family. | outer banks x oc

well, well, well.

The weeds were long in the dead garden behind the Crain home. We were still following John B's lead, which was probably not the best tactic since we hadn't found anything yet.

"Here's the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter." John B explains.

"Okay, like, what kind of water? Like pond water?"

"Bong water?" JJ chuckles.

I slap his shoulder and continue to pay attention to the conversation. If JJ wasn't going to, then I should.

"It just said look for water, okay?" John B says.

"That's the shittiest secret message ever." Kiara comments.

I smile, and try to hide my laugh. She was right. John B didn't know what he was doing-- none of us did.

Kiara and John B go one way, leaving me, JJ, and Pope.

"I'll search the northeast quadrant, you Teo search the northwest." Pope instructs.

JJ and I look back between eachother.

"Can I go with you?" I ask Pope

"I- What?"

"I don't want to go to the decapitation quadrant with JJ."

"Fine."

"What the hell, Squirt?"

Pope and I leave JJ.

"I thought you were mad at me." Pope states.

"Oh. I am."

"But-"

"Guys, this is the only place we haven't looked." John B interrupts.

He was near a small door, which led to a room under the Crain house.

JJ trips over a plant and nearly pushes me to the ground.

"Look where you're walking."

"Sorry." He mumbles.

Everyone follows John B into the small door.

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood." JJ sings.

"Can you stop?" Pope snaps.

JJ listens, and puts his head down. I chuckle at the bantering between the two boys. Then, continue to follow John B and Kiara.

Old--maybe ancient-- artifacts filled the room, and everytime someone took a step, you could hear the floorboards creaking beneath them.

"See any water?"

Mosquitos fly around the room, and directly past my face.

"What the hell?" I say, before swatting away multiple bugs.

"Another dead end?" Kiara says.

I roll my eyes, knowing she's going to somehow mention Sarah.

"There's not even water on the pipes." JJ comments.

I continue to search around the room for any drop of water. Honestly, if we were looking for a bottle of water, it would already be evaporated right now. We don't even know what we're technically looking for.

"There's no water here." Pope states.

I nod in agreement. Although I was mad at Pope for telling Kiara about my father, I somehow still found myself being kind to the boy. He didn't deserve a drop of kindness from me, but I still gave it to him. I was still waiting on a real and genuine apology.

"Know why we didn't find it?" Kiara questions. "Bad karma."

"Oh. God. Here we go." JJ groans.

Thank, God. I was silently screaming of joy that someone other than me had a problem with Kiara's constant complaining.

"We had a good thing going." Kie continues. "And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trail's gone dry."

"This is exactly why I didn't wanna tell you about Sarah." John B argues.

"Just saying, Sarah has done more for this "treasure hunt" than you have." I say, continuing to defend John B.

"Thank you!" John B sighs in relief. "What's the deal between you and Sarah anyway?"

"Nothing." Kie answers.

"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?"

Their argument is actually giving me a headache.

A loud slap comes from Kie's hand and onto John B's face.

Pope, JJ, and I gasp.

"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you."

"Did you, uh... hit me?"

"Skeeter."

"Skeeter?"

The two literal children continue slapping eachother. They clearly weren't helping this situation.

"Mosquitoes?" I mumble. "Mosquitoes are always near water."

Pope looks over at me. He must've heard me, and agreed.

Okay, I rarely pay attention in school. There was a possibility that we learned about mostquitoes and water from school, but that's not how I found out.

My brother told me. At first, I didn't believe him. I begged my dad to tell me if it was true or not, eventually he told me that Trent was right. If there's mosquitoes, your best bet I'd you will find water near by.

Pope shines his flashlight towards the floorboards. He slams his foot against them, which make a different sound than the others.

JJ, John B, and Kie don't even notice that Pope and I may have just made an incredible discovery.

I hand Pope a small rock, that he drops in between a crack in the floor. Not even 30 seconds later, water splashes beneath us.

Pope and I start shoving extra boards off the ground. I accidentally throw one straight at JJ's head.

"What the hell?"

I ignore it, and continue to help Pope.

"What are you guys doing?" John B questions.

"We found water." I state. "JJ, help Pope."

I step away, and let JJ help Pope take the floorboards out of the ground.

JJ and Pope lift one last floorboard, revealing a well. It had to be at least 20 feet deep.

"Well, well, well." Pope says.

"Good dad joke." John B smiles.

"They built this part of the house right over it." I state.

"This is where she hid the bodies." JJ comments.

"Shut up."

"Oh, dude, come on."

"Stop."

"No, I'm dead serious."

"She probably doesn't even know it's here." Kiara argues.

"We found water."

"We're gonna need a really big rope." John B states.

-963 words