┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
❝ rudy the rooster slander ❞
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘦'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝

"Why do they want the compass?" Kiara asks.

"That thing's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to. No offence. I know it's in your family-" Pope is cut off by John B.

"The office" The brunette states and I look at the boy in confusion.

"What?" Pope asks.

"My dad. My dad's office" John B starts, walking into his house as we all follow.

"He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We used to laugh at him all the time about it like he was gonna find it. But now that he's gone, I've just kinda..." John B drawls off as he pulls out his keys to unlock the door.

"I just left it as he kept it" The boy finishes.

"Yeah, for when he gets back" Kiara says and I nod along.

I know it's wrong of us to let him believe his father is still coming back, but I couldn't bear to watch him fall apart again

"Yeah" John B sighs as he opens the door and Kiara shoots daggers at the other two boys.

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and i've never seen this door open" Pope states as we enter the room.

"I have, once or twice" I shrug, John B shooting me a smile.

it's no secret that Big John loved me like the daughter he never had, I was the only one who'd listen to his incessant rambling about ships and tides

"Here, look. This is the original owner, right here" John B states laying down a board with pictures and names pinned on it.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge. 1880 to 1920. There's the lucky compass right there" Kiara speaks, pointing at the compass in the man's hand.

"Actually, um...he was shot after he bought it" John B says awkwardly and my eyes widen.

"Then the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass. After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam" John B explains.

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asks.

"Sort of. Uh, actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In- In country" John B corrects and I share a worried glance with Pope.

"Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to him, my dad" John B finishes, pointing at a picture of his dad and himself when he was a child.

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here" JJ says sarcastically.

"Yeah, you have a death compass" Pope states.

"No, I do not" John B denies.

"You totally have a death compass, Johnny" I agree with the boys.

"Seriously, dude. Get rid of it" JJ advises him.

"It's cursed, and made it's way back to you" He adds.

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes" John B tells us, unscrewing the back of the compass.

He sees it's empty and shakes it as if something will appear but it doesn't.

"What's that?" Kiara asks and I see there's writing in the lid.

"That wasn't there before. This is my dad's handwriting" John B states in surprise.

"How can you know that?" Pope asks.

"Maybe because it's his dad?" I suggest sarcastically.

"And he does these weird R's with the- See it?" John B explains.

"Can I see it?" JJ asks and John B turns it to him.

"Red- Rout- No, I think that's an A" JJ struggles and I sigh with an amused smile.

"It says Redfield" I mumble.

"Right, Redfield" He repeats louder for the others and shoots me a grateful smile.

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kiara asks.

"Besides the most common name in the county?" Pope asks sarcastically.

"Hey, sarcasm is my thing" I snap with a pout.

"Oh, maybe- maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding" John B suggests and it kinda stings to see the hope in his eyes but I don't want him to give up just yet, it would crush him.

"Okay..." JJ drawls off.

"A clue? Come on, that's-" I cut Pope off with a swift elbow to the side.

"But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?" He suggests and I pat his back gratefully.

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper" John B jumps to his feet, grabbing a piece of paper.

"Okay" Kiara mumbles.

"Here you go" He says, slapping the paper onto the desk.

"Get your geek on, Popesicle" I chirp, handing him a pencil.

"How can you concentrate with that thing constantly crowing at you?" Pope huffs as the rooster crows loudly.

"JJ loves the rooster" John B replies.

"Sylvie loves the rooster" JJ adds, leaning his chin on my shoulder.

"I will take no Rudy the rooster slander" I confirm, nodding my head "He's a saint"

"Let me think" Pope mumbles, trying to concentrate and I lay my head against JJ's, feeling a little tired.

"Seriously, think" Kiara groans.

"Uh, Dedfiel. Colours- That's stupid" Pope mumbles to himself.

"What about Ritalin?" JJ asks and I snort.

"I don't think that's it, hot stuff" I tell him, to which he sticks his tongue out at me.

"Dreidel? Fiddler?" Kiara tries.

"Defile. Does that mean anything to you?" Pope asks and we all shake our heads 'no'.

"You're missing a letter" Kiara points out.

"Guys" John B says and I immediately look over at him as the others continue speaking.

