EDEN sat at her kitchen's island, bag of ice in her hand pressed against her eye.

After being whacked in the face with a telephoto—which unsurprisingly hurt like a bitch—Eden woke up and washed her face, only to see a small black eye looking right back at her in the mirror. 

So, given she got home late that night and was too tired to properly care for the new found injury, the Bexley was now deciding to take care and try and help out the small bruising—she was still pissed over the bruised nose from Rafe, and this wasn't making her feel any better.

Besides, as far as Isla knew, Eden was simply with Kiara—there was no reason for her to have a black eye. Still......she knew the questioning she was still going to receive, and was coming up with some lie that JJ accidentally hit her as her mother entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Eden." Isla greets, voice stern and unwavering, despite it being only morning. She gracefully moves towards her tea maker, eyes lightly scanning over her daughters sloppy appearance—her un-brushed hair, sweatpants and sweatshirt claimed as pajamas, fluffy socks with Christmas designs, despite the end of summer weather, and, newly, a black eye. 

The elder Bexley stops walking and raises her brows towards her daughter, "What happened?"

"JJ accidentally headbutted me in the eye, no biggie." Eden glances up from her phone for a small moment to meet her mother's raised brows, before looking back down at her Instagram feed.

Isla seems to hold back a sigh at the reply. "This Maybank kid seems to accidentally hurt you an awful lot, doesn't he?"

"JJ's a clutz, he trips over his own two feet—he literally tripped over a janitors bucket in the hallway yesterday and fell like the dumbass he is." Eden recalls. She knows her mother likes JJ the least of all her friends, and she decides to just play along.

"Language, Eden." Isla says, before turning her back towards her daughter. She fills her shiny white mug with warm water before sitting in the small tea bag. For a few minutes, the only sound is before the woman placing the mug in the microwave before she speaks up again, "I take it last night was fun then?"

Eden replies in a blank tone, "Uh, yeah. Me, Kie, Pope, and JJ just strolled along the beach until it started and then drove around the Cut, you know.....the usual." The usual includes none of the stated above—normally she'd been sleeping over at the Chateau, making friendship bracelets, drinking and laughing. 

"Really?" Isla drawled. The microwave beeps, and she pulls out her cup of tea, stirring the small teabag around it in—Eden smelled familiar aroma; she hated her mother's tea with a passion. "Because that's not what I heard."

Eden tries to hide her suspicion of her mothers words, "And what did you hear, exactly?"

"That you and your friends—" The distaste of the Pogues was still shown within the mother's words, "—were out in the pouring rain at that one construction site accusin' Ward Cameron of murder." Isla's eyes punctured through Eden's thin facade as she spoke. Eden knew her mother saw right through her—she always could.

"And, uh, who told you that?" 

"Shoupe."

Eden pressed her tongue against her cheek, mentally cursing Shoupe for calling her mother—of course he called Isla.  "Tattletale." 

"I expect better from you, Eden Brielle." Isla tuts, continuing to stir her teabag around. "I get you're grieving over that Routledge kid, but that doesn't mean you get to cause trouble with those Pogues—I mean accusing Ward Cameron of murder ? Honey, we're close with the Cameron's and the only thing they're doing is grieving over Sarah."

"And murdering people who know the truth." the Bexley sighs, getting up off the island seat. She moves over to the trash can and throws away the bag of ice in her hands—she was going to bruise either way. "Shoupe was probably being over-dramatic when he told you so it seemed like he was actually doing his job instead of ignoring anything we had to report."

"Shoupe was doing his job by telling me that my daughter was up to no good." Isla crossed, "He told me you and your friends wire tapped a car? You should be glad he's not getting you into any trouble because that's a felony."

Eden shrugs, "It was Pope's idea; he's the smart one."

"And you should be smarter." the elder woman sighed, "I know I can't stop you from hanging around those kids but you need to be smarter before you waste away your future and your reputation by making stupid choices in your teenage years."

