𝟎𝟑𝟑.                   𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

immortals ──── fall out boy

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖮𝖴𝖱 𝖡𝖮𝖸 𝖦𝖤𝖭𝖨𝖴𝖲 𝖱𝖤𝖠𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖤𝖣 𝖲𝖮𝖬𝖤𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖭𝖦．

So, as you all know, we watched Ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it. He obviously did not fly the plane. He was meant to, yes, but he never got the chance as John B prevented him from getting away. That plane did not fly itself, so somebody else must've flown the plane, meaning that person was on the tarmac when Peterkin was murdered.

So if we can find whoever that individual was, we can convince them to confess on record. Well, hopefully we can convince them with "a little light espionage", as Pope called it.

Now we live on a small island where everybody knows everybody. If we looked around, we would find that pilot. So we decided to split up and talk to a few locals. We asked around, hoping somebody knew somebody who could fly a plane or who worked for Ward.

We nearly reached a dead end, but with a simple bat of my eyelashes and a bite of my lip, I was told that another pilot who worked for Ward was named Gavin, and he even provided me with an address.

Men are so easy.

With Gavin's address scribbled on a napkin along with this thirty-something man's number── gross, I know── we set off for Gavin's house where he lived with his wife. In the car, Pope further expanded on the plan, and now we're pulling up to his house, wishing Pope luck in following through with his plan.

Pope is the brains of our group, that much is obvious. For as long as I've known him, he's always been the smart, reasonable one. I'm not surprised that he devised an appropriate plan, and that he is following through with it.

"If this guy was flying planes for Ward, he's gotta be pretty tight-lipped."

JJ pulls his gun out of his back pocket, flicking off the safety. My head snaps to him, eyes honing in on him. "So then direct approach gets my vote," he says, earning a head shake from me.

Now, unlike our boy genius, Pope, JJ's plan was to kidnap Rafe and torture him for information. Yes, I hate Rafe Cameron, but torturing is not something that we should do. JJ likes to attack first, ask questions later, and while the approach is sometimes applauded, today it is not.

"JJ, no." I reach out, snatching the gun from the barrel.

"You can't just snatch it like that, Sunshine. I could've killed you."

"Well, I like to take risks," I bite back, tucking the gun into the backseat of Pope's seat.

"Look," Pope turns in his chair, looking back at me and JJ like we're the two naughty children. "I'm going plant my phone in his car, and then we listen in on the AirPods."

"AirPods? Who has AirPods?"Kiara tucks her hair behind her ear, revealing the AirPods in her ears. "Have you had them in the entire time?"

"No." I pin her with a glare. "Well, you and JJ are loud." JJ snorts next to me which brings my understandable glare over to him, but his random burst of laughter brings strange looks from Kiara and Pope.

I mean, Pope especially as he already thinks I'm hiding something after he nearly caught me and JJ in a compromising position.

"Okay, so are we definitely sure this plan will work?" I ask, needing to move on before somebody looks at us for too long.

Pope holds the phone up once he hits record. "Say something."

"Something," Kiara and I say.

Pope hits play, and it begins to play back into Kiara's ears. She nods to Pope. "Okay, we have audio," he tells us.

"Oh, yay."

"Okay, so..." Pope places his hand on the door handle, ready to leave. "Honk or, uh... or yell or something if you see anything suspicious."

"I'll wave my hands and scream," I deadpan, smiling innocently.

"Don't do anything dangerous," Kiara warns, concern in her voice.

"Come on. I'm not JJ."

I laugh, nudging JJ who doesn't look amused whatsoever as Pope rushes out of the car, crossing the street to the house that belongs to Gavin. "Funny, Pope." He nods, peering out the window to see Pope ducking down in front of the car.

"That was very funny," I mutter, leaning back in my seat.

"Hey, how's it been going, you know, with Pope and all?" I snap my head away from Pope who is crouching across the ground to JJ who is looking at Kiara, awaiting the answer.

Oh, I forgot to mention... something has sparked between Pope and Kiara. I don't know how it happened, I don't even know when it happened, but it has happened, and now they are... well, I don't know what they are. Maybe what I said to Kiara the night JJ and I kissed actually struck a cord with her. I'm still a little unsure why something occurred between Pope and Kiara because she claimed that she wanted something different, but who am I to judge?

