"And lastly, that's Madison, or Mads, my little sister who is also trying to climb up the broken lifeguard tower. We're only a year apart. When she's not doing some odd job for extra cash she is on the HMS Pogue with the rest of us. Most loyal perso...
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Madison had zoned out as she rode in the passenger seat of Kiara's car. The sun had set and the night reflected the darkness that had settled in her chest. She needed a release, she needed something, anything, to give her the strength to make it through another day. She did what anyone in her position would do, she pushed it down. She locked up her demons in a nice little cage inside her mind and threw away the proverbial key.
"John B, what are we doing at the police station?" JJ's voice broke her out of her thoughts and she wondered how long she hadn't been paying attention.
The eldest Routledge stared at his hands that were still stained with the sheriff's blood, "Somebody's gotta tell them what happened."
Pope coughed after he hit the joint he was smoking too hard, his lungs not used to the pressure in his chest from inhaling. He had smoked more in the last few hours than he had in his whole life and it still only ebbed the anger that boiled in him.
"Whoa, easy there, chief," JJ stared at his best friend as he continued to cough trying to catch his breath. "Damn."
Madison blindly held her hand out to the backseat, "Give me that." Pope placed the joint between her fingers and after she took two hits she handed it back. Was it smart smoking pot in front of the police department? Probably not, but she needed it to keep herself together.
"All right. I'm just gonna be real with you right now," JJ spoke up again from the trunk, the car not having enough seats for all five of them. "You might end up in the lion's den, but you don't go there on purpose. It's fundamental. Just like my old man always told me, you should never ever trust cops, no matter what the circumstance is."
Kiara made a face and turned to look at him, "Your old man's an abusive liar."
"Shut your mouth, Kie. Don't talk about his dad," Madison shot her a glare because even though her and JJ were having a rough patch at the moment it didn't mean she loved him any less or was going to stand for any bullshit.
Pope ignored the girls in the front of the car, only listening to his blonde best friend who sat behind him. "I agree with JJ. Fuck the police."
"You going to the dark side now?" Kiara asked him, annoyed that he was as high as he was. Madison wanted to speak her opinion, to tell her friend to mind her own business and let Pope smoke his feelings away, but every ounce of energy she had she was using to keep breathing.
Pope took the last hit off the joint, almost burning the edges of his fingers. "When's the last time the police helped us?"
"Peterkin looked out for us, alright?" John B motioned to Madison in the front seat. "Tried to at least. They need to know."
He got out of the car and made his way inside leaving the four of them with nothing to do but wait. Pope was still mumbling to himself about 'fuck the police' and how he had spent too many years 'keeping the signal clear'.
