Shipwrecked ⤭ JJ (OBX)

Chapter 6 - Death Compass

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"My life been good and bad and all around

The more things I lost, the more I found."

Run for your Life

The Siege

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Chapter 6 - Death Compass

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"BAM BAM BAM!" We let JJ go on with his elaborate demonstration of this morning's event when he and John B went to learn more about the compass from the wife of the owner of the ship that is now thirty feet down in the marsh, minus one compass. "Knocking paint off the wall from the inside. Look at this shit." He says, shaking out his hair as little specs fall out onto the porch. "That's the house."

"That's dandruff. Gross." Kie told him.

I followed along with Kie, "When was the last time you showered?"

"That's paint, ladies." JJ clarifies.

"Those men. They're killers." JJ states taking a hit of his juul. "Straight square groupers."

"So what does a square grouper look like? Any description that we can take to the police?" The brains of the operation, Pope questions.

"I don't know, man, I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the whole time! I was under duress, okay?"

Pope leaned back in his chair, unhappy with the response.

"I can tell you, by the way, Ms. Lana was screaming... These guys are some seriously bad dudes." JJ explained, taking ragged breaths, "It's a heavy vibe right now. I'm not liking this very much."

"Okay, why would they want the compass?" Kie offered as an option.

"That thing's a piece of shit." "You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to. No offense John B. I know it's like in your family-"

"The office." John B says out of nowhere, making us all turn our attention from JJ to him, "My dad's office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about people stealing, his competitors stealing his royal merchant search. We used to laugh about it. Like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda... kept it."

Kie places a comforting hand on John B's arm, "Yeah. For when he gets back."

I looked at the other pogues, hoping to be filled in on what exactly happened to his dad. JJ shook his head, denying the idea of his dad coming back and Kie glared at him heavily. The question had been jumping around my mind since the compass was found on the wreck. And I figured if we were about to raid a dead man's office, I should know the circumstances.

"I've slept over here like six hundred times and this door has never been opened."

As the boys rushed into the office but I pulled Kie to the side as they headed inside, "What happened to John B's dad?"

"He was lost at sea about 9 months ago, the cops tried to declare him dead but John wouldn't sign the papers. It's been a rough few months. I mean, DCS wants to send him into foster care but he's managed to dodge them this far. He still has hope his dad will come back."

"Oh wow," I say, somewhat speechless.

A rooster crowed outside as we walked in, seeing a mix of drawings, books, folders, and binders that stacked around the room with a desk in the middle.