IX.   when no one is around 

On nice days, the Jennings family spent most of their time outside. Dylan's backyard had a perfect view of the water and the sunsets were beautiful. It was their favorite spot to spend time with one another.

The family was also very competitive, especially when it came to planning games with one another. Dylan grabbed the last spoon on the table and held it up. "HA!" She shouted in victory.

"I freaking hate you!" Braxton groaned in pain and held his hand close to his chest.

Ainsley let out a string of laughs. "What is that like four times in a row?"

"Give or take." Dylan replied and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

He threw his spoon at her.

"Dylan!" Her name echoed from inside the house.

Dylan turned in her chair and saw Pope standing in the middle of the home, looking around. She smiled. "I'm out here!" She called out.

"Oooh, your boyfriend's here." Braxton teased, causing a spoon to be thrown at him.

Pope came outside and smiled at the family. "Hey, guys."

Ainsley gasped and stood from her chair. "Pope, honey! How are you?"

"I'm great, Mrs. Jennings." he answered and she hugged him tightly.

"Pope!" Braxton exclaimed.

"Hey, bud." Pope said and ruffled the top of his head. He stood behind Dylan's chair and smiled at her. "You ready to go?"

She nodded firmly. "Sure am. Bought time I let someone else win." She teased her family.

Her brother rolled his eyes. "So generous." He responded sarcastically.

Everyone laughed. "Be careful with my girl, Pope." Logan pointed at him.

He quickly nodded. "Will do, Mr. Jennings."

"Love you guys." Dylan yelled over her shoulder and followed Pope out of her house where the others were waiting.

Pope looked at her and smiled. "Spoons?"

She smiled wide back. "Won four times in a row."

He laughed. "I believe it. You bruised my hand the last time we played."

Dylan grabbed his hand and examined it, oblivious to the way his eyes widened. "Yeah, I can still see the scars from my nails." She said with a laugh. She lid open the Twinkie door. "Hey boys!"

"Looking gorgeous as always, DJ." JJ complimented and held out his hand to help her in. He examined the purple marks on her knuckles. "Your knuckles are bruised. Playing spoons again?"

She smirked. "Gotta keep my winning streak up." She said proudly.

Pope rolled his eyes and sat down.

"Where's Kie?"

"We're about to go get her." John B answered and drove off down the road.

JJ lit a blunt and took a hit before passing it to Dylan. She sucked in the smoke and closed her eyes, rolling her head back and releasing it from her mouth. She felt a tingling sensation. When she opened her eyes, she saw Pope staring at her, and she smirk. His face went red.

When they arrived at The Wreck, they waited patiently while Pope went inside to get Kiara. Dylan laid in the backseat stretched out. She took another hit of the blunt.

Pope came out of the restaurant without Kie. "She said she's not coming!" He shouted to them.

She furrowed her brows and got up from the seat. She shuffled in the spot between John B and JJ. "Why not?" JJ hollered back.

Dylan glanced at John B. "What did you do?"

He jerked his head back. "Why do you assume I did anything?"

"Well, she loves me. Pope doesn't ever do anything. We've gotten used to JJ. So all that leaves is you."

JJ pointed to her, silently agreeing.

John B rolled his eyes and huffed. He undid his seat belt and got out. "Hang on. I'll deal with it."

"How much you wanna bet he macked on her?" She asked JJ.

He hummed. "$20?"

"Deal."

Pope got back in the van and sat down on the seat in the back. Dylan looked over her shoulder. "Hey, you stole my spot."

He shook his head. "Technically, I sat here first so you stole my spot."

"But you got up."

"And now I'm back."

Dylan rolled her eyes. "Fine." She shuffled back to the seat and sat beside him, throwing her legs over his lap. She hummed with a smile. "That's better."

Pope almost choked on his breath. JJ snorted.

Turns out she earned that $20. The sun disappeared from the sky as John B drove them to wherever the hell they were going. Dylan switched her position on the seat so that her head was lying on Pope's lap. The blunt she had was rested between her fingers.

"You mind if I relax on this one? It's been a long day and a lot of weird stuff's gone down." JJ announced from the seat behind them. He began to take a hit of his blunt but paused and held it out to Pope. "Oh, do you want a hit of this?"

Pope shook his head. "I keep the signal clear."

"You're not fun." Dylan commented and took a hit of her blunt, blowing the smoke in his face.

He looked down at her and smirked. He pushed her face to the side, making her laugh.

JJ groaned. "Dude, okay, do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative—"

Dylan rolled her eyes at their banter and closed her eyes. She turned her head to the side so that her face was facing Pope's stomach. Her legs propped up on the seat. She felt the slightest bit of high buzz in her bones.

"Listen, I know I was wrong about the lighthouse and wrong about everything else going on. But I was right about one thing, okay? My dad is trying to tell me something." John B told them.

Soon, he pulled into the entrance of a cemetery and Dylan sat up. She looked out the window, feeling confused. "John B, why the hell are we at a cemetery?"

"Making history, DJ." He responded.

They climbed out the Twinkie and Dylan wrapped her arms around herself. "If a see a guy holding a knife and coming our way, I'm leaving all of you."

Pope shined his flashlight at her. "Even me?"

"Okay, all of you besides Pope."

Kie frowned and furrowed her brows. "Why would you only take Pope?"

Dylan shrugged. "He would tell me corny jokes to take my mind off of the fear."

"Dylan, don't you watch scary movies by yourself. . . in the dark?" Asked JJ.

She gave him a look. "What's your point?"

"Anyways, you know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?" John B asked, interrupting their conversation.

"I hate when that happens." Dylan muttered.

Kiara nodded at his question. "Yeah."

"So, Redfield. This whole time I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place. It's a person." He pointed his flashlight on the headstone that said REDFIELD.

