𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐎
𝟐𝟎:𝟎𝟎 - 21:23
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨 »𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘

∞

𝐀𝐕𝐀'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐕:

My eyes peel open and a bright light immediately blasts into them, making me slam them shut again and a loud groan escapes my lips.

"Ava?"

I open one eye, trying to avoid the beaming light and see who was speaking.

"Ava?"

It's JJ, he's holding my hand and rubbing his thumb gently over the back of it, his eyes scanning my face desperately.

"The light." I croak out, lazily lifting my hand to point at the circular light, "It's killing my eyes."

"Oh, shit." He flicks it off quickly, turning it out of the way, "Sorry."

I slowly open both my eyes revealing a white hospital room with just JJ and I inside. My eyes float down to my right arm to see it in a white cast.

"They broke it." He mumbles, noticing how my gaze lingered on it, "Guess we won't be able to fully hook up any time soon, as seen as you're now officially disabled."

I glare at him, reaching my free arm to smack his chest, "That's where your brain goes immediately, playboy? Sex and hooking up? I'm honestly not surprised in the slightest."

He winks and a doctor walks in, causing his smirk to drop to a sensible expression; shocking me slightly. The doctor has a clipboard resting on her arm and she reads the top line before addressing me, "Nice to see that you're awake, Ava."

I smile gently, "How long have I been out?"

"A day and a few hours."

My eyes widen and I stick my neck out in surprise, "What the fuck?" I glance over at JJ and he nods, sitting back in his seat.

"Don't worry, your boyfriend stayed with you the whole time." She nods her head towards the blonde boy beside me and he smirks happily.

"Ew, no." I grimace, shaking my head, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Yet." JJ whispers, and I try my hardest to ignore his comment.

"Either way, he stayed. You're lucky to have someone who cares that much." She smiles gently, eyes floating back down to her clipboard.

"Where are the others?" I ask JJ, trying to change the subject.

"In the waiting room. Only one of us was allowed in at a time for some reason." He grumbles moodily.

"So, Ava," The doctor flips the paper, "You have no major injuries which is great. You'll have some bruises on your stomach and back for a while. You, clearly, have a broken arm, your nose was bleeding but luckily it wasn't broken. You are free to leave whenever, just be steady."

I nod while she leaves, "Thanks."

"I swear to god I'm gonna kill those dudes. Next time I see them," JJ stands up, jokingly imitating a karate stance, kicking his leg into the air, "They're gonna get fucked up."

I laugh and watch him continue to attempt karate, his hands and legs flailing around, "I'm sure they'd be terrified.

"Ava?" Kie opens the door, "Oh, you're awake." She throws her head back, "Was starting to think I'd be the only girl left."

I swing my legs over the side of the bed, "Hey. And, no, I ain't leaving you alone with those crackheads."

"JJ," Her eyes land on the still fighting boy, "Uh, could you give us a minute, please?"

"Why can't I stay?" He tilts his head, stopping his messy movements.

"It's girly gross stuff." She sighs, sitting beside me, "Leave."

He grimaces, raising his hands in a surrender "Okay, okay." He leaves quickly, shutting the door behind him.

"So, you two dating yet?" She smirks, nudging me.

"Nope," I shake my head, "Nice to know that those bastards didn't get to any of you."

"Ava, don't change the subject." She says, "JJ was pissed when he wasn't allowed to see you how they left you."

"What? Why— Explain," I raise an eyebrow.

"The men beat you up bad, A. You were covered in blood from your nose. We knew that it would have messed JJ up even more if we let him see you in that state. He had to be held back by a copper. After that he basically sobbed for hours until you came out of surgery for your arm. Shoupe asked loads of question but we couldn't tell the truth so we made up some shit lie about how you slipped on some water in the kitchen," She sighs, "Ava, I'm so thankful that they didn't injure yourself any worse," She pouts and I chuckle slightly, "Pope and JB have been sat in the waiting room the whole time. John suspects that there's something going on between you and JJ."

"What did you say to him?" I ask.

"Nothing," She holds her hands up in a surrender, "That's a conversation you need to have with him, not me," She stands up and heads for the door, turning last minute, "Come on then."

