Gone in an instant

Chaptrer 9: Thursday, 10:20 PM

I grabbed Charlotte's arm, “Charlotte! My Dad! He's gone!” , was everybody in my family disappearing lately? “What!?!” She said surprised, I pointed to where the car was and she saw it too. He had disappeared. He was gone in an instant. She looked to where I was pointing and the shock hit her too. “He-he is gone.” She said. There was silence, all expect for some far off police sirens. We listened to them for a few seconds, they seemed to be getting closer, then they stopped. “That's weird.” I said. Why would the police be stopping around here? I mean there were plenty of logical explanation, but under the current circumstances it seemed fishy.

Then we both saw the red and blue lights flashing down a street. I took off towards some bushes about twenty feet away, practically dragging Charlotte behind. “OW!” She said because I had pulled her arm a little too hard. I jumped over the bushes and crouched down on the other side. Charlotte dove too, but she wasn't as co-ordinated or athletic as me and she ended up diving into me! We toppled over and I hear Charlotte yelp in pain. I was a bit woozy from the hit but as a football player I've gotten hit harder, way harder. I looked at Charlotte, she was clutching her upper right arm and tears were slowly carving their way down her cheeks.

“Charlotte? Are you okay?” I asked stupidly, 'Of course you idiot!' I thought to myself. I put a hand on her shoulder and she spoke, “I-it hurts,” She said between soft sobs, “Really bad.” She chocked out. “I'm sorry, let me look real quick, I need to see your arm so I can help, okay?” I asked her, she slowly moved her hand off and I looked at her arm. It looked okay upon first glance, just a few small cuts and scratches, but then I took a closer look and I noticed about that halfway between her elbow and her shoulder her arm seemed to bend slightly, almost as if looking at the vertex of an angle. I gasped a bit. “It's broken, hold on. I'll be right back.” I told her, lightly squeezing her shoulder in assurance. She wasn't looking at me but I could tell she was crying lightly.

I stood up to go and find some large and sturdy sticks to make a splint out of, that's when I heard, “Stop right there! This is the NYPD! Put your hands where I can see them!” I froze. 'No! Not now! No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!' I screamed in my head. I ducked down again and began crawling through some trees. I saw one large stick that seemed to be perfect for the job sitting on the ground. I grabbed it and threw it near Charlotte. Then I searched franticly, finding another one. I crawled back to Charlotte and checked on the polices status. They were still by their car 200 feet away at the other side of the park. They both had guns drawn. I grabbed a Glock just in case. Then I grabbed the medical tape out of my bag so that I could wrap the sticks around her arm.

“This is going to hurt because I have to set the bone back in place. Okay, I'll count down from three, ready?” I said to her, she nodded, squeezing back more pained tears. I gave her a small washcloth to bite on, then I began the countdown, “One...Two...Three!” I said, shifting her arm so it was straight again, my heart sank when I heard her muffled screams of pain into the washcloth, I hated having to do this to her. I quickly made my splint, putting a stick on each side of her arm and wrapping it tight, but not too tight, with medical tape. I felt upset about having to put her through that.

“How does that feel?” I asked, gesturing towards her arm. She removed the washcloth from her mouth and held it up, she had bitten clean through it. “A little better. It hurts...a lot though.”

I saw a light glowing behind us. Then I looked back over the bush only to be blinded by a bright light right above us. A course man's voice came from behind the light, “What're you kids doing back here?” It asked, I could tell it was a police officer and I quickly sat on the gun to hide it. “N-nothing sir, my backpack just spilled and I was cleaning it up.” I said, grabbing some of the things that had fallen out when I pulled out the tape back into the backpack. Charlotte was smart enough to turn away from the officer to hide the fact that she had been crying and to hide her splint.

There was painfully long and somewhat awkward pause, the the officer said, “O...Okay? I'll just leave then.” And he began walking away. I let out a sigh of relief, then I grabbed my backpack and put it on. I tapped Charlotte on the shoulder, “We have to leave, I bet my Dad called them and it won't be long before they figure out who we were. I'm so sorry I had to do that. Are you okay?” She looked at me and gave a pained smile. “I think I can walk, we do have to leave though, I agree, and it's okay. Thank You actually, that helped a lot.” She said. I helped her stand up and we made our way towards the tree's. She walked slowly though because if not it hurt her arm.

“I have a better idea. Piggyback ride?” I proposed. She nodded and I was able to lift her onto my back. I held my backpack in one arm and used the other to hold her up so she didn't fall off my back. She wrapped her good arm around my neck tightly, almost choking me. “Can you slide your hand down a bit?” I asked and she did. It now clung to my chest. I marched through the forest and tried to find a way to loop around to where the police were so I could begin making my way towards the warehouses again. It was only about two miles. I heard Charlotte crying softly into my neck. “I'm sorry. I hope you feel better soon.” I said to her. “T-thanks.” She said back. I reached a patch of trees about 40 feet from the police. There were three cars now and there were six officers huddled up talking quietly. I could tell they had recognized who we were.

I needed to cross the street. I moved down the street about 50 feet and crossed as quickly as possible. It was somewhere around 11:00 PM now and so nobody was out.

An hour later I could see a few warehouses. We had made it! Charlotte had fallen asleep about half an hour ago. The poor girl was exhausted. I was too. She wasn't heavy, but after carrying her for an hour you get a bit tired. I walked into the first warehouse and found an empty room. “Charlotte!” I whispered loudly, waking her up. “We're going to sleep here tonight, I need to sit you down now.” I said to her and then I sat her down. I pulled out the only sleeping bag I had and laid it on the floor next to her. It had a built in pillow and everything! “There you go, you can sleep in that.” I said to her. Normally she would have protested but I think was too tired and shocked to do so, so I simply helped her climb in and she was quickly asleep. I laid down a few feet away on the floor and used my back-pack as a pillow. I fell asleep quickly too.