Pope likes her, that much I know. Hell, he loves her, so good for him. I'm a supporter even though Kiara doesn't look all that... into it, if that makes sense. But maybe I'm wrong.

She nods, swallowing harshly. "It's good."

JJ and I share a glance── a glance that reads, it is so not good. I know Kiara, I can tell by the tone in her voice that she is not happy with Pope, so I don't know why something is happening between them. JJ nods. "It's good? Alright."

She nods along. "Yep."

"In the bedroom, is he, like, kinda freaky, 'cause it's Pope, you know?" My mouth gapes in horror at the question although I should've expected a question like that to come out of JJ's mouth.

"Why are you asking?" Kiara asks, continuing to stare out of the window.

"I don't know." He shrugs, obviously not great at sitting in silence. "Just kinda curious," he admits, peering at me. I just stare at him strangely, lost on why he's so invested in a relationship that, well, isn't even a relationship. "Just spitballing here."

"You don't need to spitball," Kiara says. "We could sit in silence." Great idea.

Okay, let's go back to our boy Pope.

Pope is now at the car with the driver's door cracked open just an inch. He looks up, double checking if Gavin is near the window, but he knows we've got his back in case Gavin catches him. Gavin crosses the living room, and we watch as Pope pushes the door open just a little more as he can't see Gavin in his view.

He follows through with his plan by pushing his phone underneath the seat cushion before slowly closing the door behind him.

Unsurprisingly, Pope's plan has worked so far, and just as Pope begins to walk back to us, JJ starts speaking again, "Ranking-wise──"

Oh, my God.

"Oh, you're still asking." Kiara's head spins back to look at me and JJ in the backseat.

"Yeah, I was just curious."

"You're still curious." Kiara looks to me, silently hoping for some help, but I absolutely cannot shut JJ up once he starts speaking, and she knows that.

"Is John B better?" JJ splutters out, catching Kiara and me off guard.

"What?"

"Oh, my God." I smack his arm instinctively. "That's my brother."

"Well, I just──"

"No, but Brooke is," Kiara snaps, turning away with a satisfied grin on her face as she's stunned not just JJ to silence, but me too. I won't lie, that was the fastest and snappiest response I've heard from Kiara, and I love that she's silenced JJ.

I already know I'm damn better though.

Pope returns to the a silent car. "Phase one is complete." He looks around at each of us, confused on why we're this quiet, but oh, if he knew why. "Are we all good?"

"Perfect," I hum. "Just perfect."

The next phase of the plan is to contact Gavin. Using Kiara's cellphone, I'm going to call and speak with him. I'm typing the number in, my finger hovered over the call button as I turn to my friends. "Should I do an accent?"

"Definitely disguise your voice."

I clear her throat, and some shrill, British accent falls out, "How would you like me to talk?"

"Not like that," Kiara says, amusement in her voice.

I inhale sharply, letting my voice drop a few octaves, "Batman."

JJ hits a hand on my back softly. "There you go."

I press my finger down, calling Gavin. I place it on speaker, ready for everybody to hear. The phone rings a few times before his voice connects, surprising me even though I called him. "Hello?"

"Hello," I say in the stupid Batman voice, but there's no way I can do that voice the entire call. I shake my head. "I can't."

"Just talk," Pope whispers.

"Hello?"

"Is Gavin there?" I ask in my normal voice.

"This is Gavin. Who's this? Hello?"

"I know what happened on the tarmac," I say, looking to Pope who nods, assuring me that I'm saying the right thing. I so don't want to screw this up, not when this is our chance to catch Ward Cameron once and for all.

"Um... who's this?" His laugh sounds awkward── forced almost, like he's surprised that somebody knows about what happened on that tarmac.

"It was Rafe Cameron," I continue. "But you already knew that, and you lied about it. We're gonna prove it."

"You're gonna tell me who this is now."

"You could have saved her, Gavin, and you didn't." My voice raises slightly, unleashing all that pent-up frustration I've had for the past two weeks while I thought my brother was dead. "And you're not getting away with this."

"Listen to me! Who is this?"

I hang up the phone, a satisfied smile on my lips. "How was that? Scary enough?"

"Yeah, I was scared. Good job." JJ squeezes my shoulder. I hand Kiara her phone back, catching the subtle eye roll she does when she sees JJ's hand on my shoulder.