Eden was always going to make stupid choices for her friends—for John B. She wished her mom knew that. "Speaking of those kids—" she looks down at her phone to see a text from Kiara, reading she'd been there within seconds, "—I'm going to be out of the house with them today. Don't know when I'll be back."

"Doing what, may I ask?" 

"Oh, you know.......walking through polluted water, trying to find a murder weapon. Total Pennywise shit." Eden shrugs. At some point after the Bexley returned home the previous night, Kiara sent a text to the Pogues group chat, explaining what they would spend their day doing rather than school—searching the drains to find the gun that Ward had lost. If they found it, they could free John B.

"Excuse me?" Isla raises a brow, confused.

There's a honk outside and Eden sends a quick wave to her mother, "Would you look at that, Kie's here. I'll be home at some point tonight, I promise."

"Eden—"

Isla was left with only her confused mind as her daughter ran out of the house—as she always did.

Eden would do anything for John B.

But going through the Kildare County drains was never on her bucket list when it came to things she would do for friends.

Yet, here she was; approaching the drains with Kie, Pope, and JJ, ready to search high and low for the weapon that has John B. trapped in the Bahamas—the weapon that, if found, could bring him and Sarah home.

"This is the north drain." JJ states as the four approach the drain system. He had shown up with screenshots of sewer blueprint archives, which Eden was surprised he managed to get, given he was JJ Maybank—he received no perks, unlike her. " It should've gotten washed into the gully. So if it got flushed out this drain, it would have been pushed out, to like....." 

"Somewhere in this trash." Pope looks into the muddy water, which had pieces of plastic and bags floating upon it.

JJ hums, "Correct."

Eden grimaces at the water she was about to walk into, "Perfect."

"Oh my God. People who use plastic should be shot." Kiara lets out an irritated sigh, letting out a small tsk at the amount of trash and plastic that littered the water—always the environmentalist of the group, though Eden took second. 

Eden sent her a look, "Pretty sure you drank out of a plastic water bottle last week, but okay."

"Okay, personally, I love plastic." JJ admits bluntly, pulling some fishing nets and plastic nets from the small pool of water. He sends a snarky and smug look to Kiara, clearly trying to annoy her. "Use it every day. Love the stuff." 

The Carrera slightly tilts her head and sends him a dirty look in return, "Okay, well, hopefully you recycle it and don't let it flush into the ocean."

"So Eden's allowed to drink her Red Bulls but you yell at me for appreciating the beauty of plastic water bottles?" 

"Well, Eden's Coconut Red Bulls happen to be made of aluminum, which if you weren't aware of, is recyclable, so no, I won't get mad at her because her drinks are not the leading cause of this." Kiara gestures towards the water, annoyed.

Pope speaks up brightly, a meek smile on his face as he turns to his girlfriend, "I thought you'd say something like that, so..." he holds up a bunch of rolled up trash bags to show off, ".....trash bags."

A more pleasant expression crosses Kiara's face at the sight, and she can't help the gleam that appears on her lips at the sight of Pope's actions, "Did you just proactively protect the environment?"

"Maybe."

The two stare at one another with nothing but adoration. Kiara is still gleaming, and Pope seems pleased that he was able to make the Carrera girl happy. It's silent for a few moments before Eden ruins the moment, not wanting to be apart of whatever third wheeling game she'd never signed up for.

"What are you guy, John B. and Sarah with your romantic stares? Do I need to take the child out of the room, or...." Eden trails off,  nodding towards JJ while her eyes stay locked between Pope and Kiara—she was glad her friends were happy after being within grief for weeks, but now was not the time for romantic stares. They could be searching for the gun. 

JJ adds on, "Yeah do you want us to leave you two alone, or what's going on—"

Pope chucks a trash bag at the boy, and it hits his chest with a light thump.  He sends a small side eye towards the blonde, "Just pick up the trash."

Eden chuckles and grabs a trash bag as well, "Damn. No need to get all defensive."

