Slipping Through My Fingers | John B Little Sister

Chapter 1

No service and no power. John B frowned as he walked into the 'living area' of the chateau; maybe Agatha wasn't such a godsend after all.

He stopped to put a picture of his parents back on the wall, it must've been shaken off the night before, and gave a mental salute to his Uncle T.

John B spotted his best mate passed out on his couch and slapped the back of his tanned leg fondly.

"Yo, JJ, you been outside?" He asked, already heading for the fly screen door.

"I have polio, bro. I can't walk." JJ muttered back.

Classic JJ.

John B stopped short when he stepped out the door. Despite the fact that the old tree that he and JJ used to push each other out of as kids, was now roots up, and the HMS Pogue was loaded with enough branches to build a forest from scratch. John B's focus went straight to the busted up green couch smack bang in the middle of his veranda.

It was Lu's couch.

She'd never bagsed it or claimed it or nothing. That wasn't really her style.

But it was her spot. Her favorite spot, her only spot. It's where she always read, it's where she always sat, it's where she always slept.

And she wasn't there. It was the morning after a hurricane and his nine year old sister wasn't there.

"JJ!" He called out, glancing back at his blonde friend, "You seen Lu?"

An incoherent groan was the only response he received, before he heard the heavy thud of the boy rolling off the couch onto the wooden floor.

John B rolled his eyes and headed down the front steps onto his lawn, taking in the damage that Good Ole Agatha had inflicted upon his home, keeping an eye out for his scrawny twit of a sister along the way.

She definitely wasn't inside. John B wasn't sure why but Lu rarely went into the Chateau. But at the same time she wouldn't have gone far, she was scared to death of any place that wasn't the Chateau.

She was a fucking weird kid.

"Agatha did some work huh," JJ's voice rang from behind him as John B approached HMS Pogue.

"Yeah she did," He responded, pulling fallen branches out of the boat.

"You found her yet?" JJ asked, following the question up with a subtle burp.

"Nah she's not on her couch," John B explained, pushing himself up by the edge of the boat to get a better look at the banks.

"The shed?"

"Can you check?"

"I always gotta do fuckin everything," JJ groaned dramatically, but his feet were already carrying him towards the shed.

John B jumped into the boat, still tossing out branches. His thoughts had embarrassingly slipped from concern for his sister, and now all that was running through his head were daydreams about post-swell fishing.

He couldn't help it. He honestly couldn't. With everything going on with his dad, the DCS and the fucking hurricane, he was dying for a good fish to get his mind of things. Besides, he knew Lu was young and all, but she could take care of herself, she preferred it even. Truth be told if there hadn't been a hurricane just last night, he probably would've already ditched.

"Ayo John B!"

He turned around to the sound of his name, and the tension in his back loosened as he spotted his half sister on the shoulders of his best friend. He waved at her, and she waved back.