XXIII. out of my league

      Dylan knew she sounded absolutely crazy when she said that she was excited to go into an axe murderer's house, but she couldn't contain her excitement. It was very off putting to Sarah. "Dylan, your excitement is kind of making me more afraid that the actual axe murderer." The girl muttered.

"Welcome to my world." Said Kiara.

Dylan rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I've had dreams like this before. I've always wanted to invest a killer's home. I feel like Emily Prentiss." She said with a giddy smile.

Sarah chuckled. "Well, come on. We don't want Pope to worry much longer."

Kiara laughed at her teasing and Dylan rolled her eyes again. "Oh, shut up, Mrs.  Routledge." She mocked.

Sarah laughed again and shoved her shoulder. "Okay,  she must have a generator plugged into the main power supply."

They made their way to where the staircase was and they careful went up the steps to the generator box. Kiara opened the box. "What is this?"

"Where are the breakers?" Sarah whispered.

Dylan moved her flashlight upward and saw where the wires went to. "Shit. They're inside."

Kiara gently opened the screen door, it squeaking in the process, and she twisted the door knob. It opened successfully. "Bingo." She said successfully.

"Let's rock and roll, lovelies." Dylan whispered and the three of them quietly entered the house. A cat scurried by them and meowed loudly, making her jump. "Jesus."

"Hey." Kiara whispered to them and pointed to the top of the wall.

They followed the wire and turned a corner, seeing the generator box on the wall with all the breakers. They chuckled softly and Kiara flicked one of the switches. The motion sensor lights turned off. Dylan patted her back. "Good job, Kiki."

Kiara smiled proudly.

They suddenly heard a noise come from inside the house and Sarah let out a quiet gasp. They pressed their backs to the wall. Then, Dylan heard thumping and she held her breath. "Shit." Sarah cursed.

Dylan shushed her quietly and put a hand on her arm.  The thudding for louder and then she heard heavy breathing, indicting that Mrs.  Crain was awake. Now she started to panic.

"It's–It's late, Leon," Mrs. Crain started talking. "Too late."

Kiara pressed her hand to her mouth to conceal her breathing. Dylan held her quivering stomach and started to regret her decision on coming. Then, she felt complete dread when Mrs. Crain made herself viable and she staggered by them. Dylan squeezed Sarah's arm. 

"I can hear you, Leon. I've been waiting all night!" She turned and faced them and Sarah shined her light in her face, revealing her clouded gray eyes. Dylan and Sarah screamed loudly.

"Go!" Kiara shouted and they ran through the house.  They went their separate ways and Dylan ran into what appeared to be the kitchen. The doors were boarded up. "Fuck!"

"Where are you, Leon?" Mrs. Crain shrieked.

The sound of played smashing caused Dylan to run out of the room, meeting Sarah in the process. The two of them ran into the next room and saw Mrs. Crain trying to hit Kie with a fire poker. "No!" Sarah shouted and grabbed the fire poker from her and threw it to the ground.

Dylan grabbed Kiara's hand and dragged her away. "Come on!" She shouted at the girls.

"Come on, this way!"

They ran into another room and shut the door behind them. It was silent for a minute until Mrs. Crain beat the door in with the fire poker, making the wood break and they screamed again. "Shit!" Said Sarah and they ran across the room. "This way! It goes underneath the house!"

"Go! Go! Go!" Dylan urged in a panic.

They ran down the flight of stairs into the small space.  Dylan's adrenaline was so high that her hearing started to grow fuzzy. "Guys! Guys!" They shouted out and found the boys in the basement.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Pope worried.

"Mrs. Crain! She's up there!" Kiara sputtered. "She tried to kill us with a fire poker!" 

"We locked her in the parlor, but we gotta go!"

"We need to fucking go!" Dylan shouted, her voice wavering.

"Okay, that's code red! That's code red!" JJ shouted and leaned over the well. "Let's go. John B! Get back on, man!"

They gathered around and gripped the rope. "Three, two, one, pull!" Shouted Pope.

