─☼☼☼─

𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙎𝙏 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀 that Charlotte had been to the Crain house was the summer going into ninth grade.

Her, Rafe, and a few others in their grade had gathered at the house late one night to engage in a testy game of truth or dare. Most of the dares included running as close as they could to the house without setting off the motion detector that was linked to the light.

As it so happened, Charlotte and Rafe were assigned one of these dares together. And as the two fourteen year olds ran for their lives with fears of being caught by crazy Mrs. Crain, Charlotte realized that she liked him way more than just as a friend.

The two started dating two months later.

Now, quietly traipsing through the overgrown yard with her little sister and three friends, the house seemed equally as scary as it did to her fourteen year-old self.

As JJ rambled on about how he knew Hollis Crain and how she told him the story of Mr. Crain's murder, Charlotte did her best to feign bravery. She pretended that she wasn't hanging onto JJ's every word...but she was.

"God, you are so full of shit!" John B exclaimed, breaking Pope, Kiara and Charlotte from the trance they had been in while listening to JJ's recount.

"Dude, I swear to God, man."

Pope quirked a curious brow. "Did she call the police?"

"She didn't have time, bro."

John B wore a disapproving look as he shook his head before pushing past JJ, who instantly reached out to stop him. "Dude, wait! Are you sure you want to do this?" He looked toward the house for a fleeting moment. "She's an axe murderer, bro. You've got a cast on."

"I don't give a shit if she's an axe murderer!"

"You might when she cuts your head off." Charlotte muttered, earning a warning glare from John B to which she simply raised her hands in surrender.

"I got nothin' to lose." He maintained, eyes flickering back to JJ. "You comin' or what?"

Charlotte and Pope shared an uneasy look before they both shrugged. What else were they going to do if not risk their lives in front of the Crain house?

"Hey." John B instructed quietly from where he was crouched behind a pile of brush. "Come here."

The other did as he said, crouching low as they arrived next to him. "Here's what's going to happen," he began, voice in a low whisper. "We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark's letter."

The letter of Denmark Tanny's that John B had found in the Chapel Hill Archives was what led the five of them here in the first place.

Pope wore an unsure look. "Okay. Like what kind of water? Like, pond water?"

"Bong water?" JJ offered, which caused all of the other four to turn to him with disapproving looks.

"No." John B argued in a fluster. "It just said 'look for water', okay?"

Kiara scowled. "That's the shittiest secret message ever."

Charlotte had to agree with her.

"You wanna complain a little more, Kie?" John B challenged. "Nobody said it was gonna be easy!"

As those two split off in one direction, Pope turned to JJ and Charlotte. "I'll search the northeast quadrant, you two search the northwest quadrant."

He left no room for negotiation, already turning his back to the other two as JJ's face paled. "The decapitation quadrant!"

Charlotte cracked a grin as she placed a mocking hand on the blonde boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, J. I'll protect you."

He shoved her hand away with a glare before begrudgingly stomping toward the quadrant the pair had been assigned.

"Laugh all you want, Charley." JJ warned as they pushed through the overgrown weeds. "But don't come crying to me when you lose your head."

"I don't think I'll be doing much of anything if I lose my head."

JJ waved her off, his eyes scanning the area in front of them. There was absolutely no sign of any water at all.

Charlotte wracked her brain, trying to recall if there had been any kind of water source the last time she had been here. It had been six years since her last visit, but to her best recollection, there had been no sign of any water back then.

"Maybe it's—"

She quickly cut herself off when JJ went tumbling to the ground beside her, letting out a loud curse as he flopped into the greenery. "What the fuck?"

He pulled himself up quickly, trying to make it seem as if he hadn't fallen at all.

"Who the hell put that thing there?" He demanded, causing Charlotte to lean forward to see what had tripped him up.

Through a fit of laughter, Charlotte glanced down at a fallen statue that had mostly been covered by the vegetation. It was easy to miss, she would give him that.

"What's so funny, Charley?" JJ prodded, in a huff about his wipeout.

Recollection sparked in her memory as she look down at the dilapidated statue. At one point, it might have been pretty.

"Rafe tripped over that thing one time we were here as kids. He was running so fast, mocking me that he was ahead and he—" She cut herself off, letting out a snort. "He ate shit so bad. Split his chin open and everything. I think he might have cried."

JJ wore a reconsidering look as he glanced back down at the statue, giving a false salute. "Thank you for your service."

Charlotte let out another laugh as she shoved him forward. "Let's go."

"Hey!" John B whispered. "Would you two cut it out and get over here?" He was crouched in front of the small door that led to the crawl space under the house. "It's the only place we haven't looked."

"And an excellent place to die." Charlotte muttered as her and JJ pushed through the overgrown yard to get to John B.

John B had already entered the space when the rest of them reached him. He was crouched low, flashlight in hand when they all joined him.

"Down came Mrs. Crain and cut off all our heads. Up came the sun and dried up all the blood—"

"Can you stop?" Pope pleaded with JJ, voice full of exasperation.

Charlotte was trying to hide her amused grin as she followed after the two of them. Leave it to JJ to turn a terrifying situation into a hilarious one.

