happy place || jj maybank ON HOLD

chapter five

"He had to know it was going to get back to me, right? What better place to hide a message?" John starts, looking over to me shortly for some sort of compliance.

"It makes sense to me, I'm just not sure why they're leading us to a lighthouse." I respond.

"It's also possible that you're just concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels."

"Pope." John warns.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels." JJ starts. I roll my eyes at the boys, ignoring the seriousness of the situation, disregarding what John is trying to say. "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies. That's how I do it-"

"I'm not concocting, okay? Neither is V, it's too big of a coincidence for us both to receive the same messages twice. Both the compasses, and now the Redfield message? It's a sign."

"Wait, Vienna has a compass too?" Kie asks.

"I have a necklace" I say, pulling it out from under my shirt, as I was now wearing it, knowing it's meaning. I take it off and hand it to Kie so she can see it, "my mother gave me it the day she died. I never knew why. It's in the shape of a compass, engraved with John's initials. I think the R on the front stands for Redfield though, not Routledge. Which is why it's on the front and not after the B on the back." I explain.

The three of them share a glance, still seeming unconvinced.

"Look, I'll take whatever we can get" John speaks up. "V and I know these aren't coincidences. You three don't know what it's like to have the people closest to you vanish or die, okay? What it's like to have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."

"It's been almost a year" Kie says, reasoning with John.

"Kiara." I warn her.

"Hey he could've been kidnapped, definitely a possibility." JJ says.

"Yeah he could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope adds.

"Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."

"Enough." I speak up again, defending John, unsure of why his friends can't just be supportive.

"Chill, new girl. It's a joke." JJ rolls his eyes, taking a hit off his juul.

I turn back around, taking my necklace back from Kie, shaking my head at JJ.

We arrive at the lighthouse, John parks and we all get up, looking up at it. I remember coming here when I was a kid with John and Big John. I was scared of the height, but John told me "it's the only time you'll ever be taller than the trees. It's cool." I smiled at his outlook on life, always positive.

"Right. Here's what's gonna happen." John turned to JJ. "You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?"

"Wait..why me?"

"Because you're not coming" Pope starts, tagging JJ.

"Why?" JJ says, in a louder volume than before. I sigh at the bickering and kick a rock around on the ground.

"Look, JJ. There are independent and dependent variables. You're independent because we don't know-"

"Shut up! Just shut up, Pope!" JJ yells back in his face.

I look up to John, who picks his hat up off his head and runs a hand through his hair, obviously irritated, before placing it back down.

"Listen to me for a second! Just listen!" John shuts the boys up. "Pope stand lookout with JJ. Kie, make sure they don't kill each other. If we get split up, meet back at JJ's."