Chasing Sunshine | JJ Maybank

37 // Dead Calm

"Guys, I don't really want to talk about it anymore."

My body was pressed uncomfortably against the passenger side door of Pope's pickup truck with him and Kie squished beside me as the three of us tried to share a space meant for two. After James had left, I had wiped away the tears and splashed a bit of cold water on my face to reduce the ugly splotches of red, then I found the pair of them at Heyward's store. I tried to play along like nothing had happened by listening and making half-hearted suggestions to Pope's gold-retrieving design but Kie sniffed out my distress after only about twenty minutes. As the sun went down, I recounted every word my brother and I had exchanged and an hour later, here we were, driving back to John B's to prepare everything for the following evening.

"But what are you going to do? I mean, are you going to go tomorrow?" Kie asked as we pulled into the pitch black yard and I mimed hitting my head repeatedly against the window. I was sick of the questions I didn't know how to answer.

"I don't know okay? Can we just focus on getting this gold, I need the distraction," I grumbled, pushing open the door and jumping to the ground the minute Pope shifted the vehicle into park. He rested his arms on the wheel, looking over at me carefully.

"I don't think that's probably the most constructive use of-"

"Pope," I snapped facing him through the open door, "Stop...please." The two of them exchanged a defeated look and shrugged before getting out of the car themselves. "Great, thank you!" I said with an exasperated sigh and Kie rolled her eyes. "Now, go over the plan again."

"We got John B and JJ inside the well, and me up top. You two and Sarah will be outside transporting," Pope explained, coming around to meet the pair of us at the tailgate.

"Yeah, we got this," Kie affirmed, lowering it on its hinges.

"Speaking of which, has anybody heard from either of them?" I asked, jumping inside and pushing things towards the edge for them to grab. Both of them shook their heads no.

"They better be there, this all has to be wrapped up in enough time for my scholarship interview in the morning," Pope muttered.

"Of course, how could we forget?" I teased with a cheeky smile, sliding the length of rope into his waiting hands. He gave me an unamused glare and went on as if he hadn't heard anything.

"We've got the winch?"

"Check."

"And the tin?" he asked me, and I nodded, standing up straight in the bed and looking around with my hands on my hips at the heavier items we would leave in here for the time being. "You know, it can hold over like-"

"200 to 300 pounds," Kie finished for him with a grin, "We know Pope."

I chuckled, accepting Pope's outstretched hand as I crouched and hopped back onto the ground. She paused, speaking again to the both of us even though her gaze was centered on him, "Thank you guys."

"Uh, what for?" he asked and my brow raised, wordlessly echoing his question.

"Stranding us...you know, making us make up."

"What makes you think that was us?" I replied playfully but the sudden illumination of the space around us suceeded in interrupting any further conversation, while the whir of a generator sounded in the distance.

"What the hell?" Pope questioned.

Kie spoke at the same time. "Who the hell is that?"

The three of us cautiously began walking around the corner and I looked up as we did so, taking in the long strings of golden bulbs laid in the low branches of the trees. I was throughly perplexed; those had definitely not been there before and one glance told me Kie and Pope were just as clueless as I was. The answer to our questions was revealed to us as we rounded the bend, only to be replaced by about twenty more.