Remember When {JJ Maybank}

7

His friends gathered by the window to see two guys step out of a black truck. "Guys, is that them?"

"No." John B muttered, not believing that they found his address.

"Oh shit." Maggie mumbled, rubbing her eyes with her hands to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"John B, I told you," JJ started, fear flooding his veins. John B shoved JJ against the wall, "where's the gun?"

"The gun?- Uh- I can't-"

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kie cried out, covering her mouth with her hands.

Maggie felt the sudden urge to either cry or puke, the adrenaline in her body was making her thought process fuzzy. "It was in my backpack, and then I- it's on the porch." JJ concluded, walking towards the front of the house.

"John Routledge!" One of the men screamed out, sending her brain into fight or flight mode.

He sped back in, slamming the door shut and locking it.

"Guys!" Kie sobbed, "hey! Kie, Kie, listen to me we're gonna get out of here okay? Just breathe." Maggie said, holding onto her friends shoulders. "I know it's scary as fuck but standing here crying won't do us any good." Her friend nodded her head. Maggie let go, wiping her own tears that left her eyes.

"They're on the front porch." JJ whispered, flinching as the men continued to scream out for John B.

Maggie paced back and forth as she heard the crashes of things being flipped, thrown and broken. She went to the window with JJ and attempted to open it, only to have it painted shut. "Fuck! Fuck!" She whispered, nearly ripping her fingernails off as she pushed. She moved away so Pope could try, nothing.

"Guy's here, I got it." Kie said, holding a knife letter opener. She jammed it into the ledge and wiggled it around to see if anything would help. JJ and Maggie turned to John B and Pope who were by the door, they held their index fingers up to their lips, shushing them. It got silent when all they could hear was the sound of footsteps coming closer.

The doorhand rattled, "you better not be in there!" The man screamed, starting to kick the door in an attempt to open it.

A piece broke off the door, flying into the air nearly hitting John B. Maggie jumped in the air at a gun shooting the door handle, all she could think about was that she and her friends were gonna die. She now understood what JJ meant when he said he was just waiting for death, and it terrified her.

Kie got the window open and climbed out, JJ shoved Maggie in front of him so she could go. They made a b-line right into the chicken and rooster coop, shoving themselves against the walls as far as they could to stay out of plain sight.

Maggie was situated between John B and Kie. The chickens cluck loudly and repeatedly, "Do something Pope!" JJ instructed, laying down flat on the ground.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope whisper shouted.

"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." Kie begged, her voice wavering.

The minute John B sat back against the wall, Maggie knew that at least one of the men's attention was caught. She clamped her free hand over her mouth to prevent any noise from coming out.

A chicken flew over towards JJ who grabbed onto it by the neck. Holding it to the ground, he forced pressure on it's neck, snapping like a twig. Maggie squeezed her eyes shut, her body shaking. JJ leaned back, 'I'm sorry.' He mouthed to her, she sent him an understanding nod.

She inhaled softly, trying to keep her calm. John B reached over and intertwined their hands together. She turned her head to see Kie holding back tears.

Maggie used her free hand to hold onto Kie's giving it a tight squeeze to let her know it was gonna be okay. John B tightened his grip on hers as he watched the men drive away with a bunch of his father's research.

Once the coast was clear, they left the chicken coop and headed into John B's van to God knows where. Maggie sat in the back, her eyes staring out the window as she tried to process what had just happened.

She was pulled out of her train of thoughts as she heard John B snap at his friends, "I'm not concocting, okay? My dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B." Kie sympathized.

"Look, I-I don't need a therapy session, okay?" He raised his voice, "look, I'm not trippin' out."

"It's okay to trip, bro, but-" JJ started, only to get cut off, "Look, my- my dad is missing, okay? Missing. You don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened." John B looked at Maggie through the rearview mirror, "except- except you Mags." His voice softened.

"I get it," she spoke up for the first time since they left the coop, "you just wake up every morning wondering. Wondering if you could've done something to prevent it. Wondering if they were taken on purpose or- or it was a freak accident covered up. Wondering if you're getting your hopes up." John B nodded his head, as shitty as it sounded he was glad someone understood how he was feeling so he knew he wasn't crazy.

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ spoke out loud.

"Yeah, could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere." Pope deadpanned.

"Absolutely. Uh... or Atlantis."

Maggie looked up at JJ and she couldn't help but think about what she was feeling towards him. Sure they had always flirted with each other, but was Maggie just joking around like he was, or was it something more serious?

Maggie's eyes caught sight of the sign that read, 'REDFIELD LIGHTHOUSE 'CLOSED DUE TO HURRICANE.'

The group got out of the van, JJ jumped out of the back, holding his hand out for Maggie to grab hold of. Placing her hand in his, she hopped out of the van inhaling the smell of the ocean. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she took in the view.

"Right, you're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" He pointed to JJ, Maggie, and Pope. "Wait... Why me?" The blonde pointed to himself.

"Because you're not coming." Pope spoke in a 'duh' tone.

"Why?"

"Look JJ there are independent variables and dependent variables. You're an independent. We don't know what you're gonna do." JJ raised his voice telling Pope to shut up.

Maggie rolled her eyes, moving to stand between them. She grabbed both of their ears and slightly pinched a nerve point, instantly stopping their argument and making them fall to their knees.

"Ouch! Shit Mags." Pope whined, holding onto her wrist. "Are you guys done?" Maggie asked, proud of herself that this actually worked. The boys held their hands up in surrender, "yeah we're done." "Yes."

"You know if we were in prison you guys would be my bitches." Maggie laughed, releasing them. "To be fair JJ already is your bitch." John B mumbled, the pairs heads snapping towards him. "What?" "I'm sorry?"

"Nothing. Anyways, Pope, you stand look out with JJ and Mags. Okay? At this point we know Maggie can protect you both. If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house."

"Great."