A Tortured Soul

Chapter 29

JT was in a panic pacing back and forth in the kitchen, head back staring at the ceiling, fingers laced behind his head, cursing himself for not doing a better job to stop them from taking Justin. They were on the trampoline having a blast, not a care in the world, believing all of their troubles were behind them. They heard a loud click sound come from the woods behind them. JT turned around first and seen two people standing behind a tree poking their head out to look at them. He nudged Justin and told him to look. The two emerged slowly from the tree line and exposed themselves. Marge and Jason were smiling as they inched closer to Justin. JT was yelling for Justin to run as he jumped off the trampoline and raced for the back door of his house expecting Justin to follow. Justin stood motionless watching them come closer. He wanted to run but his body was frozen, he wanted to yell but his mouth wouldn't open. JT screamed for Justin to run again. One hand on the door, eyes wide open, unable to move further JT became frozen as he watched Marge and Jason snatch Justin up and disappear back into the woods. His heart dropped in fear and stood there until he was unable to see any further movement. When the coast was clear his body allowed him to move so he ran inside.

"I knew I should have made them come in. DAMMIT!" Jack yelled slamming his fist into the counter cracking it as he did. "Maybe we can catch them! Which way did they go JT?" Jack asked. "They ran straight back into the woods." JT grumbled. He dropped himself to the floor and his dad ran out of the house with his shot gun and into the woods. He gathered it in his head that he was going to make their death look like a hunting accident. He was going to rid Justin of them once and for all. He couldn't stand to let that child go through any more suffering, and while Justin lived under his roof it would never happen again.

May picked up the phone and called 9-1-1. She screamed to the dispatcher that one of her kids was stolen from their backyard and she needed police immediately. Five officers arrived within fifteen minutes and Jack still had not returned. May told the officer that JT was a whiteness and her husband went after them to get Justin back. Three officers searched the woods and surrounding area while the other two stayed behind to talk to JT and May. Tatiana sat in the hallway listening with tears flowing down her cheeks. She just got Justin back and now he was gone again, she felt like she should be doing something to help him, but what could she do? She was only ten years old, there isn't much a child that young could do in a situation like this. JT was still on the floor with tears sliding down the side of his head blaming himself for letting them get away. Justin was his best friend and he just stood there like a lump and let them take him away. It kept playing over and over in his mind as he tried to think of different ways he could have handled the situation, and it only made him feel worse.

The three officers that ran into the woods found Jack and brought him home. "I'm sorry ma'am but we don't see the boy anywhere but we found your husband collapsed on the ground, we already called for an ambulance so we can get him to a hospital and get him treated. We think he may have had a heart attack." One officer explained. May cupped her hands over her mouth and more tears streamed down her face retracing the tears that were finally starting to dry as she fell to her knees. "This couldn't possibly get any worse can it?" The ambulance arrived and they loaded Jack into the back, they told May she could follow close behind if she wanted. She agreed and loaded JT and Tatiana up in the car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. When they arrived Jack was rushed in followed by his family. It was true, Jack had a heart attack and would be in the hospital for a few days. He explained what happened just before the heart attack.

"All I could think to do was grab my gun and go after them in an attempt to get Justin back. They are bad people, I'm afraid they are going to kill him. So, I ran into the woods, I seen them holding him upside down by his waist. He was flopping, not trying to get out of their grip, not screaming, he was just......calm. There was no emotion coming from him." He began. The doctors and police listened close as one of the officers was scribbling noted from Jack's story into his note pad. "I yelled for them to stop, they turned to look at me and smiled, they just smiled. I pulled my gun up, took, aim, and fired, I missed, and they ran faster. I couldn't keep up, when I caught up enough to see them again over the hill, I fired again. This time I thought I hit the man because he grabbed his leg and fell. I started feeling short of breath, my chest began hurting, and the next thing I know I'm on the ground being pulled up by the police."

"What do they look like?" The officer with the note pad asked. May reached into her purse and pulled out a picture she stole from their house. She thought it was odd when she noticed it was a family photo of them and the twins but Justin wasn't in there. She took it when she went to get them for the birthday party before Justin ran away. She handed it to the officer and said it was better to have a picture than to try and explain them. The officer took the picture and they left the room so May and the kids could visit with Jack in peace.

When Jack was released from the hospital they went home and gathered as many people as they could to help look for Justin and posted pictures around the area to help find him. A week into the search they received a phone call. "He is on his way, he may and may not make it, he doesn't look so good!" The voice laughed and hung up. Jack looked at the phone in shock, "May!" He yelled in a shook voice. She came running out of the kitchen into the living room and sat down next to him. "What is it? What's wrong?" She said wrapping her arm around him. "I think that was Justin's dad." May's eyes opened wide. "What did he say?" She asked softly fearing the worst. "He said Justin is on his way, if he makes it all the way here because he doesn't look so good. So be prepared to rush him to the hospital. I'm going to look for him, he has to be close." He said as he stood up and rushed to the door to grab his keys.