"Guys! Somebody's here" John B snaps.

We all walk over to the window and I see the two men from Lana's house get out the car outside.

"Guys, is that them?" Kiara asks worriedly.

"No" JJ groans.

"Is that them?" Kiara whimpers and I nod in fear.

"This is suboptimal" Pope says as I start to freak out.

"John B, I told you! Why does it always-" JJ gets cut off.

"JJ! Hey, look at me!" John B snaps, slamming JJ into the wall which makes my eyes widen "Where's the gun?"

"Gun? I, uh, I can't-" JJ stutters and I start grabbing my hair at the roots, tugging it in panic "Hey, Sylvie. Stop that!"

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?" Kiara yells, grabbing my hands from my hair and squeezing them reassuringly.

"It was in my backback, and then I-" JJ starts.

"Backpack? On the porch" John B finishes for him.

"It's on the porch" JJ whispers and my eyes widen.

He runs out the door and I make a move to chase him but Kiara's grip tightens, shaking her head.

"John Routledge!" I hear a scream and suddenly JJ scrambles back into the room with widen eyes, slamming it shut behind him.

"Come on out now!" The men yell "Where's the compass?!"

"Where's the gun?" John B asks JJ's Kiara lets me go.

"They're on the front porch, guys" JJ whispers and my heart drops, fear taking over.

"Get out here! Routledge!" The men holler.

"Where you at, boy?!" One of them screams and I hear them trashing the place.

"We're gonna die" I breathe out, my eyes watering and JJ wraps me up in his arms.

"We gotta leave" Kiara hisses, looking around "Guys, window! Window!"

JJ and Pope rush to the window, yanking at it desperately with no luck.

"What- what's happening? Why is it taking so long?" Kiara rushes them.

"It's painted shut, okay?" JJ snaps at her.

She grabs a letter opener from the table and my eyes look around frantically before settling on a screwdriver, snatching it off the desk.

"Okay, guys. Here, we got it" Kiara tells them and I immediately start hacking at the paint with the screwdriver.

I can hear the men trashing the place and screaming outside the door but I focus on breaking away as much paint as I can before they find us.

"Come on" JJ groans.

"We're going as fast as we can" Kiara hisses.

"Shh" I hear John B and Pope whisper in unison.

I hear the doorknob jiggling and my heart slams against my chest, my breathing erratically speeding up as I start to chip at the paint faster.

"You better not be in there!" I hear the man growl and he bangs on the door making me jump.

Kiara and I finish just as the man starts kicking in the door, sending wood flying everywhere. JJ hauls up the window and Kiara scrambles out first. Pope climbs out next with John B following behind him and I turn to JJ who shakes his head. I hear the man shoot at the door and JJ's eyes widen in fear.

"You're not dying today" The blonde boy mutters, grabbing me and climbing out the window.

I pull the window closed behind us and JJ tugs me after our friends who are crawling into the rooster's pen. I scramble inside and JJ follows, sitting next to me as I lean against the wall of the pen trying to steady my shaky breathing.

The Maybank boy sees my panic attack starting before even I do and pulls me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me. I hide my face in his neck and let out a few shaky breaths, closing my eyes to calm myself down. The sound of the rooster crowing loudly in a panicked state makes me jump and cling onto the blonde boy tighter as he rubs my back.

"Do something, Pope. Shut him up" JJ snaps, holding the back of my head.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope retorts.

"Pet it or something, or talk to it. I don't know" Kiara cries.

Pope tries to touch the animal and it freaks out, getting louder than it was. Tears start rolling down my cheeks and my breathing becomes shakier as my anxiety claws at my insides.

"JJ, do something" I sob and he nods.

He lifts me off his lap and leans forward grabbing the rooster. I close my eyes and silently cry as JJ strangles the animal. My head falls down and my hands cover my ears as I try to block everything out. JJ's arms wrap around me once again and I jump at first, not realising it him.

"It's just me, shh" He whispers, pulling me close.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go!" I hear one of the men yell at the other.

The sound of the car leaving the property sends relief running through my body and I turn to see Kiara is also crying, her hand tightly in John B's while Pope watches the guys leave through a gap in the coop.