SEASON ONE,
CHAPTER 3:
THE MOTEL ROOM
"I'm living the nightmare."
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THE GROUP OF friends currently find themselves arriving at their destination outside the motel. The area looks more messier than it usual does due to the destruction that Hurricane Agatha had created on the island. A couple of the trees have been knocked down as it's branches are found scattered along the ground, a single boat lying on the dead grass.
"And I thought that the Château looked bad." JJ comments as he whistles lowly at the messy sight.
"This place is a shitshow." John B states.
"I'm surprised a tree didn't fall into the actual building itself." Delilah adds.
"Motel or meth lab?" Kie questions.
"You be the judge of that." Pope replies.
"Doesn't look the type of a place someone with a Grady-White would stay." John B says.
"No, it looks like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would get killed." Pope corrects.
"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue coming in for landing." JJ announces, acting like he's talking through a megaphone again.
The blond proceeds to move to the bow of the boat before jumping off of the moving vehicle and onto the banks. A rope is held in his hands that he then uses to tie around the large pole beside the docks in order to keep the boat steady and avoid it drifting off in the water.
"We good?" John B questions.
"Yeah, we're good." JJ replies with a small nod. "Ly, you coming along with us?"
"Obviously." Delilah replies, jumping off the boat and standing beside him.
"JB!" Pope calls, making the boy turn around to face him. "Don't let those two do anything stupid."
"I'm not making any promises on that." John B replies, glancing over his shoulder and at the two.
"I find it highly disrespectful that you assumed we would anyway." Delilah tells Pope in a jokey manner.
"Be careful." Kie says with a hint of concern in her voice, grabbing everyones attention to find her gaze on John B. "I mean it."
The long haired boy only nods in response, unsure of what to verbally say since she isn't joining them in searching the motel room. Instead, John B climbs off the side of the boat where he joins Delilah and JJ in standing on the bank. The blond boy then places a hand on the redheads lower back, gently pushing her forwards to follow after their friend. This only leaves Pope and Kiara alone on the boat together.
"Just be so careful, John B." JJ teases, mocking Kie as they walk up the stairs of the building. "What the hell was that about?"
"Maybe she wants us to be careful?" John B suggests, unsure of the meaning himself. "Right, Red?"
"I mean, she specifically said it to you." Delilah states. "But maybe it's because JJ and I aren't particularly the best influences."
"Think about it, guys. Ever since she heard you're being threatened with exile, she's been just been like 'Oh! Be so careful, John B'." JJ mocks, rubbing the boys shoulder only to be shrugged off. "'Just give me that John D already'. When are you swoop on that?"
"Bro, you know the rule. No Pogue-on-Pogue macking." John B reminds. "Besides, you can't exactly talk—"
"This is it." Delilah states, interrupting the boys before they can continue rambling on.
"Housekeeping!" JJ says, his voice high-pitched as he knocks on the door.
There's a moment of silence as the three stand there and wait to listen for some form of sound on the other side of the door. All they need is for a hint of a living person being in the room. However, nothing can be heard.
"Should we try it?" John B asks.
JJ nods. "Yeah. No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know."
John B looks at Delilah for approval since she's joining the both of them in searching the room. A small nod is only given in response. He then inserts the 'missing' key into the lock on the door, turning it to unlock it before slowly swinging the door open.
The room has zero lights on and looks extremely empty. Two beds are located in the room and have already been made to appear neat and clean. On the floor, two black duffel bags can be seen barely hidden underneath the beds. They're zipped up and look suspicious due to the fact that no one seems to be staying in the room in this moment.
John B hands his two friends flashlights so that they can search the room without turning the lights on and drawing attention from the outside. They all begin to separate as they pick different things to look for; the the two boys instantly go for the black duffel bags, while Delilah wanders around the room to see if anything else looks out of place.
"He's definitely over 50 years old." John B assumes as he looks at a pair of shoes. "New Balances."