Kiara bows her head and smiles, before joining in to pick up trash.

The four stop conversation for a moment, spending all their energy on trying to search for Ward's gun. Gloves pulled upon her tanned hands—it would be ironic if Eden of all of them were to contract some sort of illness—the Bexley picked up all kinds of plastics and trash from the water, eyes skimming around the dim water for any sign of the gun; as did her friends.

But, after a solid ten minutes of searching, the Pogues were left with nothing but four bag full of plastic and clean drain water.

No where closer to freeing John B.

JJ wipes some sweat off of his forehead, throwing a filled trash bag over the drain and onto the dry ground, "Well, that was fun."

Pope states, "If it's not in the trash then it's gotta be somewhere in the storm drain."

"It's in...." JJ trails off, "It's in the drain."

"Dammit."

Kiara sighs, "Of course it is."

Eden pulls off her gloves and tosses them over the drain, "Honestly, why did we even expect to find the gun? Nothing has gone our way since we started this whole gold mission." 

The Maybank bends down to grab something, "Good thing I brought the crow."

Kiara looks between her friend, "So are we gonna do, like, rock, paper, scissors?" 

"No."

"Or alphabetically?"

Eden quickly shakes her head—she'd be the one going down in that case. "Don't offer me up like that, please and thank you."

The two boys work on pulling off the drain gate, "On three, Pope. One, two, three."

"Maybe the oldest can go first?" JJ suggests, gaining a glare from the Bexley, given her previous words.

"I am literally the oldest without John B. here, did you not hear what I just said?" Eden sends him a small glare. She then lets her gaze linger on Pope and counters, "What about youngest first, for once?"

Pope's eyes widen and JJ quickly shakes his head, "In the sewer, there's this worm that you get when you're down there. It gets into your blood and then it has to come out your pecker." He looks at the confused expressions and narrowed eye glances he's receiving from the two girls and finishes, "So, uh....that would be a hard pass for me."

"Literally where did you even hear about that?" The Bexley purses her lips. 

Pope lowly glances at his other friends, "Yeah, that's gonna be a no for me."

"No, I get it. I get it." Kiara looks understanding before a light chuckle falls from her lips, "You guys are scared."

The boys immediately whip their heads around and start to argue, not wanting to sound like wimps. 

"No—No! I'm not scared."

"It's just the pecker thingy. It's not that I'm scared of it—"

"I'm not scared."

"It's kind of cute." Kiara smiles as she trudges down to the drain opening, which JJ was keeping open with his leg. "You should've just led with that. You don't have to be scared." Kiara smiles over at Eden, "We'll do it."

Eden guffaws before looking at the curly haired girl. "Just because I don't have a dick does not mean I am going down there, Kie." 

"Girls stick with girls, remember?" Kiara raised a brow. Her words were reminiscent of what Eden had said a month ago, when she joined the Carrera girl with breaking into a grave—well if it wasn't clear enough, breaking into a grave was more pleasing than swimming in the sewers.

"Fine. Whatever." the Bexley huffed, stepping closer to the drain. She wears a displeased look on her features, but she supposes it'd be easier if they had four pairs of eyes rather than two—she wanted to find that gun today.

Pope glances up at Kiara, "Okay just, you know, be careful."

"I'll be so careful." the Carrera replies playfully, quoting John B. and Sarah from the night at the Crain house.

"I deserve that."

"Behave yourselves, please." Eden looks at the two boys.

JJ gives a thumbs up, "You got it, mom."

 Eden crouches down, watching as Kiara begins to crawl into the drain, hands and knees beginning to sink into the murky water. She cringes as her skin makes contact with the lukewarm water, but tries to press down the utter disgust she was feeling, knowing she hadn't even entered the actual sewer yet.

A few moments later, the Bexley is crawling inside the dim and rather 

"Just, uh, holler if you need anything, okay?" JJ calls out once the two girls are both inside of the drain. He watches as they crawl deeper, "We'll uh.....we'll holler back!"

