Carson Keller used to think her biggest problem was their rivalry against the Kooks, but that was until buried secrets rose to the surface. Now her biggest problems included a dangerous treasure hunt and a hot-headed teenage boy.
✰ season 1-3 ✰
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I MEAN, IT'S OBVIOUS, RIGHT?" John B said. They were all piled into his van as he drove them to the lighthouse. They had to follow all leads because they had no idea what any of it really meant. This was just their first stop. "A family heirloom. I mean, what better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"Yeah. It's possible," Kiara said, though she didn't sound too convinced. Carson grabbed the compass from Pope and ran her fingers over the engraved letters in the metal. She really hoped John B was right about it.
"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help... you know, deal with your sad feels," Pope said.
"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels," JJ said. "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies. That's how I do it." Carson rolled her eyes at his unhelpful comment.
"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B snapped. "My dad's trying to give me a message."
"If it helps you believe, John B," Kiara said.
"Look, I- I don't need a therapy session, okay?" he said. "Look, I'm not trippin' out."
"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ started to say.
"Look, my- my dad is missing, okay? Missing," he said. "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened. Just wake up every morning wondering." That had to be a draining feeling.
"It's been almost a year," Kiara reminded him. No one wanted to outwardly say what they were all thinking - that he was dead - but the obvious tension was there.
"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility," JJ suggested.
"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere," Pope added.
"Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."
Carson sighed. "You guys are not helping."
✰
They all stared up at the Redfield Lighthouse. None of them knew what to expect from coming here, if there was anything that would even indicate Big John left that message for his son. But they had to try for John B.
"Alright, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B said to JJ.
"Wait... why me?" he asked.
"Because you're not coming," Pope said.
"Why?"
"Look, JJ, there are independent and there are dependent variables," Pope explained. "And you're an independent variable. We don't know what you're going to do!" JJ immediately started to argue back, but Carson didn't know what he could say that would make that statement not true. JJ was wildly unpredictable.
"Shut up! Just listen. Pope, Car, you stand look out with JJ. Okay?" John B said. "Okay, if we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."
"Why do I have to stay with them?" Carson asked.
"Because I don't trust them alone," John B said. She scoffed at the fact that she was being forced to stay back, but also understood why John B wanted to keep her with them. She was more than capable of keeping them in line.
"Well, I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum," Pope said.
"Alright, would you just shut up already?" JJ said as he began kicking a hackysack around. Carson sighed as she took a seat in the van, hoping she wouldn't be stuck waiting with the two for long. She wasn't particularly keen on being the look out, but she would play by John B's rules for this. It clearly meant more to him than it did to anyone else, so she would let him guide the way.
"So, Pope, are you excited to see dead bodies for the rest of your life?" Carson asked bluntly. JJ and Pope turned to her. It was such a random question that seemed odd for the situation that they were in.
"We're stuck on look out and you want to talk about Pope's future?" JJ said.
"Just because your only hobbies are getting high and carrying that gun around doesn't mean that I can't ask Pope about the things he finds joy in... like dead bodies," she said.
"You make me sound so weird," Pope said.
"You are weird," she retorted.
"Fine, what're your plans for after high school?" he asked. She laid down onto her back and extended her legs up until her feet were resting on the side of the van.
"I think my mom expects me to go to college, but it's just hard to picture myself doing that... Graduate high school, go to college, work a 9-5 office job that makes me want to blow my brains out, marry a rich, kind man, pop out a few kids, and live the same day over and over again. Then I get too old to take care of myself, so my kids leave me at a senior citizens' home until I peacefully die of old age in the middle of night. That's just not me."
"What do you picture yourself doing then?" JJ asked. Carson was always one to beat to the sound of her own drum, so it wasn't a surprise that she wanted to live an exciting life but that could mean a lot of things.
"I don't know," she said. "I guess for starters I'd get out of this shithole of a place, travel the world for a year or two until I inevitably run out of money and have to return back here to get some job that barely pays the bills but is something that I genuinely enjoy doing. Probably marry some other townie that never got the chance to make it out of here either, have some kids that we teach how to live Pogue-style because I'm not raising any spoiled Kook kids. Then one day there's a boating accident and I hit my head and fall into a coma. My family holds onto the hope that I'll wake up, but eventually they just pull the plug because they know I would rather die than live like a vegetable for the rest of my life. I would die younger than I should have, but I would have had enough memories in my exciting life than I would have ever had in the other boring version of my life, so it would be okay."
"Uh... wow, okay, sorry I asked," Pope said. Carson turned her head to look over at them. Pope had a shocked look on his face, like he wasn't prepared for the detailed version of the life that Carson imagined for herself. Meanwhile, JJ just had a smirk on his face, like he was completely amused by it all. The truth was, though, that he imagined if Pope had asked him the same question it would fall along the same lines as hers, minus a few of the specific details. He was convinced he would be stuck on the cut for the rest of his life. That was if he didn't end up in prison first.
When Carson suddenly saw blue and red lights behind the two boys, she sat up.
"Shit. Guys, it's the police," she said over the sirens. They immediately sprinted to the van to book it out of there, knowing if they got caught they would have to answer some questions they didn't know how to answer. "What about John B and Kie?"
"We can't wait. They'll make it out," Pope assured her. They had run far too many times from the police and security guards. They were basically pros at that point.
