Paradise on earth

11. The Gold

It felt like lifetimes ago that DCS was your only problem. Your father was dead due to the man who is now your legal guardian, Your brother and his girlfriend had "disappeared" just like your dad because he was running from the cops while being falsely accused of murder-- that the boy you thought you understood actually committed. And said boy is now following you around like a stalker. The cherry on top was that you had lost your job in the heat of it all.

So yeah, DCS being on your case would be golden right now.

You were over it. Over everything.

None of your usual coping mechanisms was working causing you to isolate your friends, not that they even noticed. They were too caught up in their own bullshit. JJ was the only one who stuck around for you but things were tense.

Things weren't how they normally were between you two, and the unspoken kiss lingered in the middle, creating a barrier that neither of you wanted to cross. At least he was there.

Sometimes you felt like Pope and Kie forgot that John B was your brother, your blood. Not like it mattered, the pogues were family. Pope was just angry and Kiara was giving off the vibe of someone who was trying to overcompensate because of her guilt. You didn't know what she would have to feel guilty about but she was doing too much.

You had a meeting with Kiara's parents the other day for a job. They said they would call to let you know but it's been a couple of days and you were afraid they were going to turn you down because of the looks they were giving you. It's like they wanted to help as much as they could and you appreciated the work they were giving you, especially the overtime pay to help you survive.

The pogues all gather around the big tree that stood tall in your yard. JJ burned John B's name with his birth date as well as his "death date" with the letters "P4L" meaning Pogue for life on the insides of the tree, hacked into a heart, courtesy of Pope.

JJ stood to your left raising a flask of whatever liquor JJ had acquired, "To John B."

"And to Sarah," Kiara whispered. She gave you a pitying look and you spared her a weak smile in return. JJ took a swig of the flask and passed it to you, you repeated the action, wincing as it burned your throat. You were more of a smoker rather than a drinker but you couldn't deny the feeling when you were drunk nowadays had lifted a small bit of the weight on your heart.

You watched as Kie placed the box of John b's trinkets into the freshly dug hole at the root of the tree, then knelt down beside her to set roses on top of the box. You and the rest of your friends proceeded to cover it with the excess soil.

Days would pass and the cold dark feeling of being completely and utterly alone had not faded. It was the same routine every day. Wake up, get dressed, work, walk to the beach, smoke or drink, sleep and repeat. Sometimes you would pass out from the excessive consumption of alcohol, sleeping through the days when you wouldn't have work, and not showering until you were forced to go out into society. When your friends would come around you would clean up and put in extra effort to not worry them. Although you doubt they would even notice between Kiara's social injustice rants and lecturing JJ on his drinking habits. Pope would be there to calm her, continuously attempting to be closer to her and he would fail.

You avoided any places you knew that Rafe might be around except for when you were at the wreck and at the police station where they still called you in to give a statement despite the fact that you were a minor. They didn't ask for much because of the law and because Ward was your legal guardian of course he had told them you were not allowed to speak of certain things.

You gave them any information that you could when they would ask loophole questions. It was all the same to you since they couldn't do much.

~~~