CHAPTER NINETEEN
XIX. OLD HOUSES
THE POGUES WASTED NO TIME IN GETTING BACK INTO JOHN B'S VAN TO DRIVE TO WHEREVER THE MAP WAS LEADING THEM TO AFTER BEING AT BATTERY JASPER. Pope was in the front of the van with John B, using the map to tell him where to go, while JJ, Juliet and Kiara sat in the back together.
The five ended up on an old dirt road that ran along the back of the Crain house. They were all aware of Mrs Crain who lived in the house, some had heard stories about her growing up and none of them could say they were pleased that's where they'd ended up.
"That looks like a stone wall to me." JJ had said, looking out the back window as John B stopped the van outside the back of the house.
"This is it." Pope said, looking up at the large house they were now outside of.
"Not the Crain house." John B mumbled to himself, almost feeling a chill run down his spine. The Crain house had always creeped him out.
Juliet was first out the van, squinting up at the house. "Are you kidding me?" Her voice was laced with annoyance. She wasn't scared of the Crain house but it certainly gave her the creeps. And how were they supposed to find anything while also worrying about being caught by the old lady.
"Worst case scenario." JJ added, looking up at the house too.
Pope and the others had joined JJ and Juliet in looking up at the old house. "Why did it have to be here, of all places?" He questioned, not feeling at all pleased at where they had ended up.
JJ had turned his head to look at Pope. "I heard that Mrs Crain buried her husbands head on the property." JJ told him, his face blank so Pope couldn't even tell if he was just winding him up or not.
Kiara was the first to move and climb over the stone wall into the back garden of the house. Juliet followed and the boys weren't too far behind. It was overgrown and messy, which wasn't surprising to any of them. Juliet had to watch every step she took to make sure she didn't step on anything.
"You guys know who's house this is, right?" Kiara spoke, leading the group through the garden. Juliet wasn't too far behind her with JJ directly behind her, he couldn't have been any closer if he tried.
"Oh yeah, no, I do." JJ quickly said.
"Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place." John B spoke up from the back, making the boys turn around to look at him and almost stop.
"Shh." Pope held his finger up to his lips, telling John B to be quiet. His voice was too loud and he didn't want the old lady hearing them.
When JJ had turned back around, he caught up with the girls who were now walking side by side. "Which stories did you hear?" JJ had said, pushing himself in between Juliet and Kiara.
Kiara turned her head to look at her friend. "The one were she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since." Kiara told him with a straight face. Juliet had to refrain herself from laughing. Kiara was doing a good job at spooking JJ. "On certain nights, when the moon is full, you can see her in the window." Kiara added, holding her hands up to his face and waving her fingers. That's when JJ knew she was joking. Juliet and Kiara both started laughing when JJ's face dropped.
"No, Kie, it's not funny. 'Cause it's all true." JJ told her as she turned back around and carried on walking. "I swear to God, guys. This is all real. I knew Hollis." JJ had turned around to look at the boys and when he'd turned back, he had jumped at the stone figure beside them.
"You knew Hollis Crain?" Pope stopped his friend, pushing him back to question him about knowing Mrs Crain's daughter.
"Yeah, dude."
"Dude, how did you know Hollis Crain?" Pope asked, not understanding how he had no idea JJ knew Hollis Crain.
The group had now stopped and were all looking at JJ, waiting for him to explain. "She was my babysitter, man. She told me all about it. Told me the truth....about her mother and what happened in this house." He said rather dramatically.
Juliet had laughed and shook her head. "Oh God, here we go." She'd heard it all before from JJ, about what Hollis had told him. But she didn't believe a single word. Juliet just thought that Hollis was making it all up to scare JJ, like a lot of babysitters did.
"So, as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and she was a murderer and all. Hollis didn't believe it. Until that night." Everyone, except from Juliet, had been staring at JJ waiting for him to continue, all curious about what he'd heard.
"What night?" John B asked after JJ had paused.
"It all came back to her." JJ replied. He then turned around to look at the house. "When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs." He then looked back to his friends. "So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink....full of blood." JJ had taken a step towards John B, who'd looked away from JJ, not believing a word he was saying. "Her mother just says that she cut her finger. The next morning, she says her father and her split up. But then Hollis noticed something, her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out with plastic bags. Weeks pass, and Hollis decides to use the outhouse. And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her fathers head looking straight back at her." JJ had held two of his fingers up to his eyes as he stared intently at John B.
"God, you are so full of shit." John B said almost as soon as JJ finished, shaking his head. He couldn't believe JJ was standing in front of him and telling that story because he believed it.
Juliet had laughed at John B's response as JJ tried telling him that he wasn't messing around. "Dude, I swear to God, man."
"Did she call the police?" Pope had then asked, stepping closer to JJ so he didn't have to raise his voice.
"She didn't have time." Just as JJ replied, John B had pushed his way in between Pope and JJ and started walking towards the house. "Wait, hold on." JJ rushed after John B, placing his hand on his arm to stop him from going any further. He knew John B wasn't believing a word he said but he didn't want John B to not be careful.
John B had turned around and practically snapped at JJ. "What?"