Not much else is said about the assumption of the individuals age as the topic of conversation diverts towards a map that JJ has found. The boys are just deciding between themselves about whether this is very location of where the person (or people) were fishing. Delilah, on the other hand, continues to search the room where she then finds a locked safe hidden in one of the wooden cupboards.
"Guys." Delilah calls, slightly glancing over her shoulder and at the two.
"What's up?" JJ immediately asks, walking into the room after sneaking something into his pocket.
"Have any of you seen a code or something around here?" Delilah asks.
"Yeah, I have." John B replies.
The redhead then moves out of the way, allowing the boy to put the press some numbers to unlocked the safe and find out what's inside. The small light above the pin then turns green to show that the code was correct. The three exchange glances at one another before John B pulls open the door to the safe with curiosity to find out what's inside. In there, many stacks of money with a brown envelope laying on top of it, along with a gun.
"Holy shit." Delilah mumbles.
The differences in what the teenagers are interested in within the safe is clear when they extend their hand out to grab the items. John B goes for a stack of the money to inspect it with curiosity, wanting to know whether it's real or fake. Delilah, on the other hand, instantly grabs the gun resting on top of the big pile. She ensures that it's on safety mode before spinning around on her heel and pointing it straight at JJ.
"You grabbed the gun. Of course you grabbed the gun." John B mutters.
The redhead only ignores the complaints coming from her friend as she continues to hold the gun at JJ. She even begins to pretend to fire it like they do in action movies, trying to act all dramatic as an exaggeration. The blond plays along and pretends to get shot with each rapid movement. Soon enough, he stops as he begins to walk towards Ly where she hands him over the gun.
"That's a SIG Sauer." JJ states.
"Guys, put the gun back!" John B hisses. "We're not going to steal anything."
Delilah glances over at JJ to see his reaction to their friends annoyance. Her lips purses slightly as she remembers seeing the boy slip something into his pocket, deciding against saying anything and calling him out on it. JJ notices this look as his blue eyes meet her green ones, only shooting her a wink in response.
"Just take a pic of me and Ly." JJ demands. "Right here is fine."
"You want me to take a picture of you two?" John B repeats, raising a brow at him in disbelief.
JJ slowly nods. "That's what I said, isn't it?"
The blond boy then slips an arm around Delilah's waist where he then pulls her body towards his own so that they're both in the frame of the photograph. His arm remains wrapped around her as he begins to pose for the camera with the gun still gripped in his hand, trying his best to appear menacingly. The girl decides to go along with it, posing alongside him too.
"Guys, stop!" John B orders. "You're literally asking me to make our own incriminating evidence."
All of a sudden, the faint sound of a tap against a glass window is heard from behind the three and causes them to freeze slightly. Delilah's eyebrows furrow together at the noise, reluctantly pulling herself out of JJ's grip before heading over to the only window in the motel room. Peaking out from the blinds, Kiara and Pope can be seen standing there below with panic crossed over their faces. It's clear that they're trying not to attract too much attention by the way they're mouthing a certain word to them repeatedly ('cops').
"Shit, shit, shit." Delilah curses.
"What is it?" JJ asks, concern instantly filling him at the sight of the girl panicking. "What's wrong?"
"Shh!" Delilah hushes as she covers her hand over his mouth to shut him up. "Cops are here."
As if on cue, the loud sound of a knuckle knocking against the wood on the door ripples loudly through the air. The three all begin to run around the room as panic fills their bodies, unsure of what to do to get out of the situation they've put themselves into. John B head back over to the window where their friends were previously trying to communicate and warn them, managing to pull it open without making too much sound.
The other two teenagers in the room with JB notices his actions and swiftly make their way over to him. They both copy his actions and follow him out of the window before smoothly closing it again behind them, making it seem like no one was ever there in the first place. From there, they all hide on either side of the wall to avoid getting themselves caught.
JJ pulls Delilah closer towards his body where he attempts to keep her hidden from eyesight, shielding her smaller frame with his muscular one. A hand is placed upon her waist to ensure that she won't slip and fall off the roof, while his other hand continues to hold onto a nearby beam.
