𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 20.

━ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗴𝗮𝘇𝗲𝗱

"𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐃 on it three days ago." Pope projected, carrying a lantern into the living room.

I was sitting in a chair at the dining table in John B's home. The events at the graveyard were making my head spin— we had driven away so fast that I didn't even remember to ask for a ride home, ending up in me planting myself in the dimly lit kitchen. It was only when I'd looked at my red bike still leaning on the outside of the house, on the way inside, that I remembered Caroline and Daryl. It was far too dark to bike home, I wouldn't have found my way nonetheless, so I stayed quiet.

Besides, when we entered the Chateau, John B wasn't laughing anymore. I figured it was a bad time to ask for a drive. He had rushed straight for the table, which I had cleaned up earlier, placed his plastic envelope on the surface and lit up a few lanterns. He didn't speak to anyone as he simply stared down at it, while everyone else made themselves comfortable, me sliding into the chair next to him. I kept looking at his face, that was shining orange from the lantern, to see if he'd look back, but he never did.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts." Jj shrugged. He was standing by the counter, his shadow outlined by the light of another lantern, as he crouched over and spread peanut butter on a slice of bread. "Plus, mold is good for you, it's just a natural... organism."

A small grimace formed on my lips. I was sitting with my ankles crossed underneath the table, my elbow perched up to let my chin rest on the open palm. Pope was standing next to me, his hands gripping the end of the table to lean on them.

"Jj," Kiara called for him, her voice annoyed as she stood beside John B's chair.

"Yup, yup, yup," he replied, while grabbing his bread and skipping over to stand behind my seat, his hand on the top rim. "Let's do it."

With a strong jerk, John B suddenly ripped open the top of the envelope, still not looking at anyone. Jj gagged from behind me, and I turned around to see him spit the chunk of bread back into his hand. I wanted to call it disgusting, possibly add a laugh, but the room was quiet and it wasn't a good moment to make jokes. He threw out his bread and returned, right as John B pulled out a folded paper.

"Holy shit." He whispered out, when he unfolded the thin parchment. There, in front of everyone, was a huge map, with a small X drawn in the corner in black ink.

"X marks the spot," Pope pointed his finger right at the mark.

Everyone stared down at the paper, with mouths agape, and eyes curious.

"Longitude... latitude," John B trailed his pointed finger over lines on the map, speaking quietly.

"There's something else in the there," I said with a low tone, almost a whisper, with eyebrows narrowed. I lifted my chin towards the plastic envelope.

John B reached his hand into the envelope, pulling out a small grey box-shaped object. He looked down at it with a confused expression, turning it over to its back.

"What the fuck is that?" Jj asked, leaning over the top of my chair to get a better look.

"It's a tape recorder," Kiara looked up at him, "dumbass."

John B didn't hesitate, and clicked a button on the side of the recorder. The room was quiet as a man, over the pre-recorded message, began to speak, starting with "dear bird".

"Who's bird?" Jj questioned quickly. I kicked his foot.

John B breathed out unsteadily, "That's what my dad called me."