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THIRTY-FIVE START THE CAR
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As soon as Alisha stepped into the car, it was clear she had kind of been through the wringer. Her cheeks were red and tear-streaked and Norman could make out five quarter-sized bruises around her neck. He gulped, having a sickening feeling about what she had dealt with. The night had begun to settle as the six of them sat silently in Kiara's car, not sure where to go from here. They had gotten the blood off of John B's hands as best they could and the boy seemed to be mostly back to normal, but he still wasn't speaking to them about what had happened. Norman was worried.
"Here," JJ said, handing Alisha a bag of ice wrapped in a towel, "Rocky didn't know what you'd need, so we just brought this."
"Thanks," the girl muttered, pressing the ice pack to her neck. Norman noticed something pass through their gaze -- an understanding of each other. The boy's heart broke for both of them.
Once Alisha was in the car, John B began driving without a word. It was still eerie how silent he was compared to usual. The air of the group was off. Everyone was trying not to panic, their gold was halfway to Cuba, and the Sheriff was dead. Norman had a feeling things weren't going to work themselves out this time.
After a deadly silent car ride, they pulled up to a building Norman recognized. JJ was the first to speak, "John B, what are we doing at the police station?"
"This is like the worst place to be right now," Alisha mumbled as she sunk lower in her seat. "If my dad sees me, I'm dead."
"He won't," Norman assured, turning around from the passenger seat to grab the girl's hand and squeeze it gently. "You have us to keep you safe for now, Lish."
"Yeah, for now," the girl scoffed, looking like she was about to cry. "Things are going to get really bad, really soon, Rocky, I just know it. We shouldn't be here."
"Someone has to tell them what happened," John B explained with an exasperated sigh, "God only knows what Ward said."
It was then that Pope started coughing, still smoking an ungodly amount considering the stress they were under. JJ noticed this, chastising, "Woah, easy there, chief."
"Damn," Pope muttered, continuing to cough. No one bothered him further as he caught his breath.
JJ reached up, placing a hand on John B's shoulder, "All right. I'm just gonna be real with you right now. You might end up in the lion's den, but you don't go there on purpose. It's fundamental, just like my old man always told me, you should never ever trust cops, no matter what the circumstance is."
"Your old man's an abusive liar," Kiara spat, clearly not liking the words coming out of JJ's mouth. Norman had a feeling part of her was just nervous for John B and considering they hadn't heard from Sarah all day -- it was killing her.
