Carol and Mike Winslow raised me to be an honest person, to see people for who they are, and to constantly use my head. My father always told me I had a good head on my shoulders, just like my mother. I didn't want to imagine their expressions if they knew their daughter was in a high-wind boat chase with two suspicious characters.
The colour from my face drained as I watched one of the men pull out a gun, cocking it and aiming it towards us. For a moment, I thought I might see my parents again. Although that thought was comforting, I still wasn't ready to die. A shot rang out, making everybody duck.
"John B, get down!" JJ yelled, his voice hard over the whipping of the wind. I peeked up from where I was laying to see how close they were. I shrieked as another shot rang out. "God dammit, Winslow. Stay down!"
JJ roughly pulled me down, shielding my body with his own. Both of us cringing every time a shot fired. Involuntary whimpers escaped my mouth as we zigzagged away. JJ sat up, clenching his jaw as he held on tight to the boat. Kiara told Pope to move, crouching over him to grab an old fishing net. "Bee, help."
I stood up, beginning to untangle the net with her. Another shot fired, hitting the metal next to me. "For fuck sakes, Winslow, Kie, get down!" JJ growled.
We didn't listen though, instead moving closer to the motor. I helped her untangle the net the rest of the way, and together we tossed it over the edge, laying a trap for their boat. We watched as their boat motor made an angry sound, stopping abruptly, ending our chase.
One last shot rang out as we turned another corner, leading us away from them. Out in an unpopulated area, everyone started celebrating.
"That was insane!"
"Fuck yeah!"
"Pogue Life, man!"
I looked at the faces of my friends, my heart swelling. We could have died. Any one of us could've been hit. My body reacted to the situation on its own, tears welling in my eyes as I grabbed Kie, giving her a bone crushing hug. "Oh– Oh, Beck, are you okay?"
I let go and moved onto Pope, holding him close as a couple tears fell. Wiping my tears, I pulled back and replied, "Yeah.. I ... I don't know."
John B enveloped me in a quick hug, patting my back as I gripped the back of his shirt.
"You're crying? Why are you crying? We fucking beat death!" JJ exclaimed as I walked over to him. I looked him in the eyes, my own bloodshot ones boring into his confused ones. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down close to my level, taking in his scent. His arms were limp at his side, unsure of what to do. He smelled of ocean water, old spice and weed, an odd mixture, but it was JJ.
I held him close, his shaggy blonde hair tickling my face as I whispered, "Idiot. These are happy tears."
Little did I know, my tears were wasted on this moment, because there would be many more moments like this.
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As soon as we docked the boat at John B's place, we hopped out of it, all hurrying to where John B was kneeled on the ground, starting to open the bag we risked our life for.
"What do you think it is?" Kie asked as John B fumbled with the zipper. I looked at her, admiring her long, curly, wind-whipped hair.
"Gotta be money, right?" John B proposed, jiggling the bag in frustration.
"That or a couple of keys with street value to low to mid mils," JJ blurted, a lopsided boyish grin on his face. Excitement radiated from his body as he leaned over, desperate to see what was inside.
"Or maybe body parts. Everything about this is sketchy," I countered, tapping my foot impatiently.
"Can we please just open the bag?!" Pope bursted harshly, unable to contain himself. We stopped talking to look at him. All of our faces matched, echoing shock.
"Wow, Pope." John B chuckled. "That's a rare outburst of emotion." John B went back to unzipping the bag, but still took his time.
"Okay. The anticipation is literally killing me," Pope said, ushering John B to hurry up. "Open the bag. We almost died over this."
"I second that," I agreed. "Let's get it going."
John B finally pulled the bag open, taking out a small bag. He opened the smaller bag and a metal canister tumbled out onto the dock. Everyone was silent as John B twisted the cap open, our eyes unable to move from it. John B tipped the canister into his hand, a golden object falling into his palm. He opened it, revealing it was a compass.
"Oh, wow. That's about right," Pope uttered, his voice full of irritation. "Good job, everybody. We found a compass."
"That's rich. Really rich. We got shot at ... for that?" I laughed sarcastically, pointing to the useless object in John B's hand.
