more than gold, jj maybank

Welcome to Kitty Hawk

Now with all their clothes covered in ash and smoke, the teens were sitting by a large tree watching The Chateau crumble apart.

"Could've been a faulty electrical wire." Pope says all of the excitement from the day before vanishing. 

"Place was all wood. A tinderbox." Kie says, rubbing off some ash from her arm.

"Thing just went up. Boom." Cleo says, looking down at the ground.

"Verdicts up, bro. Whoever's up there... does not like you." JJ adds, shaking his head. 

"Considering over 50% of us are now homeless... I'd say they hate us all." Jade says, shaking her head and laying it on JJ's shoulder.

☸

"Sarah, when did you say the pilot was getting in?" John B asks, leaning on the railing of the dock they had all resided to. 

"Probably like an hour." She says.

"I mean, once he's here, Ward says we can leave whenever we want." Jade adds, pulling her burnt hand from the dirty Marsh water. It was the only way to sooth the heat radiating from it and she took that opportunity regardless of infection.

"Well, as much as I would love to ghost my parent's again, I can't." Pope says, standing up.

"Pope, we're talking El Dorado here. Can you just slip out the back maybe?" JJ says, wanting all of them in on this.

"Great advice." Kie says, squinting her eyes at JJ.

"It always works. If there's a problem you don't want to face, turn that face and walk the other way." JJ demonstrates.

"I'm not doing that, ok?" 

"I just want you to be there, dog." JJ scoffs, looking back at the water.

"I'm gonna be there. I'll meet you at the airstrip in an hour?" Pope asks.

"Yeah, we'll see you there." John B smiles.

"One hour, Pope. Not a second later." JJ says, a stern look on his face.

The remaining five watch as Pope and Cleo walk down the dock.

"I'm gonna take a stroll down to The Shack. For old time's sake." JJ smiles at Jade who stands up and follows. "Always wanted to go to South America, great surf, cheap weed."

"See you at the tarmac." Jade smiles, walking beside JJ.

"Ok baby, where shall we go?" JJ says, smiling but only half. 

"Maybe down to Tanny Hill." Jade says, grimacing at his reaction. 

"Oh, come on." JJ says, throwing his head back. 

"I need to get clothes. I'll be twenty minutes and we can do whatever we want later. I promise." Jade smiles, kissing his cheek and walking off. "I love you!" Jade yells.

"Yeah, I love you too." JJ laughs.

"I'll call you!"

☸

Jade opens the door to Tanny Hill and walks inside slowly, creeping inside slowly, knowing Rafe was in the house. She slowly walks up the stairs towards her bedroom.

She gets inside and immediately grabs a small bag from her wardrobe and packing some random clothes that fit her and in the bag. She looks up at her bed and notices the photo of JJ. She smiles and picks it up, looking at it with love before placing it in her pocket.

She continues to try and make no noise but fails when she reaches over to grab deodorant from her desk, knocking over her lamp in the process. She holds her breath and waits for any clear signs that someone knows she's in there.