Gripping onto her own flashlight, Charlotte glanced around the dingy space.

It was full of stuff— old—and rather terrifying—cribs, furniture, scrap pieces of wood, empty bottles of cleaning supplies...but no water.

"I don't see any water." Charlotte observed, slapping at a mosquito that had landed on her ankle.

Kiara looked royally pissed. "Another dead end?"

JJ reached up and ran his hand across one of the pipes overhead. "There's not even any water on the pipes."

"There's no water here." Pope confirmed.

"Not a dropamino."

By the look on his face, Charlotte could tell that John B was beginning to spiral. But Kie either didn't notice or didn't care. "Wanna know why we didn't find it?" Her question was rhetorical, so no one bothered to answer. "Bad karma."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at her little sister. "Come on, Kiara."

John B did the same thing. "Oh, God. Here we go."

Kiara ignored both of them. "You know, we had a good thing going. And then you decide to rope in Barber, and now the trail's gone dry. Coincidence? Probably not."

Forced to bite her tongue and stay out of it, Charlotte just simply shook her head. She wasn't exactly sure how them not finding the water source was Sarah's fault, but she was already in her sister's bad books. Better not to push it any further by arguing with her absurd point.

"You see?" John B challenged. "This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you about Sarah."

"Yeah?"

He took a step closer to her. "What the hell is the deal with you two?"

"Nothing!"

"Nothing? Is it because I kissed you? Is that the problem?"

Charlotte's eyes widened as she looked to JJ and Pope, a look of intrigued shock on her face as she mouthed a gossipy "They kissed?"

Pope and JJ looked equally as stunned by the news.

So much for no Pogue-on-Pogue macking.

A loud smack caused Charlotte to snap out of her gossipy mindset. And when she looked back to the two, she could see that Kiara had just slapped John B across the face.

"Oh!" Pope hissed.

Charlotte winced. "Oh, shit."

"Dude, that echoed." JJ awed.

Kiara ignored all of them, her angry eyes locked on John B. "Stop treating me like I'm some girl who's obsessed with you instead of your best friend who's actually trying to look out for you."

John B didn't seem to fully register her words. "Did you—uh—hit me?"

A quick response came from Kie as she held up her hand. "Skeeter."

"Skeeter?"

"Yeah. You see it?"

His response came in the form of a slap to Kiara's face. This time Charlotte's eyes were really wide.

"Oh, hey!" JJ interjected from beside Charlotte.

"Let's stop hitting each other now, yeah?" The eldest Carrera suggested, knowing that getting retaliation for her actions was only going to piss Kie off more.

Kiara righted herself after the hit. "Where's your proof?"

John B held up his hand with a raised brow, and sure enough, there was a dead mosquito on the palm of his hand. "Skeeter."

Luckily, for all of them, Kiara didn't react as badly as expected. Instead, the two broke into a jabbing match that seemed mostly light-hearted.

"Ow!" Charlotte cursed as another mosquito bit at her cheek. "Why are there so many..."

She trailed off for a moment, a thought coming to her mind just as it seemed to come to Pope's. "Why are there so many mosquitoes in a basement?" He finished Charlotte's train of thought as the two shared an equally confused look.

"Dude, I know, seriously." JJ muttered obliviously as he swatted in front of him. "Tiny vampire bastards, just leave me alone."

Charlotte swung her light around, the gears in her head turning. "Mosquitoes are attracted to stagnant water sources." She whispered, eyes darting across the floor.

"Can we leave?" JJ pleaded. "Cause I'm already itchin' to get out of here."

Ignoring his stupid pun, Charlotte and Pope both paused when their flashlights landed on something in front of them.

It was several boards of wood placed together to create some kind of cover. When Charlotte stepped on it, she could hear that whatever was below it was hollow.

Pope looked to her with wide eyes as he picked up a stone, carefully dropping it through one of the cracks.

After a few passing seconds, it hit bottom, and with it came the sound of echoing water.

Charlotte felt her heart leap in excitement. "Pope—"

He stood up, beginning to push things aside. "We need to move this."

"Hey!" John B whispered. "Would you two quiet down?"

Charlotte thrusted her flashlight into Kiara's hand. "Help us move this." She ordered to John B and JJ. "Right now."

"Guys, quiet." Kie pleaded. "She's probably right upstairs."

"I know." Pope assured. "Just hurry up."

Quickly, the five of them began removing the boards, and as they did, the glimmer of hope in Charlotte's chest grew and grew.

Because, beneath the boards was none other than a well...full of water of course.

Pope grinned at Charlotte as he leaned forward. "Well, well, well."

Charlotte snorted as John B stared down in awe. "That was a good dad joke."

"They built this part of the house right over it." Kie deduced.

JJ looked slightly uneased. "This is where she hid the bodies."

"Oh, dude, come on." Pope groaned.

"Stop." Charlotte pleaded.

"No. I'm dead serious." JJ argued. "It was never an outhouse."

"I bet she doesn't even know it's here!"

Pope ignored JJ and Charlotte's bickering as he looked over at John B. "So...we found water."

The dark hair boy grinned as he stared down the well. "We're going to need a really big rope."

Mission accomplished. 

─☼☼☼─