PARADISE ON EARTH | jj maybank (DISCONTINUED)

1.19

THE TRUE LOOK OF terror, fear, and confusion on JJ's look had Laura wanting to burst out laughing. The stories he had told and believed were very funny to Laura.

Back in the yard of Ms. Crain, crouched slightly, the group followed John B through the uncut grass and plants. Laura was walking between Pope and Kiara, confused as to where her twin brother was leading them.

"Hey, come on. Come here. So here's the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter." John B stated, looking around.

"Okay, like, what kind of water? Like, pond water?" Pope started, looking at the brunette boy confused.

"Bong water?" JJ laughed, and Laura joined in, but the two stopped because of the looks that were thrown their way.

"No. It-- It just said look for water, okay?" John B replied, done with JJ's comments.

"That is the shittiest secret message ever." Kiara responded, then walked past John B to find what the group was looking for.

"You wanna complain a little more, Kie? Nobody said it was gonna be easy." John B said following the curly haired girl.

The other three stayed for a moment longer, trying to figure out a plan. Pope began saying, "I'll search the northeast quadrant, you both search the northwest."

"The decapitation quadrant." JJ replied, but Pope ignored him and started walking away from the two. Laura sighed, and turned to look at the blonde.

"Well let's start looking." Laura said and began walking around the lot, following quickly behind Pope instead of deciding to get lost in the overgrown area.

There was rustling in the plants, and then continuous birds chirping. Laura looked up to just see birds now flying out of their way. She sighed out in relief, before continuing to follow the rest of the group ahead of her.

"Hey, psst! Hey, come on. It's the only place we haven't looked." Laura heard John B say quietly.

She ran over to catch up to her brother, seeing JJ run out of some woods, looking like a lunatic. Laura looked at him confused, laughing quietly.

Laura saw what her brother was looking at. It was a small trap door leading to the underside of the house. She watched as he opened the small white, wooden door, then he crawled inside. She let everyone else go in before her, being the last one inside the short space.

JJ followed in right behind her, beginning to sing a song. "Down came Mrs Crain, and cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood."

The brunette girl gave him a confused smile, tilting her head slightly. All JJ did was shrug at her silent reaction, before walking past her.

"Can you stop?" Pope asked, frustrated, shining a flashlight at JJ.

Laura continued walking through, before jumping down from a ledge being able to stand up all the way. The brunette girl looked around at the dust covering everything, feeling slightly disgusted. Everything was old, rusted, and broken.

"See any water?" Kiara asked quietly, a look of concern on her face. Nobody replied to her. "Another dead end?"

A mosquito flew quickly past Laura's face, and she swatted it down onto the ground, most likely killing it. JJ put his hand on the rusty pipes, feeling for something. "There's not even water on the pipes."

"There's no water here." Pope said doubtfully.

"Know why we didn't find it? Bad karma." Kiara started facing towards John B, a sarcastic smile resting on her face. "You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trail's gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not."

JJ and Laura looked at each other skeptically, not wanting to deal with the other two's bickering at this moment.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah. What the hell is the deal? What is going on between you two?" John B asked, taking a step closer to the shorter girl.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" Then suddenly a loud slap sounded in the dark basement.

"Holy shit." Laura whispered, holding in a laugh. She looked over at the blonde catching him doing the same thing. "That echoed dude."

"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you." Kiara announced to John B, done with his consistent antics.

"Did you uh.. Hit me?" John B asked, a little surprised.

"Skeeter."

"Skeeter?" John B repeated her words. Just then, the brunette immediately slapped the girl back. Laura flinched, surprised that he had done that.

"Where's your proof?" Kiara asked, not even fazed by the hit. John B held up his hand, showing it to the shorter girl.

Then the two started consistently hitting each other, even though mosquitoes weren't covering their bodies at all. Laura was laughing at the two before a mosquito flew right in front of her face, and she inched back to hit it, accidentally hitting JJ. "Sorry."

"Why are there so many mosquitos in a basement?" Pope asked, also trying to hit the swarming bugs.

"Dude. I know, seriously. Tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone." Replied the blonde, following his friends movements. "Oh, my gosh! Okay, can we leave? 'Cause I'm already itchin' to leave."

Laura looked at him, giving a confused look, yet laughing. As she continued walking through the dark basement, she stumbled, falling onto the ground and a doll falling out next to her. "I just found Mrs. Crain's voodoo doll, guys."

"Oh shit." Kiara laughed.

JJ started, "All right can we leave this? Cause this is getting--"

"If one more mosquito touches me I'm leaving. You guys have fun without me." Laura laughed, standing up from the floor.

Immediately the girl heard someone rummaging behind her, so she spun around quickly finding Pope moving pieces of wood over frantically. Everyone immediately started telling Pope to quiet down due to the amount of noise he was making, which was a lot in Laura's opinion.

"Help me move this." He whispered frantically.

The rest of the Pogue's started to help move the old wood out of the way, trying to figure out what Pope was trying to do. Laura was entirely confused, but continued on the task at hand.

Once everything was out of the way and floor boards were moved, Laura was shocked. There was a very, deep, and dark well full of water towards the bottom. You could barely see down into it.

"They built this part of the house right over it." Kiara started.

"This is where she hid the bodies." JJ said, looking at Kiara. Laura scoffed and nudged him.

Laura looked over at her twin brother, seeing a smirk set across his face. "We're gonna need a really big rope."