Bad Karma

twenty-five

Leilani Elrod

Episode 6. Parcel 9

"So here's the plan." John B stopped, speaking in a whisper, "We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter."

John B was incredibly vague and my nerves were ramping up. So, I did the logical thing and asked, "Okay, but, like, what kind of water? Like, pond water?"

"Bong water?" JJ laughed and turned to me.

I sighed, the corners of my lips tugging down, "Pond water, JJ.

"It just said look for water, okay?" John B answered, again, very vaguely. The least Denmark could've done is give up what kind of water to look for. The gold could be in the water pipes for all we know!

"That's the shittiest secret message ever." Kie groaned, to which I agreed with and she began leading the way for us.

John B followed after us quickly, "You guys wanna complain a little more? Nobody said it was gonna be easy."

My cheeks turned red with anger and I whipped my head around to him, "Yeah, well, nobody said that it was going to be borderline impossible either!"

"Whatever, tell me if you guys find anything." He split up from Kie and I and we shared a look before shrugging and walking in opposite directions, doing our best to cover the grounds.

The sun was undoubtedly setting, dew beginning to form on the wildlife around me as I swiped branches out of my face, water dripping onto me. Well, now there was water all around us, so that's just great. Now the gold could be literally anywhere in this yard.

Now, being honest, did I think that the gold had somehow washed up onto the Crain property? Most likely not, but if it did and we managed to find it.. I don't really know what I'd do, honestly. It's so easy to say what you're going to do and how you're going to react, but, like most things in life, you don't know until it happens to you.

When I heard rustling from a few feet away, I jumped and wasted no time and running in the opposite direction, towards the sound of John B's voice calling for us. I had never been a very gifted runner, but I think that I momentarily turned into the flash. I may not have particularly believed that Crain was an axe murderer, but the chances are never zero.

"Lei, there you- are you good?" John B asked as I came running up on him, bending over and breathing heavily.

I leaned my head up and gave him a sarcastic smile and a thumbs up, "Mhm... totally.. good."

Slowly but surely the rest of the group found us and he motioned to the old wooden door behind him, taking a breath before opening it and stepping inside what was a small cellar. It was made out of mostly stone and there were wood planks laying down and, God, so many flies. I kind of felt like a ninja, smacking them out of the air and such.

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads." I slowly turned my head towards JJ as he began singing a made up tune to the beat of Itsy Bitsy Spider, "And up came the sun and dried up all the blood."

"Can you stop?" Pope took the words right out of my mouth.

As we moved our-flashlights around, we found ourselves amongst many wooden cradles filled with old dolls and ripped up blankets. This place looked like it was crafted right out of a hoarders dreams.

"You guys see any water?"

"Nada." I replied to Kie, shuddering at the dozens of empty cradles. Why did she need/have all of these anyway?