𝐒𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋, 𝗃𝗃 𝗆𝖺𝗒𝖻𝖺𝗇𝗄

Chapter seven

THE SIX TEENS . . . Hid in the rooster as they both peeked through. "Do something Pope, shut him up!" JJ snapped.

The Heyward anxiously looked back at the blonde, "What do you want me to do?" Having no clue whatsoever. "Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." Kiara cried out.

As the chicken kept on clucking, "You do something!" Pope grunted throwing it in Max and JJ's direction. JJ kept on having a fight with it, to stop him from making noises.

"JJ, no!" Dahlia whispered, Maxine knew what was about to happen turning her head away and covering her ears. JJ snapped it's neck, sobs left the girls their throats.

Dahlia closed her eyes, John b reached for her hand squeezing it. To calm down her nerves, as Max hid her face away from them. Her lips trembling, as JJ reached for her hand stroking the back of it with his thumb.

Kie sobbed, trying to muffle it with her hands as her eyes stayed glued to the rooster.

Max covered her face in her elbow, her head leaning onto JJ. As she held in her breath, praying that the smugglers would leave. When the rooster stopped cowling, the two men left. As their car disappeared out of the driveway.

✩✩✩

"I mean it's obvious, right? A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?" John b, rambled.

Dahlia tried to sound as agreeing, not wanting to hurt the boys feelings. "Yeah. It's possible."

"It could also be possible, that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope tried, to get some sense into his head.

Because all of this really got to John b, and maybe he was connecting everything to his father's disappearance, he had to deal with the grief. And he wasn't accepting any of it.

Dahlia cast Pope a glance, to let John b be. He clearly needed this after losing his dad.

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." JJ said, Maxine nudged in his stomach with her elbow making him shut up.

"I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message." Dahlia softly responded, "If it helps you believe, John b."

"Look, I— I don't need a therapy session, okay?" John b stuttered out. "Look, I'm not tripping out."

JJ offered his hand in front of Max's face as she held into his, placing his palm on her lap. She couldn't help but play with his rings, and when she side glanced at the Maybank.

It looked like it was exactly what he wanted her to do. "It's okay to trip, bro, but—" Maxine ran her fingers over his, interlacing their fingers.

"Look, my— my dad is missing, okay?" John b harshly said towards his friend, "You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish." John b was wrong, Maxine knew all about it.

The person she loved the most, was gone. Out of the blue, a letter Max never opened. Her mother, she lost her mother. "And then have no idea what happened." The same thing happened to her mother.

Nine months ago, Amara disappeared around the same time as Big John. "Just wake up every morning wondering."

"It's been almost a year, Johnny." Dahlia told him. He looked back at her, keeping it quiet. JJ tried to lighten the mood. "Hey, he could've been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility."