MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! jj maybank

016. skeeter

AFTER GOING TO BATTERY JASPER and spending fifteen minutes standing there, looking in between the map and subdivisions, they had somehow ended up in front of the Crain House after Pope explained that they needed to go find a stone wall.

The thing about Cola was that she never really believed the shit that her elementary schoolmates always used to tell her about the Crain House. So watching all her friends freak out about the potential danger made her laugh just a little bit.

"Why did it have to be here... of all places?" Pope questioned, clearly terrified as he eyed the tall house. In all honesty, it did look like something straight out of a horror movie, but Cola figured that the house must've been very old.

"I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property."

Cola laughed, not aware that JJ and Pope were genuinely terrified of going in. "Let's just get inside."

John B led them all, followed by Kiara, and just as Cola was about to climb the stone wall, Pope took off his flannel and handed it to the girl.

Confused, Cola holds the piece of clothing in her hands. "What's this for?"

"For the skirt."

Oh. Nicola flashes him a grateful smile, wrapping the clothing around her skirt before she climbed up the wall, and thanks to Pope, managed to not flash anyone. Once she dropped into the overgrown grass, she gave his flannel back with a grateful smile, walking in front of everyone right beside Kiara.

"Look, you guys know whose house this is, right?" Kiara whispered, tugging Cola's hand as they attempted to pass through the overgrown plants and grads. "Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place."

"Shh. What?" JJ zoomed in between the two of them, which resulted in Kiara letting go of her fingers. "Which stories did you hear?"

"The one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since." Kie laughed, making weird motions with her hands to mock the terrified look on JJ's face. "On certain nights, when the moon is full... you can see her in the window!"

"No, it's not funny, 'cause it's all true." JJ hissed in fear.

"Cmon, JJ." Nicola laughed, half joking as she did so. When JJ paused and looked at her dead in the eye, she felt sort of weird, but he quickly turned around.

"I swear to God, guys, this is all real. I knew Hollis. Jeez!"

"Wait, you knew Hollis Crain?" Pope asked incredulously, trailing behind JJ.

"Yeah, dude." JJ began, continuing to walk forward. "She was my babysitter, man. She told me all about it. Told me the truth... about her mother and what happened in this house. 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."

"What night?"

"It all came back to her." JJ continued dramatically, looking off into the distance. "When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs. So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink... full of blood."

Kiara and Cola spot a look— the look that they make when they're secretly making fun of JJ in their heads, while the blonde boy continued. "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 and 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 father's head, looking straight back at her."