"You sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer, you have a cast on." JJ said, glancing down at the cast on John B's wrist. What was he supposed to do if they got caught? Or the stories JJ had been told were true? John B was at a disadvantage.
John B almost scoffed. "I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? I got nothin' to lose, right? You comin' or what?" He said to JJ before he walked off.
Kiara was quick to follow him, telling Pope to go with them. Which left Juliet and JJ alone for a few seconds. Juliet could tell JJ wasn't messing around with the stories and was truly freaked out by being there so she gave him a sympathetic smile and placed her hand on his arm before she followed Pope.
John B had stopped right near the back of the house, crouching down so he could whisper to them all. "Hey, come on. Come here." The others followed, all crouching down too so they could hear him. "So here's the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter." John B said.
"Okay, like, what kind of water? Like, pond water?" Pope asked, his voice quiet like John B's.
JJ stifled a laugh. "Bong water?" He said not being serious, obviously, he just thought it was funny.
John B shook his head. "No. It-It just said look for water, okay."
"That's the shittiest secret message ever." Kiara replied before walking off to the side of the house through the uncut grass.
John B was quick to follow her. "You wanna complain a little more, Kie? Nobody said it was going to be easy." He said as he continued to follow after her. Juliet didn't like the vibe between John B and Kiara at the moment and was glad the two had decided to split off from the others. She couldn't stand them arguing any longer.
When the two had left, Pope had turned to look at JJ and Juliet. "I'll search the northeast quadrant, you two search the northwest." He told the two blondes before walking off into the other side of the garden, leaving the two alone.
"The decapitation quadrant." JJ called after Pope, pointing in his direction. JJ then turned around, ready to walk in the other direction. "Great. This is just great." He mumbled to himself, stepping over the overgrown grass.
Juliet laughed as she followed after him. "Is someone a little scared? Don't worry, I'll protect you." She told him, walking a little faster than him so she was in front.
"Jules, this isn't funny!" JJ retorted, not finding her comment funny. He thought her of all people would understand why he was so freaked out. He'd told her the stories a million times before, why didn't she believe them yet?
Juliet laughed again. "Pretty funny to me." She replied, glancing back at him. "I don't understand how you still believe those stories she told you, she was obviously just trying to scare you. All babysitters tell kids scary stories." Juliet then said as she looked around for any water. Her babysitter used to tell her and her brother all kind of scary stories to scare them and claim they were true. But there was never a time when either of them actually believed her after.
The two searched in silence for a while, not having any luck in finding any water. So they decided to head back in the direction of the house. As they got closer, they heard John B calling them all. "Hey, come on. It's the only place we haven't looked." John B was stood beside two wooden doors that lead to the underneath of the house. Like a basement of some sort. He'd pushed open the doors as he got out his flashlight and headed in. "Here we go."
Juliet didn't have a flashlight so she decided to stick in between JJ and Pope, who both had one. JJ was last in, keeping the wooden door open in case they needed to leave quickly.
A voice behind Juliet then started singing. "Down came Mrs Crain and cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood." She had no clue as to why JJ was singing, seen as he was the one who was most freaked out but it definitely wasn't making her feel any better about being underneath Mrs Crain's house.
"Are you serious right now?" Juliet stopped in her tracks to turn around and glare at JJ. "Can you not do that while we're underneath some old ladies house." She told him before catching up with Pope.
"See any water?" Kiara was standing beside John B as they looked around. "Another dead end?" She didn't have a flashlight either so she was just following John B's.
JJ had felt around the pipes running underneath the house, thinking maybe he'd find water there. "There's not even water on the pipes." He told the group as his fingers collected the dust from the old pipes.
"There's no water here." Pope said, not seeing anywhere that would be holding water. No water at all.
"Not a dropamino." JJ added.
Kiara had then turned around to face her friends. "Know why we didn't find it? Bad karma." She said and the others knew exactly what she had meant. Sarah was the bad karma.
"Oh God, here we go." John B wasn't in the mood to argue with Kiara but it looked like she wouldn't be giving him a choice.
Kiara's eyes then everted to John B. "You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trials gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not." Kiara said to him, making the others almost gasp. She definitely wasn't beating around the bush. And Juliet almost wanted to laugh at Kiara referring to Sarah as 'barbie'.
"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah." John B took a step toward Kiara. He didn't want to tell the others about him and the Kook Princess, he'd wanted to keep it a secret but he wasn't really given a choice in keeping it to himself after Sarah kissed him in front of all of them.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." John B answered Kiara. "What's the deal? What the hell's going on with the two of you?" He then asked. If Kiara was going to be so petty about Sarah, he at least wanted to know why. Maybe Kiara did have a valid reason to why she didn't like Sarah.
"Nothing!" Kiara shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to admit the real reason why she hated Sarah. No one actually knew why, not even Juliet knew the exact reason. But Juliet knew it wasn't something stupid and that Kiara's reason was valid. She assumed it was something that happened at school seen as that was where they became friends.
John B didn't believe her. "Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" He then asked but knew instantly that it was a mistake, especially when Kiara's hand collided with his face.
