Pope chipped away at the wood on the old tree.
It's been 3 days since John b, Darla and Sarah died.
Jj walks over the heart carved out of the wood and uses a fire canister to imprint words on it.
2003 - 2020
John b Routledge
Darla Miracle
P4L
Kiara holds John bs box, it has memories and keepsakes of his. Such as their friendship bracelets, photos of the group all together and a picture of him and his dad that Kie took a month before he went missing. It has John bs favourite beer and an old picture of Darla, Jj and John b on the HMS pogue when they were 9. To top it off, the box holds a bandana. To represent him.
Jj picks up Darlas box, it also has many keepsakes in it, the friendship bracelets the group had, her favourite beer. A blunt, a picture of the group together, her favourite necklace, pictures of her and her mom, all sprayed with her signature scent and finally a letter. Its folded over and has Darlas name on the front, written in jjs handwriting. To top it off. the box holds the pink raggedy scrunchie she used to wear on her ankle.
"To John b and Darla." Jj holds up his flask filled with liquor. He has no expression on his face after crying non stop for three days straight.
"And to Sarah." Kie weakly says.
Jj looks down.
Kie looks over at Pope who has tears flooded in his eyes.
Jj takes a swig of drink from his flask.
Pope takes a swig of his beer.
They place the boxes into the dug out hole underneath the tree.
Kiara places three flowers onto the boxes, one to represent each of them.
They all bury it with mountains of dirt.
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DARLAS POV:
I lay 100 km away from John b and Sarah, cause how do I know they're not going to get up to any funny business while I'm asleep.
They put us in a nice little bedroom on the boat, but of course Sarah and John b took the bed.
Honestly, for these past few days, I have felt like I'm just mothering them or something.
And I'll probably be mothering them all the way back to the OBX. If we get back to the OBX.
Words can't explain how much I miss Jj right now, I mean- words can't explain how much I miss the others right now. Totally no preferences.
I wish I could just call them, tell them I'm all right, but for some reason John b won't let me.
"Sarah." I hear John b whisper to Sarah.
"Hmm?" She hums.
"Do you wanna get married?" He asks.
I slap my mouth to hold in my laughter cause did y'all hear this corny ass shit?
"No." I hear Sarah reply, which makes my eyes tear up from laughter.
I can just imagine John bs face dropping when she says that. "Damn.." I croak from my tremendous laughing.
"All right, Darla- you're supposed to be asleep. Just go to sleep." John b sighs.
"Right.. right- sorry." I cackle, rolling over.
"Well, how come?" John b goes back to talking to Sarah.
"You don't have any prospects." Sarah replies.
"You don't have any prospects either." John b says.
"Ouch." I giggle.
"Darla- sleep!" John b throws a pillow at me.
"I am!" I say, still giggling a bit.
"Well, no prospects anymore." John b says to Sarah.
"So it's not about the money?" Sarah asks.
"Mm... We'll I guess not. You're pretty good-looking." He jokingly says.
Sarah chuckles and elbows him. "Stop."
I cant help but gag. If Jj were here we'd probably be rolling on the floor laughing at them.
Why do I keep thinking about Jj?
"Nah, I'm serious, come here." He turns her around.
She sighs and turns.
"You wanna be a pogue for life?" He asks.
"If I say yes, you're not allowed to die." She weakly tells him.
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"Morning love birds, and you." He looks at me.
I sigh.
"Coming into port. Best not be onboard without a passport, if you know what I'm saying." The man nods.
"Yeah, I hear you." John b nods.
"You guys can go on my bridge." The man jesters towards the door.
We all stand up. "Through here?"
"Mm-hmm." He hums, walking us through.
We climb up a ladder to the bridge. "Hey, really appreciate you captain." John b smiles at him..
"Thank you." Sarah nods.
"Stay put. Don't come out." The man says.
"Got it.." I suspiciously say.
He closes the door and I hear the latch lock. I get a flush of nervousness, and rush to the window.
"What's up, Darla. He's not gonna hurt us, okay?" Sarah says to me.
"He's acting weird to me." I say, observing the outside.
"Get away from the window, you'll get us caught!" John b says.
"Guys- think about it, couldn't he just hide us in a room until they got all of the product off of the ship? Locking us in a room with many windows to been seen into isn't the best place to hide three kids with no passports." I explain.
John b and Sarah look at eachother.
I look back out the window, and seem to spot a huge group of police officers. "And- yep, I rest my case. We're doomed."
John b and Sarah run over. "Shit! How do we get out?"
I look around and see an emergency glass breaker tool beside the window. "Get that and break the window!"
John b smashes the cover and grabs it out, handing it to me.
I hit it several times before it shatters, "Go! Go, go, go." I say, wiping the shards of glass off the counter so I can get through.
I hop down from the window and then hop onto the dock below, Sarah and John b follow after me.
Immediately, we feel the immense heat.
"Hey!" I hear an officer scream.
"Fuck, why are we always fucking running!" I cry as I sprint away from the dock with Sarah and John b.
We sprint through the streets of Nassau. "Left!" Sarah yells.
