𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐔𝐌𝐁 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄|𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻:𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗮𝘁 (𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻)

TW:MENTIONS OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS

"Ok, Cleo, do you even know where we are?" Esme huffed, pausing to double over and catch her breath. It had been a few hours since their plan to rescue Kiara failed miserably, and Esme was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. But she had to keep it together, for she knew that the groups mission was far from over.

"Yes, for the millionth time, I know where I'm going," Cleo scoffed with an eye roll, clearly sick and tired of her moronic friends. "Just follow me. Ain't nothing to worry about."

Ain't nothing to worry about.

Esme wanted to slap her across the face for even thinking that was a good thing to say. There was so much to worry about, so much that can happen if they weren't careful. But Esme kept her mouth shut, instead clutching her bow and arrow tightly in her hands and making her way inside the building which was going to be their temporary hideout.

"Are you sure this is safe?" John B questioned as he along with the rest of the pouges made their way upstairs.

"You got a better idea?" Cleo replied. "We can stay here. It's an old hotel. Terrance and I squatted here before."

"We gotta get Kiara out, guys," JJ stated. "Does anyone have anything?"

"Well, we can't storm the fort. We can't call the cops—" Pope began to say before Esme cut him off.

"That's not exactly helping, babe."

"We can't negotiate. We don't know what they don't. It's gotta be about the cross or gold."

Cleo shook her head, moving over to stand beside Esme who was leaned against the wall. "Mm-Mm. Guys like Singh, it's always about money."

"Well uh, I don't know if anyone took notice, but we're fucking broke. Like, we have no money whatsoever." Esme snarked, shrugging her shoulders soon afterwards. Everyone sent her a look soon afterwards, basically telling her to stop talking.

Later on that night, when the sky was a pitch black color, Esme was the only one who laid awake. It was basically a routine at this point, where she wouldn't get a wink of sleep until Pope eventually dragged her back down and forced her to close her eyes. Tonight however, Esme made sure that Pope had no worries and fell asleep with ease. Her plan was perfect. She laid him down, telling Pope that she would see him in the morning and not to worry because she was actually going to sleep. To prove her point Esme made sure to close her eyes right before Popes fluttered shut. Once soft snores escaped his lips Esme slowly sat up, making her way to sit on the roof of the building and stare up at the stars which shined brightly in the sky. Esme felt horribly for lying to Pope, making everything seem fine when in reality that wasn't the case at all. She was hurting, hurting to the point where she thought that just........ending things would make things better. But Esme couldn't leave, for there were so many people that would miss her if she disappeared forever.

"Hey," Popes voice was enough for Esme to flinch back harshly and turn around to face her boyfriend. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Can't exactly sleep," Esme shrugged, beginning to chew on her nails (a nervous habit she picked up back on pougelandia). "Go back to sleep. I'll be ok."

"I think you and I both know that's not happening." Pope was now sitting beside Esme, much to her dismay. The last thing she wanted was for Pope to be loosing sleep over her, for that's what he's been doing ever since he rescued her from Rafe. Esme wanted to shout at him to just go the hell away, but instead she just continued to stare back up at the stars which were slowly fading away due to the clouds.

"Whats up?" Pope questioned, nudging his girlfriends shoulder lightly.

Esme sighed, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "The sky, Pope. In case you couldn't see."