Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I MEAN IT'S obvious, right?" john b was driving the van to the lighthouse with the other pogues finding things to do inside the vehicle. "a family heirloom. what better place to hide a message? he had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"
"yeah, it's possible." kiara said from the passenger seat.
"it could also be possible that you're concocting wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." pope stated, causing ivy to slap the back of his head. "ow!"
"bro, you know how i process my sad feels." JJ said from his spot on the floor with ivy sat in his lap. "dank nugs in the stickiest of ickies, that's how i do it."
"okay." ivy groaned, getting off of JJ's lap. "that's gross."
"i'm not concocting, okay?" john b defended himself. "my dad's trying to give me a message."
"if it helps you believe, john b." kiara said, gently.
"look, i-i don't need a therapy session, okay? look, i'm not trippin' out." john b laughed humorlessly.
"it's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ started, only to be interrupted by john b.
"look, my-my dad is missing, okay?" JB snapped. "missing. you don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened."
ivy thought back to her mother. she hadn't seen her since the hurricane, the two weren't close, but ivy liked to think that her mom was worrying about her, even though she knew she wasn't. JJ noticed ivy's sad look and set his hand on her leg in attempt to comfort her, to which she smiled lightly.
"just wake up every morning wondering." john b continued.
"it's been almost a year." kiara said, calmly.
"hey, he could've been kidnapped. that's definitely a possibility." JJ brought up, turning to look at pope.
"yeah, could be in soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." pope agreed.
"absolutely. uh... or atlantis." JJ said, setting ivy back on his lap.
"JJ. look, what do you think the message is?" kiara asked john b.
"do people sex traffic middle aged men?" ivy asked, causing JJ to pinch her side.
"redfield." john b stated simply, getting back on the subject. "redfield lighthouse. that's my dad's favorite place."
————
WHEN THE TEENS arrived at the lighthouse, ivy got out, along with the rest of the pogues, and looked to the tall structure, her eyes squinting due to the sun.
"right. here's what's gonna happen: you're gonna post up and look for bogeys, okay?" john b looked at JJ.
