𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙙.

𝗔𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝙥𝙤𝙫
𝗧he familiar siren of the cop sent me and JJ flying away from each other and running the Twinkie.

Pope sat in the back with an confused expression on his face while JJ hopped into the drivers seat starting up.

I buckled in my seat belt and leaned back in the passenger seat. "What did they do?"

"Bet you in was John B." JJ pulled out and sped off leaving behind the two other Pogues.

♡︎

My feet kicked the rocks under them while we waited for John B to pick us up.

JJ was smoking, and Pope was just being Pope.

Apparently John B had some "emergency" so we all rushed to meet him.

The Twinkie eventually pulled and the three of us got in.

JJ leaned against the passenger chair. Pope leaned against John B's chair while I sat against JJ's chest.

We arrived at The Wreck waiting for Kie. "She says she's not comin'." Pope came out of the restaurant.

"Why not?" I questioned.

"What'd you do to her, John B?" JJ joked, him still playing with my hair.

"Hang on. I'll deal with it." JB scoffed and made his way in there.

Soon later they both came out, Kie hopped in the passenger seat.

"You mind if I just relax on this one?" JJ asked. Him starting to roll a blunt. "It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down."

"I'm just gonna lay low." JJ finished rolling it, bringing the lighter up to it. "Oh, did you want a hit of this?"

Before I could respond Pope leaned over and grabbed it out of JJ's grasp. "keep the signal clear." Pope tossed it across the Van.

"Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative?" JJ argued with Pope, opening the Twinkie doors so I could exit.

We pulled up to a cemetery. Definitely worse then the lighthouse.

"If you got creative, then..." JJ kept arguing with his friend but I zoned him out.

"Come on, hey." He gestured me towards the opening.

"I'm coming. This place is scary." I looked at all of the names engraved on the concrete.

"John B, what are we doing?" JJ said, him jogging a bit so he could catch up to me. He laced our hands together while he flicked around his flashlight.

That's something I have noticed about him. Every time he's scared or nervous or happy even. He likes physical touch. And he likes holding my hand. A lot, but I'm not complaining.

"Shut up." JB continued to lead us through the many, many graves. "You know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?"

"Yeah." Kie said from my side. Also flickering around her own flashlight.

"So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." John B stopped in front of a huge tombstone. "It's a person." He shined his flashlight revealing the name.

𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗙𝗜𝗘𝗟𝗗

"Voi-effing-là." JJ shined his flashlight to the name.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name." JB placed his hand on the door of his ancestors resting place.

"Help me with the door. Come on." JB grunted as he pushed all of his force on the door.

"One, two, three" Pope counted down, all of trying to open it.

"Are you pushing?" Pope asked me. "Yeah, I'm pushing."

Apparently my pushing wasn't good enough for Pope. "Come on." JJ stepped in for me. "Hold on. I got it."

"This door is like 700 pounds. It's not gonna budge." I panted.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, all right?" JJ patted my head, I swatted the boys hand away. "We got this"

The hissing sound made me stumble back and scream as a snake. My biggest fucking fear. Came launching out.

" A snake!" I pointed to the creature.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Pope joined me.

"That's a moccasin, all right." JJ watched it. "Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass." JJ began to bark at it.

"JJ, shut up. Shut up!" Kie shoved the boy slightly.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man" Pope moved his flashlight around.

"They're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that, man." JJ rolled his eyes. If there's one, there has to be many. "Wait, hold on." I scanned the area.

John B turned to me. "What?"

"If there's one, there's probably dozens." I searched for more of them.

"All around." JJ teased me. "Stop. You're scaring me."

JJ started to bark at the snakes again. "Stop barking at the snakes." JB demanded.

"Just making sure it's clear." JJ shrugged.

"We're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging. We should probably just go." John B sounded defeated.

I found a little crack in the huge grave. I could definitely fit through that. "I can get through."

"No, no, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole?" JJ examined the hole, him shaking his head no the entire time.

"Look, this is about your dad." I looked at John B. "And honestly, I really don't believe in it. Or really understand it, but you deserve to know the truth."

"Can you help me with that?" I moved myself closer to the hole.

"Give her a boost." JB pushed JJ towards me.

JJ bent down on one knee, keeping his other one in a lunge position. He propped both of his hands up waiting for me.

"I've seen it in the movies several times. Ready?" JJ asked.

"Remind me what we're looking for." I asked John B. Because in reality I had no idea.

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

"Hold my flashlight." I tossed it towards Pope who caught it successfully.

"All right, so put your hands right there." JJ moved my hands on his shoulders. "All right, on three."

