DESPITE BEING hunted by Square Groupers, the teenagers were all in John B's van making their way to find wherever Redfield was. The group had seemed to forgotten what happened back in the Château, but shit happens all the time in the Cut.
"I mean, it's obvious, right?" John B exclaimed, "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"Yeah." Kiara replied hesitantly, "It's possible."
Pope added, "It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels."
"I second that." Aurora agreed, as she high-fived Pope.
"Bro, do you know how i process my sad feels?" JJ questioned, "Dank bugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it."
"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B defended, "My dad's trying to give me a message."
Kiara sympathised, "If it helps you believe, John B."
"Look, I don't need a therapy session, okay?" John replied frustratedly, "Look, I'm not trippin' out."
Aurora sighed, "It's okay to trip, Booker-"
"My dad is missing." John B interrupted, "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened."
Rory didn't say it, but she knew how John B felt. Her mother was mentally ill, yet Rory found her so comforting- unlike her deadbeat of a father. She shared a look with JJ when John B said this, and her brother sighed deeply. They both missed their mother- wherever she was in the world.
"He could have been kidnapped." JJ suggested, changing the subject, "That's definitely a possibility."
"Yeah, he could be in a Soviet Sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope added.
"Or Atlantis." Rory replied with a nod.
"Rory." Kiara cocked an eyebrow, then turned to John B, "Where do you think Redfield is?"
"Redfield lighthouse." John B replied, "My dad's favourite place."
The five Pogues arrived at the Lighthouse and devised a plan. JJ and Pope were ordered to keep a look out, whilst John B, Rory and Kie went inside- if they got split up, they'd meet back at the Maybank house, which Rory didn't think was the best idea.
Pope sat up against a tree, "I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and keep felonies down to a minimum."
"Would you just shut up, already?" JJ questioned sarcastically, as he repeatedly threw a pinecone into the air and caught it,
"How come Rory got to go but not me?" JJ complained, "That's totally bias."
Rory called back to him whilst walking away, "Because they like me more than you!"
The three walked inside the lighthouse and looked up at the metal spiralling stairs, before Rory pulled out a cigarette and put it in between her lips.
John B cocked an eyebrow, and snatched the lighter from her hand, "Really? Not now, Aurora."
Aurora rolled her eyes, as she put the cigarette back in her pocket and continued to walk up the endless stairs.
