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Annabelle unwillingly crawled inside the small door, leading her into the darkness of the basement, her surroundings prickling her skin. The air was thick—damp, stale, and suffocating like it hadn't been disturbed in years.

Cobweb clinging to every edge, corner, and furniture in the space. Dust swirled in the glow of her flashlight as she cautiously moved forward, her nerves spiking at every sound. She glanced over her shoulder, making sure JJ was close behind her before she moved further into the unsettling room. Her flashlight swept across the room, illuminating a set of baby furniture. A small crib. A rocking chair. A mobile, its tiny figures frozen mid-dangle.

Her stomach twisted. It was like something out of a horror movie.

"Down came Mrs Crain, and cut off all our heads, up came the sun, and dried up all the blood."JJ's eerie singing voice slithered through the air.

Annabelle whipped around and smacked his arm with her flashlight. "Shut up!" she hissed, her glare burning into his stupidly amused face."I swear to God, if a ghost drags me into the floorboards, I'm haunting you first," she muttered, turning back around.

JJ chuckled behind her and leaned down to examine the series of dolls, collecting dust on the shelfs. "If a Victorian doll winks at us, I'm out."

"See any water?" Kiara asked and Annabelle fought back her smile at JJ's comment, walking forward with her flashlight lighting up her surroundings.

"It's dryer than Popes love life in here." She muttered to Kiara under her breath, her best friend snoring out a laugh.

"Hey, I heard that." Pope shone his flashlight directly in their faces, the two girls giggling lightly.

"Another dead end?" JJ asked.

"There's no water in here." Pope sighed, turning his flashlight away from the girl's faces.

"Not a dropamino," JJ stated, running his finger over one of the many dusty surfaces.

"Don't touch anything in here. Who knows what type of diseases you'll catch down here." Annabelle whipped his hand away, the boy grinning down at her.

"Ooooh, maybe I'll get basement powers."

"You're gonna get basement tetanus," Annabelle said as she turned back around.

"Look at you. Worrying." JJ teased. 

"Shut up," The girl muttered. 

"Know why we didn't find it?" Kiara looked around at the faces of her friends. "Bad karma."

"God, here we go." John B groaned knowing that Kiara was about to burst into her scolding for the millionth time that day.

"You know, we had a good thing going." The girl shone John B right in the eye, his face scrunching up. "And then you decide to rope in Barbie, and now the trail's gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not." She shrugged, stepping closer to the boy.

"Oh, good Lord." Annabelle sighed, watching the same scene unfold that she had watched a billion times over the past few days.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah." John B took a step toward Kiara.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." The boy repeated. "What the hell's the deal with you two?"

"Nothing," Kiara said.

"Nothing?" John B raised an eyebrow, a cocky shadow casting itself over his face. "Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?"

Kiara acted quickly, her palm flying through the air and landing clean on his cheek. Annabelle gasped, a proud smile inhabiting her face. The two boys who had awkwardly watched the scene beside her oohed at the sight.

"Stop treating me like I'm some girl that's obsessed with you, instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you," Kiara said making Annabelle's grin widen.

John B's mouth hung open slightly as he turned back to face Kiara. "Did you... hit me?"

Kiara confidently lifted her hand, flashing him her palm, showing the remains of what once was a fly. "Skeeter." She said in a cocky tone.

"Skeeter?" John B asked, watching a fly land on Kiara's cheek.

"Yeah, see it?"

The boy's palm met Kiara's cheek making Annabelle's mouth fall open.

After a moment to gather herself, Kiara looked back up at John B. "Where's your proof?"

John B held up his hand, revealing the smashed fly. "Skeeter."

Kiara bit down on her bottom lip, her hands smacking over various places on John Bs body. "There was probably one there." She shrugged, soon earning a playful smack on her arm as the boy picked up a more lively sense of the banter between them. A grin slowly grew on Kiara's face, as she leaned into the playfulness, placing another punch on the boy who threw one back.

"There was one there as well," John B teased.

"Oh, yeah, 'cause you saw that?" She smacked him again, him responding with a light slap on the top of her head. "You're dead. That's it." Kiara chuckled, backing away from him with her finger pointed in his face. "Today's the day you die."

The three friends who had watched the two awkwardly, finally tore their attention away from them. Or more like they were forced to as they were being practically attacked by the mosquitoes. Annabelle slapped at her bare skin where the animals tried to suck her blood and Pope was practically doing acrobatics, slapping at his own arms and legs. 

"Why are there so many mosquitoes in a basement?" Pope groaned.

"Dude, seriously, I know. Tiny vampire bats, just leave me alone." JJ flapped his arms around. "Okay, can we leave? Cause I'm already itching to leave. Hah, punny." He chuckled to himself.

Annabelle averted her attention to Pope, who stepped up on a circular wooden platform in the middle of the room He banged his foot against the wooden planks. The girl watched as he kneeled down and dropped a small rock through the small slots, followed by the sound of water echoing.

"Oh my God, Pope." Annabelle gasped excitedly and rushed to help him move the bricks and planks over the beams.

"What?" JJ asked, watching his two friends move manically. "What!"

Annabelle and Pope stood up straight, brutally shining their flashlights in his face and hushing him in unison. "Help us move this,"

Suddenly, all five friends were assisting them in removing the planks, one by one, slowly revealing the well beneath. Annabelle leaned forward, her flashlight barely piercing the darkness below.

"Well, well, well," Pope said, looking around to see if anyone else found his joke as funny as he did.

"Great dad joke." John B chuckled under his breath.

"They built this part of the house right over it," Kiara stated.

"This is where she hid the bodies," JJ said and Annabelle nudged his side.

"Dude."

"No, I'm dead serious." He said and the girl rolled her eyes.

A beat of silence passed, the teens staring down into the dark well, almost holding their breath in excitement.

"So.. we found water." Pope smiled brightly.

"We're gonna need a really big rope." John B grinned.

𝟏𝟏𝟓𝟑 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
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𝐀/𝐍

to going full kook!

also how do u guys want Annabelle and Sarah relationship to be at first? I'm thinking she's pretty natural like she doesn't want a kook getting involved but she also wants to like her for John B