"Very helpful." Kie snaps as she crawls, "Thank you!"

The boys went silent and the two girls took their time crawling. Eden wasn't one to get claustrophobic often, but she was starting to feel uncomfortable inside the tight squeeze that was the small drain. It didn't help that Eden could only go so fast, between the irritating feeling of the drain making her want to stop and the fact that she was behind Kiara, who wasn't going too quickly, either.

"This is total Pennywise shit." the Bexley mutters to herself as she and Kie crawl through the drain pipe. It's dim and tight and she feels as if Pennywise the clown was about to attack her and the Carrera girl. "Like this is how Georgie died. He was trying to get something out of a sewer."

Kiara sighs, "If I die down here, I am actually killing John B. and making sure he stays dead."

"Kiara, Eden, you find anything yet?" Pope's voice echos from the opening of the drain.

"Yeah, you guys see the gun?" JJ calls.

Kiara grunts, "Nothing!"

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin." Pope's voice returns.

Eden continues to push through the drain, "We'll call out if we find it, okay?"

The two teens crawl in silence for another few moments before Kiara reaches the end of the tunnel and the start of the basin. The curly haired girl slowly makes her way into the water, sitting back into the murky liquid to allow her friend room to crawl within too.

Eden stares down into the murky and rather gross looking water displeased to say the least, "Oh fuck my life. This is literally how we get some kind of  worm or like Cholera." 

"Just get your ass in here, Eden." Kiara pants, looking up at the manhole grate above, which was offering a little bit of sunlight within the basin. It was rather humid within the small area, and the Bexley felt sticky and gross as she committed to her task and climbed into the pool of sewage water, lightly shoving a chip bag out of her way with pursed lips.

"This is disgusting." Eden sighs, trying her best to ignore the disgust she was feeling. She had grime stuck in her fingernails, and hated the way she didn't know what was below her knees—she couldn't see anything other than the murky, unsure, water. 

"I feel like the boys have gotten worse injuries." Kiara states, beginning to feel around underneath the water, hoping to be met with the feeling of a gun. The Bexley does the same, almost crying as her hair makes contact with the grimy liquid below—she mentally curses herself for forgetting to put it up. "I mean Pope literally cracked his head open on Heyward's boat when we were like 14, remember? I still remember the blood we had to clean up....."

"Of course I remember, I was the one who called Heyward, the ambulance, and made sure Pope wasn't bleeding out at the same time." Eden recalls the memory. The Pogues had been fucking around on Heyward's boat and somehow, Pope had ended up slipping and cracking his head open. Of course, being the mother she is, Eden took charge of the situation and did all the medical help she could while everyone else tried to stay calm and did whatever she asked.

Kiara throws a soda can out of the way, muttering under her breath, "People are so shitty." She then adds, "But yeah, I guess you did go full mother on Pope."

"Speaking of Pope." Eden cringes as she feels a piece of trash at the bottom of the basin, "How are you guys, like, actually? I know I asked yesterday, but JJ kind of stuck his ass into it, so it got ruined." She pauses before adding, "Are you guys like, together together?"

"It's complicated...." Kiara sighs.

"First, second.....third base?" the Bexley asks, watching as Kiara shakes her head at all three. Clearly, her and Pope were getting no where physically—don't get her wrong, Eden knows relationships aren't all about sex, but by the way the Carrera glumly shook her head, it seemed like she was disappointed in more than staying PG-13.  "Okay.....so you guys haven't done anything?"

"We've barely kissed, Eden." the Carrera practically groans. She continues to search the water, crawling around for the gun. "It's almost like we're looking for something different? I want one thing but he wants another? It's complicated. I don't know what we are."  

"It seems like you two just need to talk it out." Eden was no relationship counselor, but she could tell that the two needed to say something. If Kiara wasn't being fulfilled in the relationship, she needed to speak up to Pope, because the Bexley knows Pope isn't doing this on purpose—he's never had a girlfriend like Kie before; he was probably trying not to mess whatever they had up.

