"Are you sure this is the right house?", Malou asked, after they had stopped in front of a huge, fancy house with a garden so big, that it seemed like a maze.
"Positive.", Pope replied, after he compared the street name and the number of the house with the address on his letter once again. In their dirty and sweaty clothes, the pogues got out of the truck and walked up to the front door. Pope knocked on it a few times, while Malou nervously looked around the big garden.
"Can I help?", a strange voice suddenly pulled Malou back to reality. A man with dirty blonde hair and a dark leather jacket had opened the door and eyed the pogues up and down. Malou returned the gesture. She thought that his eyes looked sly. The stubbles on his cheeks and chin looked freshly shaven and Malou thought, that his dirty outfit didn't fit the rest of his appearance.
"You're a day late.", he said, after Pope had shown him the letter, saying that a woman was awaiting him.
"Yeah, sorry. Our car broke down last night.", Pope apologised and the man nodded his head slowly as he weirdly clicked with his tongue.
"Alright, come in.", he eventually said and stepped back a little to let Pope inside. Malou and Kiara were fast to follow, when the man suddenly stepped forward again.
"I'm sorry kids, only your friend was invited.", he said and looked down on the girls.
"Yeah, no. You only get us in one pack.", JJ immediately answered, letting Malou know, that she wasn't the only one who felt deep mistrust towards the stranger.
"It's him or no one.", the man answered and the pogues shared a quick look.
"I'll be fine. It's our last chance.", Pope said and tried to sound as convincing as he could. To be honest, he wasn't even convinced by himself. But did he have another choice? With a dirty look, the man closed the door in front of the pogues.
"Great, now what?", Kiara sighed and turned around to leave.
"Well, we wait.", JJ replied and followed her back to the truck. Kiara hopped onto the load area and made some space for Malou to sit next to her. JJ went up to the front of the car to lean against it and pulled out his cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. Lighting a cigarette, he let his head fall back against the car, before he blew out the smoke again. Malou watched him silently from where she sat and she enjoyed the silence of her thoughts as she did so.
"Are you good?", Kiara suddenly asked and carefully tipped Malous feet with her own. Quickly, Malou turned her head to look at Kiara who sat right across from her. They both leant against the barricade of the truck and had their knees pulled up while their arms rested on them.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday.", Malou apologised and Kiara nodded.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Do you think we will ever be this close again, like we were before? You and me, I mean?", Kiara asked and suddenly, she didn't sound so confident anymore.
"What do you mean?", Malou asked quietly, probably just to waste some time as she thought of an answer.
"I mean, you don't talk to me. And I mean, I get it. I let you down. More than once. I wasn't there, when your dad went missing and I wasn't there for you during the hunt. I knew, that you didn't want any of that and I just ignored it and even worse, when the thing with Ward happened, I turned my back to you. And I'm really so sorry for that, Malou, I really am, but it's just... I don't know. You forgave JJ, right? So, why can't you forgive me?", Kiara tried to express her feelings and Malou stared at her at loss of words.
"It's not like that. I forgave you long ago, Kie. I mean, yeah, I know I'm harsh towards you sometimes, but you're right, I'm just very sensitive these days. I didn't mean to make you feel, like I don't trust you anymore, but I guess, it's just...", Malou tried to explain, but stopped, when she noticed, that she couldn't truthfully explain her behaviour without bringing JJ into this.
"It's just that I'm not your best friend anymore.", Kiara finished Malous sentence and smiled a little.
"Of course, you're my best friend.", Malou argued, but Kiara shook her head.
"We both know it's him.", Kiara whispered and tilted her head a little into the direction of where JJ still leant against the truck. Malou turned her head back to look at JJ, resting her head on the edge of the barricade, like she wanted to watch him forever. And maybe she did want to.
"I mean, it's fine. I get it, I really do. It's just, that I miss you.", Kiara said a little lighter this time and Malou looked back at her.
"I miss you, too, Kie.", Malou smiled and leant forward with her arms reaching out for her friend. Kiara returned the smile, before she gently hugged Malou.
"Aww, look at our girls. All happy and besties again.", JJ suddenly cooed, as he walked around the truck, just to stop in front of the loading area. Putting his hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts, he grinned at the both girls. Just when Kiara wanted to say something, they suddenly heard someone calling for help.
