𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐎 & 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄
40:30 - 47:33
00:00 - 1:44
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 »𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙚𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝

∞

My phone vibrates in my back pocket while I look out the window into the darkness of the night, blowing out a cloud of smoke from my cig. I slip my phone out, taking the cigarette from my mouth to speak into the device as I press accept, not caring for who's on the other side

"Hello?" I say, my face straight with boredom.

JJ's head snaps up after having a tiny nap at the back of the van with his cap covering his face. He realises I'm on the phone and scooches closer to find out who's calling me.

"Ava, it's me."

I furrow my eyebrows, "I aren't fucking physic," I roll my eyes, "Who's me, exactly?"

"Rafe."

Oh. My eyes widen and I pass my cigarette to JJ, letting him put it out so I can run my hand through my hair. He looks back at me, noticing my shocked expression, "What?" He mouths.

I hold a finger up and he nods, zipping his lips shut with his fingers.

"Oh, right," I clench my teeth, swallowing thickly, "Hey, Rafe."

JJ's jaw immediately tenses at the mention of the Kook's name. As if I was calling them, Pope and Kie turn around in there seat in surprise, John B looking at me through the rear-view mirror all at the same time.

"Are you busy?" Rafe questions, and I can tell his pacing by the continuous footsteps in the background.

"Yes," I snap, "Yes I am. But I doubt you care," I glance over at Kie and she waves her hand, telling me to continue, "So say what you need to say."

They can't even hear what he's saying and they're already invested.

"I- I just wanted to ask would you be free to come hang tomorrow?" He rushes before breathing out heavily; he's high and ping a shut job at covering it up.

"You're high, Rafe," I grumble, punching the bridge of my nose, "You'll regret this tomorrow, you realise that?"

I hear him growl lowly in annoyance, "Just answer."

I bite my lip, "Alright, calm down. Sure, I will come speak to you. But, I'm not sure if I'll be free."

"That's okay. That's perfect. I'll call you tomorrow." He hangs up quickly, giving me no time to say bye.

I raise an eyebrow as I slowly lower the phone from my ear, staring down at my lock screen.

"What? What did he say?" Kiara asks urgently.

"He wants to 'hang' tomorrow," I do air quotations while shoving my phone back in my shorts, "He's a dick."

"Why?" Pope tilts his head.

"I have no clue," I shrug, "He didn't say much and he's definitely been doing drugs."

"Say no," B and JJ say in unison each of them giving no emotion whatsoever.

I glance between the both of them, "Why?"

"Because," JJ grumbles, sliding down in his seat, folding his arms.

"Because. . . we're here." John B tells us, stopping the Twinkie and pointing out the window, "So, Rafey can wait until another day."

JJ moodily opens the door, holding his hand out for me, "M'lady," He nods, helping me down onto the dirty floor.

I smile over at him, releasing his hand, "Thank you, sir," My eyes scan the area for a moment, "A graveyard. You brought us to a fucking graveyard," I snarled at my brother as he throws us each a torch.

"Yes. Yes, I did, Ava," He nods, "Just follow me, okay?"

"What are we doing? This place is scary," Kie licks her lip anxiously while following quickly after JB.

"Shush," He hisses, "You know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah. . ."

"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right?" He continues, glancing back every now and again to make sure we're still following.

"What are you trying to get at here?" I groan, stepping over a branch.

"It's not a place—" He shakes his head, a smile on his face.

We walk up to a massive tomb and he raises his torch, illuminating the writing on the front of it so we can read it. Redfield.

"—It's a person."

"Voi-effing-là," JJ mumbles, moving the position of his head torch.

"See, Ava, our great-great grandmother; Olivia Redfield," John B stares at me, "That was her maiden name."

There's a long minute of silence while we all look the tomb up and down, shocked at how big it is.

"So, what are here for exactly?" I speak up.

"Just help me open the door. Come on," John B nods his head towards the massive stone.

Pope and JJ step forward. But even with all three of them pushing hard on the door, it still doesn't open.

"Great. We can't even get it," I groan, rolling my eyes.

I hear a hiss and a snake crawls out of the hole in the door, dropping to the floor. The boys jump back and JJ shoves me behind him swiftly, "Whoa. That's a moccasin, all right," He whistles, his hand resting on my waist for a second.

We watch it as it goes to sliver away, clearly not even slightly interested in us. But, JJ, being JJ, he has to do something. He steps forward, bending down slightly and then he starts barking like a dog at the snake.

"JJ," I laugh, clapping a hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Shut up, JJ. Shut up!" Kie hisses, smacking his back desperately.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man," Pope disapproves, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Dude, they're afraid of dogs. everyone knows that, man," JJ says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"JJ, it was a snake," I tell him, my eyes rolling ,"Not a lion. It didn't even care about us."

He holds his arms up, "I'm just saying. If there is one, there's probably dozens."

I shove him back, "Don't say that."