"Alright. We tickled the wire. Phase two complete. Now we wait and listen," Pope tells us, explaining how we will move onto the third phase of our plan── sorry, his plan. Gotta give credit where credit is deserved, right?

We just have to wait for Gavin to go out to his car because, if he's afraid, he will absolutely call Ward Cameron.

And I'm not kidding, minutes later, Gavin was stepping out of the house and moving to his car. He was panicked, that much I could see as I peeked up every so often. We had to stay down in case Gavin caught wind of the fact that there was a car sitting outside his house with four kids in it.

We hear the car drive past us, so we bring ourselves back up. "He didn't see us. Hit it."

Pope yanks on his seatbelt as Kiara starts up the car. "My seatbelt."

"Are you seriously buckling up now?"

"Yes, I am."

"Safety comes first." I'm a hypocrite saying that because I'm not buckled up so when Kiara pulls away from the kerb by doing a U-turn, my body is flung against the door.

I grab the seat in front of me, pulling myself forward so I can listen in on whatever Gavin is saying in her car that is only a few inches away from us. "He's talking to Ward," Pope tells us.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Get clo... get closer. I can't hear." Kiara speeds up slightly just so she can catch up with the signal. "He's talking about negotiating something. Re... renegotiating." Pope continues to listen, nodding along.

His eyes widen as he looks to us. "Gavin's got the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin."

My mouth gapes, shocked to hear that. "Holy shit."

"I think he's trying to use it as extortion, as leverage." This might be our chance to actually get Ward. This might be our chance to exonerate my brother for a crime he didn't commit. He'll get to come home, and Ward Cameron will be locked away for life.

I've been desperate for revenge since the minute I thought my brother was dead.

"Wait. He's pulling over."

"Shit. He's panicking."

"Do I pull behind him? What do I do?" Kiara begins to slow down, not wanting to bring too much attention to us, but it's difficult when we're now at a loss for what we should do.

"Go around the block." Kiara drives us past Gavin's car, and we don't spare him a glance as we pass by him.

I peer over my shoulder, looking out the back window as Kiara takes a turn, ready to bring us back around the block. "We're gonna lose him."

"Go, go, go!"

"I'm going. I'm going."

"I can't hear anything. I'm losing signal." Well, just when things can't possibly get any worse than they already are right now, we come to a crashing halt as a sign reads, road closed in big, obnoxious letters. Ah, how perfectly convenient is that when we need to spy on Gavin and Ward, there's no way of spying.

"What the hell is this." Well, it looks like we're stuck, but whatever.

"Stop. Just stop and turn around now."

"Pull in here and back up." Kiara begins to obey, backing up the car so she can turn it around, but once again, karma has a way of reaching us. She reaches us by sending a pickup truck in our direction, so now we're stuck in between the bastard sign and this bastard truck.

Well, they do say that karma's a bitch, right?

JJ pushes open the door to yell at the idiot who decided to block us in. "Hey! We were about to back up. You literally had to do that now?" I look away from the truck to find Pope pushing himself out of the car to make a run for it.

Well, that's one way to do it.

"Pope!" I push open my own car door, slamming it to a close before I take off after him. I get that he wants to catch a signal, but do we seriously have to run? I hate running.

"We gotta know where they're meeting," he yells over his shoulder as I chase after him, followed shortly by JJ and Kiara. Somehow, and I don't know how, but we end up in somebody's back garden.

Well, actually, we end up in somebody's garden because Pope jumped over the fence and I just followed pursuit. "Pope!"

We sprint across the grass, running past a pool where one guy I recognise from school sits with two girls. I pick up my pace ever so slightly, waving my hand to them politely. "Hey, guys."

Pope trips and stumbles over a seesaw, catching me off guard, and I nearly trip over him as he attempts to pick himself up and off the ground. "Pope, shit." I move to pick up the airpod that has fallen out of his ear, and I push it into his hand as we move again, walking quickly.

"Can you hear him?"

JJ and Kiara catch up with us as Pope finds a signal again. "He... he's meeting Ward right now. We gotta go."

So we run back through the garden, back over the fence, back down the road and to the car.

