the car! Let's go, hurry up!" He points the gun at all of us.
"Dude- we're broke.." Jj says, getting out last.
"Shut the hell up!" I notice that's it's Barry as I'm taking a closer look at him. It's Barry.
When my mom was still here, she bought drugs off of his dad. We used to be friends, until I found out he started selling drugs to my mom, after he picked up the business when his dad died.
Barry holds the gun to jj.
"All right! All right! Relax!" jj yells, backing away.
"Shut the hell up! Shut up!! Blow your damn head off!" Barry yells in his face. "Lay down in the ditch! Lay in the ditch!"
We all slowly lower to the floor, laying our knees in the ditch.
"Put your heads down on the floor!" Barry points the gun at my head, and pushes my head down with the gun.
"Chill!" Jj yells.
"SHUT THE HELL UP! MOVE AND ILL HAVE YOUR BRAINS SCATTERED ACROSS THIS ROAD!"
I whimper and lay my head on the ground.
Barry storms the twinkie, pulling shit out of all types of cervices.
"It's a setup, guys!" Kie cries as Barry pulls the car apart.
"That old bat shanked us." jj hits the muddy ground with force. "Fuck! Goddamn it!"
I look over at Sarah and John b and see John b slowly raising from the ground.
"No, no, no, no. Wait." Sarah whispers, but that doesn't stop him.
"John b- no!" Sarah whimpers
"John b, don't be the hero, man." Pope whispers.
I rub my forehead in stress. "Shit."
We suddenly hear something clank inside the car that barry's searching. It sounds heavy.
"He's got it, he's got the fucking gold." I sigh.
"All right, y'all just stay here just like that.. unless you want your head 4 miles from your body." Barry tells us, holding the cloth we wrapped the gold with.
We look over at the car, knowing john b is inside there.
"He's gonna die." I whimper.
i feel jj hold my shoulder, and I breath out slowly.
Suddenly we hear thumping and grunting coming from the car.
We all slowly raise up.
"Guys, I got the gun!" John b yells.
We jump up and run over to the car as john b throws the gun out the door.
jj sprints up to barry and punches him in the gut.
Kie tries to punch him in the face but Barry pushes her down.
"Kiara!" Pope yelps.
He runs in my direction, but jj clarks him in the back of the head with the blunt end of the gun.
Barry falls to the ground and I hit him in the head with the car door twice, making him flatten.
"I got the gold!" Pope yells.
Kie and Sarah kick him in the ribs and Pope knees him in the head.
Barry huffs out of breath, and jj pulls his mask down.
"I know this piece of shit! He's a base head!" he yells.
"Probably knows my brother." Sarah mumbles.
"Sold crack to my mom." I kick him in the shin.
"Fuck! Ow.. Yeah, where's your momma now?" He laughs.
jj grabs him by the collar and punches him once more in the head. "You shut your mouth."
"jj! that's enough." John b says.
"JJ! Chill, man!"
jj grabs his wallet and takes out his ID card.
"We got one last stop." jj grunts.
"Dude- what?" I say as he storms by.
"Get in the car."
"Jj, what are you-"
"Just get in the car!" He gets in the drivers seat and twists on the engine.
I take one last look at Barry. "I hope you're proud of yourself."
"Go to hell, Darla."
______________________________
We pull up to a trailer, i could recognise this place from anywhere.
Gives me major deja vu, and nostalgia. But not in the good kind.
______________________________
Darlas flashback: 11 years old.
July 23rd, 2015.
"john b, please! pretty please?" I say, mimicking a sweet voice.
jj and I are begging John b to steal his dads boat to go fishing out on the marsh. John bs dad doesn't normally let him use the boat unless he's with us.
"No, my dad will kill me." John b huffs. "And it's way too late."
I cross my arms. "It's only 9pm, dingus."
"Yeah, my dad will probably call me inside soon." John b tells us.
I look at jj. "When do you have to go inside?"
"I don't." He says with a ear to ear grin.
"Please, please, please.. John b!" I hold my hands together. "We won't be long, just half an hour."
"And we will keep the boat super safe." Jj nods.
"My dads not going to let an eleven year old, and two twelve year olds drive a boat out into the marsh." John b shakes his head.
"Uh, what! You said that when I turn double digits I can drive the boat." I flick my hair.
Suddenly we hear 3 bells dong, this indicates for John b to go inside.
"Damn it!" I groan.
"Got to run! I'll come out tomorrow and we can drink those beers I stole from my dads fridge." John b promises as he runs to his garden.