She pauses for a moment before sighing, "Sometimes I feel like Pope's someone I could really love but other times, I feel like we should just be friends.....like we're just together because of the situation?"

"Kie, do you want to be with Pope?" Eden frowns, pausing her hands from searching the water. She could sense something in the Carrera's voice, something as if she wasn't even sure Pope Heyward was the boy she wanted. "Because by the way you're speaking......I feel like you don't."

"I—shit." Kiara starts to talk but gets cut off by herself. She looks at Eden with wide eyes, "Eden, I think I found something."

"Seriously?" the Bexley raises a brow.

"Guys, I think I found something!"

"Wait, you found it?"

"Is it the gun?"

Kiara lifts her hands up to reveal some sort of dead, mutilated remain.

"Oh! Pope! Pope! Oh my God!" Kiara shrills, pushing whatever she'd picked up far from her, all the while splashing in commotion; she was completely grossed out and slightly concerned for what she'd just picked up.

Eden practically dry heaves at the sight and calls out to the two boys, who were growing concerned at the sound of their friends screams, "It's a dead thing. There's a dead thing in here!"

"Like a person?" Pope yells from outside.

Kiara screams again, clearly disgusted she'd touched such an item, and Eden suddenly feels even more uncomfortable in the murky water—who knew what was sitting at the bottom now.

"Oh my God! There is something dead! I repeat, there is something dead!" the Carrera yelps, as if the boys hadn't heard her and Eden the first few screams.

"Like a person?" Pope repeats.

JJ adds, "Kie, Eden, don't touch it! That's how you get worms!"

Eden cries out, "Kiara already touched it!" 

"Did you find the gun? Is it Gavin?" Pope asks.

"What is it? Is it Gavin?"

"Don't touch it!"

Eden almost screamed at the thought of what the curly haired girl just touched being Gavin; being a piece of Gavin. It never dawned on her that Ward could have discarded his body like this until now, "If that's Gavin I'm actually going to drown myself in this water!"

"Kie! Eden! Is it a gun?" JJ asks, "Do you see the gun, guys? Do you see anything?"

Eden opens her mouth to answer but is suddenly cut off by the sound of running water.

The Bexley looks to her side to see water bubbling and steaming around them.  Coming from the drain beside them is steaming water, pouring into the small basin at an alarming rate, given the calmness it has less then seconds ago. The water was rising.

Kiara heard the rushing water too and quickly made eye contact with Eden, "Oh shit!" Her eyes are wide as she starts to yell for the boys, "Guys! Guys, the water!"

"The water is fucking rising!" Eden screams, looking at the incoming spree of steaming water. How the fuck were they getting out of this?

"Eden, Kiara, get out of there now!"

The Bexley quickly looks between the tunnel and the water and knows they don't have time. Even if they pushed themselves as quickly as possible, Eden knows that with the rate the waters gushing out, it would get them before the boys ever could.

They were fucking goners if they didn't think of something quick.

"We don't have time! Guys!" Kiara screeches against the water, starting to climb up upon the small ladder that led up to a manhole. The water is up to Eden's midsection and it's spraying everywhere harshly, brushing past her in rough waves that have her holding on to the edge of the ladder for dear life. "Shit! Oh no!"

"Shit!" Eden can hear the boys calling out for her and the Carrera, "Eden! Kiara!" There words come muffled as the rushing water overpowers the drains echo, and all she hears is a muffle of hoarse yells. 

She watches as the water rises higher against her tank top, "Kiara, climb! Now!"The curly haired girl does as she's asked quickly, climbing up towards the manhole and putting her fingers through the grate spaces.

"Please! Pope! Guy!" the curly haired girl screeches through tears. "Help! We're over here!"

Eden is trying her best to climb the ladder, but it's not meant for two girls to be climbing. Eden is left with only a few bars to call her own, and is tilting her head at an angle so she could breathe—which was getting hard to do given the familiar feeling of on oncoming attack in her chest, as well as the water which was growing closer and closer to her neck.

