𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖 ➸𝙟𝙟 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠

𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯

╔────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╗
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
VIDEO GAMES [LANA DEL RAY]

╚────── ･ ｡ﾟ*.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.──────╝

"JJ" Nova mumbled into his chest, water from her body soaking into his shirt.

He hummed in response, his arms managing to get even tighter around her small frame,

"JJ, gotta let go." John B spoke as he entered the boat.

JJ blushed and released his grip on the girl, Nova grabbing her towel and drying off her body, leaving her hair damp and slicked back as she glistened in the sunlight.

"Hey, guys?" Kiara asked, her eyes fixated on something in the distance, "Bogey, two o'clock."

Nova turned around in confusion, her eyes scanning the water quickly before landing on a boat in the distance.

"Do you recognize that boat?" Pope asked quickly, the group watching it come closer and closer.

Kie answered quickly, "I've never seen it."

"What is he doing back there, the marsh is closed?" Nova wondered aloud.

JJ looked over at her, her golden skin and her deep brown hair, "I don't know. Let's not stick around to find out."

John B had a calm look in his eye that Nova tried to focus on, she didn't want to be nervous unless her brother was, and it was probably just a harmless boat anyway.

"JJ get the bowline." Her brother asked toward the blonde. She watched as he obeyed, Nova walking over to Kiara and Pope to try and figure out what's happening.

"Should we wait on em?" Pope asked the ground, staring back at us.

"Oh fuck no." Nova answered for them, running a hand through her wet hair.

"Go get the stern." John B spoke towards Pope, continuing when he stood there, "Go!"

Nova took notice of the way the boat sped up in the distance, coming closer and closer to the teens.

"JJ you better speed this shit up." She spoke towards the blonde, her tone threaded with a layer of anxiousness, but also, a layer of excitement.

Nova found her life full of sorrow and sadness all the time. She never allowed herself to be fully happy ever, she always found a way to remind herself that something terrible could happen, but she sort of had a thought, maybe this little treasure hunt was enough to keep her distracted for a while, enough to keep her mind from spinning backwards instead of forwards.

"Let's go!" Kiara yelled towards JJ, her words strict.

JJ worked at the task panicked and quickly, his heart racing as he got the bowline.

"I don't like the look of this." Nova heard her brother say. She placed her hand on his shoulder to reassure him, Nova had a lot of dark thoughts, but after 2 nights ago, she just felt numb.

"Are they coming for us?" JJ asked, hesitation and fear evident in the way his voice shook.

Pope tried to think positive, mumbling out quickly, "Maybe they're fishing?"

Once they started to get closer, the group began to panic more, Nova on the other hand sipped a beer and watched the madness go down. It was funny, she thought she would be freaking out but she couldn't help but think that she's had worse happen. She didn't feel in danger, her brain wasn't thinking about anything heavy, it was focused on the situation in hand, she was focused on her friends.

"Go, go, go, go!" JJ yelled as the boat inched itself closer, Pope yelling at us to go into the marsh.

"Let's go!" Kiara repeated herself from earlier, John B quickly firing back,

"I'm going. Act natural."

"Hey guys?" Kiara yelled out, "They're following us."

"Shit." Nova swore, her eyes fixated on the boat following fast behind them.

"Dude, go faster!" JJ called out, John B huffing in response. Nova set her beer down, trying to allow herself to take in the severity of the situation.

And there it was, the gun.

Now Nova hated guns, all kinds. She didn't like people who had them, people who wanted them, and people who used them. She was terrified of them. She remembers having nightmares when she was younger about getting shot, she always woke up when the gun was pointed at her, that old saying that you can't die in your dreams always seemed true. She never saw what happened afterwards, but she always assumed death was the ending, and it was true.

Death was always the ending.

She wished she would've known that.

Nova felt her eyes close when the first shot was fired, JJ jumping over her, pinning her to the ground and shielding her frame with his.

She wanted to tell him to take more cover, but she couldn't find it in herself to muster the words.

She grabbed his hand quickly, squeezing hard to try and let herself breathe, to let herself be okay.

"Holy shit guys!" She heard Kiara scream, her voice shaky and scared.

She found herself worried for her brother, her mind running a million miles a minute thinking about any possible thing she could do to fix the situation, to regain control.

She needed to feel some form of control, she had too.

"Oh my God we're gonna die." Pope cried out.

Nova shoved JJ off of her, making a mental note to apologize for her aggressiveness later, not that he wasn't used to being shoved around.

"Shit, JJ move."

Nova stood up, ignoring JJ's confused yells and John B's pleads for her to please get the fuck down, and grabbed a net.

Another shot rang out, Nova felt it go by right next to her, managing to avoid the bullet. She yelped as it went by, JJ begging her to take cover,

"Nova please get down." He roared at her.

She threw the net in the water and immediately ducked down next to Kiara, the two girls quickly throwing arms around each other as another shot was fired.

She heard the clank of the boat behind them, peering over the edge of the boat when she saw them slow down.

One more shot rang in the air, Nova closing her eyes in Kie's embrace and sighing.

"Oh my god." She breathed, listening as the boys cheered.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

sorry ab the delay again it's
just kinda weird writing
on vacation idk. anyway
vote for the next chapter...
i just wrote it and it's the
moment you've all been
waiting for.