They pulled back on the rope but the rope loosened,  making them fall back onto the floor. "Where the hell is he"  Pope quickly asked.

"John B!" Sarah shouted and scrambled to her feet.

"Sh! Guys, sh!" Kiara shushed them.

They listened closely for John B but all they heard was a muffled scream. "What's he saying?" JJ asked.

"JJ! Pope! DJ! Kie!"

"Yo, he's drowning! We gotta pull him up!" Kiara said while panicking.

"John B!"

"Hey, John B! Get back on the rope. We're gonna pull you back up, okay, buddy?" Pope instructed loudly.

"Hurry!" Dylan shouted and gripped the rope again.

"Pull!" 

"Okay, everybody, help!"

"Guys!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Okay, let's go!" Pope grunted and they started pulling on the rope.

Though she was wearing gloves, the rope tore through the plastic and Dylan winced as she felt the rope cut into her hands. A gunshot went off and she screamed loudly along with the others. They let go of the rope.

"Shit! Hang on!"

"Pope! JJ! What the hell?" John B shouted from inside the well.

"Climb up! Help me! Hang on!"

"Tie it up now, man!"

"Pope, hide!"

Dylan grabbed Pope's hand and dragged him into the floor. He automatically pulled her into him and put his body over hers in protection. "She's blind! She's blind!" She whisper yelled.

Another shot went off and she screamed again. "Go! Go!" Pope shouted frantically.

"I don't care if she is, that's buckshot!" JJ hollered and they ran out of the dark basement.

Pope never let go of Dylan's hand and he dragged her out of the house and to the direction of the Twinkie. She ran for her life until her chest felt like it was closing. 

"Get into the car!" Kiara shouted, already in the van.

"Go!" Yelled Dylan and they jumped into the vehicle.

They suddenly heard another gunshot and they realized John B wasn't with them. "Where is he?" Kiara asked frantically.

"Come on, start the car, go!" Pope shouted and JJ jumped into the driver's seat. "Why are we always getting shot at!"

Dylan saw a figure jump over the wall and she screamed in fear.  "Oh my God,  is that her?"

John B jumped into the van and there was another gunshot. "Oh shit!"

"Oh, my God!"

"JJ, drive!"

"Go, man!"

Dylan let out heavy breaths and a putrid smell filled her nose. "Oh, my God, John B." She said and covered her nose.

"Are you okay? Are you shot?" JJ asked in a hurry.

"You good?"

"No. Yeah, yeah."

"I think I'd know if I was shot, right?"

Dylan shook her head. "No, your adrenaline's high as shit. It'd take you a while to realize." She educated in a hurry.

Kiara nodded. "Good to know."

"You look disgusting." Pope directed at John B.

"God, you smell like ass."

"You smell like that time I made you jump into the dumpster to look for my retainer." Dylan recalled.

"What the hell just happened?" Sarah gasped.

"All time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby!" JJ cheered.

"Hell yeah! That bitch is possessed."

"That bitch can't aim."

"I just survived my first murder house!" Dylan announced and they all cheered. She turned to Pope and gripped his face in her hands. "I am Emily Prentiss!"

"You are Emily Prentiss!" He said back with a large smile

Kiara watched as John B pulled something out of his pocket. "What is that?" She voiced.

Dylan gasped loudly when she saw the gold color. "Is that–"

"No, you didn't!" Sarah laughed in shock.

"We did it, baby!" John B cheered.

"No, you didn't!"

"I did it!"

"We did it!" Dylan shouted.

"Oh, my God!"

The entire van started shouting in cheers and profanities. "Holy shit! Holy shit!"

"Whoo!"

"We fucking did it!"

"That's gold!"

"Wait, wait! Guys, we're gonna be rich!" Kiara told them.

"Like Kook rich!" Said Sarah.

"Full kook!"

"Full kook! Full kook! Full kook! Full kook! Ay-ay-ay!  Whoo!"

