Celestial ~ JJ Maybank

07.

An hour later, after taking a break to just sit in the semi-destroyed house and relax, Celeste decided to begin cleaning up, knowing John B probably wouldn't. She needed an excuse to take her mind off what had happened, as to not completely wallow in it. Once she had cleared most of the mess, John B announced that they were going somewhere, not before giving a girl a soft smile and a side hug in thanks.

"I mean it's obvious, right?" John B told them as he drove, "a family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

"John B, I don't know" Celeste trailed off in warning, not wanting to hear him continue to convince himself of his father returning when it was more than likely he was gone for good.

"Yeah, it's possible" Kiara nodded at him. She turned and sent a look to others to support him but obviously the boys didn't get the memo. Or they ignored it. They'd allowed John B to believe for too long.

"It could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels" Pope spoke up, playing with the compass in his hand. He ignored Kiara's death stare by not looking up.

John B warned the boy lowly, "Pope"

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels?" JJ interrupted.

"Do I really want to know J?" Celeste questioned teasingly, receiving a raised brow from the boy.

He continued anyway, "Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies"

"And I was proven right" she sighed playfully, getting a nudge from him as he finished what he was saying, "that's how I do it"

"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B raised his voice, trying to get his friends to understand.

"My dad's trying to give me a message"

Kie thought carefully what to say next, "if it helps you believe John B"

He sighed frustratedly, "look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay? Look I'm not tripping out"

"It's okay to trip, bro, but--" JJ started but John B continued his rant.

"Look, my... my dad's missing, okay? Missing" he emphasized the word, trying to convince everyone.

"You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened" the boy ranted. The others all looked down in guilt, knowing his father meant the world to the boy. "Just wake up every morning wondering"

"It's been almost a year" Kie softly told him.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility" JJ suggested, trying to relieve the tension.

Pope nodded, "Yeah, he could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere"

"Absolutely or uh... Atlantis"

"He could be on his way home right now" Celeste suggested nodding along with the boys.

"Guys" Kiara warned before turning back to John B, "look, what do you think the message is?"

"Redfield" he responded. They drive past the sign for their destination as John B spoke up.

"Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favourite place"

Soon, they had parked and the Pogues got out of the van to face the Lighthouse ahead.

John B turned to JJ, "right, you're gonna post up and look for bogeys, okay?"

JJ looked around confused, "Wait, why me?"

"Because you're not coming" Pope told him bluntly.

"Why?"