One Stupid Thing

2:9:72

In a blur, Pope tucks into a ball and rolls away as quick as he can. John B, Sarah, and Kie scramble to their feet and back away. Frozen in fear and unable to move fast enough I squint my eyes shut, bracing myself for impact, when I feel myself being pulled out of the way.

JJ had pulled me into his chest and hurried backwards. I sit between his legs with my back to his front and his arms wrapped tightly around my upper body. I had bent my arms and held onto his subconsciously. Breathing heavily, I lean my head back onto his shoulder and when he leans his forehead onto mine his blonde hair tickles my neck. My body screams in pain and I feel tears threaten to sting my eyes.

"Pope, are you okay?" Kiara asks, walking back over to check on him still on the floor in a ball.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just give me, like, one second to, like, catch my breath," he barely gets out.

"You did it, Pope." John B approaches the cross, now upside down and sticking out of the wooden floorboards.

"You alright?" JJ whispers to me softly.

"Yeah... yeah. I-I think so."

He gets both of us off of the dusty floor and we approach the cross along with the rest of the group. "Pope, she's... she's beautiful."

"I've never seen anything like it," Sarah adds.

"Man, the detail's insane."

"Well, here's why Limbrey wanted that key so bad." John B bends down and runs his thumb over a keyhole in the center of the cross.

"Woah. Good find. How much do you think she's worth?" JJ asks curiously, still breathing heavily. "Like, if we melted her old bones down, dude, I'm talking like high billions."

"No! This belongs in a museum," John B interrupts him.

"What? So no one sees her?"

"In a museum where everyone sees it."

"Are you kidding?"

"Hey! It's my ancestors' cross!" Pope reminds them, ending their quarrel. "This is bigger than money, and the world's gotta know the truth"

"Yes, and if we don't get this shit outta here before Limbrey gets here, nobody's gonna know. So saddle up." John B approaches the cross and JJ carefully helps me sit back down on the bench so that he can go help him.

JJ wraps his arms around the cross and squats down in preparation. "Wait. Hold on. John B, you're gonna pull, all right? Pull down."

"Alright. I'm gonna pull down. You guys pull up," John B instructs. Sarah and Kie placed themselves on the opposite end of John B, where the cross had imbedded itself into the floor. Pope joined John B on his end to even it out. "Ready? One, two, three."

On John B's count, the rest of the group uses all of their body weight to push or pull the cross until it is level and no longer stuck in the wood. With grunts of effort and quiet murmurs of encouragement, they manage to get a good grip on the artifact and slowly move it.

"Who's not lifting right now?" JJ asks with a grown.  "Sarah, are you seriously—"

"I'm lifting!" my sister snaps back.

"Just, move forward people," Kie cries in frustration. I sit there on the bench, wishing I could muster the strength to help them, but I probably wouldn't be much help anyways.

"It doesn't feel like it!" JJ continues, ignoring Kiara.

"I am!"

"Okay, guys. I can't. I can't," Pope grunts, straining to keep the cross up off the floor, but struggling immensely.