"Voi-effing-lá" JJ recited.

Dylan looked around, feeling anxious, not liking that they were literally in the middle of a graveyard.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield,  that was her maiden name." John B informed. "Help me with the door, come on."

The boys walked forward to help John B with the door and Dylan stood close to Kie. They pushed with all their might against the stone door but it wouldn't budge. "Are you pushing?"  Pope grunted.

"Yeah, I'm pushing." John B grunted back.

"C'mon, this door's like seven hundred pounds. It's not gonna budge."

"Come on guys. Use those muscles I know are hiding under there." Dylan encouraged and Kiara tried to hide her laughter.

"Not helping, Dylan!" John B groaned.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, all right?" JJ declared.

While they continued to push, the sound of a snake hissing grabbed Dylan's attention and she screamed when she saw snake slither out of the crack in the door.

Pope jumped back. "Snake! Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"That's a Moccasin, all right. Ye olde Dr.  Cottonmouth. Death in the tall grass." Said JJ and he started barking.

Dylan looked at him like he was crazy. "Why the hell are you barking?"

"JJ, shut up! Shut up!" Kie yelled to him.

"You're gonna wake the freaking dead, man." Pope hissed out of pure annoyance.

"They're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that man." JJ grabbed John B and pulled him back. "If there's one there's probably dozens."

Dylan's eyes widened and she grabbed Pope's bicep,  tugging on it.  "All right, will you stop? You're scaring her." He demanded.

"You're scaring me." Kiara snapped.

But JJ ignored them and continued barking. "Stop barking at the snakes!" John B snapped and shoved him.

Pope shut JJ up when he continued to try and make his point. He turned to John B. "Look, we're not gonna get in there, all right! It's not budging. We should probably just go."

It went quiet for a minute. "I can get through." Kiara stated.

Dylan turned to her. "What?"

"No, no, no, you think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?" John B followed.

She shook her head. "I'm not letting you go in there with the snakes."

"Look, this is about your dad." Kiara said. "And honestly, I really don't believe in it but you deserve to know the truth. I'll do it."

Again, it went silent as they contemplated. Dylan stared at her before sighing. She hit JJ's arm. "Help her."

"Right, right." JJ nodded and crouched down. "I'm gonna boost you, all right? I've seen it in the movies several times. Ready?"

"Remind me what we're looking for again?"

"You'll know when you see it." John B responded mysteriously.

Dylan gave him a look. "That's not very helpful."

Kiara handed her the flashlight. "Hold my flashlight."

"All right, so put your hands there. . . Your foot. Alright, on three—"

Kiara ignored JJ's rambling and hopped off his hand into the hole. "Okay, never mind. Forget about three."

Dylan patted his shoulder.

Kie successful got in the hole. "DJ, flashlight?"

"Yes ma'am." She nodded and reached in, handing her the flashlight back. When she took it, Dylan stepped back and stood close beside Pope.

"You alive? You've got like, a—a heartbeat and everything?" John B asked awkwardly.

"So far." Kie trailed. "Uh. . . I need some more light."

"Yeah. Yeah, here. I gotcha." He stammered and held up his light for her to see.

They waited patiently for the girl to say if she found anything or not. Dylan wrapped her arms around herself again.

Pope nudged her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, i'm fine. Just don't like the dark."

"But weren't you watching Halloween—"

"What's your point?"

Pope immediately shook his head and cleared his throat. "Nothing."

"Did you find something? Is there gold?" JJ asked Kiara.

"Oh my god." They heard her say.

Dylan stepped forward. "Kie, what's wrong?"

Instead of answering her, Kiara crawled back to them and handed John B something that she found. From what's he saw, it was a package.

"That's not gold." Pope stated, feeling disappointed.

Dylan and JJ helped Kiara out of the hole safely. "Holy shit." John B breathed when he read what was on the package. "This is from my dad."

"What?" Dylan asked with wide eyes.

He showed her.  "Look DJ,  it's from dad."

She read the front of the package and looked up at John B with excitement in her pupils.

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ quickly said. 

"Go! Go!" Kie urged them and they immediately started running out of sight.

"Guys, turn your flashlights off!" Dylan ordered and turned off her light. They hid out of sight and she felt like her heart was in her throat. She could hear the people talking and she started to shake.

"Do you think it's them?" Kiara asked, referring to the guys from earlier.

"Homies got a gun."

"Hell no."

Dylan took off running and everybody else followed after her. When they made it to the fence, she grabbed the metal bars and climbed swiftly over, landing on her feet. 

"Hurry up!" JJ urged everyone.

The people started to get closer to them. Pope got hung on the fence. "Guys, I'm stuck!"

"Pope,  come on!"

"Oh my god, okay." Dylan exhaled and quickly ran back to him. She reached her hands up. "Here!"

"I got you." Kiara helped and grabbed the back of his shorts.

Pope grabbed Dylan's hands and held them but his eyes widened. "You're gonna rip me! You're gonna rip me!" He repeated when he felt his shorts rip.

"Pope, come on!" Said John B.

The girls managed to get him down but his shorts ripped off, leaving him in his underwear. They all bursted out laughing. "Come on. It's a little tootsie roll!" JJ made fun of him.

Dylan snorted through her laughter and they rushed into the van. Pope covered himself immediately when she sat down beside him. She covered her mouth from laughing so hard. "Oh my god, that was great."

"Stupid." Kie laughed and got in, sliding the door shut.

Tears pricked her eyes. "Holy shit."

"Stop laughing!" Pope whined out of embarrassment.

"It's like that time that guy stole your gym clothes in middle school and you had to run around the gym in your underwear."

They laughed even harder. Even in the dark, Pope's blushed face was visible and Dylan looped her arm through his, leaning her head on his shoulder while still shaking in laugher.