Before JJ could even start counting, I boosted myself with his help and landed in the tombstone.

"Okay, never mind. Just forget about three." I heard JJ grumble.

"Okay, flashlight?" Pope stuck his hand in, giving me the object.

I flicked it on and studied the walls. Nothing. Nothing.

"You alive? You got, like, a... a heartbeat and everything?" John B asked me from outside.

"So far." My heart was beating. Maybe because of the snakes. Or the fact that I was in somebody's grave.

"Uh... I need some more light." My eyes landed on a white bag.

"Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha." John B tossed in a lamp.

With both lights focused on the package, I grunted as I pushed myself up a bit to grab it.

"Did you find something?" JJ asked, but I ignored.

"Oh, my God." I blurted out of shock.

With the help of Pope and JJ, I was pulled out of the hole. "That's not gold."

I handed the bag I found over to John B. "Holy shit.
This is from my dad."

The lights of a vehicle pulled up. "Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ yelled.

"Go." The five of us hid behind the small concrete slab.

"It's the guys who robbed your house." JJ kept his eye out. "Light!" I whisper yelled to JB.

"I see something!" A man called out.

"Homie's got a gun." JJ snapped his head over to us.

Fuck. "Screw this." We all got us making a run for it.

"Hurry up!" JJ quickly hosted himself up and over the fence.

Me following behind. "Go!" I yelled to Pope.

"Guys, I'm stuck." Pope whined, trying to pull his knee out.

"Pope, come on!" JJ yelled.

"I got you." I gripped onto his pants, tugging them. "Pope, don't move, okay?"

"You're gonna rip me." Pope cried out. "Wait. You're gonna rip me!"

I continued to tug harder on the boys pants, attempting to free his knee. "You're fine. Come on!"

With one last tug, his pants ripped off but he was unstuck. "Nice! Come on, dude." John B laughed.

"It's a little Tootsie Roll."

"Come on." JJ pulled me into the van. A pant less Pope jumping in also.

♡︎

We stood around the table waiting for John B to open the bag. I found myself growing impatient with every minute passing by.

"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Pope reminded JJ as he made a sandwich.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism." JJ flattened his bread, smearing something on it.

"JJ!" I impatiently called. "Yup, yup, yup!" JJ came stumbling over, sandwhich in hand.

"Let's do it." Kie stared down at the bag.

"Mmm" JJ gagged on the bread.

John B pulled out a map, an X drawn on it. " Holy shit."

"Oh. X marks the spot." Pope placed his finger on the X.

"Shit. Where's the coordinates?" John B searched the paper.

I suddenly remembered the coordinates that I had wrote down. I pulled myself away from the group and grabbed my backpack.

I fumbled through all of the random knick knacks before finding the small sticky note.

I ran back to the group and slammed the note on the table. "Looking for something."

"You always pull through." John B praised me before lifting his hand for a high five.

"Longitude, latitude." John B scribbled the notes on the corner of the map.

"Wait, there's somethin' else in there." JB pulled out a tape recorder.

"What's that?" JJ asked while popping a piece of gum in his mouth.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass." I scoffed jokingly.

"Dear Bird." Someone began to speak. Which was John B's father.

"Who's Bird?" I asked. "That's what my dad called me." John B answered while listening.

" I hate to say, "I told you so," but I told you so. And you doubted your old man.I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid.I didn't expect to find the Merchant either. You were probably right to call me out.Wasn't exactly Father of the Decade. What can I say, kid? I could smell the barn. And hopefully, we're listenin' to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling on permits. If not, and you find this for less than optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for.There she is, the wreck of the Merchant.If somethin' happens to me, finish what I started.Go for the gold, kid.I love you, Bird, even if I didn't always act like it. I'll see you on the other side." His father finished.

John B stood up and leaned against his door frame sobbing lightly. "Holy shit, he did it!" JJ celebrated."Big John... He found the Merchant..."

Kie walked over to John B, comforting him. "Can you... can you please?" I tried to shut him up.

"Sorry." He apologized.

♡︎

"How much was it again?" I asked. We navigated to outside, the slight breeze brushing against us.

"Four hundred mil." John B swished his drink around.

"All right, let's talk the split." JJ moved and faced us.
"Now, before we say "evenly," may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

Pope shook his head at the boy. "You haven't trained. You've done zero training."

"YouTube, bro!" JJ fought back. "That's at least a five percent bump right there. Any objections?"

I raised my hand along with Pope. "I don't hear any, so..."

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" I asked him, taking a sip of my beer.

"Pay for college in advance.And also, textbooks. Those are expensive." He replied. Smiling lightly at the thought of it.

