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"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B says from the drivers seat of the van, on our way to Redfield Lighthouse. "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"Yeah. It's possible." Kie agrees, although it's clear that she doesn't believe the words that she's saying.
"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope says.
Kiara and I just look at Pope incredulously. He really doesn't know how to hold back sometimes. One of these days it's going to get him into trouble.
"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels?" JJ pipes up.
"Eating ice cream on my couch, while watching your favourite movie Tangled." I say
He ignores me, "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." He's staring off into space, a little high and completely out of it.
"I'm not concocting, okay? My dads trying to give me a message." John B says, clearly in denial.
"If it helps you believe, John B." Kiara says, sympathetically.
"Look, I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out."
"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ is cut off by John B. It seems like the only one tripping here is my higher than a kite bestie.
"Look, my dad is missing, okay? Missing." John B says, whipping his head back towards JJ and then turning back to the road.
"John B, it's okay to have hope but at some point you're gonna have to accept the fact that he's gone and more than likely isn't coming back." I say, trying to put it in the nicest way possible.
"You guys don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering."
The pain in his voice is evident and although I can't say I can completely relate to him, I do understand on some level. When my mother left, all I could do is wonder why she left us. Left me. The only difference in our situations is that my mother chose to leave and could possibly return, but I'm not sure if i would want her to. His dad didn't choose to leave him and probably won't ever return, no matter how much John B wishes he would.
"It's been almost a year." Kie says
"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ says, trying to lighten the mood and contribute to the conversation.
"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope joins in.
"Absolutely. Uh.. or Atlantis." JJ says, still trying to help.
As unbelievable as the ideas are, I know he's just trying to help and I can't help but admire him for always being there for his friends. Even if its in his own weird humorous type of way.
