When Joey got the message early that morning, she'd taken off in a sprint. Her moped died, causing her legs to run, yet again, through OBX. The hospital wasn't far from her house, only a few blocks after her uncle moved closer when her mother was sick and bound to the hospital. When she passed, he'd grown too attached to the house to get rid of it.

Joey ordered the room number from the nurse in the front desk, not even giving a thank you before running back down the hallway. She expected to see the pogues waiting, only to find the chairs empty. Yanking the door open, Joey finally caught her breath. She looked at John B laid in the hospital bed, then at Sarah next to him.

"Joey." he looked at her in shock, her state completely unrecognizable. It was rare she'd ever be covered in sweat like she was now, always finding herself gross and immediately jumping in a shower.

Her eyes darted back and forth between Sarah and John B, chest heaving to catch her breath. "Kie called me. Hospital, I heard. I just-"

"Nothing too major." John B spoke, raising his casted hand up to wave. "Oh, look at that."

Joey cracked a grin, then stopping as she looked at the Cameron girl. "Hey, Sarah."

"Hey." she gave a half grin.

The Findlay girl cleared her throat. "So, what the hell happened?"

John B and Sarah shared a look.

"You stupid asshole!" Joey shouted as she showed up at Toppers house, shoving him harshly when he opened the door. "He could have died!"

"He fell!" Topper threw his hands up when his back hit the wall from her shove, pausing against it. "I didn't push him."

"You're such a liar." she glared at him, finger out reaching with a harsh point. "Just when I thought you were okay, you try to murder John B, yet again. Jealousy is a disease."

"Speak for yourself." Topper shot back quickly, still frozen against the wall. "You're just as bad."

"I didn't push Sarah and put her in the hospital though, did I?" Joey asked him with a scoff. "You're pathetic, you know that?"

Topper shrugged. "Lay it on me, Josephine. Go ahead."

"You got cheated on. No one deserves that, and i'm sorry. Doesn't give you a right to attempt murder either." Joey looked after him in disbelief. Her voice took him off guard, low and small. He hated it because it was clear it was pure disappointment. "We are not the same at all. So, don't even try to compare us."

"If it were anyone but John B would you still be here?" Topper rose his eyebrows at her. Joey didn't say anything, causing Topper to nod. "That's what I thought."

She took a second before giving him a shove again, this time holding him against the wall with her arms. "Hurt my friends again and i'll hurt you. Understand?"

Topper looked at her arms, pinning him against the wall. "What are you gonna do?"

"Wanna find out?" she dared him in the slightly, pushing against him more so his back dug into the wall harder.

Topper winced. "No."

She let him go.

"Look, you guys know what house this is, right?" Kie asked as the group walked through the over grown weeds and never mowed grass. Joey walked right behind her, spraying an intense amount of bug spray on herself, causing Pope to choke behind her.

"Oh yeah, no, I do." JJ said, looking at the back of Kie's head.

"Honestly, I don't really believe the stories of this place." John B said honestly, keeping a pace behind Pope.

"It's because you don't believe anything." Joey rolled her eyes, remember all too many times John B would wave her conspiracy off.

"Which stories did you hear?" JJ asked Kie in a slight panic.

She glanced back, "The one where she killed her husband with an axe and that she's been holed up ever since."

"I heard one about her being half cat."
Joey spoke up.

"On certain nights, when the moon is full, you can see her in the window." Kie said in a spooky tone, waving her fingers at JJ, who was already panicking.

"No, Kie, it's not funny, cause it's all true." JJ spoke frantically.

"I agree with you for once." Joey agreed, yanking a pair of gloves on.

"Well, that's terrifying." Pope said honestly as he thought of the two agreeing. "Wh- what do you have gloves on for?"

Joey looked at him in disbelief before John B spoke up. "Why does she ever have gloves on?"

"Do you want my fingers to get infected on all these ancient statues?" Joey asked with an eye roll, turning back around. "You probably do want that."

"I do not-" John B began but was cut off.

"I swear to god, guys, this is all real. I knew Hollis." JJ said as he jumped back when they passed a statue, "Jeez!"

Joey kept a good distance, shielding her face with her shirt as she passed it.

"You knew Hollis Crain?" John B asked in disbelief as they all stopped walking to listen to JJ's story.

"Yeah, dude." JJ confirmed.

"Dude, how do you know Hollis Crain?" Pope pushed his chest, wanting answered immediately.

"She was my babysitter, man. She told me all about it." JJ spoke up, pulling them all closer into a circle, "Told me the truth... about her mother and what happened in this house. So, as a kid, she heard all the stories that her mother killed her father, and she was a murderer and all. Hollis didn't believe it. Until that night."

