Abracadabra

Freedom

"M-m-max?" The Grabber spits out blood as he says so. A middle aged man stands in the center of the room with a terrified look across his face, tears building in his eyes. The man, Max, begins to cry as The Grabber collapses to the ground. Max runs to him and pulls the grabbers head onto his lap.

"I'm so sorry Al, I'm so so sorry." He pulls his head down to the grabber, or I guess 'Al's head. Resting his head against the others.

"How could you..." were the last words from the grabbers mouth.

"I can't believe it... I can't believe you... how could you... these are children... children... how could you do this... you piece of...my own brother... oh god how could you..." Max is shaking back and forth on the ground, still holding the grabber.

Across the room I see Robin start to wake up to this scene. I quietly stand again, grabbing the wall to steady myself.

"How do we get out of here?" Max looks up, his head moving to Robin and I. He wipes his nose with his sleeve and wobbly pulls himself up.

"I'm so sorry, please, follow me." I run to Robin and pull him up, following Max closely. He seems the opposite of his brother. He leads us up the staircase and opens the next door. Carefully we continue to follow him in silence and shock. The grabber is dead.

——
I'm finally in the kitchen again, but it's flooded with sunlight. No belt waiting for me up the stairs. Following the man we reach the living room. I noticed a piece of glass from the lamp I broke still on the carpet. The man opens the front door and we see that across the street is flooded with police vehicles.

Finney and I both paused, grabbing each other's hands. We look into each other's eyes and take a step out the door. The sunlight is blinding, but my eyes quickly adjust. I see Finney's sister Gweny run towards us. She practically tackles Finney when she grabs him for a hug.

"OVER HERE, WE GOT ANOTHER LIVE ONE." I look at Gweny in confusion.

"He didn't kill them, he left them buried up to their heads to starve." I shiver at the thought that that's how Finney and I could've ended up. Suddenly the cops noticed us all and started to run to us. They immediately went to arrest the man, or I mean Max.

"It wasn't him. He's the one who saved us!" Finney yells out. One of the cops, a tall heavier set white guy raises his eyebrows in surprise, but puts his hand cuffs away.

"The basement. He's... he's in the basement." Max mutters out. The grabber was an evil evil man, but I do feel a pang of sadness for the man. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I had a brother do this.

"GET ANOTHER STRETCHER OUT HERE, THERE IS MORE!" I see a man doing CPR on one of the people. I think it's... it's Bruce. There is no way...then the boys body springs to life with violent coughs

"WE GOT HIM, LETS GO, GO, GO!" They wheel him into the ambulance. How many boys... how many actually survived.

The cops rush us all towards the ambulances. Neither of us were in terrible shape, but I understand why we have to go. Both of us sit at the end of an ambulance as the chaos continues. Stretcher after stretcher is wheeled past up, all with a coughing boy on top.

"I can't believe he didn't kill them all..." I whisper in Finney's ear. He nods his head. I think he's just surprised as I am. I flinch as the doctor pulls up my shirt slightly and presses on my ribs. Then he shines a flashlight in my eyes.

"So it looks like you have some broken ribs, a slight concussion, and enough bruises for your lifetime." The doctor (think he's a doctor?) says to me. I give him a small smile. I glance down the street, Across the police Barricade are all the parents. They are holding everyone back, but as soon as I see her, all my pain is forgotten and I start sprinting.

"MOM!" She runs past the police barricade and pulls me into a tight hug.

"Mi amor." I wince in pain, my ribs are definitely killing me. She starts kissing my forehead, my cheeks, squeezing my ribs again. I'd ask her to stop, but I've wanted to see my mom for over a week. Tears are falling from both of our eyes.

"Lo siento. I'm so so sorry mom, I'll never walk to the convenience store alone again, I'm so sorry." I sob. She holds me even tighter, if that's possible.

"This isn't your fault mi amore. None of this is your fault. Te quiero." I continue to sob into her shoulder.

"I love you too. I love you so much mi madre." I look over to where Finney is and I see his father on the ground. His father is sobbing and Finney is stone facing it. When we lock eyes, Finney is waving me over.

"I think it's time for me to go to the hospital mom, come on." She nods her head and follows me to the ambulance and I hug Finney one more time. The "doctor" leads me to my own stretcher.

"I'll see you at the hospital Finney." I yell behind me.

"How many of them survived ?" I ask the man.

"Well, most of them are in pretty bad condition, but so far, we've got all the boys alive." My face lights up. I don't know how Finney got to talk to Bruce if Bruce was still alive, but to be honest, I don't care how, I'm just glad he did.

———-
I can't believe my dad apologized. Usually I'd give in and say it's okay, but not this time. I'm done with forgiveness. He doesn't deserve it. Gweny leans into my side, hugging me again. The EMT taps my shoulder.

"We gotta get you to the hospital kiddo. They will check you out better there." The EMT looks to my father.

"Are you going to come with in the ambulance or drive your own car?" My dad gives the man a peculiar look that I couldn't read.

"Does he need a parent to check in the hospital? I have work in about an hour and I don't want to be late." The EMT gives him a surprised look before he composes himself again.

"Oh um.. he'll need to be signed in, but after that you can technically leave. He will definitely be overnight, if not a couple of days." My dad rubs his eyes and runs his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah, yeah... fine. I'll sign him in." Gweny looks down at her lap and clenches her fists.

"Can I come in the ambulance?" The EMT rubs his neck.

"I don't know, kid." Gweny gave him the biggest  puppy eyes.

"Please? I swear I'll be as quiet as a church mouse." He relents.

"Okay, fine. But don't touch anything." She gives him a sweet smile.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

———
Authors Note:
I took a while to post, but at least this was a longer chapter! I have a plan for the other kids. Also the reason for the Bruce phone call will be explained either in the next chapter, or the one after that. I'll post soon (probably?) I started the next chapter already, so I guess it won't be as long!