𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ━ 𝐣𝐣 𝐨𝐛𝐱

part fourty

they had sent off jb. they did it. and then the storm came.

john b went off on the phantom only an hour or two ago. as soon as he had left kiara, riley, pope, and jj were all taken by the police and brought to the tents that were set up in search for john b.

riley was physically shaking by the time they reached the tent. the thunder was on top of them at that point, painstakingly loud. the rain was coming down in buckets so aggressively that you could barely hear the person next to you over the noise.

usually riley's anxiety never got this bad, especially when kiara was with her. however everything that was going on, piled on top of the storm, was too much for her to handle and everyone began to notice.

the cops had noticed her behavior as soon as she arrived at the tent location, and even offered her medication to help calm her. riley declined; she needed to be there for jj, for her sister, for pope. she couldn't be drowsy and half asleep as the investigation remained active.

she sat pressed into jj's side; her head resting in the crook of his neck. he had both of his arms tightly wrapped around her in hopes of calming her down; and, kiara had a hand resting on riley's shoulder, drawing circles with her thumb over the fabric of her twin's sweatshirt.

"you're okay," jj cooed as he pressed his cheek against the top of her head. "just breathe."

"and them? do you think they'll be okay?" riley asked quietly.

"i'm sure they will," jj faked a smile. he had no idea what would happen to them; just looking outside he knew that john b would have difficulty driving the boat in the choppy waters, no matter how experienced he was. however jj remained optimistic; he remained hopeful for the sake of her, and for his friends.

"fuck," pope muttered under his breath and the groups heads turned to see the phantom, clear as day, exposed by the lights.

suddenly ward was yelling, and the faint staticky voice of john b was heard over the intercom. riley couldn't make out anything that john b was saying except for ward's part, which included a lot of begging, and then a lot of silence.

shoupe walked in with two other deputies after a long while of what felt like the silent treatment.

"did you find them?" pope questioned, his eyes flickering between all of the officers anxiously.

shoupe shook his head, "no."

"so they got away," kie said, her voice strained but hopeful.

"we, uh... we lost them," shoupe paused. "i'm sorry."

"you lost them?" pope repeated. "what do you mean you lost them? like they're gone? what are you talking about?"

"they took an open boat into a tropical storm, pope," shoupe said, barely able to make eye contact with him.

"so they're dead?"

"we don't know," shoupe answered lowly. riley felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. sarah and john b... gone.

she had been a terrible friend, riley realized and it was all she could think of. she hadn't talked to sarah in days, she couldn't even remember if she had told her anything about jj and what was going on between them.

and now she was gone, her best friend was gone.

"you drove them straight through the storm man! are you kidding me?" jj shouted, lunging towards the deputies. "i'm gonna kill you! i'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" one of the officers siezed jj's arms and pulled him back from shoupe.

"let go of him!" riley cried.

"you killed him! he didn't kill anyone and you know it!" pope yelled. he was trying his hardest not to burst into tears out of frustration.

riley stumbled over to jj and embraced him into a hug. he sobbed into her shoulder, his cries right next to her ear, and yet she couldn't hear them. there was a deafening ringing sound drilling through her skull and the pulse in her ears was growing uncomfortably painful.

she wasn't sure how long she had been hugging jj but she knew it had not been nearly long enough when she was pulled away by her parents who were already consoling kiara.

riley's body peeled away from jj's as if her limbs were made of feathers. she was so weak, and her body felt so numb that she barely even registered she wasn't hugging him anymore.

her brain only started to make sense of anything again when she saw jj standing by himself at the edge of the tent.

and then he left. he just walked out into the rain, drenched within seconds;

then he vanished into the darkness of the night, his figure no longer visible to her or to anyone.