I cross my arms and look at jj. "He's totes so annoying."
"Uh, yeah. He's always been such a pussy." Jj scoffs.
I giggle and tuck my hair behind my ear.
"Darla!" I hear my mom call.
i look over and see my mom standing at the front door.
"Ugh, I forgot, it's a Monday."
Jj tilts his head. "What's on mondays?"
"Well, my mom goes to this place every Monday night to pick up stuff for her cooking. I got to go with her because otherwise I'll be home alone." I pout.
"Wait, please ask if you can stay. I don't want to go back to my dad." Jj pleads.
"Stay outside, you can hide behind my house. And I'll come back outside when I'm home."
He huffs. "Finee. But be quick and tell your mom to hurry up getting stupid cooking supplies."
I smile. "Don't miss me too much, loser."
We do our handshake that me, john b, and jj made up while kind of drunk. Yes I know, we're rebels. We drink 50% alcohol beers and smoke cigarettes on Saturday's!
I run off to my mom.
jj waves at me as I skip into the front seat of my moms truck. I wave out the window.
"You take too damn long coming over when I call you, Darly." My mom sighs, twisting the key in the engine.
I cross my arms. Ever since mom has been going to get these cooking supplies, she's gotten grumpier.
She starts coughing, and coughing.
"Why do you still have that cough?" I ask.
She shakes her heads. "Oh it's 'cause of the cigarettes, but it's fine. I'll be off them soon."
We drive up a winding road.
I tuck my hair behind my ear. "Where does dad live now?"
My mom gets a bit sensitive when i bring up dad ever since they got a divorce.
"Darla, that's none of our concern. I don't give two shits what that man does with his life." She shakes her head.
We pull into a long driveway, and we're at the trailer again.
This trailer must have hood cooking stuff, cause mommas always going in there.
I see Jjs dad sitting at the front of the trailer.
"I'll be a half an hour, you stay put. And don't let no one into the car." She nods at me.
I smile and nod.
She smiles back and squishes my cheeks, kissing me on my forehead. "I love you boogie, you know that, mhm?"
I nod. "I love you too momma."
She opens the car door and gets out. She's been working extra hours for these cooking supplies.. so i hope their good.
As I watch her walk outside the trailer, I see barry, the 14 year old who lives here walk out.
He walks up to my car. "Wassup."
He always comes to talk to me when my moms gone into the trailer.
"Hi." I sigh.
"When are you gonna stop coming here, you come here like all the fucking time." Barry groans.
"What, you don't like having me here?" I laugh.
"No, but you're like 9 and you're at a drug dealers house." He shrugs.
I widen my eyes. "A what dealer? No, my moms here to buy cooking supplies. And actually I'm eleven."
"Cooking supplies, Shit- oh yeah. No yeah she's buying cooking supplies alright." He laughs.
"What-evs." I huff.
_______________________________
back in present time:
Jj stops the engine.
"Welcome to crackhead wasteland." Sarah groans.
"I don't know about this, man." Pope says, fear in his voice.
"Jj, why are we at barry's?" I ask.
"This'll only take a second." jj opens the door and gets out.
We pull the back door open.
"Where you going?" John b calls out.
"Yo soy justicia." Jj says, walking into the house.
"Did you gleam anything from that?" Pope asks us.
"You know someone should probably—"
I roll my eyes and get out of the car.
John b opens his door and gets out too. "Yeah, we got it."
"Right." Kie nods.
We walk over to the trailer door and walk in together.
I see jj trashing the house.
I cross my arms as john b walks up to him.
"Yeah, so what's your plan, slick?"
"Well, as thou hath stealeth from us, we shall stealeth from ye." He says in some British accent.
"Yeah, that kind of got lost in translation." John b shrugs.
"An eye for an eye, John b." jj says, still rustling around.
"Yeah, that's cool, jj. But what happens after you rob a drug dealer?" John b holds jjs shoulders. "He knows who we are."
"I'm not scared of this guys." Jj scoffs as he makes his way down the hallway.
I follow jj into the hall.
He walks into a room and starts moving shit around.
I walk up to him, but he's already found a bag. "There we go."
I shake my head. "jj, listen to me. Why are you doing this? Think about it, we have 400 million in gold waiting for us. You don't need this."
He looks inside the bag. "Yep, that'll do." ignoring me.
He walks past me.
