I left Topper on the beach that night, both of us equally broken. I'd come back to get closure, and then I'd leave again. I couldn't continue to be with him if it was only just going to break us more. He has Sarah, I have myself.
After seeing what he and Rafe did to Pope, I don't think I'd want to be with him anyway. The few days I'd spent here since I returned to the Outer Banks had been exhausting and hopefully, they'd be coming to an end as we approached the coordinates John B's dad left us. I'd stood under the cover next to JJ as he steered the boat around.
"All right, JJ. Pin it here," John B called from behind us.
"Roger that! X marks the spot," JJ said, a large smile on his face as he grabbed my shoulders and rubbed them encouragingly.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen," he started, "to going full Kook. Well, except for Harper, she's already one of them," he winked at me. Thunder rumbled around the boat, a storm brewing before us. The tides started to push the boat around as John B called more commands to JJ.
"All right, JJ, we're right over it. Ten seconds northwest."
"Got it! Ten seconds northwest," JJ called back as he maneuvered the boat through the rough tides. Kie started to drop the ROV, calling out to us and marking as it went deeper under the dark surface.
"One hundred feet," she called as I went to help her. As I walked behind Pope, a small octopus came into frame of the camera, him gasping in fright. I giggled at the boy as the rest jumped, thinking he found something.
"What? What, what, what, what," they questioned.
"It's nothing...," he said as I continued to giggle. The rest of the group groaned at the letdown.
"Don't do that to me, man," JJ whined.
"My bad. I just thought I saw..." Pope trailed off, "and to quote The Hobbit, "Down, down, to Goblin Town. Down, down, you go, my lad." As I continued to help Kie, the ROV was getting lower and lower into the ocean.
"Four hundred feet," I called as the thunder continued to rumble.
"The tide's turning," Pope said as the GPS John B held beeped incessantly.
"Hey, JJ," he called. JJ responded quickly, attention directed towards John B.
"Ten seconds South-southeast."
"Copy that," the boy said as he turned the boat, following John B's command.
"JJ, 20 seconds mid-speed, all right? South." the brunette boy called again.
"Copy that! Aye, aye," I laughed at this response, earning a look from JJ.
"Keep the tether out of the prop," the boy commanded. The tides continued to turn our boat. Making the task at hand more difficult by the minute.
"We're trying," Kie and I yelled back
"JJ, keep going," John B yelled over the thunder.
"We're good," John B called as we made our way into a somewhat perfect position. Kie kept dropping the drone down, as we both called out the feet. As we got lower and lower, thunder rumbled louder making the task harder. The skies had turned to a dark grey but we persisted farther into our task.
"JJ, hold it steady," John B called again as the boat spun with the tides
"Okay, 900!"
"JJ, we'll turtle in this storm," he called again as JJ tried to keep the boat steady. The storm raging around us.
"920!"
"Pope, how are we doing," he questioned.
"Almost there," I said.
"There's too much current," Kie yelled at the boys as we struggled with the tether.
"We're gonna lose it," I yelled over the skies anger. The monitor continued to scream at John B as he shouted commands to JJ, finally it stopped as we got into position. Everyone's attention went to the ROV, looking at the little screen as it whirled around the ocean below us.
"What do you got, Pope? Come on, man. What do you see?"
"Nothin'. A whole lot of nothin'," the boy responded, still only seeing the dark depths of the ocean. Kiara and I continued to lower the tether, gasping when Pope started yelling.
"I'm at the bottom! I'm at the bottom!"
"Okay, steady here, JJ!"
We all stood around nervously as we waited to see what we've been looking for.
"You should be seeing something, man."
"I know, I know! Wait, wait," Pope responded.
"Oh, good God."
"Oh my God, it's the Royal Merchant," I said, tears welling in my eyes.
an.
hi friends
here's this and basically how i wrote it haha