Down below, Pope and Kiara can be seen sitting in the HMS Pogue where they are attempting to act like nothing suspicious is taking place. However, that facade starts to fall as their eyes only widen at the sight of their friends trying to hide from the cops instead of trying to run. They both look like they're physically fed up with the three's reckless actions.
To make matters even worse than it already it, the gun slips out of the pockets of JJ's shorts and comes tumbling off the roof. It clangs against the metallic materials with each smallest movement before finally hitting the ground with a thud. The teenagers all begin to tense up at the loud sound definitely attracting the unwanted attention of cops; the three try their best to shuffle away from the window, while the two try to act casual on the boat.
The blinds to the window are suddenly pulled open and the faint figure belonging to Deputy Shoupe can be seen standing there. His beady eyes are scamming the area to look out for any suspicious activities that can relate to the sudden noise, or even towards why they are investigating that motel room. Though, this only makes Delilah's heart beat faster with fear of getting caught because of one silly mistake. JJ just presses his forehead against her shoulder as he holds her body closer, trying to keep the both of them as still as possible.
Eventually, after long minutes of standing around anxiously, the two cops that were once searching the room soon disappear to head back to their workplace again. This allows the hidden teenagers to climb down from this place on the roof, not wanting to return the way they came from in fear that they'd bump into the cops. Delilah actually jumps into JJ's arms since she's smaller than the boys and neither of them wanted to risk dealing with possible broken legs — she doesn't think she would've, but they protested against her.
The blond boy swiftly picks up the gun from the ground and shoves it back into his pocket while making sure that it won't fall out this time. Then, the friends run back over to the HMS Pogue with wide smiles imprinted on their faces. Pope leans over and unties the boat from the beam on the bank before John B begins to sail them all back towards home.
"Well, that was fun." JJ comments before glancing at the two. "You could've warned us a little sooner."
"We would have, except Pope was on the math team." Kie replies.
"The math team?" JJ repeats with furrowed brows as he turns to the boy. "You were on the math team?"
"You didn't know?" Delilah questions. "Pope's literally the smartest person here. He'd do anything that would help him get into his dream college."
"The cops took everything like it was a crime scene." John B states, deciding to speak up and change the subject before everyone forgets what happened.
"Did you guys even find anything?" Pope asks.
"Did we find anything?" JJ repeats, laughing as he finds some amusement in the question. "No, I don't think so."
JJ then proceeds to ignore the looks of confusion given to him in response to the laugh. He only begins to rummage through the pockets of his shorts in search for something specific. Two particular items are pulled out from the pockets; a stack of the money from the safe is now held in one hand, while the gun is in another. A smirk tugs at the corners of his lips.
"Oh, yeah. We did." JJ states.
"What the hell?" Pope exclaims, instantly rising to his feet to argue.
"Dude, chill!" JJ hushes, he too standing up as he slings an arm around his friend. "It's fine. Come on."
"Why would you take that from a crime scene?" Pope asks with annoyance still clear in his voice.
"I don't know." JJ admits, shrugging. "But it's better than the cops having it, bro."
"You serious?" Kie questions.
With Kiara's gaze specifically directed at John B, he merely smiles and gives a small nod in response. But he's quick to realise the mistake he's made in his actions and that the girl is clearly not impressed with either one of the three. The smile on his face drops just as quickly as it formed, eyes shifting to avoid making eye contact. Delilah notices this and has to purse her lips to hold back a laugh at the sudden change in his facial expression — she doesn't want Kie's annoyance to be aimed towards herself.
"I'm gonna lose my merit scholarship." Pope mutters under his breath.
"You'll be fine. We were the ones that went inside the room, not you." Delilah reassures with a small smile on her face.
"At least you have us, right?" JJ adds.
"I'm living the nightmare." Pope comments as he pushes himself away from JJ, sitting back down.
"It's not that bad, come on." Delilah says.
"Del, you say that but all I'm seeing is JJ, the least responsible person next to you, holding a gun right now." Pope bluntly informs.