SUNBURN | JOHN B ROUTLEDGE

015

John B, JJ, and Gabriella made their way cautiously up the worn path leading to Ms. Lana's house. The place had an air of neglect about it, with overgrown weeds encroaching on the walkway and faded paint peeling off the wooden exterior. The windows were covered in grime, and the faint scent of stale smoke lingered in the air.

As they approached the front door, JJ, ever the joker, smirked and said, "Know what this house looks like? Whoever lives here smokes too much weed."

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh, her nerves momentarily easing with JJ's light-hearted comment. The laughter died quickly, though, as a sudden loud clattering noise echoed from inside the house, followed by the unmistakable sound of glass shattering. They all froze in place, their senses heightened. "Maybe we should come back," Gabriella whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

JJ, usually the first to charge into any situation, was visibly panicking. His eyes darted around, and he began to mutter under his breath. John B, sensing the tension, turned to him and repeatedly whispered, "Shut up, shut up."

They pressed themselves against the side of the house, trying to stay out of sight. Straining to hear, they could make out muffled voices inside. "Tell me where it is, or I'll fuck you up."

Two men were speaking in harsh, threatening tones. Then, they heard Ms. Lana's voice, trembling and desperate, "You're hurting me!" Her cries grew louder, filled with pain and fear.

"Where the fuck is it, you bitch?" The men's voices grew louder as they argued, "The compass wasn't in the boat!"

Gabriella's hand flew to her mouth in shock, her mind racing with the implications of what they had just heard. John B's jaw tightened as he tried to process the situation.

"Let's get the hell outta here, man." and then, abruptly, the door burst open. John B, JJ, and Gabriella held their breath, hearts pounding in their chests as the two men stormed out, muttering angrily to each other. One of them kicked a trash can, sending its contents spilling across the yard before they disappeared down the street.

JJ's eyes widened in recognition. "Dude, those were the guys that shot at us," he hissed, panic evident in his voice.

Taking a deep breath, John B motioned for them to follow him. They moved quietly towards the front door, which had been left slightly ajar in the men's haste to leave. Pushing it open gently, they stepped into the dimly lit interior of the house.

The inside of Ms. Lana's house was even more chaotic than the outside. Furniture was overturned, and broken glass littered the floor. The scent of fear and desperation hung heavy in the air. They found Ms. Lana huddled in a corner, her face tear-streaked and her body shaking.

"Ms. Lana. Hey, are you okay?" John B said softly, crouching down beside her.

"Dude, she's tweaking." JJ said about the poor widow that was sobbing uncontrollably.

Gabriella crouched down beside her, asking her gently, "Do you need a doctor? Let's call the sheriff's department."

"No cops, please." Ms. Lana sniffled. "You shouldn't be here. They were looking for something."

JJ was eager to leave the house, terrified of what more may become but John B insisted of getting answers about his compass, and he wanted them now, "Does it have anything to do with this? Do you know anything about this? This is my father's, and Scooter had it. Why?"

Lana cried out in shock of the recent events and the compass that was in front of her face, she grabbed John B's arm, shouting at him, "Scooter didn't have it, okay? Don't tell anyone you have it. They can't know! Go! Get out!" Ms Lana repeatedly screamed.

Gabriella felt sick to her stomach, "Why? What do you know about the compass?" She asked, her voice had risen to match the volume of Lana and John B. JJ had grabbed John B's arm with one hand and grabbed Gabriella's with the other, dragging them out of the house. The realization of the danger they were all in weighed heavily on them.

The walk back to the Chateau was silent, the three trying to process what they had just witnessed, that was until JJ saw Pope and Kiara waiting for them on the porch.

"And we were right outside like this." JJ imitated standing pressed against the house, "And all we hear is just, "Bam! Bam! Bam! Knocking paint off the wall, G! From the inside. All right? And I'm just looking at him, like- Wait, first off, look at this shit. Look at it." He was ecstatic, practically bouncing off the walls with his adrenaline driven body that didn't ever seemed to know how to be relaxed.

He ruffled his hair in front of Pope and Kiara who scrunched their faces in disgust. "That's dandruff, disgusting."

"At that point, I was just, like... I'm waiting for death." JJ exaggerated.

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?" Pope asked, rubbing his eyes, "Did you get a good description of them? What did they look like? Anything we can bring to a police report?"

"Burly." JJ replied.

"Burly? That's not very helpful." Kiara mocked JJ with Pope silently judging him.

"I wasn't taking little mental Polaroids the entire time. I was under duress, okay?" JJ's voice pitched higher, breathing out more air than usual.

"I can tell you... I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man." Gabriella interjected, her ears still aching at the faint sound of Ms. Lana crying and screaming.

"Why do they want the compass?" Kiara brainstormed as John B was pacing up and down, thinking of every single thing he had ever known from his father, seeing if any of the pieces in his mind can fit the puzzle.

"It's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope replied, not being able to understand why two men are willing to kill for it, "No offense. I know it's in your family--"

"The office. My dad. My dad's office." John B blurted out, making his way towards the locked door that Gabriella could've sworn had been closed for so long, the wood started to rot along the hinges. "He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda...I just left it as he kept it." He explained.

Gabriella touched his shoulder, consoling him, "Yeah, for when he gets back."

"Yeah," John B whispered, looking into Gabriella's eyes before turning to open the office door.

"I've slept over here like 600 times and I've never seen this door opened."