"What night?" John B asked quickly.

"It all came back to her." JJ said as he looked his way, "When Hollis was six years old, she heard her parents arguing downstairs. So she goes downstairs to see her mom washing her hands in a sink... full of blood. Her mother just says that she cut her finger. The next morning, she says her father and her split up. But then, Hollis noticed something. Her mother going into the parlor constantly, in and out with plastic bags. Weeks pass, and Hollis decides to use the outhouse. And as she's using it, she looks down, and there, in the outhouse, is her fathers head, looking straight back at her."

"God, you are so full of shit." John B threw his head back in disbelief.

"We gotta get outta here." Joey gave a panicked look.

John B nudged her forward. "Don't tell me you, of all people, are scared?"

"Of course not." Joey gave a shrug, voice filled with lies. "I just don't wanna get haunted or anything."

"Did she call the police?" Pope asked, still deep in the story.

"She didn't have time. Wait- dude!" JJ called as John B began walking off quickly.

"Let's make a run for it." Joey tapped Kie anxiously.

"You sure you wanna do this? She's an axe murderer. You got a cast on." JJ pointed out with a nod down at John B's arm.

"I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer, okay? I got nothing to lose, right?" John B asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"You comin, or what?" John B asked as he began walking toward the house. JJ shared a panicked look with Pope. Joey reached into her bag and pulled out a mask. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm not getting a disease just because you are dumb." She gave a point, voice slightly muffled behind the surgical mask.

"See any water?" Kie questioned when they got down into the cellar.

"Dryer then the desert." Joey looked around.

"Another dead end?" Kie aimed her attitude filled question John B's way.

"There's not even any water on the pipes."

"There's no water here." Pope confirmed. JJ bumped into Joey, getting a shove, making him shove her back.

"Know why we didn't find it?" Kie asked with a raise of her eyebrows, "Bad karma."

"Oh, god. Here we go." John B said in disbelief.

"You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trails gone dry." she stated in disbelief, getting right in John B's face, "Coincidence? Probably not."

"This is exactly why I didn't wanna tell you about Sarah." John B spoke with a annoyed expression across his face, "What the hells the deal with you two?"

"Nothing!"

Joey walked to the side some, hoping it wouldn't be obvious she was trying to avoid listening. It was, completely.

"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?" John B narrowed his eyes at her, earning a slap in the face.

"You get around, don't you, John B?" Joey rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in his direction.

"Oh!"

"Oh, shit!"

"That echoed."

"Stop treating me like i'm some girl that's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you." Kie threatened John B over the boys.

"Did you, ugh, hit me?" John B asked her with a raise of his eyebrows.

Kie held up her hand, "Skeeter."

"Skeeter?" John B asked her in disbelief, slapping her back.

"Oh, hey." JJ spoke.

"All right, all right." Pope agreed with the pair.

"Where's your proof?" she asked him with a flare of her nostrils. John B held his hand up and showed the small blood mark of the mosquito.

Joey kept herself distracted by looking at things around the basement.

Kie hit his arm, "Yeah? There was probably one right there."

"There's one right there." John B teased her right back, hitting her shoulder.

"Shh, shh." Pope shhed the pair quickly.

"Today is the day you die."

"It's your funeral."

"There's one right there."

"You see this?"

"You know how this ends."

"Why are there so many mosquitos in a basement?" Pope asked as he slapped every inch of his body.

"Want some bug spray?" Joey offered, grabbing a few things with her gloved hands, plus wet whips.

Pope began throwing wood quickly, grabbing the fours attention as John B shhed him, but was ignored.

"Help me move this." the Hayward boy said as he looked at John B quickly, "Help me move this."

"Okay, just... quiet." John B said, passing Joey, more so throwing it in her direction, his flashlight as they moved one of the boards on the floor. She shined John B's flashlight down the dark path, staring down at the long well.

"Well, well, well." Pope made the pun.

"Nice dad joke." John B mumbled, shoulder shoved against Joey.

"They build this part of the house right over it." Kie spoke out loud as she looked down into the well.

"It's disgusting." Joey said honestly. "Can we promise to clean the gold first?"

"Promise." John B agreed by her side.

"This is where she hid the bodies." JJ said as he looked at each of them.

"Oh, dude, come on." Pope nudged him.

•

kylie speaks

ik y'all love joey and
top, so do i, but i wanted
to make them off and on
so we should get a good
moment sooner or later.
john b and joey flashback
next chapter!