𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 54.

"𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐓," 𝐈 let out a long huff of air as John B stopped outside of a large modern beach house.

My chest was heaving as I stared at the shiplapped paneling along it's walls in the darkness. My legs ached. My stomach cramped. My hands were shaking.

And my heart was still beating out of my chest, at the never-ending thought of Sarah walking through that fire, and the shouts from all the police officers, and the calls coming from every teenager that had helped look for us. The image of the orange flames burning just about every inch of wood in that very church, poked at my mind as well. The bright colours caused my eyes to close in a blink at the memory, and the hot flames felt as though they were burning my skin, now— just thinking about it.

"Yeah, I think so," he sighed, with a glance up at the address.

I looked to our side. With a tired arm, I lazily pointed a finger to where my eyes had landed on, pointing at Rose Cameron's face on a listing poster, her name in big bold letters underneath.

John B barely nodded his head before squeezing my hand tighter with his, ducking us towards the tall modern door. It was one of the houses Sarah had driven us by on the day she toured around the island. I looked up at the beach house with wide eyes, as John crouched down to reach the door's lock.

He mumbled the code to himself as he pressed the buttons, and I carefully looked around behind and around us, just in case someone happened to be following. There were faint shouts in the distance, but the church was long gone out of sight.

I let out a sigh of relief when the door pushed open. He turned his head around to cut me a short glance, before stepping over the elevated threshold, me following close behind him. I shut the door quietly, cautious not to make any noise.

I didn't know where we were headed, my eyes were hooded from the darkness inside the house, until we reached the flight of stairs. He didn't even have to say anything for the two of us to carefully step up each step, nearly on our tip-toes.

If it had been any normal night, I would've taken my time and looked around the whole place, my jaw probably dropped open, and my facial expression in awe, just by the beauty of the mansion. But all I could see in the dark, was sharp outlines of hanging light fixtures, paintings or portraits on the walls, and furniture. It wasn't any normal night.

By the time we'd made it to the second floor, I wanted nothing more than to simply run into the nearest bedroom and envelop myself into unknown bed covers. But we couldn't sleep in the open.

John B led us into a master bedroom. "Take some of the pillows, Charlie," he said, huffing.

For a quick moment, I looked around the dark room. There was a large window, with thin and half-open curtains, overlooking the vast water. I stared out at the night sky. Down by the dock, there were three boards. And fishing equipment.

I drew my attention away, and bit down on my bottom lip. I didn't say anything as I reached for some of the throw pillows placed on the large bed, the second my fingers touched the comfy material of them, I felt a relief spill over me. I rushed over to John B, who was opening the wide closet doors, dropping the pillows onto the floor.

Then, it was only seconds before we were closing those same doors, surrounding us into an even graver darkness, and lying on the floor, on top of mountains of pillows. I slid my legs underneath the blanket.

"Holy shit," I breathed, sinking further into the comfort I'd gone too many hours without.

John B was breathing heavily beside me, his pants coming out shaky.

"Hey, hey," I scooted myself closer to him, cuddling into his side. I reached a hand up to cup the side of his face, "it's okay, JB, we're safe," I whispered, "We're safe in here."

I watched as he closed his eyes in a hard blink, breathing out slowly.

"They're still out there," he murmured.

"I know." I said, quietly. "But we're gonna get out tomorrow morning— I saw some paddle boards on the dock outback, we can use those, right, to the docks where the Pogues'll be?"

"Yeah," he huffed, his voice straining as he adjusted himself on the floor.

He wrapped an arm around my back, his fingers hooking onto the belt loops of my jean shorts, resting there for comfort. I placed my head on his chest.

Lying there, on the floor, inside a closet of an unknown beach house on Figure Eight, I felt a lot different. Everything was changed. Last time John B had held me in his arms, was back at his place, in his bed, the night before I went to TannyHill.

I closed my eyes at the memory.

"This is insane," I said, my voice soft. "And I thought last week was crazy."

I felt his chest rise up slightly, in the form of a small chuckle.

"I knew you were trouble," I jokingly poked at his chin. "But not fugitive kind of trouble." It wasn't the time for jokes, but nothing else was going to lighten the mood. I traced shapes on the material of his t-shirt.

There was a long pause of silence.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice low, "I'm sorry, Charlotte, for dragging you into thi—"

"Sh," I hushed him, and rose myself up just a little bit.

I placed my lips on his, kissing him slowly, and softly. I pulled away after only a second, looking into his eyes. A small smile pulled at my lips.

Before I could say anything, a loud wail of sirens echoed off the window, sending John B to sit right up, with a hitch of his breath.

