family. | outer banks x oc

we're back

We find ourselves back in the old, smelly basement. I still find it hard to believe that we actually found the gold. We're so close to victory.

Pope, John B, JJ, and I start setting up our contraption for John B.

"Holy shit. You know what I just realized?" JJ chuckles. I choose to ignore the boy, as does everyone else. "Look, this C.H.U.D. full C.H.U.D."

Even though I chose to ignore the Maybank boy, my head turns at his ludacris sentence. "What is he talking about?" John B questions. I roll my eyes at the thought of the ridiculous movie JJ has forced me to watch on multiple occasions.

"I have no clue." Pope states.

"Cannibalistic, humanoid, underground, dwellers. You guys haven't seen that film?"

"Nope."

"Can't say I have."

"I have, unfortunately." I joke. JJ elbows my ribs. "It's actually a good movie. It's about these cannibals that live in the sewers under New York."

"Shut up, shut up." John B demands. JJ's voice stops. "How deep do you think this is, Pope?" John B questions. Pope looks down the large hole. "I have no idea."

"That's just perfect. The smartest one we have is absolutely clueless. Beautiful. I absolutely love when a plan comes together." I say, making Pope roll his eyes.

"Dude, can you just stop for like two seconds? I get you're mad at me, but I genuinely didn't know you didn't tell Kiara. It's not my fault."

"No, Pope. It definitely is. Even if Kie did know, why would you be talking to her about my family issues. It's none of your fucking business. I shouldn't have told you."

"Okay, children. Shut the fuck up. We know Pope fucked up, and we get it, Alessia. You're mad-- again. Can we just move on?" John B asks, anger rising in his voice. I shut my mouth, and move towards the back of the room. I can feel JJ's eyes on me as I watch Pope turn back to John B.

I make eye contact with the Maybank boy. "You okay?" He mouths. I nod my head, clearly lying. He turns his head, an eyebrow raising. "I'm fine." I whisper. My problems are the least of anyone's worries right now, which makes sense.

Pope and JJ begin to guide John B down the sewer. "Boys, I have one request."

"Yeah?"

"What?"

"Don't drop me." John B suggests.

The boys jokingly let go of the rope, causing John B to panic a bit. "Okay, Pope. You're gonna die first."

"Keep going."

The two boys continue to guide John B down the sewer. Eventually, he gets to the bottom, and begins complaining about the smell.

"Any gold?" I ask, while leaning over the side. "Not yet." John B replies. He mumbles a few words to himself, but since the depth of the sewer is so large, we can't hear a word.

"JJ! Hey! Pull me up!"

Pope, JJ, and I start panicking. We all grab a piece of the rope and pull as fast and hard as we can. "We're trying, JB."

"Pull me up!" He shouts. "Hurry up! Pull me out! Help!"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

We stop. "I think I found something."

I turn my head to JJ. I question if we should just pull him up anyways and come back another time, or let John B continue his wild goose hunt.

"JB? You okay?" I question.

"Any dead bodies?" Pope adds. I turn my head in disbelief to the boy. "What?" He questions. I ignore him, and try to focus on holding the rope up. John B was definitely not the lightest of the group. I don't know why we didn't send Pope or something instead.

Suddenly, incoherent-- and familiar-- screams appear. "Guys! Guys! Crain. She's up there. She tried to kill us with a fire poker." I match the voices to Kiara and Sarah. Their story was definitely wild, and definitely didn't make any sense. "We gotta go."

"Okay, yup. That's code red." I state.

"JB? We're gonna pull you out, alright?" JJ shouts. I hope John B answers. With no reply, we decide to pull him up anyways.

An incoherent yell echoes through the sewer. The five of us look back and forth at each other in confusion and wonder. "What did he say?"

"JJ! Pope! Kie! Leia!"

"Yo, he's drowning." JJ says.

"Alright, John B? We're gonna pull you up, okay?" Together, we all start pulling the rope.

Suddenly, loud shots fire through the air.

"Shit!"

"What the hell!"

Kie and Sarah let go of the rope, leaving Pope, JJ and I. I hope Mrs. Crain thinks we're just playing an innocent prank and goes back to bed. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She shoots off a few more shots.

"Kie! Sarah! Get put of here! Wait in the twinkie!" I suggest to the girls. They listen, and begint o run out the door.

"She can't aim for shit." Sarah says, stopping at the door.

"She's blind."

Pope and JJ pull John B up more, eventually letting the boy crawl out of the deep hole. Mrs. Crain let's out another shot, making the group scream in unison.

"Come on, guys let's go." I yell to the three boys.

"Holy shit!"

We all scramble through the door, screaming at each other on the way. We run past the same old, dying flowers, then straight into the twinkie. JJ takes the driver's seat, I take the passenger, Pope and John B get in the back with Kie and Sarah.

"Oh my God!"

"Are y'all okay?"

"You shot?"

"I think I'd know if I was shot, right?"

"God, Humpty. You smell like shit." I laugh, making the rest of the group laugh.

John B stays silent. He caresses an object in his hand. I can't see what it is, due to the large amount of mud all over the boy. He brushes the mud off the object, slowly revealing a golden object in his hand.

"Holy-"

"No you didn't."

"No way."

"I found it, baby!" John B yells.

We all scream together. This moment. This is exactly what we needed. Finally, we all got a moment to smile. It felt good. The Pogues were back.

We're back.

- 1041 words