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"Do you not know how a phone works?" Annabelle hollered, announcing her presence in the closed restaurant. Kiara looked up from the can of spackle that stood on the counter. The girl looked startled seeing her best friend swaddle into the restaurant.

"Anna, can you read?" Kiara asked. "We're closed."

Annabelle knew that Kiara's words were supposed to be a hint for her to leave before her parents saw her, for Annabelle's own good. Kiara's parents never liked Annabelle and after the day's events, they probably didn't appreciate her much more.

"I know, I'm sorry but John B's found this thing. Something about Redfield." Annabelle leaned over the counter, keeping herself up on her elbows.

Kiara brushed her hands over her apron. "I can't. I'm grounded." Her tone had a hint of sadness in it.

Annabelle had been jealous of Kiara her whole life, thinking that she lived the luxurious and great life with her family but the girl still seemed to always want to flee away from her home. She always stayed at John B's house and after time Annabelle began to understand why. Her parents cared more about their status and their money than their own daughter.

"You've snuck out when you've been grounded before, you can do it again." Annabelle smiled. "For John B."

Kiara almost looked like she was about to agree until Annabelle mentioned the last part. The girl's expression shifted and her shoulders slumped.

Annabelle leaned forward, furrowing her brows at the look on her best friend's face. "What's wrong? Is it the John B thing?"

Kiara looked away and nodded. "I just..."

"You can't let that one bump ruin your relationship," Annabelle said. "Plus, you obviously like him."

Kiara opened her mouth but Annabelle was quicker. She lifted her finger in the air to stop her from saying what she was about to say. "Ah. And don't you dare say that 'it's against the rules' because no one cares about those stupid rules"

"I just can't." Kiara breathed. "I don't wanna ruin our friendship, alright?"

"Fuck that. You two clearly like each other." Annabelle exclaimed, pushing herself off the countertop and throwing her arms in the air.

Kiara glanced over her shoulder, worrying that Annabelle's loud voice might have caught her parents' attention. She knew that her parents never liked Annabelle, despite her many tries to kiss ass and if they caught her in here while Kiara was grounded, they'd might actually end up throwing her out the window.

"My parents would kill me if I came with you guys." Kiara sighed.

"They're gonna kill you one day anyway." Annabelle shrugged, her lips curving into a smile.

"Annabelle, just go." Kiara sighed. Annabelle's smile faded and she edged away from the countertop, sending her a quick nod. Kiara didn't mean to sound rude but it was for Annabelle's own good since she couldn't be seen with Kiara while she was grounded.

Annabelle headed out the door, instantly gaining the boys' attention. "She said she's not coming." She informed the boy, while leaning forward against the railing.

"Why not?" JJ asked, sticking his head out of the van. Annabelle shrugged, knowing that it wasn't her business to inform the group about what happened between John B and Kiara.

"What did you do to her John B?" JJ asked as if he had read Annabelle's mind.

"Shit." The brunette cursed and anxiously tapped the steering wheel. He groaned and grabbed onto the door handle, shoving the door open. "Hang on I'll deal with it."
He emerged from the car and hurried up the small step of stairs to the restaurant.

Moments later they were driving up the roads of outer banks that were illuminated by the moon, casting a dark and blue light over the small town.

Annabelle glanced up at Kiara. The tension between the two hadn't changed since their almost-argument in the restaurant. They never fought. And when they did they always made up after a while which was why Annabelle wasn't doubting that it would be any different this time.

It was obvious that the two were different from each other. Still, the two had remained friends since the day they met. Kiara was rich. Annabelle was poor. Kiara had a family despite them being dysfunctional at times. Annabelle wouldn't call what she had family. It was the devil himself, trapped inside the body of what once was her father.

"You mind if I just relax on this one?" JJ broke through the thick air in the van. Annabelle tore her gaze from the back of Kiara's neck, shifting to JJ who exhaled a thick cloud of smoke while holding out this roll.

"It's been a long day and a lot of weird stuff has gone down." He said. When he asked if the group was okay with him smoking it, his question was aimed mostly toward the dark-haired girl sitting in front of him with her eyes plastered on Kiara's back.

He would never smoke in front of Annabelle unless he knew she was okay with it. Which she always was, but that wouldn't stop him from asking. Her mother's path with drugs definitely had a noticeable impact on her. The girl who once was his smoker in crime of whatever had transformed into a girl who wouldn't go near any of that. And JJ hadn't expected anything else from someone who lost her mother to the thing that was currently resting between his two fingers, leaving long-lasting traces in his lungs.

