One of Two // JJ Maybank

the bell tower: four

me and sarah rode our bikes as far as we could from tannyhill. in this moment, i wasn't thinking about jj, the only thing that mattered was trying to find john b and help prove that he was innocent. we stopped our bikes as i asked a random girl next to a cop car. "did they catch him?" i asked.

the girl turned and look at me and sarah. "not yet." she answered. "said he's heading to she's creek."

something came over sarah as she looked at the bell tower. she looked towards me as i nodded and followed behind her. we parked our bikes and walked towards the run down building. "why are we here, sarah?" i asked as we walked inside.

i coughed from the dust as she climbed up a ladder and i followed. she opened the top and let out a sigh of relief, climbing up. i climbed further and saw john b hugging sarah tightly. john b smiled as i came up and hugged me also. his body felt tense as he probably thought he was getting caught.

"i thought i'd never see you again." he whispered to sarah, his breath heavy and turned to me. "you too, spence."

i nodded as i wiped the sweat off my forehead. "are you okay?" i asked him as me and sarah stood side by side.

he nodded. "yeah, are you two?" he asked back. we both nodded as we heard thumps from below. john b pulled us close to him as the hatch opened and topper was staring at all three of us. my face dropped as sarah grabbed my hand in panic. "what are you doing here, top?" john b asked harshly.

topper climbed up into the tower and closed the hatch. "hey, just take it easy man." he held his hands up. john b started yelling. "just let me talk to sarah!" i furrowed my brows as topper spoke again. "it's not too smart, is it, meeting up with a fugitive like this."

i took a few steps back. "topper you need to leave." i say out of breath.

"hey... hey im not gonna do anything, okay?". topper said. we all looked at him with a glare as he sighed. "what? are you going to kill me too?"

sarah scoffed. "he didn't kill anyone!" she shouted.

topper rolled his eyes. "are you kidding, guys, he brain washed you!" we shook our head as topper scoffed. he started to grab the rope to the bell and started pulling it. it rang loudly. "hey! everybody! he's up here!"

me and sarah lunged forward, trying to get him to stop by yelling at him. "we know who killed peterkin, and it wasn't john b!" i shouted. topper looked at me with a confused look. "it was rafe. we saw him, topper. he's our brother. why would we lie about that?" i said with tears starting to fall.

topper sighed and started going off about how he loved sarah and that john b didn't and started yelled. "topper stop! i'm sorry, okay?" she sighed. "i'm sorry for what i did, but this isn't about you!"

john b whispered to both of us. "hey, we gotta go." he said frantically.

"sarah let me prove to you that i love you." topper shouted. sarah looked over at me and john b and i nodded.

"topper switch clothes with john b." i said quickly. topper looked at me with disbelief and started to speak but i stopped him. "if you truly loved my sister, you would do this."

topper hesitated for a moment and him and john b switched clothes. me, john b, and sarah climbed down and ran out of the bell tower, i looked behind and saw it caught on fire. i gasped and stopped in my tracks. sarah and john b did the same. "hey, you coming?" john b asked as sarah looked at me desperately.

i looked down for a moment. "i need time find jj, kie, an-"

sarah interrupted me. "we can look for them tomorrow." she said grabbing my hand. "roses real estate houses will be our best bet, come on."

and so we ran, trying to avoid everyone and anyone at all costs.