The Flames

Chapter Nine

I stared at Jayse. What he said didn't make any sense. Of course she was his grandmother; she told us so. I thought back to when I thought I saw her eyes suddenly turn black the first time I met her. I thought harder. Had they been black the last time we saw her? I couldn't remember. I shook my head to clear it. That didn't matter right now. The most important thing was finding Jayse's parents.

This is too much stress. I reached for my pack of cigarettes again, causing Uncle Rich to smack my arm. I held my hands up in surrender. "I'll go outside!" I said dramatically.

I stood outside the door thinking. Mrs. Childs, the kind old medium, a kidnapper? What happened to her eyes? And what are we going to do with Jayse? What if his parents don't show? It was all too much. I wished more than anything in that moment that I had never left school on the day of the deli fire.

I was shocked out of my reverie by a sight at the other end of the parking lot. It was Mrs. Childs, of course. Who else would it be? She was watching us. I watched, dumbfounded, as she turned- no- morphed into a dark creature.

The same creature I saw in the bathroom.

I was suddenly aware of a burning sensation on my thigh, and I realized I had dropped my cigarette. "Ow!" I exclaimed, looking down for half a second. When I looked back up, Mrs. Childs, or whatever that thing is, was gone. I ran back inside as quickly as I could.

When I got in, Luke almost had a panic attack from worry. "Why are you so out of breath? Were you running? What happened?"

"I'm fine," I told them in between gasping breaths, "but Jayse is not. We can't give him back to Mrs. Childs."

"Why not?" asked Uncle Rich confusedly. Taking a deep breath, I told them exactly what happened. Uncle Rich looked skeptical. "Are you sure you did not imagine this? You've seemed pretty stressed lately..." he pondered.

"Yes, I'm sure!" I yelled defensively, "Luke, you believe me, right?" I looked over at him. He looked pale. He kept his head down.

"By the way," Uncle Rich said too casually, considering the circumstances, "we found Jayse's parents. They're coming to get him later today. I guess they'll figure out the whole 'That's not my grandma' thing and how he got to Chicago."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I just can not believe that old lady kidnapped Jayse."

He nodded and quickly changed the subject, "Well, get your stuff ready, we're leaving first thing tomorrow."

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

"Cole! Time to go!" Uncle Rich yelled for the fourth time.

"Yeah c'mon Cole!" Luke called from the passenger seat of Uncle Rich's truck. I walked slowly from the room, down the stairs, and into the parking lot. The truck was all the way on the other side.

Suddenly I felt a cold hand on my right forearm. I turned around fast...

...and there stood Celia.

I jumped back- not in fear, but in surprise. She had never been this close to me since the fire, when I tried to help her.

She spoke to me for the first time.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

I stood in the parking lot, having completely forgotten about Luke and Uncle Rich waiting for me.

"Help him." She had said. I was too shocked to reply. Now, I saw her slowly raise her arm up to point. My eyes followed her finger.

I could hardly believe my eyes. There, at the end of the lot, was Mrs. Childs again. But this time she had Jayse. I wasted no time, immediately running for the truck.

"Guysyougottahelpit'sJayseandhe'sintrouble," I yelled. "Woah, slow down, boy," Uncle Rich said laughing, "What're you so excited about?" I forced myself to take a deep breath. "Jayse is still here and he's in trouble! Help us!" I rushed out. "Us?" Luke asked, but I was already running. How do you fight a demonic entity? I was going to try. It was a bad idea, but I could not let an innocent nine-year-old get hurt. Better me than that little boy. I could hear footsteps, and Uncle Rich's voice shouting, "Holy shit!" I kept running. "Cole! Stop! This is suicide, you know that right? Come on!" That was Luke. I ignored him. He said, "Damnit, Cole, you are too stubborn," he scolded, but continued to follow me. We arrived at the edge of the parking lot. At this end, there was a thick mess of trees, though not really big enough to be considered a forest. I skidded to a stop. What am I doing? I quickly looked around and picked up a large stick from the ground, then pulled my three-inch pocket knife from my jeans pocket. It was pointless- the thing  I was fighting was not human- but it made me feel better to have some type of weapon.

"Cole, get your ass back here!" was my uncle's last attempt at stopping me. I like to think that this was because he knew I was not going to stop.

I ran further into the copse of trees. It felt like I ran forever, but it was probably only a minute or two. Time was in motion. At one point I saw a flash of blue in the trees. Remembering that Jayse was wearing a deep blue T-shirt the last time I saw him, I sprinted after it.

It was not long before I heard his screams for help. I ran faster. When did these woods get so big? I guessed the gathering of trees looked a lot smaller from the safety of the hotel room. Wait, is that..?- Yes, I did see a moving clump of brown hair.

I was breathing heavy, and although I did not want to do it, I was forced to stop and catch my breath. It was then that I finally allowed myself to look back, and when I did it was a welcome sight. Luke and Uncle Rich had followed me into the woods. Uncle Rich ran past me, and Luke stopped to get me moving again. They did not know what they were chasing, but they followed me anyway. Hell, I didn't even know what we were chasing. I did not have time to ponder that, however. A life, or four, were on the line.

"Hey!" I heard Luke shout, "I think I see 'im! I see 'im!" I followed the sound of his voice.

I caught up next to Uncle Rich, eventually coming into a clearing. There, before us, was a small cave in the ground. We could hear inside of it the voices of several men. We could not understand what they were saying, but I could hear a child's voice amid the others. Jayse. Luke took a step forward into the dugout, but I held my hand up to stop him. "That's probably not a good idea right now," I told him in a whisper, "and anyway, Jayse doesn't sound hurt. I think he's safe, for now."

"You think ?" He said angrily. He was almost yelling now, and Uncle Rich held a finger to his mouth. "There's a kid in there," Luke whispered again, "and you're telling us to just leave him because you think he's safe? Get real." He took another step forward. At that moment, a man came out of the cave. He was dressed in a long brown cloak with a hood, and his eyes were bloodshot. He spoke:

"Your little friend is okay, for now. But I'm afraid you cannot have him back just yet."