"Hey— hey, hey," I placed both hands on his shoulders, keeping my voice calm, even though a strike of fear had shot into my chest. "It's okay, it's okay, they're not gonna find us,"

Slowly, with his chest heaving at an unsteady pace, I guided him to lay back down beside me.

I held him close, and he held me tighter.

"Look— hey, look," I pinned his attention back onto me. "We're gonna meet the crew at the dock tomorrow, yeah," I lightly grazed a thumb over his cheek, and felt him nod, "And, and, Jj's gonna have his dad's boat,"

"Then we go to Mexico," he continued, breathing slowly.

I felt my stomach drop at the 'we', but kept it to myself, same as I did back in the bell tower.

"Then it's the getaway," I said. "And then, when we get the gold, meet up with the Pogues, we can celebrate my birthday," I looked up to him, feeling a small trickle up to my lips, "Like you said,"

I could see a tiny smile rising to his lips as well, "Buy you a car,"

"Buy me a car," I repeated, "Teach me how to drive,"

"Yeah," he huffed.

"Everything's gonna be okay." I said, sounding sure.

But really, I wasn't sure of anything. Nothing at all.

___

Sarah Cameron.

"Alright listen up," The tall officer spoke loudly over endless chatter.

As I tilted my neck up to pin eyes on him, standing proud in front of everyone, my body ached. I had been sitting in the same chair all night, occupied by the hands of every officer, and under the eyes of persistent watch. My mind ached from all the constant questions— the questions that never seemed to stop. All referring to John B and Charlotte, how I knew them, how I found them, why I helped them, and where they had gone. Those were the only reoccurring words thrown at me during the span of twelve hours.

After the church, after I had stumbled out of the burning doors wearing John's sweater, the sheriffs had pinned me down like a butterfly on a cork board. I was their new intel, I was a certain weapon they hadn't seen themselves ever getting hold of. When they had handcuffed my hands, and brought me to the tents down by the water, in the clearing near the docks, I didn't tell them anything. They pushed and poked for information, anything at all, but I kept my lips sealed.

An hour in, my father arrived at the makeshift station, putting on an act. I was the only one who could see through it. His face twisted with looks of concern and worry, as he had rushed towards me in the dark, grabbing my arms and urgently searching for wounds or injuries, muttering curse words out of "distress". The officers fed into it, and while I sat there, staring down at the table filled with electronics and unknown gadgets, my own father pretended to fear the worst, rambling abut how I had snuck out. When he heard about the church, I was sure he was going to blow up— explode. But the act played on.

The officers, every single one of them, believed that his portrayal of a concerned father, was real. It made my stomach twist and turn, my hands shake and tremble, and my eyes to water when I realized just how badly he had the whole island fooled. They didn't question, for a second, if he had anything to do with it. They went along as he dodged the truth, dodged every question with another lie, another lie that they believed with full confidence. All I wanted to do was scream out that he was wrong, that he was a liar, but I couldn't. I simply didn't have it in me.

When they had sat me down in a chair in the main tent, all my mind could think about was John B and Charlotte. If they had made it to Rose's listing okay. If they'd been spotted by the roaming cops. The racing thoughts in my mind helped me to ignore all the officers crouching in front of me, asking the same burning questions, aiming to get at least something out of me. But I stared at the ground, thinking elsewhere. Their lips moved fast, but I didn't hear a word at all. A medic had came in a bandaged up my ankles, my ankles in which were prickled by the flames in the church, as they continued to interrogate.

"We have a blanket warrant on all residences assumed to be empty," the SBI agent, now spoke over everyone in the tent.

People, some in uniform, and others in not, swarmed around the long table placed in the centre of the tent, covering my view of most. They were sitting in chairs, with computers and different electronics spread out before them, with radios attached to their shirts, earbuds in their ears, and headsets on. When I had first seen all of them, heavy at work to keep the island on lockdown, my jaw had fallen to the floor. There were about three massive tents, all swarmed with agents and police officers, all set up for the suspect, John B.

It was now midday, twelve full hours after I stumbled out of the church.

"We have checkpoints on the bridge to limit mobility, and coast guard has eyes on the water." The SBI agent explained.

I was barely listening as I stood up from the uncomfortable plastic chair they had put me in, the one I slept on for the night. I had had half a day to think about my friends, my brother, my dad, and the whole situation— to think about how I could get the truth out, it was finally the time I was going to say it. I wasted no minutes in heading straight for the agent, who was done conducting his latest update.

I swallowed, hard, as I departed my lips to speak, "Excuse me, sir," I said, urgently.

My eyes quickly wandered our surroundings, my head whipping in different directions as I approached the target. The tall man's attention was pulled away from a side conversation with one of the scarier men in full black uniform— who held a gun over his chest— his head turning to look at me.

