SHOOTING STARS ✰ jj maybank

028. WE LOST THEM

(THIS IS WHEN JJ, KIE, AND POPE FIND OUT THAT THEY "lost" THEM)

The three teenagers stood up as Shoupe and two other officers wandered into the tent that they were waiting in.

"Did you find them?" Pope questioned as they stared at Shoupe, waiting for an answer.

"No." The sheriff shook his head and stared at all the kids, sorrow laced within his features.

"So, they got away?" Kie's expressions lightened up when she heard those words flow out of the sheriff's mouth.

"We, uh... we lost them. All of them. I'm sorry." Shoupe spoke and everyone's expressions faltered as they stared at the man.

"What do you mean you lost them? Like, they're gone? What are you talking about?" Pope began to yell at Shoupe.

"They took an open boat into a tropical depression, Pope." The man shook his head, his voice slightly broke as he spoke, but he quickly covered it up. It hurt him to know that this whole situation led them to death.

"So they're dead?"

"We don't know."

"Wait. All of them?" Pope spoke up, referring to when Shoupe had told them that they lost all of them. tears welding in his eyes as he thought of John B not being with them anymore.

"Yeah. I have to go deliver the news to Ward. Losing your daughters ain't an easy thing." Shoupe stared at the three teenagers as they all furrowed their brows at him with tears running down their faces.

"Daughters?" JJ's voice broke. He knew at that exact moment where Scarlett had been when she didn't show up to the point. No, not my girl. Not Star. He thought.

"You're lying. Scarlett wasn't on the boat. It was just John B and Sarah." Kie cried as Pope wrapped an arm around her. "She was supposed to meet us at the point." The girl was now sobbing.

JJ didn't say anything. He stood there with a blank stare. There's no way she's gone. JJ stared at the opening of the tent, waiting for her to walk through it with her beaming smile that always put a grin on his face.

"I'm sorry kids. They're gone." Shoupe told them. This is when JJ grew angry. Shoupe was the reason Scarlett was dead. Shoupe was the reason he'll never hold his girl again or see his best friend again. Shoupe was the reason he lost everything he had.

"You drove them straight through the storm, man!" JJ yelled, tears pooling in his eyes as he did so. "Are you kidding me? Come here! I'm gonna kill you!" The blonde boy grabbed Shoupe, causing officers to rush forward to pry the boy off of him.

"JJ, stop!" Kie cried out as she and Pope watched everything unfold in front of them.

"I'm gonna kill you, you bastard! You killed her!" JJ yelled as Thomas grabbed him and began pulling him away.

"He didn't kill anyone, and you know it!" Pope yelled at Shoupe as tears ran down his face.

"We're still looking for him, all right?" The man tried to calm the boy down.

"Pope. Pope, just stop. Please, stop." Kie cried out to the boy, bringing him into a hug.

Kie's parents entered the tent and brought her into a hug, allowing her to cry to them. Pope's parents entered the tent and brought Pope into a hug, allowing him to cry to them.