We scurry through the crowds of tourists.
"Left." John b orders us.
"How many shitting lefts are we gonna take?" I groan.
We swerve left and behind a pop up shop.
"Okay, I think i know a place we can hide for a while." Sarah nods.
I huff and puff. "Okay."
"Follow me."
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JJS POV:
We arrive at the school, because Pope dragged us in. He wants us to just be better at everything.
I drink a bit more from my alcohol flask before closing the car door.
"Hey, chill out." Kie tells me.
"If I black out, just - don't remind me." I nod, avoiding eye contact with anyone.
I feel everyone staring at us.
We walk up to the memorial for John b and Darla.
I stare at the picture of me and her on the HMS pogue glued onto a surf board. I remember we scribbled out the beers in our hands with sharpie because we didn't want her mom to know we were drinking.
"I feel like people are staring at us." Kie says, looking around.
"Oh yeah." I say, looking around.
"Guys, I cant be late." Pope sighs, walking away.
"Hey, Hey. We gotta stick together." Kie says to him, holding out her hand.
He takes it and they walk in together, I follow behind. "Stick together, yeah."
Kie turns around and grabs my arm, rolling her eyes.
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Darlas POV:
We walk up to a huge pink ass hotel, 'Fairmont Hotel.'
"Sarah, you sure about this?" John b asks.
"It's the safest place for us to be." Sarah nods.
"A five star hotel?" I ask.
"Trust me." she grabs my shoulder.
We walk inside, the place is packed with a bunch of fancy ass rich people.
"Looks a little spendy, no?" He asks.
"Just act like you know what you're doing." Sarah puts on a fake smile. "And smile and say hi to people."
I don't follow her orders, i just put on a blank face and walk, cause I don't need to be happy for these rich bitches.
"Hi." John b says awkwardly to some old women walking by.
I cackle at it, but Sarah slaps my shoulder. "Don't laugh out loud."
I raise an eyebrow. "What- I?"
"Excuse me, Excuse me. May I help you?" I worker runs up to us.
"Actually, yes. Do you have any bottled water?" She asks him.
John b and I stand awkwardly beside her.
"Maybe Voss, Fiji.. or- oh! I'll take these, thank you!" She turns around to a waitress holding 3 drinks on a tray.
"I am so parched." She sighs, handing John b and I what looks like cocktails.
I sip at mine, it tastes so damn good.
"I cannot wait to get out of these clothes, what time is our reservation?" Sarah asks me.
"Ah- our reservation?" I stutter.
"Yes our reservation." She says.
"Iss... at... 4.30-ish?" I slowly think.
"Reservation?" The man asks.
"Yes." John b nods.
"You have a reservation?" He laughs.
"Yes. We have a harbor-view king on the third floor, and we've been patrons of your hotel for years. And I'll be very sure the manager knows of your hospitality, Elliott, Thank you." She moss with class.
I chuckle. "Yeah, Elliot."
"Okay, stop." John b shoves me.
"Ow?"
I slurp away at my cocktail before handing the empty glass to Elliott and walking away happily. "That's pretty good."
We get upstairs and see a room cleaner with towels, going to clean a room.
"Mhm, good day." I smile.
I walk up more stairs with Sarah while John b seems to grab something.
"What did you grab?" I stop and ask him as he follows quickly behind me.
He holds up a phone.
"Oh my- that girl was nice! I feel bad." I groan.
"Yeah, well we have to let the others know we're okay." He shrugs as he goes out onto a little opening with Sarah, revealing the beautiful sunset.
It was the hotel roof with many chairs and comfortable seats to lounge on.
"Woah." I gasp. "Gorgeous."
I always think of sunsets as my mom, although I tell myself she's still out there, there's a chance she might be gone. But her painting the sky for me really helps me cope.
"We used to come here as kids." Sarah smiles. "When we were building the vacation house over there." She points to the house.
"I bet that's where the gold is." John b nods.
"John b, promise us you won't do anything stupid." I look at him, as does Sarah.
"Well.. Darla, Sarah, I do stupid things all the time without realising it." He chuckles.
"No." Sarah shakes her head. "I know you wanna go over there. But there is a gate, there's security. There's patrols. It's a death trap."
"Okay, but just think about it. If I can get some money.. No- real money, I can get a lawyer. I can clear my name. We can go home." He explains.
I sigh.
"Look, the golds only gonna be there for a few days, and after that it's gone. Forever." John b tells us. "The world thinks we're dead."
Sarah rolls her eyes.
"It's perfect, we just go, hop over the gate, steal some gold."
"No." Sarah says. "John b, you are wanted. And so is Darla. It's just way to dangerous, all right?"
"Yeah." He looks down.
"Please promise me." Sarah says. "Promise me you won't."
"I'm promise." John b smiles, but i can tell he's a bit sad.
"Besides, we've got a super sweet crib." She chuckles.
I laugh. "Not too shabby."
We sit down on the chairs, John b takes out the phone and unlocks it.
"Where'd you get that?" Sarah asks.
"Borrowed it, for a minute." John b says, typing in something.
"What are you doing?" she asks, concerned.