"Was that Pope?", Malou asked and Kiara gestured her to be quiet. Just a few seconds later, they heard someone yelling again.
"Shit!", JJ cussed and immediately ran off. Kiara and Malou jumped off the truck and tried to follow JJ, until they realized, that they had lost him.
"Let's get the truck and drive to the other side of the block.", Kiara suggested and Malou nodded. The both girls ran back to the car and drove off quickly.
"Wait here and let the car running.", Malou told Kiara who nodded, before Malou got out of the car.
"Pope! JJ!", she called over and over again, hoping, that they didn't run back to the front of the house. Suddenly, the boys climbed over the wall and jumped down.
"Get in the car! Get in the car!", JJ shouted at Malou, when he saw her standing on the sideway. Just when she was about to turn around, the gate to the garden opened and the strange man ran towards her. He seemed angry, very angry.
"Oh, shit.", Malou mumbled and quickly ran back to the car, getting inside just at the same time as Pope and JJ did. Once they were in, panic broke out inside the truck. While the boys screamed at Kiara to drive off, Kiara got nervous and screamed back at them. The nervousness let her forget how to deal with the gear change and she let the car die down.
"Fucking hell, Kie! Move!", Pope shouted and got out of the car. Kiara quickly moved over to the passenger seat and Pope got back inside the car to drive. Just when he drove off, a black car came in sight behind them.
"I think it's him.", Malou stated, when she turned around and looked outside the window.
"Well, no shit, sherlock. Go faster, Pope!", JJ said and soon enough, the arguing, screaming and fighting filled the car again. Only when Pope turned into a dead end, their voices died down.
"Why did you stop?! Turn around!", Kiara called, after the car had stopped.
"I didn't stop, the car died down!", Pope exclaimed and tried to start the car again, with no luck. When the black car suddenly was in sight again, the pogues quickly grabbed their backpacks and jumped out of the truck to run off. Pope was in front, leading the way with Kiara right behind him. JJ made sure, that he was close to Malou who turned around every now and then to see if the man was still following them. After taking many turns and climbing fences, Malou suddenly froze.
"Malou, come on.", JJ said panting and grabbed her hand to pull her with him. Pope and Kiara noticed their friends slowing down, so they stopped a few feet away from them to wait for them.
"Did you hear that?", Malou asked with big eyes and JJ shook his head with narrowed eyes.
"No, what?", he asked and pulled at her hand again, but Malou stayed in her place. Even though her heart was beating loudly and she was panting, she tried to listen as closely as possible. And suddenly, she heard it again. A sound. A voice. His voice.
"John B.", Malou whispered and quickly lifted her head, staring at JJ, like she had just seen a ghost.
"What? John B is in Nassau. Let's go now."
"No! It's him, I heard him!", Malou argued and forcefully pulled her arm back to her, to break away from JJs tight grip.
"Malou...", JJ started, but Malous head suddenly shot into a different direction again. Before he even knew it, Malou ran off into an alley.
"What the hell?!", Pope called, when he and Kiara ran back to a cussing JJ. The three of them followed Malou, even though they couldn't see her for a while.
"She thought, that she heard John B!", JJ explained and heard Kiara and Pope both mutter something under their breaths. They eventually caught up with Malou, who desperately called for her brother. The adrenaline made Malou feel, like she was in an intoxication. She ignored her friends begging her to stop or the tries of telling her, that whatever she had heard, wasn't her brother. All she could focus on was on running and finding her brother. And suddenly, the small alleys came to an end. A road came into sight and the pogues had to stop very abruptly, so they wouldn't run right into the traffic. Even thought they had stopped on the sideway, they still collided with a small vehicle. As they looked up, the shock of what they saw was beyond belief. Right in front of them, on this absurd bike, were John B and Sarah.
"John B.", Malou said and stared up at her brother on the bike. He looked down on her with sparkling eyes.
"I knew I heard you.", John B answered and broke into a wide grin.
"Get on! Go, go, go!", Sarah suddenly screamed as she looked behind them to see another man following them. Malou didn't know who they ran away from, or why they even were in Charleston, but she couldn't care less. She jumped on the bike with Kiara, while Pope and JJ pushed it with all their strength to get away from there as fast as possible.