As I ran my hands down my face, JJ pulled off his hat, pushing his hair back as he sighed. JJ turned to face John B, seeing that the brunette was deep in thought as he stared at the compass. JJ huffed, "Dude, what? It's not worth anything."
"This was my father's," John B whispered, a small grin pulling at his lips. I suddenly stared at him, looking for any sign that he was joking.
John B's father has been lost at sea for nine months, leading everyone but John B to think he's dead. The surreality of the situation was hard to grasp. How did Scooter Grubbs end up with the compass? Did Scooter Grubbs have contact with John B's dad? It's all so weird and unbelievable.
We were at a loss of words as John B scrambled away to his house, his wheels clearly turning in his head. I gulped, knowing tonight wouldn't be a good night to stay at his house. John B needed space.
I know if I found something that belonged to my parents somewhere where there shouldn't be anything that they owned, I would need some space. So I spent the night at my aunt's.
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After a sleepless night, I was in bad mood. Not only did I feel horrible, I looked it. My eyes were weighed down by the bags they carried, dulling their usual vibrant mixture of green and brown. I spent the entire night tossing and turning, staring at the walls and listening to every sound the empty house made. It was around noon when I started walking to John B's house, every step I took heavier than the last.
I was about a five minute walk away when the familiar van of John B's wizzed past me. The van shrieked, coming to an abrupt stop, before going into reverse. The passenger window rolled down, revealing a smirking JJ and a smiling John B.
"Get in, Grumpy," John B hollered over JJ. I crossed the road, approaching the van.
"Where are you going?" I asked, rubbing my eyes as I got closer. JJ looked me up and down, his lips pressing together in a thin line. I glared, daring him to say something.
"Does it matter?" The blonde boy replied, putting his feet up on the dash. "You're not doing anything else anyway."
I sighed, knowing he was right. I reached for the door handle, hearing a click before I yanked. The door didn't budge. I looked into the window, giving the boys my best 'dont fuck with me today' look.
"Whoops!" JJ giggled, hitting the unlock button. "My finger slipped."
I rolled my eyes and opened the door. I settled on the seat behind John B, stretching out my legs and closing my eyes as John B put the van into drive. Within seconds we were zipping down the empty road.
I was glad to see John B looking good today. I thought he'd be a mess, jumping to conclusions and going wild inside his own head wondering how that compass ended up in Scooter Grubbs possession. But, he seemed fine.
"Who pissed in your cornflakes?" JJ's loud voice asked, bringing my attention to him. I opened my eyes to see his beryl blue eyes staring at my face intensely, curiosity and confusion wrinkling his forehead. His messy blonde hair was sticking up in all sorts of different directions, leading me to believe he just rolled out of bed and left.
"I didn't have any sleep," I answered quietly. "That's all."
"You know you can talk to us, Bee," John B said softly, stopping then turning the wheel as we came to a stop sign. "Or, if you want us to get Kie, or if you'd rather talk to Pope–"
I flashed a strained smile to his rear view mirror. "I'm good. I swear."
"Bullshit," JJ snorted. "But, if that's what you want us to believe." He leaned forward in his seat, grabbing the mysterious compass on the dash. John B saw his friend's curious hands out the corner of his eyes, and once he realized what was happening he lunged towards JJ, trying to get it out of his hands. I tensed as the van jerked.
"Hey, don't—"
"I was just looking at it," JJ explained, pushing John B back into the drivers seat. He held the watch in his hand, inspecting it as John B focused on the road once again. "I gotta admit, your father's compass in Scooter's boat.. that's freaky."
"Agreed. That's why we're going to talk to Ms. Lana– to figure this whole thing out."
My eyes widened as I snatched the watch out of JJ's hands, inspecting it for myself. "Ms. Lana? The woman that was crying over Scooter's body? I'm just throwing this out there, but maybe she doesn't want visitors right now."
JJ grabbed it back, toying with it in his hands. "Yeah, I'm sure she wants to talk to us. It's not like her husband just drowned or anything."