"Excuse me, sir," I called again, skipping up to them, "I have— I have something to say, sorry, I—"

"We'll get you an officer," The man in black uniform cut me off, nodding strongly.

The man with the gun stepped towards me, wrapping a hand around my wrist, aiming to guide me away to another tent. I hassled to pull away.

"No—" I denied, stopping, "I need, I need to speak to the SBI agen—"

The man continued to pull, both hands on my arms, refusing to let me go. I bickered and desperately tried to break away.

"That's enough, Thomas," the SBI agent put a strong hand out, ceasing.

The arms around me loosened their grip, and I was soon standing untouched. I wiped a hand along my shoulders as if pushing away the feeling, and looked up to make eye contact with the man.

Before my lips could even depart, my father's voice called out.

"Sarah," he gasped, with a tone of relief, "You're up, finally, you're up,"

I turned my head to the side, as Ward scrambled past people in the next tent, his eyes filled with a fake expression of happiness upon seeing me. Immediately, my vision went foggy, at the sheer realization of what I knew he was about to do.

"C'mon, sweetheart, I'm allowed to take you home now, it's okay," he let out a calm laugh, as he directly approached me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

Even though I was taking steps backwards to shield myself away from my own father, my attempts weren't strong enough, for he began to slowly pull me away from the agent.

"Come on, Sarah, let these guys do their job, all right," he tried to pull me, "I'm sorry, sir," he gave a small laugh to the agent, still watching us.

As he pushed me, I felt a jumble of thoughts go through my head, and all I could think of doing, was shouting.

"No!" I yelled, over his shoulder, "John B— John B didn't shoot the sheriff—"

Ward chuckled, laughing as if I was being stupid, "That's enough, sweetie, let's go hom—"

I scraped and pulled at his arms, trying to break free. "I'm telling the truth!"

"Sarah!" Dad shouted, with aggression, "Sir, I am so sorry, I can tell you that this is not true. I gave a sworn deposition to the sheriff's department." He told the agent quickly, trying to remain calm.

I panted relentlessly, trying to catch my breath, but my lips fell open in shock at his words, "No," I breathed, in disbelief.

"My daughter was not there. She doesn't know what she's talking about." He told the agent, with full confidence, shaking his head disapprovingly a few times.

I fought against my father's arms, "That's a lie—"

"Sarah— please!" he yelled over my voice.

But I couldn't just let him cover the truth with more lies, "Everything he's saying is a lie!" I screamed.

"Okay— fine!" He cut me off again, and this time his voice caught attention from everyone else around us, even louder than before. His arms detached from my body, but he kept me in front of him. "Fine." He pretended to act sad, as if I were truly, and genuinely loosing my mind.

As I stood in front of my father, my own father, tears were bubbling in my eyes. I was catching my breath, chest heaving in and out unsteadily.

"Who did it then, Sarah." He stared at me right in my eyes.

I knew exactly what he was doing. The look in his eyes were silently telling me to keep up the guard, and I could see a sense of hope in them, hope that I wouldn't spill the truth. Almost as if he thought that staring at me that way, wouldn't push me over the edge. That I would stay quiet. Maybe that I'd think about my life, think about my family, how much I was supposed to love them and protect them. He was trying to show me anything at this point, anything that could keep me quiet.

"Who killed Sheriff Peterkin." The words rang in my ears.

I took small steps back, my breaths whimpering by the second. Everyone went quiet. The agent stared at me with an interest, an urgent interest. My dad prayed I wouldn't say it. But soon enough, with a long huff, I let it slide. My own brother's name spilled past my lips, in a low sob.

"Rafe." I whispered, voice cracking. But my voice was loud enough for them to hear.

The agent's eyebrows narrowed, and he took a step forward.

My dad's eyes shut in a hard blink. He tilted his head back.

I pushed passed him, standing in front of the agent. I sniffled, "My brother Rafe shot Sheriff Peterkin."

Saying the words out loud, rather than just repeating them in my head like I'd been doing for the passed days, made my stomach turn even more. Tears slipped down the sides of my face, but I stayed put, until I couldn't.

As predicted— in a matter of sheer seconds, my dad was pulling me away again, shouting lies, and covering over what I had said. I pushed him off of me, sending him flying backwards, screaming. But that wasn't enough.

Although I was fighting, kicking my legs, and yelling at the very top of my lungs, Ward and another officer succeeded in picking me up off the ground, taking me over to the car. The whole time, I was yelling for the SBI agent, until my mouth covered over by a hand, the car door was shut, and I was stuck again, on my way back to TannyHill.

✰༄✰

this is confusing ✌🏻

i just started school so if i don't update for like months i probably have corona

𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 !!