legacy // obx

0.3

JJ HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED SOMETHING AS DESOLATE AS THE TOWN OF KILDARE COUNTY felt after search and rescue found The Phantom, capsized about three miles off the coast of The Point. It was weird; there was so much hatred for John B and so much hysteria to find him on the night he tried to escape. Half the country wanted him dead, and the other half wanted to see him rot in a prison cell for the rest of his life. Everyone was against John B that night. But now? Now that the boat he and Sarah Cameron had fled on had been found, people were sympathizing over him. People were sad he was dead. JJ couldn't believe all the things he heard Kooks and Pogues say in the days following that night. 

It's a damn shame. They were just kids. 

I knew that John Routledge. He always seemed like a good guy. 

Those kids had a lot of years ahead of them. It's too bad. 

Those were the people that drove John B out into the storm and now they wanted to feel sad over his death? It took everything in JJ not to punch every Kook in the fucking mouth. That was his best friend they were talking about. How dare anyone try and sympathize over his death. If they really cared, people would have taken more of a look into Ward or Rafe. JJ knew there were people out there who knew the truth. If they really gave a shit about Sarah and John B, or their deaths, then why isn't anyone trying to bring justice to their names? Their words were only surface level. No one truly cared about John B's life. 

No, for the civilians of Kildare County, life continued as normal. Pogues went back to cleaning yachts and catching fish. Kooks went back to being rich and unbothered. It was like the events that occurred that night only momentarily rattled Kildare. It was the worst fucking night of JJ's entire life, and the only person who seemed to truly give a shit was him. 

With their main suspect dead, the Kildare Police Department closed the Peterkin file. Ward was able to explain away any accusations thrown his way, as Lord knows he had Shoupe wrapped around his finger.  Everything got tied up in a nice, neat little bow for Ward. All he had left to do was follow his gold to the Bahamas and he would be virtually untouchable. JJ wondered if Ward even cared that he had a major hand in the death of his own daughter. Did he feel guilty? Was he mourning for the death of Sarah like JJ was for John B? 

Fuck, was anyone mourning? JJ hadn't seen or heard from Pope or Kiara in days. No calls, no texts, nothing. Where were his best friends? Why did everyone feel so far away?

- 

The world turned slowly for Kiara. Her parents were furious with her for getting involved with John B, for being a Pogue, for rejecting the Kook life that they had groveled to establish for themselves. Kiara didn't want to be rich, or pretentious. Kiara didn't want to be a Kook and her parents never understood that. So, when the warrant went out for John B's arrest and she sided with him over the rest of the Island, her parents jumped at the opportunity to take everything away from her. 

Her life had been dwindled down to juggling between the inside of her bedroom on the south side of Figure Eight and constantly working at The Wreck. Her mom had her on house arrest after the night of the storm, and her only options were working or SAT prep. She wasn't allowed out, she wasn't allowed her phone, she wasn't allowed to see her friends, she wasn't allowed much of anything, really. 

Kiara wondered if JJ was okay. She wondered if he still had to pay his restitution away and if he was sleeping safely at night. She wondered if he had any more encounters with his father. Kiara knew that JJ was well aware of how to take care of himself, but she worried about him anyway. 

She thought about Pope, too. Surely, Heyward had him locked down, probably applying to as many scholarships as he could, or working on his essays. Or, maybe nothing changed for Pope and he was still out running deliveries for his dad, or taking the HMS Pogue out with JJ. 

Kiara felt like she lost everything. She lost John B, she lost Sarah, and she hadn't seen the rest of her friends in days. What happened to "the best summer of their lives"? She was getting real tired of staring at her ceiling all day. 

Fuck this, she thought. Her parents were keeping her away from the Pogue life and for what? To keep her safe? As a punishment? If anything, she needed JJ and Pope more than ever. Her two best friends just died, and her parents were trying to turn this into a life lesson? She was done listening to her Kook parents. It was Kooks that got the Pogues into this mess in the first place. 

She got up from her bed and headed to the window, opening it. She didn't bother checking her door; it had been locked from the outside for days. Her room on the second story of her house on Figure Eight sat at a little less than a fifteen-foot drop to the ground. It had always seemed too far when Kiara had considered it previously, but she couldn't just sit in her room anymore and do nothing. She needed to see Pope and JJ. The Pogue Life was all she had left. 

Kiara swung her legs over the side of her window so she was sitting on the sill looking below her.

Tuck and roll. 

She took a deep breath and pushed herself off the window sill, falling before making contact with the ground and pushing forward into a roll. A pain seared through her right ankle after her landing but she tried to ignore it. She was outside for the first time since the night at The Chateau. 

- 

Pope was helping his father bring a new shipment of deliveries from the dock into Heyward's Seafood when he saw her. 

"Pope!" Kiara hissed from behind one of the pillars on the dock. 

He almost couldn't believe that she was there. Figure Eight seemed pretty quiet from the few deliveries he had made within the last week, and he expected Kiara to be under parental lockdown like he was. "Kie? What the hell are you doing here?"

Kiara waited until Heyward disappeared inside the Seafood shack to approach Pope. "I'm breaking you out," she smiled before Pope set his bags down to embrace her. 

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," Pope started, letting Kiara out of their hug. "I figured you wouldn't be let out of your house and that'd be it," he laughed, half kidding, half serious in his statement. 

"Technically I'm not, but we never leave a Pogue behind, right?" Kiara grinned. "Have you heard from JJ?" 

Pope looked down, "No. I haven't. I hope he's okay." 

"We gotta go find him, Pope. We need each other right now," Kiara looked up at Pope, dead in his eyes. Pope knew she was right. She was always right. 

The door of the Seafood Shack swung back open as Heyward appeared looking for his son. "Pope?" his voice boomed. His eyes landed on Pope talking to the daughter of a Kook and his facial expression changed to that of disapproval. "What the hell are you doing, boy?" 

"Shit," Pope breathed. 

"Pope we gotta go," Kiara started to turn in the direction of the main road. 

Pope did a double-take between his father and Kiara. He knew if he left, he would return to Heyward and his mother, angrier than ever. He would never hear the end of it, but he thought of what Kiara reminded him only moments before. Never leave a Pogue behind. Pope knew what he had to do. JJ needed him. They all needed each other. 

Pope turned towards Heyward, offering an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry, dad. I have to go," he started, before taking off after Kiara. 

The pair ran away from the docks like they had done many times before, with Heyward's calls becoming fainter as they ran. 

-

ok so I HATE this chapter but its pretty long and I needed some filler stuff before the next major plot point I have so bear with me!!!

also thank you all for the lovely comments and votes already! it's only been a couple of days since I decided to write this story and to already be getting feedback is just so amazing. love you all, take care :)

xx mia