Mary Routledge | Outer Banks

Genrette's letter

"I'm still so mad." Kie said, making us look at her as we hopped off the Twinkie. "It's just every time, like, every single time we see them, something goes wrong. Like, we can't do anything without them getting triggered."

"And without Mary fighting somebody." JJ said with a grin.

"I wouldn't if they weren't fucking insane." I defended, raising my hands.

"They're Kooks, okay?" JJ said. "It's what they do."

I looked up and saw Pope walking out of the house slowly, towards us.

"Hey, Po." I said, doing a little wave.

"Yo." JJ said, after he gave me no answer.

"Hey." Kie told him.

"Hi." Sarah said at the same time.

As we reached him, the expression on his face worried me more and more.

"How'd it go?" JJ asked him before looking down at his hands.

They were tainted in blood.

"Pope." John B called worriedly.

"What is that?" Kie asked, making her way towards him. "Is that blood? Whose blood is that?"

"Pope, what happened?" I asked, reaching them.

I grabbed his face to make him look up at me.

"What happened, Pope?" JJ asked from my side.

"Where's Cleo?" Sarah asked.

My mind immediately jumped to the worst scenario.

"She's... she's inside." Pope told her, trying to make himself not cry.

"What happened, Pope?" I asked again, slowly this time.

They all ran inside, calling for Cleo, as John B, Pope, and I walked slowly behind them.

"Pope, what's going on?" John B asked, as the 3 of us were the last to walk in the house.

We all got inside and saw Cleo crying on the side of the living room, as she looked at a dead man on the floor. We all rushed towards her, trying our best to calm her down, and to make her feel better.

Pope grabbed a towel for his hands, before motioning for John B and I to follow him to the back porch.

"You know the guy that tried to kill you and JJ?" Pope asked and I nodded. "Yesterday, when Cleo went to get the bait, he kidnapped her."

"What?!" John B and I asked wide eyed.

"And then he-he spent the whole day fake texting me as her, so I wouldn't suspect a thing." Pope ranted as he wiped his hands on a cloth we had found. "And then he called me. He said I had until 4:00. I came here as fast as I could. I got there, he had the gun right in her face. And Terrance, he..." Pope stopped himself, telling John B and I all we needed to know. That was Terrance's blood. Pope was about to start crying. "I wish I could've done something-"

I cut him off my hugging him tight, allowing him to break down in my arms.

"You did all you could, okay? None of this is your fault." I reassured as I ran my hand up and down his back, trying to calm him down.

"She's right... you did all you could, bro." John B said, caressing his head. "You're good, man. Just breath... we got you."

With every word that escaped our lips, he broke down even more. It was such a heartbreaking thing, to see one of your best friends like this, without being able to do a thing to stop it. I decided to just do what I did best: be there for him. And if my hug helped, then I was already doing a good job.