"What about you, Ari?" He asked.

"Yeah, what does an already rich person do when she gets more rich?" JJ added.

"Buy a house. In Rome." My lips turned up. "And eventually just drop everything and run there."

"I get to come!" JJ insisted. " I know what I'll do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."

"You're gonna go full Kook?" I tilted my head at him.

"Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond.Put a bunch of those fish."

Typical rich. "I'm never visiting." Kie laughed.

"What about you, Kie?" I asked the brunette.

"Just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way Catch a Fire is about Kingston.Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing. Peter Tosh is dead. I know.Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die."

"What are you gonna do, JB?" I said. He was being really quiet. "To going full Kook." He raised his beer.

"To going full Kook!" We all said in union as we clinked our beers together.

♡

The sun was hitting my skin as I laid back on the HMS Pogue.

"You guys see that?" JJ whistled. "That's the Malibu 24-MXZ, the world's finest wakesetter. Number one in luxury, quality, and performance. 200K, easy."

"We picked the wrong parents." Pope agreed.

"I hate to break it to you guys, but that's Topper and his girlfriend." Kie scoffed at them.

I was sitting up on my knees and Topper caught my glance. He looked confused when he saw me but quickly saw who I was with.

JJ's arm wrapped around my waist. He shook his head at me and turned back to the water.

"You don't have to act like you don't see us, bitch." Kie called out.

Since the internet was down basically everywhere and I wasn't really back on full speaking terms with my parents, we couldn't look at the coordinates at my house.

So due to JJ's "genus" ideas, he brought us to a hotel instead.

"All right, keep a look out." JJ looked around the parking lot.

I stood outside the passenger window with Pope. "We're behind enemy lines." JJ pulled out the gun. "Yo, come on, man. Just put it back." Pope groaned.

"JJ." I begged. Not really wanting to deal with his constant bickering with Pope.

"You can never be too careful." JJ pulled the gun back.

"Hey, I predict that bringing a weapon to a four-star hotel will likely cause more problems than they solve." Pope leaned into the window.

"Thank you, Pope." I nodded. "I swear to God, I'm gonna throw that thing in the ocean, JJ." Kie threatened, hoping out of the Twinkie.

"Put it back." John B grabbed the gun and placed it down.

"You can't grab a gun like that." JJ fixed the gun and set it back down. "Can't forget my badge." He pulled out the key card before opening the door.

"Professional busboy." JJ placed his arm over my shoulder.

"So, where are we going now?" We walked through the parking lot.

"We're getting on the internet because only rich people have electricity right now." JJ pulled the doors open.

"Andrew! What's up, bro?" JJ waved to someone.

We stepped through the kitchen and the fresh smell of food hit my nose. "Mama L, good to see you!" JJ reached to grab some food but his hand was slapped away. "Hey, no! JJ!"

JJ pushed open the doors, revealing a bunch of working computers. "Sweet Lord, the internet!" Pope sat down.

"Let me get in there. Gotta check out my Insta models." JJ shut the doors.

"I got the map!" Pope yelled at us. All of us looking at the computer. "Coordinates, please?"

"34° 57' 30 " north. 75° 55' 42" west." I read off the map.

"Boom, continental shelf right there. Well, if it's off the deep end, it's not gonna be much of a treasure hunt, is it?" Pope explained.

"Shit, it's on the high side. It's only 900 feet." I pointed out.

"That's not too deep." JJ placed an arm over my shoulder once again.

"Is that doable or something?" Kie asked, her focus still on the screen.

"Yeah, totally doable." JJ guessed. "Will we be taking your personal submarine?" Pope said.

"How do you know this, Mr. Dive Master?" I laughed , adding on to Popes teasing.

"The salvage yard.They got a drone that can drop 1,000. It has a 360 camera and everything.It's for, like, deep dives and stuff. It's exactly what we need." JJ explained. Seems like a good plan?

"Can your dad get his grimy little hands on that?" John B asked. "Well, my dad's grimy little hands got his ass fired. I guess the salvage captain frowns on showing up shitfaced, turns out. But the drone's there. It's in the impound yard out back." JJ huffed.

"How much did you say was on the Royal Merchant again?" Kie asked.

"400 million." Pope caught on to what Kie was saying.

Pope blocked the door. "No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No!"

"Pope! Move." I grabbed his arms.

"Can't we do anything legal for money?" He whined as we pushed open the doors.

𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 !
i hope you all enjoyed !
so instead of it being 100 mil, i
had to switch it to 80 mil so it would be
even between the five of them. so they all get
80. that's all <3 i love you