Alana pulled her phone out of her pocket with nervous hands. She dialled a number, deleting and repressing the letters due to her shaking fingers pressing the wrong ones. "Shit." She whimpered, feeling tears start to run down her cheeks.
While the line rang, Lana gasped when she heard the loud clattering of the gun falling out of her hands. "Shit, no!" She whispered-shouted, voice cracking. Alana knelt down and picked up the gun, feeling blood seeping into her hands from the puddle of it that the weapon was lying in.
When she stood up straight again, she heard a tired groggy voice answer the phone. "Who is this?" He asked and Alana cursed at herself for deleting his number.
"Rafe. It's me." She replied, forgetting to state her name in her disgruntled state. "Shit, B?" Rafe's voice was more alert and she heard the shuffling of his sheets.
"What happened?" He asked, frustration lacing over him when he heard only a sniffle in reply. "Hell! where are you?" He exclaimed and Alana flinched again.
"The forest behind the Asher's." Lana B whispered, wiping her eyes then mumbling a curse once she felt blood swipe over her face. "Okay. Wait there." Rafe said and before Lana had the chance to reply, he hung up.
"Fuck." Lana B whispered, running over to the body that was lying in the middle of the pool of blood. His curly brown hair was sticky, that'll probably be hard to wash out, she thought.
But, Brent Asher will never be able to wash the blood out of his hair. And Alana Booker Routledge will never be able to wash the blood off her hands.
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"You still sick?" Sarah asked from the phone that Lana held in her right hand, left one occupied from fiddling with her short strings. "Nah, I'm fine." Alana lied. She had thrown up a few hours prior to this conversation with Sarah.
She had been telling her friends that it was probably a cold or something of the sorts, but she was beginning to question the truth that her explanation held.
"So, your brother got here a while ago." Sarah mentioned, piquing Lana's interest. "Oh yeah," Alana began, thinking of how to put her next words. "So, how's it going between you?" She decided on, her heart beginning to thump when she heard Sarah go dead silent.
"Good, he's actually awesome." She finally replied. "You know you can always come over right?" Sarah asked, reminding her friend of their agreement.
"Of course, why?" Lana B questioned, wondering if her friend wanted her to sleep over. "No reason. You just haven't been over much." Sarah replied making Lana smile. "I will soon. Just wanna make sure I don't get you sick." She added. Alana had thought about going over to Sarah's recently, but her vomiting had prevented her from carrying it out.
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"I'm sorry, you're staying where?" Kiara question John B who was sat beside Lana. They were at the diner Kie's parents owned, the wreck.
"Tannyhill." He replied simply, clearly not seeing much fault in the situation. "So you're living with Sarah Cameron." Kie concluded in a sour tone. John B squeezed his eyes closed.
"Okay, look, the only reason I'm living there is because her dad bailed me out, right?" He began, "and it's way better than foster care, which, by the way, is where I was about to go if Ward didnt —" John B ranted, getting cut off by Pope.
"Hey, so do you have a membership to the clubs now?" He asked, making Lana sit up straighter. "Yeah, do you?"
"I don't know, guys" John B denied. Alana saw JJ smirk and internally groaned, knowing he was about to tease her brother for going 'full kook'.
"What about one of those golf carts they drive around? You get one of them?" He asked and Alana laughed at the thought of John B in a golf cart. "Does it come with a sweater-vest or do you have to buy one on your own?" Pope quickly asked.
"Look, you promised. You said you weren't with her." Kiara reminded him in a hurt tone, John B shrugged in reply.
"Bro, just own it. She got you." JJ said, hugging Alana from behind her chair, making her smile. "Look, if you wanna hang out with her, that's fine." Kie began and Lana's brother looked up at her with hopeful eyes. "But I'm letting you know now that I'm not doing anything with Sarah."
"Do you guys see her here?" John B asked in desperation for his friends to show an ounce of empathy for him and Sarah.
"No, right, okay a little focus would be fantastic." He said once he realised that he wouldn't be getting any. "We've got the map, right?" He looked up at JJ.
"Yeah, but It's all outta whack cause the guy was ganja'd when he drew it." JJ said, making Alana look up at him in disbelief.
"It's cause the coast has changed." Kiara told JJ, giving him a similar look to Lana's. "So we just have to look for any landmarks that haven't changed." Pope explained.
"What about the old forts?" John B offered, his eyes wide in excitement at their discovery.
"Battery jasper." Kie mumbled, pointing at a location on the map.
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Alana stood next to JJ on top of some rock, tying her hair in a ponytail due to the wind blowing it into her face.
"We're in battery right here." Pope pointed at some random drawings on the map. "So if this is parcel nine, then it's somewhere northeast of here." He pointed forwards and Alana gave him a pat on the head. "Smart."
"Somewhere over there." Kie pointed in the same direction as Pope. "Right."
"Over there? Guys, that not Tannyhill, that's a subdivision." JJ explained in confusion. "Tannyhill Plantation was the entire island. It got sold into smaller pieces over time." John B said.
"So we're just looking for an old stone wall." Pope traced a line with his finger on the map.
"Let's go find a stone wall then." Lana said, walking towards the Twinkie with JJ following behind her. "Let's go kick some stone wall ass!"