──────────────────────────

𝖶𝖤 𝖠𝖱𝖤 𝖢𝖴𝖱𝖱𝖤𝖭𝖳𝖫𝖸 𝖡𝖤𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖡𝖠𝖳𝖳𝖤𝖱𝖤𝖣 𝖡𝖸 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖱𝖠𝖨𝖭．I've never hated the rain more than I do now. I hate that my clothes are sticking to my body. I hate that my hair is dripping wet. I hate everything about the rain that's just come out of nowhere.

We're standing in an alleyway, ready to catch Ward out. We're peering over a fence, attempting to get a good enough look at Gavin who is across the road at a construction site. Pope is holding the camera as he's the most sensible one of us all and we're hoping to catch Ward doing something intimidating and criminal so we can have proof on video.

"Nice camera," JJ comments. "Where'd you dig up that relic? Why don't you just use your phone?" Pope is the only one who is slightly protected from the rain due to the hood of his hoodie.

"Well, first of all, I like my antique electronics." I huff out a laugh. "Second of all, this is a telephoto." Kiara and I share a look, confused by Pope's love for his relics. "It allows me to get a close image from far away."

"So does the zoom of a phone camera."

"For definitive proof of witness payoff, we're gonna need quality glass."

Who am I to argue with that?

"There he is." JJ points forward at Ward who was is running down the street with the duffel bag in his arms, obviously wanting to get out of the rain. "Yo, get down." We each duck but Pope keeps the camera up and above the fence.

"And there's Gavin." We lift ourselves up slightly, waiting to look over the fence. "Where are you going, you son of a bitch?" Ward and Gavin have disappeared from the camera, and they're now moving further into the building. "No, no. I'm losing him."

"Hold on." He steps away, whistling to us when he finds something for us. "Hey. I found something. Come here." We move away from the fence, following JJ who is standing before a stretch of ladders that lead upwards to, hopefully, a better angle.

JJ begins to climb up first, followed by the rest of us who move quickly as we don't want to miss anything vital. We have got to catch Ward once and for all.

Once we're safely on the rooftop of this building, we find that we have a clear view of Ward and Gavin. Pope sets up his camera and begins to record the them. "Are you getting it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I see them."

I rub my hands across my face, wishing for the rain to just disappear as I catch sight of Ward handing Gavin something. "What did he just hand him?"

"I think it's a duffel bag."

"Guys, I think this is a payoff."

I feel as if I'm in some kind of spy movie with how we look, staring forward with a camera as the scene before us unravels. "Gavin doesn't look happy about something," Pope says, his eyes squinting due to the rain pelting down. "It looks like he's yelling at Ward."

"Maybe he didn't give him enough money," I say, finding that to be a possibility.

"He sure looks mad." Pope zooms in just as he utters, "Shit!"

I wipe my eyes, trying my best to see the scene before me, and I think I can make out the subtle movements and outlines of two men fighting and squabbling with one another. "Are they fighting?"

"I dunno. It appears that way."

"They're really going at it." Punches were being thrown, kicks were being forced, and drags were enforced by each of them. I stare forward, still wishing the rain settled because I can't see exactly what's going on. I just know that they're fighting, but I have no idea how they ended up in that position.

"Ward's kicking the shit out of Gavin."

"Why are they fighting?" Nobody can answer that question as we have no idea what was said before the fight broke out.

"I don't know. I'm tryna see."

We continue to watch the fight unfold before us. "Is that a gun?" My voice is a little too loud, but it's not like those guys can hear me as they fight with one another. "That must be the murder weapon," I realise, desperate to get my hands on that. That weapon is the one that killed Peterkin, and is the weapon that ruined John B's life.

One of the men── Gavin, I assume── have picked themselves up and off the ground, and they're stumbling forward as the other man── Ward, I think── backs away. I stare, confused as to why he's backing away, but then it all makes crashing sense.

A gunshot rings in my ears, shocking me from the inside out as a choked gasp falls from my lips. My friends gasp beside me before ducking. My head falls into my hands as I try to make sense of what just happened.

Oh, my God. What the hell did I just see?

"That did not just happen." I breathe heavily, my chest tightening, my heart hammering.

"Tell me you just got that."

"Enough to put this asshole away for life," Pope tells us, bringing some air to my lungs. I feel some ease upon knowing that fact. We are going to get Ward Cameron locked away for life.

Gavin runs at him despite being shot, and I think he knocks the gun right out of Ward's hand. One final punch brings Gavin to the ground, and he collapses, likely dead.