"Hey! Guys! I'm over here!" Kiara looks down, trying to find her friend in the water. She could barely see the girls head against the rising water and grew more panicked—if the boys didn't get here soon, Eden was going to drown. "I can't even see Eden anymore! The water is coming up!"

The water was at Eden's chin now and the girl knew that she had no other choice but to allow herself to go under and pray that her friends got here quick enough.

So, with a final gasp of air, Eden Bexley dove down into the murky waters.

"Shit! Eden!" Kiara screeches, watching as her best friend goes under the water, voice shaking with panic. "Eden!"

Given she grew up with the ocean at her side, Eden had learned how to hold her breath for a decent amount of time. She'd taken swimming lessons, life saving lessons—all that jazz—as a child to make sure she would never end up at the bottom of a swimming pool. She prays that her mother's money makes good use because if she's dying at sixteen, it is not going to be in the drain basin.

The girl opened her eyes—she was probably going to get sick, but it wasn't her main concern anymore—searching around the murky water. After a few moments, her eyes catch hold of a familiar shadow; the shape of a gun.

She's not entirely sure how much time she has left, but the Bexley pushes herself off the ladder and fights against the current to swim down to the gun. It's difficult, given the harsh thrashing of the water and Eden struggles to hold her breath as she tries to retrieve the gun, but after a few moments of struggles, her hand fumbles around the barrel of the weapon and shoves it in the waistband of her shorts, hoping it doesn't fall back into the rising basin water.

From above water, Kiara is still begging for her friends. JJ and Pope were crouched beside the grate and were trying to pull it upwards to release the water and their friends. The Carrera is screaming at the top of her lungs, desperate and scared.

"Pull! Pull it!" Kiara screeches, terrified eyes drawn wide. "Hurry! Hurry! I-I can't see Eden anymore, she's under! She's gonna drown!" She desperately looks at the two boys, who are trying to give reassuring words as they pull at the manhole—JJ had tried to cut into the edge of the manhole with his pocket knife to loosen it, but it had snapped, so they were left with only their strength to save the two girls.

Eden feels herself growing slightly light headed as she pushes herself back over to the ladder where she could see Kiara's figure. She tries to climb as close to the Carrera as possible and reaches a hand where there was still oxygen, moving her fingers around to try and show that she was still okay.

Kiara sees her friend's hand come out of the water abyss and clasps onto it. The water is up to her own face and she closes her eyes, holding on to Eden.

But, just as Eden thought she'd be left to drowning, the manhole covered lifted and she was suddenly being pulled up to the surface with Kiara.

Oxygen hits her face and Eden's doubled over coughing as she's pulled on to the street by Pope and JJ, Kiara having thrown herself on to the ground the moment she had escaped the drain. The Bexley's clothes are soggy against her skin and she's sure she smells like shit; her lungs burn and she can't stop coughing but she could be unconscious at the bottom of a basin.

JJ wraps an arm around Eden, rubbing her back to help her hack up any leftover water she had in her, "You good, Eds? Are you okay?"

"Living my best life, J." Eden replies breathlessly, still on her hands and knees.

Pope looks over at the blonde boy and tries to copy his actions, wrapping his arms around his 'girlfriend'. "Are you okay? I thought we lost you—"

"Pope, get off me." Kiara struggles, words falling flat. When the boy continues to embrace her, the Carrera shoves him away, "Pope, get off me!"

The Maybank looks at Kiara, "Kie, you good?"

She sends him a thumbs up, "Never better."

Eden feels a firm object touch her back, and she recalls the fact that she had the gun.

She had the gun.

"You guys—you guys owe me for life." Eden pants, reaching a hand back to pull the gun from her waistband. She has a smug smile on her face as she holds the item up in the air for her friends to see, smirk only growing as she hears the excited noises of her friends.

