Ocean Eyes

Chapter 6

Nick walked into my room,
I said" Yeah?"
He said" You hear what happened?"
" Your fucking friend pushed my best friend off the Hawk's nest!"
" He's okay. John B." I sighed,
" Are you sure?"
" Overheard mom. He's a lucky bastard."
" Nah, he's a pogue. We're indestructible!"
" No, you guys are just a bunch of idiots." I smiled, shrugging,
" Yeah, that too."
" Go. Get out of here, mom's in phone meetings all day, dad's at the shop."
" See you later."

Kie said" I'm sorry, you're staying where?"
John B said" Tannyhill."
" So you're living with Sarah Cameron."
" The only reason I'm living there is because her dad bailed me out, right? And it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about to go if Ward didn't-"
Pope said" Hey, so like do you have a membership to the clubs now?"
" I don't know, Pope."
JJ said" What about those little golf carts they drive around? You get one of them?"
" Does it come with a sweater-vest, or do you have to buy one on your own?"
Kie said" Look, you promised. You said you weren't with her."
JJ said" Bro, just own it. She got you."
" Look, if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine. But I'm letting you know right now that I'm not doing anything with Sarah."
John B said" Do you guys see her here? No, right. Okay. A little focus would be fantastic. We've got the map, right?"
JJ said" It's all out of whack 'cause the guy was ganja'd when he drew it."
Kie said" It's 'cause the coast has changed."
Pope said" So we just have to look for landmarks that haven't changed."
John B said" What about the old forts?"
Kie said" Battery Jasper." I put my finger on the spot that mapped out Battery Jasper.
I said" Let's roll."

Pope said" We're in Battery, right here. So if this is parcel nine, then it's somewhere northeast of here."
Kie said" Somewhere over there."
" Right."
JJ said" Over there? Guys, that's not Tannyhill, that's a subdivision."
John B said" Tannyhill Plantation was the entire island. It got sold into smaller pieces over time."
Pope said" So we're just looking for an old stone wall." JJ and I jumped off the stone we were standing on, we all started heading back to the van to head into that general direction.

Pope said" Okay, so the road should split up here."
John B said" Okay."
" Alright. You're gonna take a left." He took a left and we saw a stone wall,
JJ said" That looks like a stone wall to me."
" This is it." My mouth gaped as I realized we were at the Crain house,
John B said" Not the Crain house." We all got out,
Kie said" Are you kidding me?"
JJ said" Worst-case scenario."
Pope said" Why'd it have to be here... of all places?"
" I heard that Mrs. Crain buried her husband's head on the property."
I said" Nick said she's a homicidal lunatic."

We were walking closer to the house, having jumped the wall.
Kie said" Look, you guys know who's house this is, right?"
JJ said" Oh, yeah. No, I do."
John B said" Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place." Pope shushed him,
" Which stories did you hear?"
Kie said" The one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since. On certain nights, when the moon is full... you can see her in the windows. Waah!"
" No, Kie, it's not funny, 'cause it's all true. I swear to god, guys, this is all real. I knew Hollis." He got spooked by a statue, I shook my head," Jeez!"
Pope said" Wait, you knew Hollis Crain?"
" Yeah, dude."
Pope said" Dude, how do you know Hollis Crain?"
" 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."
John B said" What night?"
" It all came back to her. When Hollis was 6 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. 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."
" God, you are so full of shit."
" Dude, I swear to god, man."
Pope said" Did she call the police?"
" She didn't have time." John B walked away, JJ followed," Wait, hold on, dude!"
John B said" What?"
" You sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer, man. You got a cast on."
" I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? I got nothin' to lose, right? You comin' or what?" He walked ahead,
Kie said" Come on." She followed after him, I looked at JJ then followed Pope, we all went closer.
" Come here. So here's the plan. We need to look for wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter."
Pope said" Okay, like, what kind of water? Like, pond water?"
JJ said" Bong water?" We looked at JJ, I arched my eyebrow,
John B said" No. It-It just said look for water, okay?"
Kie said" That's the shittiest secret message ever." She walked away,
" You wanna complain a little more, Kie? Nobody said it was gonna be easy." Pope looked at JJ,
Pope said" I'll search the northeast quadrant, you search the northwest quadrant." He walked away,
JJ said" The decapitation quadrant."
I said" Good luck." I clapped his shoulder, smiling," Don't get killed."
" Kai." I walked away from him, heading off to look a little closer to the house because I'm an actual idiot with a freakin' death wish.