"Holy shit."
"That echoed, dude."
Juliet, JJ and Pope were all beyond shocked at Kiara's actions but they couldn't lie that it was kind of funny. Juliet had to stop herself from laughing at John B's shocked face. "Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend that's actually trying to look out for you." Kiara said to him, skipping over the fact she just slapped him around the face.
"Did you uh....hit me?" John B asked, still a little shocked that she did.
Kiara held her hand up. "Skeeter." She told him, showing him the dead mosquito that was on her palm.
John B laughed. "Skeeter?"
"Yeah, you see it?" She almost smirked.
"Yeah." And then the next thing they knew, John B hand made contact with Kiara's face.
"Ohh, hey, alright." JJ was immediately saying, not thinking it was right that John B had slapped her back.
"John B....." Juliet wasn't happy either but they were all unaware that he had the same excuse as Kiara did.
"Where's your proof?" Kiara asked him.
John B then held up his own hand. "Skeeter." And he was right, there was one on his hand too.
Kiara then slapped an area on his arm as the buzzing noise got louder. There were multiple mosquitos flying around them. "Yeah, there was probably one right there." She said, smirking.
"There's one right there." John B hit her back and the two just started hitting each other. They ended up laughing which made Juliet smile, she was glad the two could bounce back like that and realise their friendship was more important than arguing over some girl.
As the two continued just slapping each other for fun, Juliet and Pope realised that there was way too many mosquitos under the house than there should have been. Juliet wasn't a fan of mosquitos and nearly tripped over her own feet more than once as she tried brushing them off.
"Why are there so many mosquitos in a basement?" Pope had said out loud, making Juliet stop and look at him. She'd been thinking the same thing too but she just assumed it was because the door they'd entered through was still open.
"Dude, I know, seriously. Tiny vampire bats, leave me alone." JJ answered Pope, thinking it was something he needed to answer. But Pope was just thinking out loud. "Can we leave? 'Cause I'm already inchin' to leave." JJ then said, looking around to see if anyone caught the joke. His eyes immediately went to Juliet but she was too busy banging her feet on a few wooden planks that her and Pope were standing over. Mosquitos breed in water so they are usually found somewhere that has water nearby. They group hadn't managed to find any water outside so the only thing that Juliet and Pope could think of was that the water had to be inside somewhere and the only place they hadn't checked was under the wooden planks on the floor.
"I just found Mrs Crain's voodoo doll, guys."
"Oh shit."
JJ, Kiara and John B hadn't realised what the other two had been doing as JJ continued to look around and John B and Kiara continued play fighting with each other.
Pope had picked up a small stone on the floor, thinking maybe he could drop it down the gap between two planks to see if there was in fact water down there. "Do you think......?" Juliet asked, trailing off her question as she caught on to what Pope was doing. He nodded his head.
"Can we leave this? 'Cause this is getting—" JJ began to say just as Pope dropped the stone. His sentence was cut off by the sound of splashing water.
"Oh my God." Juliet stepped back off the wood as she spoke, looking up at Pope in shock. Pope then wasted no time in moving everything off the planks. The noise gained John B's attention, who immediately stopped Pope, claiming he was being too loud.
"Help me move this." Pope ignored John B's effort to get him to stop making so much noise as him and Juliet kept moving everything that was in their way.
"Okay....just quiet." John B said, helping them but being more careful about the noise than them. When they cleared everything, JJ helped them move a few of the wooden planks which revealed a very large well.
The five kneeled, all looking down into the dark hole in the ground. "Well, well, well." Pope said, making some of the others laugh.
"That was a good dad joke." John B retorted, smiling at the joke. None of them could quite see the bottom or any water but they were all sure that they were in the right place. This was the water they had been looking for and the gold would be down there.
"They built this part of the house right over it." Kiara mumbled to herself, squinting to see if she could see something, anything.
"This is where she hid the bodies." JJ then said, making everyone look at him. Juliet had enough of him talking about dead bodies and Mrs Crain being a murder that she had the sudden urge to just push him into the well, it would at least shut him up.
"Dude, come on."
"Stop." Juliet scolded him, slapping his arm.
"No, I'm dead serious." He said to her, frowning. He was being serious but he couldn't lie that it was amusing seeing Juliet get worked up over it, like she'd began to believe him.
"Stop it."
"It was never an outhouse." JJ carried on.
Kiara shook her head. "She probably doesn't even know it's here." She said to JJ, almost glaring at him. They'd all had enough of JJ's speculating.
"So....we found water."
"We're gonna need a really big rope." John B said, continuing to stare into the well as he felt a wave of relief wash over him. They got the map, they found the water and now all they needed was to get the gold. It shouldn't be too hard, John B thought to himself. Oh was he wrong.
NOTE
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ ﾟ
this chapter is so bad i am so sorry
but this scene was just so boring to write
jj's comments were the only thing that actually made the scene okay. i just didn't like it
so i didn't enjoy writing it and didn't wanna add anything with jj and juliet because it wouldn't make sense
but enjoy it anyway, i guess???? 🤣
next chapter will be better i promise!