"Jj. jj listen-"
"Darla, it's not about me wanting money. He fucked up our parents, he fucked us up." He stops and looks at me.
I shake my head. "I know.."
"Do you? If you knew, you would be as frustrated as I am. I'm getting my fucking revenge on him for all those days I was beaten by my own dad." He says to me.
"We've done enough damage by beating him up, stealing money off of him is crossing the line." I say.
"Remember when you found out he was selling crack to your mom?" He asked me.
I froze.
"Yeah, you do. You were pissed. He fucked up your moms life. He fucked up your life. This is just an inch of what he did to us. So, don't even try."
I sigh, knowing i won't be able to stop him.
He storms out of the room and into John b.
"All right, took care of business." Jj throws the bag over his shoulder.
John b grabs jj. "Hey, look at me. If you keep going down this road, you're gonna end up just like your dad, so—"
jj grabs john b by the collar with force. "You watch your mouth, man."
"jj, let him go." I say.
"Aren't you tired of being messed with?" he asks him, still holding on.
"That's not the point, jj." John b says.
"Cause I am." He ignores John b.
"jj." I say.
Jj walks out of the trailer.
I look at john b. "Dude, you know not to bring up his dad."
He shrugs. "It's true."
I roll my eyes and walk out.
"All right, we're looking at five grand each for reperations of putting us through that bullshit." Jj tells the others.
"So that's what we're doing now? We're robbing drug dealers?" Kie asks, disappointed.
"This barry guys gonna find out." Sarah says. "And he's gonna come after us."
"Yes he will, this is not the time to start wilding out." Pope tells jj.
Kie looks over at me. "You didn't even try to stop this?" She whispers as the rest bicker.
I look down. I know how he feels, so I can't.
"How do you guys like having a gun pulled on you?" jj asks us.
John b walks up to jj. "Relax."
"He had it right here on you, bro." Jj points to john bs nose.
"Look, we've got to go get the gold!" John b says. "Just give me that shit." He reaches for the bag.
Jj pushes john b up against the twinkie hard.
"You feel like a tough guy, huh?" John b asks him. "What are you gonna do when he comes for us?"
"We punch him in the throat." Jj says with full seriousness, as if that's not the randomest thing he's ever said.
"Yeah great fucking idea, jj." John b sighs.
"I'm not putting it back." jj pulls the bag off of him.
He gets into the twinkie and sits down.
We all stare at him, not getting in.
"You guys getting in or what?" We don't move.
He notices us not getting in, and gets back out. "What?"
"We're sick of your shit." John b tells him.
"Oh, my shit?" jj laughs.
"Yeah. Yeah. Your shit." John b nods.
"Yes." Kie says. "Your pulling guns on people shit."
"You acting like a maniac—" Pope starts.
"Okay, Pope, I took the fall for you, man!" jj yells at him. "You know how much money i owe because of you?"
"I'm gonna pay you back, and I didn't ask you to do that!" Pope says.
"I just did!" jj gets in his face. "Pay it back."
I sigh.
"Right here, right now, by myself." he refers to barry's money.
He looks at the rest of us. "you know what?"
"That's exactly what I'm gonna do." He says, grabbing the bag out of the car.
"Go off, by myself."
He throws the bag over his shoulder and starts to walk away.
"Jj." Pope calls.
"Hey, wait, man." John b grabs Popes shoulder.
"Just let him go." Sarah sighs.
I clench my jaw as I see jj walk away. "Really? You're just gonna let him go off like that?"
The rest stay silent.
I shake my head. "Just go without me, you don't have to wait. But I'm not letting him just walk off."
I run over to him. "Jj! Wait."
He shakes his head. "No, Darla. I want to do this on my own."
I run up beside him, he tries not to look at me.
"Just- can you just listen? I know. Okay? I know you're pissed at him." I huff.
"You're not gonna convince me to put it back, so just give up." He crosses his arms.
"I know, I know i'm not. And, I'm not trying to." I shake my head. "Can you just stop walking, for a minute?" I grab his shoulders.
He stops and turns to look at me, we lock eyes for a minute. "Just.. just text me. Okay? If you need anything, if you need to come over."
He looks down.
"I'll be here if you need me." I nod.
He sighs. "Yeah. I'll, uh.. I'll see you." He starts walking away again.
"Just be careful!" I call.
I watch him walk off in the direction of his house, and run back over to the twinkie that's about to pull away.
_______________________________
END OF CHAPTER 14!!!
i loved writing the flashback TBH! 🤨🤨🦶