"Sending a message from beyond the grave." I clap my hands together.
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JJS POV:
We're sitting in class, I'm bored out of my mind.
I look over at Pope, he's writing like a maniac.
I doodle some drawings of the twinkie, cause I miss her the most.
Suddenly my phone dings, I hear two other phones dinging.
"Who's phone was that?" The history teacher asks.
No one answers.
"Nobody?" He asks. "You will be tested."
I look around.
"Now, to recap, who was Diocletian?" He continues.
I look down at my phone,
Incoming text,
Unknown number.
I look at Kiara straight away, she's already looking. "You get that?" The mouths.
I nod as she goes to ask Pope.
I slip out of my seat and crouch, quickly running over to them, who are both sat beside eachother. I hold my phone up as they do too.
All together, we open the message.
I look at Kie, shocked.
I hesitate, but jump up from the floor and bolt out the classroom door.
I wait outside for Kie and Pope.
Kie grabs her bag and runs.
"um, can I be excused to help them in the bathroom?" Pope puts up his hand.
I roll my eyes. "Pope!"
We run down the hallway, I'm so overwhelmed with what just happened that I accidentally just fling onto the floor.
"Shit.." Kie says. "Dude get up!" she says.
"Ow- I am!" I groan, rolling over and jumping up as we hear the teach call out for us.
We run out the door to the benches. "I mean, is that even possible? Shoupe said they didn't make it. He said that!" Kie says.
"Okay- but I think we're overreacting right now cause we can't rule out the possibility that this all be some kind of weird, cruel hoax." Pope says.
I hold my heart as it beats in pain, I feel very nervous, if they're alive this could change everything.
"I'm just gonna ask." Kie nods.
"What if it's not them, though?" I ask, nervously.
"WTF is this you??" Kiara sends.
I take off my hat and look up at the wall, waiting for a response.
"They respond yet?" Pope asks.
"They're typing." She sighs.
The phone pings.
I look down at my phone. "This is Darl, jj there?"
"Im here Ms D." I reply.
"You pimp my shortboard j-bird?"
I chuckle and look up with tears in my eyes.
Kiara starts laughing, also crying a little, then Pope chuckles too.
"It's her." I smile.
"It's them." Kie says in shock.
"It's definitely them." Pope nods.
I hug Pope, in shock.
I run over to Kie and hug her as we laugh together.
"Yeah!" I yelp out in happiness.
"Laying super low in Nassau." Kie smiles."How the hell did they get to the Bahamas?"
"You cant kill a Pogue, dude." I shrug.
"Especially Darla." Pope nods.
"Can you clear our names, we wanna come home 👀🏡"
"Hell, yeah, we'll clear your names." I nod.
"Be in touch. P4L." Kiara grins.
"P4L man, that's what I'm talking about!" I laugh, jumping onto the table.
"P4L, baby!" I scream.
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DARLAS POV:
We walk down the steps, John b quickly puts the phone back and walks down with Sarah.
I bite my lip, making sure no one's looking and snatch it quickly before I follow them.
We hear music playing. "Go check it out?" John b asks.
"Yeah." Sarah smiles.
We walk down, and find samples of food.
"Oh my god, yes." I groan, grabbing loads and stuffing my face.
John b just takes the entire plate. "You taking the whole thing?" Sarah asks.
"Yeah." John b whispers.
I hold my mouth as I chew, I don't even know what any of this is.. but i'm hungry as fuck.
Suddenly music starts playing.
John b and Sarah look at each-other. "Mmm." Sarah mumbles cutely.
John b sets the plate down and grabs Sarah hands. "Hey Val,"
"Hey Vlad." She smiles.
"Do you wanna dance?" He asks.
"Yes."
They look at me.
"No, no. Go! Go dance comrades!" I push them away, smiling.
They walk to the centre and slowly sway together.
I smile at how deep their love is for eachother.. which then also makes me want to die on the inside, but let's ignore that feeling.
I sit down and munch away at the samples, until the phone i took pings.
I quickly look at it. It's Jjs number.
I tuck my hair behind my ear and quickly unlock my phone, going into the text.
"hey d." He starts.
I smile. "hey j."
"god, i cant believe ur actually alive." he sends. "This def you?"
I take a picture of myself and send it. "Nah, def not me."
"i miss you." He sends.
I crack a huge grin at my phone. "me too, can't wait to see u ❤️"
"when r u coming home 👀"
"whenever i can, am i still on the wanted posters?" I ask.
"not sure, i've stopped looking at them cuz it's annoying the shit out of me." He replies quickly. "but what i do know is that john bs reward has shot up to 50k."
I roll my eyes and sigh. "fuck"
"mhm, how's the lovebirds anyway?" he asks.
"pretty good, currently dancing to 'never in my wildest dreams'."
"ew, puke." He replies, making me laugh.
"listen, i'm gonna go but i'll stay in touch, promise" I type.
"ttyl dd ❤️"
I turn off the phone and look up at Sarah and John b dancing with a smile on their faces.
I sigh.
Fuck, I think I'm in love with JJ.
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