John B ignored our counsel, instead talking us deeper into the Cut towards Ms. Lana's place. We pulled up to here place, listening to the sweet song 'It's All in Your Head.'
When we came to a stop, John B opened the door for me, lending me a kind hand as I exited the vehicle. I squinted as the sun-rays invaded my eyes, blinding me as I listened to the sound of seabirds cawing. I walked in between John B and JJ, slowly approaching the small, run down house on the marsh.
"You know what this house looks like?" JJ asked rhetorically, gesturing to the property. My eyes swept across the Grubbs home, noticing everything was over grown and awfully coloured. "Whoever lives here smokes too much weed."
"It takes one to know one, JJ?" I muttered, moving ahead of him as he stopped to look back at John B and I. I stopped in my tracks as I heard violent smashes of glass. More crashes came afterwards, followed by angered voices.
A hand grabbed my wrist, the cool metal of his rings tingling my hot skin as he kept me from moving any further. I turned to see JJ, looking between John B and I. "Maybe we should come back?" JJ suggested as the brutal sounds continued inside. "It's a little too soon–"
"No, no. Shut up, JJ," John B hissed, hushing JJ as he moved closer to the house. JJ stood planted though, his hand gripping my wrist tighter.
"Can you let go? Or are we going to let our friend inspect this alone?" I whispered to the boy holding me back. He glanced down at me, then looked up, narrowing his eyes at the house. Hesitantly, he let go, letting my wrist drop to my side.
We approached cautiously, hearing the words inside more clearly as we got closer. A scream erupted, causing us all to flinch and duck. "You're hurting me!"
JJ tried to back out again, but John B shut him down, telling him to get a move on.
"Where the fuck is it, you bitch?!" A rough, angry male voice yelled from inside. We got ducked closer to the side of house, using the leaves as cover as we neared the window.
"I don't know!" A female cried, sobs echoing off the walls as he kneeled by the house. More things were smashed in the house as the man continued to question the woman. All three of us were huddled underneath the window as the woman whimpered inside.
"You—"
"Shut up," John B whispered, pushing his finger to JJ's mouth.
JJ's hard stare was directed to the side of John B's face as he hissed, "Still think we should stay?"
We went stiff as the man inside growled about a compass in a boat. My stomach turned inside out as the girl cried, saying she didn't know anything. More glass was thrown inside, smashing as it hit whatever surface— if it was the woman's face or the floor, I wasn't sure. I bit the inside of my cheek as flakes from the house fell into my hair.
"Don't listen," JJ whispered, looking down. Don't listen. It was as if those words hurt him to say, as if they'd been said before to him. From the way his face twisted, I could tell, those words carried weight. A burden I couldn't imagine carrying. More flakes fell, causing me to internally curse. Of all the days I chose to braid my hair, I chose today. Getting these flakes out would be a bitch.
"Is this paint?"
"Yes, it's paint."
From inside, the woman wailed, moaning and groaning as the men declared they were leaving. John B moved forward towards the edge of the house. As I went to move with him, JJ grabbed ahold of my shoulder, pulling me backwards. "We should just go. He's got smuggler written all over him.." JJ pleaded, holding me still.
"Shut up!" John B whispered again.
As John B reached the edge, JJ was right behind him, but much to my dismay, he kept me behind him, not allowing me to move forward next to John B. If it wasn't for the dangerous men around the corner, I'd throw a fit and run ahead just to prove a point. But, my logical mind wouldn't let me do that. So I stayed where I was, letting JJ be a protector.
I watched as John B peered around the corner, JJ not far behind. "Dude, those are the guys that shot at us," JJ whispered.
"Go back!" John B whisper-shouted, desperately trying to get away. We shimmied backwards, pressing our backs firmly against the aging siding. We watched as the familiar white boat from the other day left, and as JJ said, the two men from the other day driving.
I gulped, nervous to see what they left behind in the house, but I didn't have much time to think about it before John B walked towards the entrance, jumping headfirst into whatever was waiting inside.
Author's Note:
Enjoy:) Don't forget to comment & vote! Let me know how you're liking/feeling about this!
xx Juno