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After a night of sleeping in the uncomfortable back seat of my car, I made my way to John B's house, ready to confront him about what he knows that I don't, or at least what else he might know. Pulling up to the small home, I grabbed my envelope and made my way to the porch.
I could see the four friends through the screen door as I let myself in. The house was a wreck, bottles and cans were scattered across the room and the kitchen looked like it'd never been cleaned.
"John B, you need to tell me what you know," I said slamming my envelope down in front of him, next to the identical one found last night. His face fell as he saw the envelopes next to each other.
For Harpie.
For Bird.
"Well, can you tell me why we have identical envelopes," he sassed back, motioning towards the tabletop. To be honest, I couldn't. I didn't know what this was about or why it was even happening. All I knew is I wanted answers and I wanted them soon.
"That bread had mold on it three days ago," John B and I were interrupted from our conversation by Kie talking to JJ. He had a sandwich in his hand, gross.
"I'll just pull off the bad parts," double gross, "plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism." Turning back to John B, his eyes met mine. Kie called JJ's attention as he gagged on the sandwich.
"So, who's going first," he asked nervously.
"First we should talk about what's going on here," I started.
"My parents," I paused attempting to track my thoughts.
"Before they died, they told me what they were doing, what they were looking for," the group gave each other a look unbeknownst to me.
"The Royal Merchant," John B said, meeting my tear glistened face.
"They told me someone was going to come after them, for what they knew. They... they left me this stuff. None of it made sense though," I paused as more tears left my eyes.
"Who came after them," Kie asked.
"Square groupers," JJ chimed in. Kie swiftly smacked him in the head for the answer.
"I... I don't know," I started, "but someone did and killed them for whatever they know."
I looked back towards the disregarded envelopes in front of us, beckoning John B to open his. As he did, he first pulled out a map.
"Holy shit," he said. Unfolding the map there was a small X in the middle, obviously pointing to something.
"X marks the spot," Pope said.
"Longitude, latitude," John B pointed towards the coordinates, I'd seen these before in my parents office. As he moved the envelope out of the way to further spread the map, a tape recorder fell out.
"Wait, there's somethin' else in there."
"What's that?"
"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." I drowned out the rest as I ripped the top of my envelope open but before I could pull the contents out the tape recorder started to play.
"Dear Bird," the person speaking paused.
"Who's Bird," JJ cut in.
"That's what my dad called me," John B told us glumly
"I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man," John B took a deep breath.
"I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. We didn't expect to find the Merchant either," the Merchant, he found it, wait, they found it.
"You were probably right to call me out. Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade," John B's dad let out a sigh.
"What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. The Avery's are just down the way or maybe off in Italy, Harper always wanted to go there her parents told me. They were doing this for her," I started to cry but quickly wiped the tears away as Pope put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
"If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for. There she is, the wreck of the Merchant," holy shit, that's why I'd seen the coordinates. My parents were working with Big John.
"If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started. Find Harpie, Bird. Go for the gold, kid," I could no longer hold back my cries as I turned to sob in Pope's arms.
"I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it, I'll see you on the other side," All that was left was static before the tape recorder clicked off. John B sighed standing up from the chair. He moved towards the door as our sobs radiated through the room.
"Holy shit, he, they, did it," JJ exclaimed. I walked over to John B, my eyes still teary, but knowing what he was feeling, I was best to comfort him. I wrapped my arms around him, his body folding into mine through both our cries.
"Big John... He found the Merchant..," JJ continued only to be cut off by an emotional Kie, "can you... can you please?"
"Sorry," he said sheepishly as John B continued to sob in my arms. Grief washing over him like a hurricane.