JJ moved closer to the hole in the tomb and starts barking again. This boy, I swear, will be the death of me. I pull his shoulder back, shutting him up, "Stop barking at the snakes, J. God, you're so childish."

"Awh, Ava," He clutches his heart, "You know me so well."

"Look, John," Pope whispers, "We're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging. We should probably just go."

"I can get through," Kie states, shining her torch up at the small hole.

I move beside her, nodding my head, "Same. We could both go through and look for whatever it is."

"Uh. . . No, no, no, and no," JJ shakes his head, his finger shaking at me.

"I agree with JJ. You both think that you're gonna fit through the hole?" John B furrows his eyebrows, "That hole?"

"Look, guys. Just be thankful that we're even fucking offering," I snarl.

"Plus, this is about your Dad. And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth," Kie says calmly, arms crossed impatiently.

I purse my lips, "Not how I would have said it, but yeah, I guess. We'll do it."

"No."

I squeeze my eyes shut, turning to the argumentative blonde beside me, "What's your problem now?"

"We just saw a snake crawl through that hole, there's is probably loads more, meaning you could get hurt or possibly killed again," He protests, "Plus," He holds up a finger, "You have a broken arm."

I glare at him and then done at my arm, the cast wrapped tightly around it and I wish nothing more for it to just break off and let me live my life normally, "Fuck you, playboy," I snarl in annoyance.

"Thank you," He smiles over at me sarcastically, "Point proven."

"I'll just go by myself then," Kie smirks, shrugging.

"I swear all the fun gets taken out of everything," I mumble like a little child, sitting down on a fallen gravestone.

The boys help her through the hole and once she's on the other side, she shouts, "What am I looking for?"

"You'll know when you see it," John B answers.

I throw my arms up, "What does that even mean, bro? That's the worst advice ever. God, you're so fucking vague."

"It means," His head snaps to me angrily, "that she will know when she sees it."

"Jeez, okay," I hold my arms up in a surrender, "Chill."

"You alive, Kie? You got like a heartbeat and everything?" John B worriedly questions.

"So far," She replies, her voice slightly muffled by the thick stone.

"That's— that's good," He nods.

I roll my eyes and mimic him silently. JJ notices, making him laugh and John B swirls round in confusion at the sound, his eyebrows raised.

"It's nothing, bro. Focus on Kie," JJ wipes his face with his hand, hiding his smirk.

"Uh, guys. I need some more light." She requests and John B holds his lantern through the hole for her.

JJ ducks under John B's arm so he can see through the gap, he squints his eyes, struggling to see what she's doing.

"Did you find something? Is there gold?" He asks, desperate for some sort of reward.

"No, it's something else." Kie passes an envelope through the hole before climbing back through. I stand up to look over John B's shoulder.

"That's not gold," Pope throws his head back in desperation.

"It's from Dad," I state, reading the envelope and everyone stops.

To Bird. John B's infamous nickname.

JJ steps away and lights a cigarette to let off some stress, which is completely understandable.

"Code red," He exclaims, "Code red. Square groupers. Square groupers!"

We all follow quickly behind him as he runs off, jumping over fallen graves and branches.

"It's the guys who robbed your house and y'know. . ." JJ's jaw clenched as we hide behind a tombstone, peering around the corner "If I wasn't high right now, I would murder them, for sure."

I glance at the two men in the distance, my eyes landing on their vehicle, "JJ, it's not them. That's a golf cart, not a truck. Those men had—"

John B's hand clamps over my mouth and he glares down at me angrily. I shove him off gently, rolling my eyes at him.

"Homies got a gun," JJ hisses, putting his cigarette out on the stone stressfully.

"Screw this shit," I mutter, sprinting off back to the Twinkie.

They follow quickly behind me and their flash flights show the path to the gate of the graveyard. JJ smoothly grips under my armpits, lifting me over the wall before jumping over himself. Usually, I would hate him for helping me with something so simple as climbing over a brick wall, but my arm's restricting me from doing most things. The others rush to the Twinkie but I notice Pope's is still on the gate, hanging off of it while his arms wave around frantically.

"Please, don't tell me your stuck," I hiss loudly, glaring up at him."

"I'm stuck," He squeezes his eyes shut in annoyance.

JJ runs back over, "Ava? What are you doi— Oh. Pope!" He laughs, "Come on, man."

"I'm stuck!" He shouts, his arms waving around desperately.

"I've got you. Calm down." Kie says while jogging over and gripping his shorts.

JJ pulls the gun out of his waistband and I smack it down in shock, "Really, J? Was it necessary to bring it?" I tilt my head.

"No, but we might need it!" He argues back.

Pope finally gets down but his shorts are abandoned on the gate, leaving him in his boxers.

"Nice, dude," JJ whistles while running, "It's a little Tootsie Roll."

I laugh, smacking his chest before jumping into the back of the Twinkie beside him, still giggling at his statement.