I rise, taking a second to adjust and stop the dizziness before following her into the corridor.

"Finally." JJ huffs, sliding beside me, "You okay? You good to walk?"

I laugh, "Stop worrying. I'm fine. I broke my arm, not my fucking leg."

"JJ, you have to stop doing all this over her. John B will catch on, he ain't as stupid as he looks," Kiara tells him.

"I don't care about him," JJ snaps, "I care about Ava and how she's doing. She's the priority, not John."

I fake gag, "Stop with that soppy shit, please."

JJ laughs, winking over at me, "You know you love it, princess."

Kie holds her heart, "Awh, you two are too cute."

I slap her arm, "Be quiet. Like, right now."

She smirks and pushes the doors open to the waiting room. Immediately two people rush towards me.

"Ava," John B pulls me into a hug, "You idiot."

"Thanks. That's real nice of ya." I mumble into his shoulder while patting his back with my free arm, "Love you too, I guess."

"Dude, let go of her. I want a hug." Pope pushes John B away gently, taking his spot and gently wrapping me in his arms.

"Hiya, Pope." I smile.

"Hey, Ava." He backs away, "Nearly gave us a freaking heart attack."

"I apologise. I didn't know I was gonna get beat up by two middle aged men." I roll my eyes, "Now, can we please go? I hate this soppy stuff."

"Of course, princess." JJ whispers while bringing the Twinkie keys out of his pocket and throwing them at John B.

I turn to him, "I swear if you call me that again—"

"What are you gonna do? Punch me?" He teases, glancing down at my injured arm.

I push him roughly with my other arm and he jogs ahead, stopping beside Pope. Kie swiftly moves beside me, a mischievous smirk on her faced "A match made in heaven, I swear." She chuckles.

I roll my eyes, "I wish."

~~

"I mean it's obvious, right?" John B says, his head switching between the road and us, "A family heirloom. What better place to hide a message? He had to know it was gonna get back to me, right?"

I lay my head back against a pillow while Pope inspects the compass.

"Yeah. It's possible." Kie nods.

"It could also be possible that you're convoying wild theories to help, you know, deal with your sad feels." Pope shrugs.

"Pope, jesus." I laugh, "Don't make fun of people's sad feels."

"I'm not. Just— I don't know."

"Bro, you know how I process my sad feels. Dank nugs and the stickiest of ickies, that's how I do it." JJ mutters, smiling at the thought.

I pat his knee reassuringly, trying to hide my smile, "We know, J, we know."

"I'm not concocting, okay?" John B growls, "My dad's trying to give me a message."

"If it helps you believe, John B." Kie gently rubs his arm, "If it helps you believe."

John tenses his jaw, pushing her off, "Look, I— I don't need a therapy session, okay? I'm not trippin' out."

"It's okay to trip, bro, but—" JJ starts.

"Look my d-dad is missing, okay?" John B glares at us for a second before turning back to the road.

I shake my head, sitting up slightly, "John—"

He holds his hand up, silencing me, "Missing. He is missing, Ava. You guys don't know what it's like to have the person closest to you vanish and then have no idea what happened."

"You're acting like he's not my dad too." I snap, glaring over at him.

Kie gives me a sympathetic look. She knows I think that my Dad's dead, and she believes me but is too worried to hurt John B.

"It's been almost a year." She speaks softly to John, "Death is a possibility."

"Hey, he could have been kidnapped. That's definitely a possibility." JJ shrugs, looking at Pope for help.

"Yeah," He slowly nods, "could be in a Soviet sub getting interrogated by the KGB somewhere."

"Absolutely." JJ clicks his fingers, "Uh, or Atlantis."

"JJ, you aren't helping," I bite my lip, holding in a laugh and he nods, slinking down in his seat.

"Look, what do you think the message is?" Kie questions in the kindest way possible.

"Redfield." John B grumbles.

"Redfield." JJ and I mock his low and grouchy voice while pulling stupid faces at each other.

"Will you two stop?" He snarls, "Redfield Lighthouse. That's my dad's favourite place."

"Our dad's favourite place." I correct him quietly.

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a shit chapter, sorry