Annabelle opened her mouth to tell him that she didn't mind but her mouth was forced shut and she sent him a quick nod. A heavy ache settled on her shoulders at the memory of what happened in her room earlier when JJ found the wound on her cheek. Her other friends still hadn't noticed it as it hid perfectly under her brown locks.

"Do you want a hit of this?" JJ put the joint right under Pope's nose making him flinch back as if it was a bomb.

"I keep the signal clear." He said, moving JJ's arm away from him.

"Dude okay, do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative...."

"Look, I know I was wrong about the lighthouse. John Bs voice cut the blonde off. "And wrong about everything else going on. But I was right about one thing. Okay? My Dad is trying to tell me something."

Annabelle still wasn't fully convinced about the whole Big John message thing but she nodded along to John B's statement.

They finally parked in front of the towering fence that surrounded the graveyard. Annabelle's eyes traced over the gravestones. The moon loomed over them, giving the area a sinister appearance. The place that looked so delicate and peaceful in daylight now looked like the perfect start to any horror movie ever with tall shadows from the graves stretching over the poorly treated lawn and forgotten names carved into the stones that were surrounded by dead flowers and crashed candles.

"Bells?" A warm hand encircled her wrist bringing her out of her own terrifying thoughts. She turned to see JJ gently holding her hand and she realized that she was the last person remaining in the van while the rest of her group were already halfway inside.

"You coming?" He asked earning a nod from the girl. "You don't have to. You can stay back."

"Stay back? Have you met me?" Annabelle smirked, forcing the shivering fear off her. She wasn't afraid. She was never afraid.

The girl smirked as she passed JJ on her way out of the van. "If you're too chicken to come with us there's no shame in saying it." She grinned.

"Chicken? Have you met me?" The boy smirked as he placed the headlamp over his head.

Annabelle chuckled. "You look ridiculous." She pressed on the top of the headlamp making a strong light shine into her eyes.

If JJ said something back, she was already too far ahead of him to hear. She rounded the van joining up with the rest of her friends by the entrance of the cemetery.

She pulled out the flashlight that she had been handed earlier. She sighed deeply as she pressed down on the button multiple times without it turning on.

"Come on you piece of crap." The girl muttered to herself as she smacked the end of the flashlight without catching even a glimpse of light.

Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her and a loud and dark "boo" echoed through the silent graveyard. Annabelle jumped so far up in the air that she could be expecting a call from the Olympics any time soon and she screamed loud enough to break glass. In one swift move she spun around with her flashlight in a tight grip, ready to ram it into the person or demon behind her. Luckily it wasn't a demon, well that depends on who you ask. However, unfortunately, JJ managed to duck just before Annabelle's flashlight made contact with his cheek.

"You idiot!" She cursed at the boy who simply stood there and laughed.

"You're scary sometimes." He chuckled, glancing down at the flashlight that had almost just given the boy some serious brain damage or at least a concussion.

"I'm scary?" Annabelle breathed, still shaken up from his surprise attack. "You're the scary one. Next time I won't miss. I'll make sure I get it through your eye. Hopefully both so that-"

Annabelle was abruptly cut off by John B whisper yelling at the pair.

"Dumb and dumber! Come on!" He waved them over.

Annabelle looked back at JJ and the two stared at each other for a moment before their lips curved into a smile which quickly transformed into a fist of laughter.

"Come on dumber." Annabelle chuckled as she began to walk up to her friends.

"Who says I'm dumber?" JJ argued, catching up to her.

"Oh, yeah you're definitely dumber." Kiara chimed in.

"It's true," Pope added.

"Shut up." John B turned around glaring at his friends. Annabelle's smirk was wiped off her face and she quickly shifted her attention to their mission.

"John B what are we doing here?" Kiara asked.

"You know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?" John B asked.

"Yeah." Pope sounded just as confused as he looked.

"So, Redfield. This whole time I thought it was a place right?" The boy stopped in front of an old bricked tomb and lifted his lamp to illuminate the mossy and torn sign with the letters Redfield on it. "It's a person." He finished.

"Voi-effing-là," JJ said, staring wide-eyed at the letters.

"See, my great-great-grandmother, Olivia Redfield." John B announced. "That was her maiden name. Help me with the door. Come on."

Annabelle grimaced. "That's a 700-pound stone door." She breathed.

Pope ignored her comment and stepped forward, standing next to John B with his hands against the stone. "One...two... three." The two boys grunted, using all their strength to push against the door that didn't move an inch.

JJ marched forward and squeezed in between his two friends. "Hold on. I got it." The boy mimicked his friend's move from earlier and pressed against the wall with full force. "Hang on. I'm not getting a good grip on it."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's why," Annabelle said under her breath watching the three of them struggle.