"Holy shit!" Pope exclaims.

JJ meets his friends level once more, fingers grazing the gun, "Oh my God." He takes the item from the Bexley, wrapping it in a bandanna he'd brought so it stayed away from any more contact with their fingers. "Eden, I—how?"

"Eden Bexley I love you so much." Kiara breathes, pulling the Bexley in for a hug. Eden lightly laughs and hugs the Carrera back, because she had done it. She had gotten the gun—she was going to clear John B.'s name. 

"We're gonna get this son of a bitch, man!"

Eden outstretched her arm to show that she needed help, and Pope grabbed on to her, allowing her some support. Pope has a smile on his face as he congratulates her, "Good job."

"Thanks, Bubs." Eden pants.

"You did it. You did it, Eden." JJ comes over and wraps his arms around the Bexley, who holds on to her best friend. "Come on."

The others join in an excitement filled embrace, the four unable to keep their smiles and laughs from escaping.

Pope pulls away, "Let's get this to Shoupe."

Shoupe stares at the gun wearily. 

After Eden and Kiara managed to escape the drain, and were deemed okay, the group traveled to Kildare County Sheriff's Department. Eden was still wearing her soaked tank top and soggy jeans, and her hair was still damp from being under water and she probably smelled terrible—she felt utterly disgusting—but she wasn't going to waste time explaining her situation to Isla or showering. 

The sooner the gun was turned in, the better.

So, here she was, standing beside her three friends, looking at Shoupe proudly and desperately. Pope's sweatshirt is hanging on her figure—to help her keep warm and to cover up her soggy tank top—and her tangled mess of hair is pulled back into a sloppy bun, but she's sure Shoupe doesn't mind. 

He's to preoccupied with the gun that had been placed in front of him to ask, anyway.

"So ya'll are telling me that this is the firearm Rafe Cameron killed Peterkin with?" Shoupe stares at the four teens, skeptical.

JJ nods, "That's exactly what we're telling you, Shoupe."

"And the exact same firearm Ward used to kill Gavin." Pope adds in support.

Shoupe seems even more weary, "And wears that corpse again?"

From the chair in front of the sheriff's desk, Kiara raises a brow, "Did you look?"

"I checked the hospital. I went by his house. He was out."

"More like dead, Shoupe. He's dead." Eden crosses, wrapping her arms around herself as she looks at the older man. "I mean, him being out is literally proving what we're trying to say here—" 

Kiara exclaims, "Shoupe, listen to yourself! It makes perfect sense!"

"Just because he's not in his damn house does not mean he was a victim of a homicide." Shoupe sternly interjects, voice raised to get his point across. 

"It doesn't mean he's not not a victim either!" the Bexley retorts, rather loudly though she doesn't seem too concerned about her volume. "We report that Gavin was killed last night by Ward Cameron— who if I may say so myself, already has tension in his shoulders over the whole Peterkin situation— and now he so happens to be out? We have the gun right in front of you—Shoupe, you're smarter than this! We have the evidence, now fucking do something with it!"

"Watch your language, Eden." Shoupe reprimands—as if her saying fuck was the most of his problems right now. 

JJ rips his hat from his head, "You've got to be kidding me."

Kiara looks at the older man and exclaims, "Are you at least gonna send it in for ballistics and shit, or are you just gonna sit on your ass?"

"He'll sit there and wax that damn mustache!" JJ comes towards the older man, clearly angry. At the comment, Shoupe gets on his feet with raised brows, "Is that even real?"

"I'll wax this—" the sheriff jabs before getting cut off by Pope.

Pope wacks JJ on the shoulder, "Hey! Shut up, JJ!"

"It's not fair." Kiara whines.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt this feelings?" 

"Shut up!"

It seems as if any patience Shoupe had saved for the four Pogues had been ran dry, as the man storms over to his office door and opens it. He looks at the teens, and motions for them to walk out. "Get out. I got work to do."

"Are you serious?" JJ asks.

