𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲

eighty-one: True Treasure.

     

     KAI IS looking out the window as Pope spoke, "guys, we're coming up on Freedman's Church." He says and Kai read the sign. Freedman's Assembly of God. "It's the church Denmark built for all the slaves he freed." Pope informs them as they drive by.

They drive down a dirt road leading towards the big tree. "There it is, Angel Oak." Kie says as they drive further down the road. "Oh, shit? Tide's coming in." John B says when he saw how muddy the water looked up ahead.

He slows down, "um..." He says. "Hey, wait a second. Look. They already came through here." Pope pointed out and Kai leans closer, sitting behind JJ as he looked at the tracks of the tires. "Those have to be Limbrey's tire tracks. Guys, we gotta go." Pope added.

"Mm... what do you think, chief?" JJ says, glancing at John B before looking back at the road. "I'm thinking it's looking a little dicey." He says and Kai sighs. "I agree with that statement." He looked over at John B who nods. "Yeah." He says. "Okay, clearly, they made it. No?" Kie says and Kai looks at her.

"In a two-wheel drive? I don't think so..." Kai says, shrugging before looking ahead. "Why are ya'll acting like you're not gonna do it anyway?" Sarah says, a hint of a smile in her tone. "Like when have ya'll ever done the safe thing?" She added when John B looks at her.

"She's got a point." JJ says, looking at John B and Kai nods in agreement. "Speed is your friend, here, okay?" JJ added as he turns to the front. "So put her in second and hammer down, brother." The blond says, looking at Kai behind him who turns around. "Stick to the high ground in the middle, John B."

"Alright, ready? Here we go."

They drive off and Kai holds onto something for support. "Come on, bro, punch it. Speed is your friend. You're not going fast enough." JJ says to their driver. "I'm in second." John B argues back as Kai turns to the front again. "It's gonna slide." Kie says loudly. "You're fishtailing already." JJ says as Kai puts his arm over the rest of the passenger side seat.

"Not to put any more pressure on you, but if you don't make it through, we'll be stuck here forever." Pope says and John B pushes him back, "put your head back, okay?" The driver says as they kept speeding through until they passed the muddy watery parts. "We're alive!" Kie exclaimed in relief.

"I told you we'd make it."

"Alright, right here, right here. That's good." JJ said and hopped out, "Angel Oak is right through here." He says and opened the back door. "Alright, so word to the wise, definitely know that gators nest back here, so keep your eyes peeled, okay? You don't wanna step on a mama gator. That's the last thing you want." JJ says as Kai got out, taking his hand.

"They have nests?" Kie asked as she walked behind the couple. "Seems like a good place to park." Sarah says, sounding sarcastic. "Alright. You don't wanna be a Pat Womack. She had her calf chewed off by a gator, right? Ya'll know that, right?" JJ says, holding a stick in one hand and Kai's hand in the other.

"That's actually not true..." Kai says. "Pat Womack was injured in a car accident, but I hear you." Kie says. "Okay, you two just live in ignorance. But like, she had her calf chewed off by a mama gator. I know that for a fact. They like the brackish water. Wait, hold on. I see something." JJ lets go of Kai who gave him a confused stare. "What are you doing?" Kie asked as the boy crouched down.

He hits the water roughly and Kai sighs. "Wow, that's so kind of you, JJ, you're just waking them? Causally say hi?" He said, sarcastically and JJ stood up, turning to him. "I was just making sure it wasn't a gator. That's all, alright?" He said and walked off as Kai sighed, following after the blond boy.

"You are such a nerd, J." Kai whispers and JJ looks over his shoulder. "Yeah? Would a nerd make you as satisfied as I did last night?" He asked and Kai's face turns red as his eyes widen. "Ew, I was in the room next to you both." Kie whisper-yells to them. "S-Sorry? JJ, shut up!" Kai exclaimed, hitting his arm.

"Shh!" Pope says to them as they get closer to the tree. JJ and Kai stood to Pope's left, the blond telling the others to be quiet as they watched. "It's there. The garment will be in the cross, and the cross will be at the foot of the tree." Limbrey tells Rafe.

"Well, whatever we find, I get my cut."

As the machine digs through the dirt, Limbrey sat down a chair Renfield got for her. When the claw goes to dig more, it hits something. "Wait! Stop! Stop! Please stop. Did you hear it? Hey, get in there, boys. Do it by hand." Limbrey said as she got up again to her feet.

"Oh. This has gotta be the cross." The men jumped in and got to work as Rafe, Renfield and Limbrey all stood along the hole. "Denmark put it in a casket. Bring it up." Limbrey says and the men lift it up to Renfield and Rafe. "They got the cross? What do we do?" JJ said, looking at Kai who looks to John B beside him before looking back at his boyfriend.

"What do we do?" JJ repeated his question as John B looks over. "What can we do?" John B says immediately before Kai can say anything. Rafe and Renfield set down the casket, both of them grabbing a crowbar.

"Don't touch anything inside!" The woman repeats her statement as the two men open up the box. They move the casket to the side as Limbrey peers inside. She's quiet, before sighing at the realization. "It's just a corpse. Sorry, Carla." Renfield said and then the woman struggles to stand up, grabbing her crutches as she did. "We must have missed something." She said to the two men.

"Of course. Of course, yeah. Of course it's just a dead body. Jesus!" Rafe exclaims as Limbrey walks away. "We just got the wrong place. We'll go back to the island room. We're going back! We're going back! It's not over!" The blonde woman shouts and then everyone was on their way, they loaded up and left.

When everyone drove off, including Rafe who was the last to leave, Pope moves through the bushes they're hiding behind. "Pope. Pope, wait! Wait! Shit." JJ said as he and Kai follow after him with John B, Kie and Sarah behind them. They run to the casket where Pope stopped and they stop shortly behind the boy.

Pope walks over to it carefully, looking inside. "Cecilia Tanny, Denmark's wife." He said then looked up at the tree, standing up. "He wasn't talking about the cross. He buried her at the foot of the angel." He tells them.

"The true treasure."

"His wife."

Pope turns back around, he's crying as he crouched down to the open casket. Kiara kneels down on the left side of him as JJ and Kai stood to his right, kneeling down with the others. "Denmark was hung for burying his wife, and now they defiled her grave." Pope says as Kie reached out, squeezing his arm as some sort of comfort to the boy.

He reached out suddenly, brushing off some dust and picked the item up. "This must've been from Denmark. Her wedding ring." Sarah says, holding a ring with a smile on her face. Kai glanced over at Pope who set down the pin, looking up. "We can't leave her like this."

"We won't."

AUTHORS NOTE
when pope cried and kie comforted him by squeezing his arm and rubbing her thumb on his arm... 😭😭 i just want friends like them. they all have such special bonds with each other and i think that's my fav part about obx. like forget the toxicity about the ships for once and really realize the amazing friendship between all of them? like they all care so much about each other :(