"Annabelle's right. It's not gonna budge." Pope panted.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed to the only friend in the group who actually had something going on inside his head.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, all right." JJ made another hopeless attempt to move the door.

A hissing sound sent a shiver through Annabelle's spine even before she laid eyes on the animal. The snake protruded out of a small crack in the wall making all five friends yelp and shoot back. Annabelle caught herself clutching onto JJ's arm at the sight.

The snake slithered closer to them and the group took yet another step back except for the blonde boy who did everything but that.

"Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth," JJ shouted at the animal as he moved closer to it despite, Annabelle calling out for him. "Death in fall grass."

JJ's voice turned into a harsh and loud barking earning weird and baffled glances from his friends. To everyone's surprise, the animal disappeared but even out of sight, the boy continued to bark at it.

"JJ! Shut up!" Kiara shouted.

"They're afraid of dogs," JJ said.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man," Pope told him but Jj wasn't listening anymore. Instead, he launched forward, grabbing Annabelle's wrist to hold her back from moving any closer to the tomb.

"Hold on. If there's one, there's probably dozens." JJ said, his hand lingering around Annabelle's arm.

"Stop, you're scaring me," Kiara said, stepping away from the tomb.

JJ let go of the girl's arm to once again bark, this time at the stone wall in front of them.

"Stop barking at the snakes, Lassie." Annabelle shoved him back making him shut up instantly. The girl then let the light of her flashlight drag over the tomb, still keeping a distance between her and the possible horde of snakes.

"John, look." Pope began. "We're not gonna get in there, all right. It's not budging. We should probably just go."

Annabelle's flashlight lingered over a crack in the stone above her head, covered in vines that looked just as dead as the people in the ground. She bit the inside of her lip. Dying by a snake bite was painful but if she didn't do this, then she'd probably die from boredom of hearing John B yap about his crazy delusions of finding his father all summer. The boy needed closure. He deserved it even if it would break him. Because Annabelle would be there to help him pick up the pieces just like he did when she lost her mother.

This might be the dumbest idea ever.

Fuck it.

"I can fit through there," Annabelle said, her flashlight pointing to the gap in the stone.

"Yeah no." Pope instantly shut her down along with John B who stood with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

"I can." Annabelle turned to her friends, shining her flashlight right in Pope's face.

"Bells, I don't care if you can or can't fit. There's no way in hell I'm letting you go in there." JJ slowly guided her flashlight down from Pope's face.

"Well, good thing I don't need your permission then." Annabelle removed the jacked off her body and began placing her hair into a bun.

"I'll drag you by your ear if that's what it takes." JJ stepped in front of her, blocking her path into the crack. "You're not going in there alone so let's just-"

"I'll go with her." Kiara chimed in. "Look, this is about your Dad." She turned to face John B. "And honestly I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth."

The girl turned to Annabelle who sent her a smile. "We'll do it."

"Bells," JJ breathed but the girl ignored him. She stepped forward and assisted John B as the two removed the vines from the opening.

"I swear to God, if I see the corpse of your dead great-grandmother, you'll be joining her in this tomb," Annabelle said as she finished putting her hair into a bun.

John B and Pope held the vines aside and the two girls glanced over at JJ as he was the only one left to assist them inside. The boy hesitated for a moment before walking back to the stone wall.

"I'm gonna boost you up all right," JJ said, bending down while cupping his hands. "Ready?" He looked up at Annabelle who nodded and placed her foot into his cupped hands.

"One...two..." Annabelle didn't wait for Jj to get to three before she shot herself off the ground, squeezing herself through the hole.

"Okay, never mind. Just forget about three." She heard JJ say on the other side of the stone wall once she landed inside. Her eyes flickered around, unable to see anything but darkness. Her feet moved against the ground, tapping against what felt like stone.

"Flashlight please." She called out and the flashlight was instantly handed to her through the hole in the wall. Clicking it on, her light moved over the stone walls.

Kiara then jumped inside, her presence instantly making Annabelle feel a small flicker of relief.

The two flashlights traveled over the stone, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Just grey, plain stone and dust dancing around the room in the light of the flashlight.

Annabelle's gaze fixated on one of the many cracks in the tomb, dressed in vines. Stepping closer, she leaned forward, shining her light on a FedEx parcel. She grimaced as she used her flashlight to move the vines and spiderwebs.

"Kie." She whispered holding up the parcel. The girl turned around, staring at it with the same shocked expression as Annabelle. She hadn't expected to actually find something in the tomb.

𝟐𝟖𝟖𝟖 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
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𝐀/𝐍
sorry for the late update!
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