Mine

Chapter 7

Once I arrived home from dress shopping I laid comfortably in my bed for like an hour, maybe more, the time didn't really feel real. I was cuddled under a blanket in baggy clothes watching Grey's Anatomy and eating too many Cheez-it's when Kiara texted me.

Kie:

On our way to you be ready in ten bitch

I smiled to myself, happy to have a distraction from my Rafe thoughts other than a show about death. 

I quickly got up and ripped off my baggy outfit compiled of my dad's old Yankee's T-shirt and a large pair of black sweatpants with a number 18 on them. Oh shit. These were Rafe's. 18 was his number in baseball, the number I'd grown to love because when it was nearby so was he. 

When I ended things with him obviously a long time coming but the day it happened I made the choice in a split decision when he was super high and punched a hole in the wall just above my head because I told him to stop drinking. He could be aggressive and violent but never towards me, so once he did that I knew I had to end it as much as I still loved him and didn't want to. 

Because it was in the spur of the moment I didn't bring any of his stuff back and I knew I couldn't see him or I would go running right back into his arms, so it all sat in a box in the back of my closet. But I must've missed these.

I snapped out of my trance, feeling flustered at this sudden constant pattern of Rafe related things. I slid into a light blue tank top and loose ripped black jean mom shorts. I ran down the stairs with my just my phone in hand and slipped into my platform reeboks before giving my parents a kiss on the cheek and running into the darkness of the night into the Twinkie. 

On the drive to our mysterious location that John B wouldn't give away, the pogue's filled me in on the adventures of their day. 

"And then-" Kie exhaled with sorrow. "Then JJ killed the rooster," She said in a quick breath and covering her face. 

"WHAT!?" I yelled turning to JJ and putting my hand on his shoulder.

"My favorite rooster?" I said with a frown and sad eyes staring into JJ's soul. 

"Yeah I'm not proud of it ok but it kept us from being shot," he said looking for a little recognition. 

"Oh yeah and then John B got arrested for assaulting the guy at the Redfield lighthouse and my dad had to bail him out," Kie sad a little too casually. 

"Yeah he openly shit on me while I was in ear shot. That was fun!" John B said sarcastically while the van rolled to a halt, signaling we were at our destination. 

"John B where did you drag us this time?" Pope questioned from the passenger seat. John B drove while Kiara, JJ, and I said in the back. 

"Is this a cemetery??" I asked now sitting up on my knees for a view out the window. 

"Look, I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right. And wrong about everything else too. . . But I was right about one thing okay? My dad is trying to tell me something." He says sincerely with his body turned to address the whole group as we walked farther and farther from the Twinkie. 

As we kept walking Kiara asked the question we all wanted to.

"John B, what are we doing here?"

"So, Redfield. This whole time I thought it was a place, right?" he says as we come up to the grave he intended. "But it's not a place, it's a person." He begins moving vines out of the way so we can all see the name on the giant tombstone that looks like it's straight out of a mummy movie. 

"See, my great-grandmother, Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name. Help me with the door c'mon," John B says gesturing over JJ and Pope.

Me and Kie stand back watching them make absolutely no progress in opening the door.