The next morning after sleeping blissfully, Dylan walked into the kitchen and saw her parents sitting together at the kitchen table. She smiled brightly.  "Good morning!" Her voice rang.

They smiled at her but it wasn't their usual cheerful smiles. "Good morning, honey." Ainsley greeted and glanced at her husband.

Logan motioned his head to the empty chair at the table. "Come sit down, Dyl."

Dylan narrowed her eyes at their odd behavior and slowly went to sit down. "What's going on?"

The married couple glanced at each other. "Well, we just—You've been gone a lot lately," Ainsley started to say and stumbled over her words.

"Honey, you've been coming home late every single night." Logan added, his words coming out more smoothly.

She blinked a few times and nodded. "Yeah, I've been with my friends,"

"And that's great, but. . . DJ, you can't be coming home late like that and not telling us where you're going,"  her mom continued. She was trying to stay as calm as possible. "You're gone all day and all night without a call. That's not like you."

Dylan shook her head. "I'm not doing anything
wrong—"

"We're not saying you did," Logan interrupted. He pointed between him and his wife. "We're your parents. We need to know where you are at all times."

"I know that—"

"I don't think you do—"

"Logan," Ainsley spoke sternly, giving him a look. She looked at her daughter. "Dylan, baby, you're not in trouble. We just want to make sure that you're safe."

Dylan let out a laugh of disbelief. "Mom,  I've been safe my entire life."

"And that's good—"

"I'm getting the feeling that you guys don't trust me,"  she quickly added, starting to get defensive. "I'm with John B, JJ, Kiara, and Pope. Even Sarah!"

"We're not stupid, Dylan. I know what kind of trouble they get into." Her father told her, matter of fact.

Dylan rolled her eyes. "Because they're stupid, but I'm not! I've never done a bad thing in my whole life. I can't afford to, remember?" She smarted off.

"Dylan—"

Dylan swiftly stood up. "I have to go. I'm supposed to be meeting John B."

"Dylan, hold on." Her mom called out as she began to leave.

"Dylan, don't you dare leave!" Her father shouted.

But Dylan had already exited her house. She stood outside and let out shaky breaths. It was hardly ever that she and her parents fought. They are a close family. Dylan was a good girl. They trusted her and Braxton more than they probably should. She spent her entire life doing the right thing because that's how she was taught. She never got in trouble in school, or with the cops (until recently)  and she did her best to keep her parent's reputation golden. She was a good girl. So the fact that they didn't trust her bothered her.

Dylan shoved the gold bars in JJ's face, smiling in excitement. "Look at this. Do you see this? Do you know what we can do with this?"

JJ took one of the bars. "Yeah, buy a shit ton of weed!"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, yeah, but think of the others! I can do to school in, like, freaking New York!  I can even take you because I know how much you want to try their pizza."

They exited the Chateau and JJ pouted, his eyes soft.  "Aw, really?"

She flashed her teeth.

"Pope,  I'm going to New York with your girlfriend!"

Pope didn't know what he was talking about, and he really didn't want to know. "Shut up!"

Dylan slapped his arm and he laughed out loud. "Kie! This better work." The two of them walked over the Twinkie where Kiara and Sarah were. He dumped the bars of gold at her feet. "We can't pawn this if there's a giant wheat symbol on it."

"It's gonna work." Kiara insisted and held up a blow torch.

Dylan's eyes widened. "Exactly who's going to be doing the melting?" She questioned. When they didn't respond, Dylan slowly looked at JJ and saw him smirking. "Oh no. I'm going to sit over there."

"Have faith in me, DJ!" He shouted as she walked away.

Pope grinned at her when she stood beside him. "So,  uh, what did he mean by New York?" He asked.

Dylan smirked and looked up at him. "He said girlfriend. Do you have a secret lady we don't know what?"

"W-What? No," he laughed nervously. "Course not.  The only female that's ever been interested in me in my mom, and you know, that's kind of a given."

Dylan's lips turned downward slightly. It hurting her that he actually believed that. "Keep telling yourself that, hotshot." He said and patted his cheek.