PARADISE ON EARTH | jj maybank (DISCONTINUED)

2.11

THE CHARLESTON SUNRISE WOULD never beat the one from home, but it was definitely still a beautiful one. The golden shine against the water was catching Laura's attention as the sun reflected off every window, giving the entire city a golden glow.

Every building had a rustic vibe to it. They were all brick and run down, yet beautiful. Nothing at home. In the Outer Banks, you either had incredibly nice, new houses, or extremely run down, old houses. But these were a nice in between.

But then she was sucked back into reality as they pulled up to a gorgeous mansion. It was three stories tall, like almost every other house on the street. It was definitely nothing Laura had ever seen before, growing up a pogue on a small island.

"These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogue's." JJ said, leaning over Laura to look over at the houses. One hand was rested on her thigh, the other on the car door to support himself. "You sure this the place, Pope?"

Pope hesitated. "Pretty sure."

"All right." JJ said, signalling for Laura to open the door. She did just that, climbing out first, JJ right after. The door slammed shut, then the three walked over to the tall gates. "Fat City, for sure. Talk about home security. Are those spikes to keep people out?"

"No." Laura said.

Pope sighed, angling his head over to the side. "The slave quarters are over there. These spikes were to keep people in." He looked over at the couple.

The gate was open, leading straight to the large front door. The three walked up to it cautiously, taking in their surroundings with every step. All of the plants were overgrown and covering every inch of ground.

Once they got to the door, Pope grabbed the knocker, hitting the door three times with it. It was extremely loud. "You think that was too much?"

"It echoed the entire house. That's for sure. So they definitely heard it." JJ stated, looking over at Pope, and then back at the door.

"Maybe nobody's home." Said Laura, taking a step closer to JJ.

Pope once again grabbed the knocker, beginning to hit the door again. But as he did so, it opened, causing him to let go and back up from the door. A man stood there, looking at the three teenagers eerily, before his eyes fell on Pope, smiling. "You must be Pope."

"Um..." Pope looked at the other two. "Are you Mr. Limbrey?"

"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday." He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest as if trying to intimidate the teenagers.

"Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here."

JJ cut in, "Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville. Sorry about that."

The way the man looked at JJ made Laura very uncomfortable. But his gaze was drawn back to Pope, not caring about what the blonde had to say. "Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up."

"We tried to call, but there's no number on the invitation. We got here as soon as we could." Laura chimed in, feeling anxious when speaking to the man in front of them.

"She also expected you to come alone."

Pope turned slightly towards the other two, "I mean, these are my friends. They helped me find the Royal Merchant too. I–"

He was immediately cut off. "The instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside." He smiled at Pope again, Laura getting the same uneasy feeling from before.

"We're kind of a package deal, man." JJ cut in once more.

Pope looked at the blonde, "JJ. It's okay. I got this. I'll be good."