"I think we should go right now," JJ insists, dragging himself away first. I look to him, needing my breathing to come to a slow. "Pope, you have enough, right?"

"Yeah." Ward runs out of the building, bringing JJ to a stop as Pope speaks up. "Hold on. He's coming out. There he goes. I think he's looking for the gun." Pope's camera continues to follow Ward── the bastard who now has a body count of two. "I think the gun just went down the drain. He's looking for it."

I stare at him, and every part of me wants to scream and cry out. Hell, even a small part of me wants to kill him right here and now, but that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. I want to call him out for all his wrongs, but I need to keep my mouth shut, that much I know. I can say all I want to say when he's rotting behind bars.

However, while I've screwed my mouth shut, Kiara is speaking her mind and mine as she begins to lift herself up. I look to her, hand reaching out to grasp her arm. "What are you doing, Kie?"

She ignores me completely.

"What is wrong with you?" she screams, and Ward absolutely hears her. "Murderer!" I push myself up, grabbing Kiara's waist and yanking her down to my side so she doesn't say another damn word because what the hell was that?

That was unbelievably dumb.

"Kiara, are you crazy?"

"I don't care if he hears me. I don't care if he kills me. He's a murderer." She pushes me away from her, but I should be the one shoving her away.

"Yeah, and he's gonna murder us, Kie."

"Guys, he sees us." Oh, great, a murderer knows we're hiding up here. That's lovely. "Come on. We gotta go. He's coming."

We move towards the ladders, needing to get out of here, like, yesterday. Pope begins to climb down first, followed by JJ, then Kiara, and finally me. "Come on, faster!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

Just as JJ grabs onto the first bar, Kiara's foot comes down onto the bar, stepping onto his hand. "Ah, Kie! My hand!" JJ falls back, kicking Pope backwards and off the ladders as they both fall to the bottom of the ladders.

"Sorry. So sorry." The boys groan out in agony as Kiara and I bring ourselves to the ground to join them.

Pope moves, rushing over to the camera to see it is smashed to pieces. "No, no, no, no, no."

"You're kidding me. You fumbled it?"

"You kicked me in the face," Pope yells, staring right at JJ. 

"She stepped on my hand."

"I was trying to hurry."

I'm the only one who didn't do anything wrong. Ah, go me, right?

"Let's go!"

──────────────────────────

𝖥𝖮𝖱𝖳𝖸－𝖥𝖨𝖵𝖤 𝖬𝖨𝖭𝖴𝖳𝖤𝖲 𝖫𝖠𝖳𝖤𝖱，𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖢𝖮𝖯𝖲 𝖠𝖱𝖱𝖨𝖵𝖤．We called the cops, screaming down the phone that somebody is dying, and it takes them forty-five minutes. Like, what the fuck. The rain has washed away all evidence that a crime was committed, and Gavin's body is nowhere to be seen. We've been hiding in the car, waiting for the cops, but we expected them to hurry, not take forty-five minutes.

Bless Kiara, she still attempts to explain what happened here while I stand in silence because the second Shoupe took one look at me, I knew we'd get nowhere. I'm not supposed to be here, involved in this. I could get sent away if I get caught up in Ward Cameron's business even if he's the one who caused all this.

"Look, it was right here, and this is where that manic claimed his next victim," Kiara explains, pointing to where Gavin's body was.

"Uh-huh. His next victim?" Kiara nods while JJ bends down to see if the blood had stained the ground, but the rain is ridiculously heavy, so all that blood has washed away. "Right. How long ago did you say it happened?"

"Forty-five minutes ago, Shoupe." JJ rises back up to his feet, arms crossing over his chest.

"And so, Ward Cameron just popped one off and shot him." Kiara nods firmly and vigorously. "Execution style? And then cleaned it all up in forty-five minutes."

"We filmed the entire thing."

Shoupe looks to Pope. "You filmed it?"

"Yes, but we can't show it to you because I stepped on JJ's hand, and then he kicked Pope, and then Pope dropped the camera because it's a piece of shit, and it broke." Kiara rambles hopelessly, earning a strange look from Shoupe who definitely does not believe us. He doesn't seem bothered by this or us whatsoever.

