KILBY GIRL. - J. MAYBANK

❛ EPISODE SIX, PART TWO. ❜

Yes ? No?

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❛ PARCEL NINE ❜
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S 01 E 06

"Here we go."

The four of us slipped into the dusty and humid basement, myself leading with the flashlight while everyone cowered behind me. JJ seemed to be right behind me, his breath fanning over my shoulders, sending goosebumps across my body and a burning sensation into my stomach. Pope and Kiara were directly behind him, their heavy steps and huffing filling the tiny space.

We walked along a mix of concrete and wood, dust floating around us as we frantically looked for anything that could help us.

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads." JJ sing-songed, a laugh bubbling in my throat at the little nursery rhyme. "Up came the sun and dried up all the blood."

"Can you stop?" Pope whipped around to the blonde. The floorboards above us creaked, which make Kie let out a mix of a gasp and a sigh.

"See any water?" Her words were laced with sarcasm as she swatted away a mosquito. I ignored her and continued to look around. "Another dead end?"

"There's not even water on the pipes," JJ commented, rubbing his fingers along the dry and rusted pipes.

"There's no water here."

"Not a dropamino."

"Know why we didn't find it?" The girl piped up again as I was running my hand through my hair, causing me to look at her. "Bad karma."

"Oh, she's starting— here we go."

"You know, we had a good thing going. and then you decide to rope in Barbie, the trail's gone dry." She ranted, stepping closer to me. "Coincidence? Probably not."

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah. Now you've got your panties all in a twist." I scoffed in response.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. What the hell's the deal with you two?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing. Okay. Is this because I got on your ass about leading me on? Is that your problem?"

SMACK!

My cheek burned at the contact, my jaw and fists clenching almost immediately. She did not just hit me.

"Oh!"

"Hey! Don't—"

"That echoed dude."

"Stop treating me like I did something wrong. It's not my fault you're a sensitive bitch and couldn't handle getting rejected. I hurt your ego, didn't I? I'm your best friend that's trying to look out for you, not one of the girls that you play around with."

"What the fuck? Did you just hit me? Seriously?" I asked lowly, my skin aching. "You act like I'm some kind of horrible fucking person because I've hooked up with people. Stop being a hypocrite, Kiara."

"It was a skeeter." She ignored the rest of my comment, holding up her hand to show a smashed mosquito.

"Skeeter?"

"Yeah, you see it?"

"Yeah." I slapped her across the face, the sound echoing again.

"Okay, guys, chill."

"Relax—"

"Where's your proof, Chayse?"

I held up my hand, a smug grin on my lips knowing that there was a little bug on my palm as well. "Skeeter."

She hit my stomach next. "There's probably one there."

I went for her arm. "There's one right there."

"Yeah, really? You saw that?"

Pope tried to quiet us but we continued to smack each other.

"On your forehead."

"You're dead! That's it." She laughed, backing away from me. "Today's the day that you die."

"Jesus." The brunette boy groaned, his blonde counterpart chuckling and watching us.

"Today's your funeral." I smacked her hand again. "One bandito."

"These things are a frickin' swarm!" Pope complained, smacking his own arm.

"You see this?"

"Hey, shush, keep it down." JJ now attempted to calm the rest of us down, to no avail.

Kie laughed as I lunged at her, trying to get ahold of her.

"You know how this ends."

"Why are there so many mosquitos in a basement?" The coily-haired boy wondered aloud.

"Dude, I know, seriously. Tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone." JJ whined. I gave up on catching Kiara and stood beside him to continue looking around, scratching the side of my neck in the process. "Oh, my gosh— okay, can we leave? 'Cause I'm already itchin' to leave. Huh? Punny."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, turning my head toward him. "Never speak again. Please."

He did nothing more than chuckle and go back to looking at the bizarre things along the shelves of the basement. "I just found Mrs. Crain's voodoo doll, guys."

"Oh, shit." The other girl giggled, looking at the tattered doll. She motioned at it, which made me confused until JJ decided to throw it directly at me, which made me shriek and jump away before it made contact.

I gasped, scandalized. "You asshole— do you want me to get possessed?"

"I don't know, maybe. Demon chicks are hot."

"Shut up!" I laughed loudly, smacking him. He tried to hit me back, but I stepped out of his reach before he could. He proceeded to lunge in my direction and try to grab me, much like how Kie and I were messing around moments ago. He managed to get a decent grip on my good forearm, the fingers on his other hand grabbing the belt loop on my opposite hip to keep me still. Our eyes locked and the two of us bust into laughter, my cheeks still warming at the close contact.

"Hey, guys!" Pope caught our attention. "Hey. Help me move this."

"Hey, sh!"

"Help me move this."

We quickly got to work on moving all of the random junk off of a set of wood planks in the middle of the space. wood clanked together with every item that we put down, causing everyone to shush each other, as if that would do any good. We began to lift the planks of the wood as Kie mentioned something about Mrs. Crain being right upstairs, but I paid no mind to her comment and got my head back in the game.

Once all of the planks were off, we were met with a gaping hole, a disgusting stench wafting into our faces.

"What the hell is this?" I mumbled, shining my flashlight down the cavern.

"Well, well, well," Pope commented, a laugh creeping up my throat.

"That was really good P" I nudged his side. "I like it better than JJ's."

"Hey! My joke was good." The blonde shoved me lightly, my body lunging to the side. Now, I know he didn't mean to be harsh, but the fact that I was on the edge of a seemingly endless well wasn't exactly benefiting my lack of coordination. I stumbled, a quick burst of panic washing over me momentarily before the blonde grabbed the back of my bicep, steadying me. "Shit— I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

"You're fine, don't worry." I laughed, looking back over the edge again, feeling a tad bit safer at the tangible feeling of his hand gently gripping my arm so I wouldn't trip again.

"They built this part of the house right over it." Kie breathed, her eyes searching the well for anything remotely interesting.

"This is where she hid the bodies," JJ said mindlessly.

"Dude, come on—" Pope shoved his arm.

"Stop."

"No, I'm dead serious."

"Hah. Dead serious."

"Chayse! JJ! Stop it!"

"It was never an outhouse."

"She probably doesn't even know it's here."

"So.." Pope trailed off, looking at me. "We found water."

"We're gonna need one hell of a rope." I grinned, hope billowing in my chest.