Daydreams| Outer Banks ¹

{Chapter Nine} Home Invasion

Big John's office had not been opened since the day he disappeared. Indi and John B had both decided to lock it up and keep it that way until he returned, or were told that his body had been found.

So opening it up for the first time in nine months was a huge deal.

Indi sucked in a large quantity of air before stepping into the dingy room. The hours John B and herself had spent in this room listening to their dad talk about the Royal Merchant were uncountable.

They loved hearing stories about the ship as little kids and John B loved when Big John would tell him everything he would buy him with the gold. Indi would listen and beg that one day her father would do the same for her as he would her brother.

"I've slept over here like six hundred times and I've never seen this door opened," Pope commented as he took in the contents of the office.

Every single part of wall was covered in some sort of research. From photos, to notes, to maps. Big John had it all.

John B unhooked a corkboard from the wall and set it down on the table in the middle of room. It was full of names and pictures of who had ever owned the compass.

"Here look. This is the original owner," John B said, pointing to the top of the board.

"Robert Q. Routledge," Kiara read aloud. "1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass, right there."

John B exchanged a glance with his sister. Both of them knew the compass was anything but lucky.

"Actually, he was shot after he bought it," He told them. "Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam."

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ spoke up.

"Sort of. Actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In country. Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to our dad."

"Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here," JJ said again, stating the obvious.

"Yeah, you have a death compass," Pope deadpanned.

Indi zoned out of the conversation, falling into a trap of what ifs. What if the compass really was cursed? What if her dad is dead because he owned the compass?

For the whole nine months that Big John had been gone, Indi was completely split down the middle. She didn't know whether he was really dead or not, not when he knew the oceans so well. However, her brother wholeheartedly believed Big John was alive so Indi kind of had go alone with it for his sake.

"Look, our dad used to talk about a compartment in here," John B stated as he began to unscrew the back of the compass. "Soldiers used to hide secret notes in here."

He shook the compass hard until the piece they needed fell out onto the table.

"What's that?" Kiara asked after noticing an engraving in the metal.

"That wasn't there before," Indi confirmed as she studied the word. "It's out dad's handwriting."

"How can you know that?" Pope asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Because he did these weird Rs. See?" John B answered, holding the compass up for Pope to see.

JJ took the compass to see it for himself. He squinted his eyes whilst trying to decipher what the letters actually said.

"Red... Rout. No, I think that's an A," he spoke aloud, struggling to read it.

"It says Redfield," Kiara sighed, shaking her head at the clueless boy. "Okay, well what's Redfield."