Tʜᴇ Fʟᴀʀᴇ ꕥ Lɪᴢᴢɪᴇ Jᴏʜɴsᴏɴ

sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴛᴡᴏ ꕥ 7

It didn't take long for the situation to escalate.

Once Dustin's mum heard about the 'missing cat', Lizzie and Dustin desperately tried to keep everything in check.

But she was so worried that she told almost everyone and went out into the whole street's gardens to check.

"Okay, here's what we do," Dustin said to Lizzie quickly. "I'll put the phone on answerphone and pretend to be calling someone up at Loch Nora or somewhere, then, when my mum goes up to check, we get Dart out of the house."

"If we can even call him 'Dart' anymore..." Lizzie muttered, then she looked up at Dustin. "Okay, come on."

It worked. Dustin 'phoned' someone up at Loch Nora and his mum came in in the middle of it.

"Oh, that's good news! Thank you so much, Mr McCorkle! Thanks so much! Yeah, alright, bye now! Thanks! Have a good one, alright, you too!"

He put the phone down and he and Lizzie turned to the worried woman in front of them. "Alright, great news."

"Have they found her?" She asked.

"No, but they saw her wandering around Loch Nora," Dustin winked at Lizzie, sticking to the plan.

"Aw! How did the poor baby get all the way over there!"

"I'm not sure, lost, I guess but they're gonna look for her," Dustin shrugged.

"How about we stay here? In case she shows up?" Lizzie asked.

"Okay, okay," his mum was crying now. "I love you, bye!"

"I love you too!" Dustin said, sending her off out the door.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Dustin and Lizzie ran.

They got protective gear out of the cupboard; hockey pads, protective helmets and sticks that they hopefully wouldn't have to use.

Dustin delved into his fridge to get bait - a two packets of ham and some salami.

Dart was in Dustin's room, so they laid out the ham/salami in a trail from his room, outside, then to the doors that led to Dustin's cellar outside his house. They were going to trap him in.

Then, finally, they got the pads and helmets on, they put oven gloves on their hands and got their sticks ready.

They got back together at Dustin's bedroom door. "You okay with this?" He asked Lizzie. "You don't have to-"

"Stop stalling!" Lizzie warned.

"Okay," Dustin winced. "Three... two... one... go!"

He slid the door open and the two ran out of his house as fast as they could with all the padding on.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-"

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-"

They ran out to Dustin's shed and locked themselves in it, but both knew that the shed wasn't very stable and it would only house a temporary relief.

"Come on, come on, take the bait," Lizzie begged, crossing her fingers so hard they hurt.

"Yes, yes, yes," Dustin breathed.

Dart followed the ham trail right down to the cellar. Come on... come on...

Then, on the one at the edge, he paused. Yes, yes, yes, yes-

"Argh!"

Dart turned and looked right at them, screeching. "Shit!" Lizzie shouted as she and Dustin backed away.