𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 ➝ 𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧

𝟐𝟒. 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 ending as I walked through the forest to Rixon's for our meeting. I had dropped my car off at my place and walked the short distance instead of wasting precious gas. As I walked through the forest, I could see the faint light of the bonfire in the distance. Owls cooed from the trees before they flew away into the stary night.

"Finally you're here," John B announced as I walked towards the logs they were sitting on. "Now, we can start the meeting,"

"Okay good, because my dad's already going to kill me," Pope muttered as the fire lit up his face. I sat next to Kie, still in my green dress from earlier.

"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant," John B told us and I was shocked. How was that even possible, everybody knows there were no survivors. "It's been here the whole time. It's on the island,"

"Are you serious?" Kie asked astonished, "Oh my God,"

"I'd like to voice my skepticism," Pope pipped up as the heat-blasted towards my face.

"I'm sure you would Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B said as he stood up from his seat. Pope nodded and he continued, "All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny," He said as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his bag.

"Who the hell is that?" I asked confused and John B answered my question.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survive the Royal Merchant wreck," He told us as he handed me the paper, "Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom,"

I scanned the paper with my finger and sure enough, I found his name printed in cursive at the bottom of the list. I passed the paper to Kie and continued to listen to John B's discovery.

"After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is..." All four of us hit our knees repeatedly, building up the suspense, "Tannyhill Plantation,"

"Tannyhill?" Kie exclaimed.

"Yeah. So after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pissed off all the white planters. And then they decide to lynch him. So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold," John B told us and I was still skeptically about all of this.

"You're joking, right. This seems to... planned out," I told him as I fiddled with the side of my dress.

"But I'm not," He smiled, "Harvest the wheat, in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out," He moved towards Pope who was holding the list in his hand. "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water,"

"Holy shit," Pope muttered and I could see the excitement in his face; all our faces.

"All we need now is an original survey map of the property, and we've found the gold," John B finished and JJ quickly moved to hug him.

"Okay, so this might have a small chance of being true," Pope told us while JJ told John B that he was proud of him.

"Guys, if we find the map and the gold, we'll be filthy rich! Do you know what that means?" I asked the group, ecstatic.

"OBX album?" Kie asked.

"Textbooks?" Pope added.

"Koi pond?" JJ inquired and I looked at the group, a cheeky smile on my face,