"This is a telephoto, and we needed to get a long-distance image, and... and... and I fell, and it broke, so the video is basically unusable." Shoupe just nods along but he isn't writing anything down like one would in a crime scene. "But... but we were there, and we're wit──"

"So the dog ate your homework?"

"No, Shoupe. I know it sounds──"

"Look, I don't know what you kids expect me to do with this. You drag me out here in the middle of the night for a whole lot of nothing." He doesn't believe us. Of course he doesn't believe us. It was dumb to even think he would believe us as he never does.

"No, it's not nothing."

"──Except for some crazy stories about how Ward Cameron's out on a random killing spree."

"We're not making this up!" JJ yells, frustrated.

"It's not a random killing spree! Gavin was his pilot!" Pope finally says, bringing Shoupe's attention to him. "Okay, he was paying him hush money because he was on the tarmac that day."

"Gavin was blackmailing Ward because he has the gun that Rafe used to kill Peterkin," Kiara adds, hoping Shoupe would just understand that it was Rafe Cameron and not John B.

"He called him here and tried to pay him off. But it wasn't enough, and then so be shot him," JJ inhales a sharp breath before adding, "with the murder weapon."

"How do you know that?"

"Pope did this thing with his phone. He, like, put it in his car and──"

"I heard their whole conversation."

"You wiretapped him?"

"Is that bad?" Yes.

"Stop. Just stop." They clamp their mouths shut, and I, of course, remain silent. "I've had enough." Shoupe begins to back away.

"What? Are you gonna look the other way again?"

"You ever heard about the boy who cried wolf?" He begins to head down the steps, heading out of the crime scene.

"Why can't you believe us this once?" We trail after him. "Why would we lie?"

"I know it sounds crazy. I know that!"

Shoupe joins the other cops outside who, of course, haven't moved an inch. "Alright, there's nothing up there. False alarm. Let's all go home."

"No, no, please don't go home. No. Why would we make this up." My throat starts to close, and I feel like screaming and crying and begging for somebody, anybody to just listen to us.

"Can you just do your job for like twenty minutes?" Kiara begs, stepping in front of me.

"Hey. I... I know..."

"Just listen! It makes sense!"

"I know you're upset." Shoupe looks from Kiara to me, but I don't meet his eye because if I do, I fear I'll scream in his face out of anger. "And I know you think your friend was innocent."

He is, bastard.

"But you weren't there. The only actual witnesses who are above ground say the exact opposite. Alright?" He means the Kooks who were above ground say the exact opposite, and because they have higher authority and a higher ranking on our island, they get listened to over us even if we are right. "And both of them have a hell of a lot more credibility than any of you right now." 

I push myself forward. "You bastard!" Before I lunge at him, I'm grabbed by JJ because he obviously does not want me to be pulled away by the cops who are ready to pounce at me.

"Hey!" Shoupe steps towards me as I glare at him. "We told you to stay away, Brooklyn. We told you not to get involved."

"He's a murderer," I breathe out, pulling my arms free from JJ's grasp. "H-He killed my dad. He got my brother killed." That's technically a lie as my brother is not dead, but Shoupe does not know that. "I-I can't just stay away."

"Well, you need to, or you know what'll happen, Brooklyn."

"At least... at least look for him!" Kiara yells, watching as Shoupe moves to get into the cop car.

"Someone died tonight!" I say, head shaking as I look away from Shoupe. JJ's hand reaches out, his hand squeezing my shoulder as I step into his comfort.

"Get on home to your parents right now."

I don't have any parents because the only parent I ever had was killed by Ward Cameron, and the guy who took over once Dad left is currently on the run for murder so, you know, I don't have anyone to turn to at this given moment all because of Ward freaking Cameron.

Shoupe drives away, leaving us to stand in the rain like idiots. My friends begin to argue before me, and I just feel like breaking down. Yes, my brother may be alive now, but we cannot rest and be pleased about that fact until we solve this.

"I told you this would happen. Like, you're the one that had to drop the camera."

"It was your fault!"

"Oh, that was my fault?" JJ scoffs.

"Yeah, it was your fault!"

"Why do you always take his side?" JJ is yelling at Kiara. "Why do you never take mine?" He points over at Pope, beyond frustrated.

"Shut up!"

"We're not out of this yet," I say, speaking clearly and precisely. "We can still go get the gun."

──────────────────────────

❀ soph speaks

been a while sorry . . . hope you enjoyed :)