One Stupid Thing

1:7:25

We soon arrive to the address that the woman at the counter gave us. The houses became more run down and this side of the island simply seems more untouched. I open my hand and look down at it as if the necklace is still there. I put it back on the display before we left, but I wish I had just bought it instead.

"So, they keep money out here?" Pope asks questioningly.

"That's what she said," JJ responds and then chuckles at his own unintentional joke. "That's what she said."

"Stop," Pope scolds him flatly.

"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive," Sarah points out from the passenger seat.

"'Cause you're rich," JJ replies.

I open my mouth to shut him down, but Kiara beats me to it. "You've never heard of it either."

"Thank you." Sarah shoots JJ a sharp glance. He looks down at the gold in his hands guiltily.

"There's nothing but weeds back here," I say, staring out the window at the endless undergrowth.

"All right, just 'cause it's just weeds, doesn't mean it's, like..." JJ trails off as we hear the sound of a siren. Sure enough, a dark vehicle with flashing lights is tailing us.

"Cops? Out here?" Kie says.

"God! Are you kidding me?" JJ exclaims in frustration.

"What did we do?" Sarah asks, turning around to look at the car for herself.

"Why are we getting pulled over? We didn't do anything wrong!" I say.

"Chill out, guys," Kiara scolds us.

"Stash that!" Pope whispers, pointing to the gold in JJ's hands.

"I hate cops," JJ says, and rightfully so. I don't know much about JJ's past, but I do know that he does get into a lot of trouble with cops and they target him unfairly because of it.

"Did you bring the gun?" John B exclaims as he slows the van to a stop.

"No, okay?" JJ tells him. He wraps the towel around the gold. "Everybody told me to leave it back at the place."

"Thank God," Kie sighs. "Please, just is there anything else in your bag? How much weed do you have on you, bro?"

Pope urgently helps JJ hide the gold. I stay quiet, too focused on how strange it is that we get pulled over by a cop out here of all places. And for what?  The sound of a gun being cocked silences everyone. A short man with dark hair, wearing a mask that covers the bottom half of his face, has a hunting rifle aimed directly at John B.

"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands in the air?" he asks, but it is more of a demand than a question. "All ya'll's hands up in the air now! You, out of the car! Let's go!" We all quickly raise our hands up above our heads. I can feel my heart beat quicken with fear.

John B, with his hands right where the man can see them, slowly opens the door and gets out upon request.

"Out of the car! Let's go! Hurry! Let them out!" the man demands. "What are you waitin' on? What are you waitin' on? Let them out! All ya'll!"

They make their way around the van, the rifle never deterring aim off of John B. He quickly opens the side door and moves back to let us all file out. Sarah goes first.

"There you go, pretty girl. Here we go! Get out of the car, let's go! Hurry up! There you go!" the masked man urges.

JJ makes certain that he is the last one out of the van. "We're broke—" he starts. The funny thing is that for them it would usually be true. That's another thing about this whole situation. Seems odd that the one time they have anything of extreme value, we get raided.