[ON HOLD] - Sweet Creature - [Outer Banks] - [JJ]

Summer Winds Motel

Song of the Chapter: Dirty Money Bags by DEEGAN

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The further the boat traveled, the fouler the mildew smell in the air became. They rounded the bend, the motel coming fully into view. Plastic tarps covered large holes in the roof that was missing most of it's shingles. Windows were broken in and doors were left open, most likely letting in countless rodents and wildlife. The Summer Winds Motel sign laid on the ground, having fallen long ago and housing  birds' nests in it's crevices.

The boat slowed, the engine only quietly humming as they neared the banks which were littered with piles of garbage. Everything from discarded toilet bowls to lost stuffed animals missing a child to hold onto them at night, was left on the grass to fade in the sunlight. Remi could only guess what kind of activities went on behind locked doors. Her brother's old friends most likely had been the type to hang out here, getting up to God knows what.

"I thought the Chateau was bad." JJ whistled from the front of the boat.

"This place is a shit-show." John B agrees as he brings the boat closer to land.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie wonders. She sits on the edge of the boat, next to Remi.

"You be the judge." Pope responded, standing beside John B.

"Oh, meth lab, for sure. I think my brother and his friends hung out here." She mentions in a joking way, earning some glances from the group.

They all knew how Parker had run with the wrong crowd once the siblings moved to the Cut years ago. It wasn't out of the ordinary for the girl to make jokes about her brother having been sentenced to a prison on the mainland, it still hurt. They had been close after all. Still, to this day, she knew that he had covered for his friend, Barry. Her jaw clenched as she thought about him, the anger she still held reigniting for a moment before John B's voice drew her out of thought.

"Doesn't look like the kind of place someone with a Grady White stays."

"No, looks like the type of place someone with a Grady White gets killed." Pope adds.

Not wanting to fall overboard, Remi and Kiara grab the edge of the boat extra tight as John B drives right up to the land, bringing it forward enough so that it stays in place. JJ mimics radio static, cupping his hands over his mouth as he hops towards the front of the boat.

"This is your captain speaking. HMS Pogue coming in for landing." He speaks into his hands, jumping from the very front of the boat and landing on the muddy ground below. He loops the boat's rope around an old hitch stuck in the ground, keeping the HMS Pogue from drifting away into the marsh.

Humidity swims all around Remi, the girl lifting her hair from where it stuck against the back of her neck. Standing, she moves over to the small pile of their belongings, fetching the motel key from the top of Kie's cooler.

"We good?" John B asked JJ, who stood up from tying off the boat.

"Yeah, we good." The blonde squints back up, the sun shining right in his eyes. John B cuts the engines, the machine hum ceasing. The cicadas chirped all around them, hidden in the brush. When the Routledge boy looks her way, Remi tosses the keychain his way, the boy expertly catching it.

"Alright, here goes nothing." He jingles the key in his hand.

Remi begins towards the front of the boat before the legs of her jean shorts get on her nerves, the denim riding up uncomfortably. The girl lets out a groan of annoyance at the blistering heat. In that moment, she would chew out anyone that said global warming was fake.