"Ya'll are smelling up my damn office." 

Kiara is the first one out the door. She stops in front of Shoupe, and looks at him with tears in her eyes—she has dirt all over her face and her hair is in a messy bun but she couldn't be more serious. "Did Ward bribe you? This doesn't make any sense." She walks out solemnly.

JJ brushes right past the older man, grumbling under his breath—though loud enough to be heard, "You ain't gonna do shit."

As if Shoupe was yelling at an animal, the man roars, "Out!"

It's silent for a few moments before Pope walks over to the door. His voice is low as he speaks to Shoupe, "We brought you the murder weapon. There's no logical reason for you not to send it in." 

The statement seems to latch on to Shoupe for a few seconds before he mutters sternly, "Go with your friends."

"This is bullshit."

Eden moves to the seat where Kiara had been sitting and takes a seat, crossing her legs. She's not getting up or leaving—not until she understands why Shoupe won't take charge. She knows he can be a good sheriff; the question was why wasn't he.

Why wasn't he taking a stand on something he knew was sketchy?

"Eden, out—"

"Shoupe, if JJ, Kie, and Pope showed up in your office to tell you that I was missing, what would you be doing right now?" Eden presses, voice more quiet yet just as stern. She already knew the answer.

Shoupe stayed quiet for a moment—he knew where this was going—before quietly stating, "The station would be looking for you, Eden."

"And if my friends came here and told you that they thought Ward Cameron murdered me, with the murder weapon to give, what would you do?"

"I would send the weapon in for ballistics and question Ward, as well as anyone else who corresponded with the claim being made."

Eden's tongue toys around with the inside of her cheek as she remarks, "So why isn't Gavin getting the same treatment?"

The question hangs in the air for a few moments, and it's clear that Shoupe has no answer; no answer to why Eden would receive more time and effort in the same case than Gavin currently was, despite neither having more worth than the other when it truly counted.

The Bexley stands up and walks towards the exit of the door, as the sheriff had asked her to do moments before. He's still quiet, and she knows her point has seeped through to him, yet she lingers in the doorway.

"Think about it and do the right thing."

Eden then leaves the Sheriff's office, leaving Shoupe with nothing but his thoughts.

mara's misc

mara being productive for once???? what??????

no bc this chapter is long for no good reason.......one of my longest chapters yet and it's like chapter four of act two? i don't know i'm in a goofy mood.

i saw tbosbas yesterday and it was so good. i had a huge hunger games phase, and i still think it's a very good series, (catching fire is still one of my top movies, it's a cinematic masterpiece).  the book wasn't my favorite but i think they did very well with the movie.  tom blyth did very well as young snow (i get what the girls are saying, snow was hot) and then rachel zegler was beautiful as lucy gray. i loved lucky flickerman and his unhinged quotes, and the movie is an overall 10/10. not to mention "can't catch me now" which is the most perfect song olivia could have created for this movie. it was a great film i loved it sm. 

fighting the feminine urge to re-write/write a hunger games fic rn someone stop me (or don't....)

i also saw the fnaf movie yesterday and it was okay? i only went to see my pookie josh hutcherson and matpat but my little brothers and their friends wanted to go so i ended up staying the whole film with them. i was confused for most of it (my brothers friend literally looked at me and was like "i have no clue what is going on rn") but that's also my fault bc i don't play the game or know much lore. it was okay like there was a plot but it seemed rlly uneventful. 

anyway, this chapter was fun to write. literally had to give eden the glory of finding the gun out of spite for kie. also shoupes logic this episode???? literally not there. he's asleep when they spew out info but jj says the mustache comment and he's suddenly like "woah woah woah".  eden spews info but then she says fuck and shoupe is on his feet like "holy shit she cussed." 

had to let eden eat him up at the end bc she knows damn well if she was the one in gavin's position, the whole island would be searching for her and ward cameron would be in jail (his office can fit in her closet, as mvybanksss stated).

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 34