Kidnapped

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

"Dave!" I said, shaking him as much as I could with one hand. "Dave, wake up!"

Someone parked their car next to where we sat. The loud engine cut off and then a door opened and slammed shut.

Dave was on his feet the second he saw the car, standing in front of me protectively. A figure walked up through the darkness. I was struck with fear. What if it was our kidnappers? We'd surely be dead. Well, if we weren't already.

"Do you guys need some help?" A friendly male voice asked. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. This guy was going to help us. We were going to live. But it still didn't take my mind off of Jake and where he might be.

"Yes. Please." Dave replied, also sighing in relief. "She was shot in the leg and her wrist looks broken."

"What happened?" The guy asked, his voice suddenly urgent.

"It's a long story," Dave said.

"Well hop in the back, you can explain on the way. I'd call, but there's no service out here, plus my phones dead. Where do you need to go? The hospital?"

"Yeah, please." Dave said.

"That's going to take a little bit, but better to get there later than not, right?"

"Yes, thank you so much." Dave said.

"No problem. I'm Al, by the way." He told us.

"I'm Dave, and that's Erica," Dave told Al. They shook hands and then Dave turned back to me.

He grabbed my good hand to lift me up. He carefully picked me up and turned to the car. He carried me over to the car and gently set me down on the seat. Al told me I could lay down if I wanted and asked if he could look at my wrist.

"My mother was a nurse, so I know a bit about injuries." He said.

"Yeah," I replied. He gently took my hand and examined it carefully, trying not to bend it or turn it.

"It's broken at the least. It really needs to be looked at, though. If you don't get a cast it will heal in the wrong spot and they'll have to re-break it to get it to heal correctly." Al told me. Great. "As a matter of fact, I might have a wrap you can use to put pressure and ease the pain a bit."

"Okay," I said. He went around to the back of the car and dug through some stuff for a minute before coming back with a wrap.

"This will help." He said. He took my hand and gently wrapped the wrap around it tightly, but not too tight as to cut off the blood circulation in my hand.

Now that we were in a little bit of light from the car, I could see that Al had dark brown hair that was cut short. He was probably five or six years older than me and Dave.

When he finished, sure enough, the pain eased a bit.

"Thank you, that helps." I said.

"Oh, you're welcome. There's some water on the floor if you guys want some." Al told us. At the mention of water, I realized how thirsty I was and how dry my mouth felt. My stomach grumbled, too. I picked up a water bottle and drank it slowly to not upset my stomach. Dave did the same. Its funny how much more you appreciate something after you haven't had it for a while.

"How can we ever repay you?" I asked Al as he started the engine. I needed to ask Dave the same question, but didn't want to ask in front of Al.

"No need, I'm happy to help. Now how bout you tell me how in the world you got out here." Al replied, pulling onto the road.

"It started yesterday morning." Dave started. He went on to tell Al about everything that had happened. I stretched out my leg on the seat and tried to find a comfortable position to lay. Dave was right next to me, and was taking up part of the row. I switched sides a few times before giving up and sitting up straight, still being careful with my injuries. Dave was still talking to Al, but his hands found me and wrapped around me. He pulled my head onto his lap and he started stroking my hair, sending little tingles down my spine.

We drove on for a long time. Dave and Al chatted with each other as I laid on the seat and fell asleep. I was exhausted and so relieved that we'd found help, but couldn't seem to get my mind off of Jake. If he was even still alive, he could be miles and miles away. What if I never found him?

I finally fell asleep. Surprisingly, my dreams weren't about Jake, or being kidnapped, or even a dark alley. They were of my mother, and the few times she used to actually care.

"Mommy! I saw a shooting star!" I pointed my small fingers up at the sky as a light moved across it in the blink of an eye.

"I saw it!" She said, holding me tight and trying to keep me warm from the biting cold outside.

"What are they?" I asked her, still staring at the night sky and trying to catch another shooting star.

"Suns." She answered. "Like ours, but much bigger."

"No, mommy. They can't be bigger than our sun." I told her simply. I laughed at what I thought was a stupid comment she'd said.

"Sure they can." My mom replied.

"How?" I stared at her. At the moment, I thought she was lying to me.

"They're so far away." She told me.

"I don't understand." I said.

"You're only six years old, Erica. You won't understand for a while."

"Yeah, maybe I'll learn about it in school!" I said excitedly.

"Maybe," She said. "How bout you go to bed so you can get up in the morning to get to school?"

"Good idea!" I said excitedly, as a child would. I ran inside to get ready for bed. But my dream didn't follow my child-self inside for bed. It stayed with my mother.

She stared up at the stars in the old chair, watching silently. A shooting star streaked across the sky and she watched it.

"Make a wish," My dad was suddenly standing standing behind my mom.

"I did." She told him.

"What'd you wish for?" My dad asked her, his green eyes shining in the moonlight. A soft glow appeared around them, and the dream began to fade.

"Erica." A voice said, but it wasn't my mother. It was Dave. "We're at the hospital."

"Oh!" I said, sitting up. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A while." He told me, picking me up and out of the car. It was morning now. "Thanks, Al." He said.

"No problem, do you need anything else?"

"We should be fine."

"Alright, good luck. I hope you find him." He said. Jake. The boy who was kidnapped. The little boy I'd never see again. My poor little brother. The thought of him caused tears to sting my eyes.

Dave carried me up to the building. It said "Emergency" up at the top.

"Is this really an emergency?" I asked Dave.

"Yes." He said, and pushed the door open.

It smelt like chemicals and cleaners, like a doctors office. I'd never been to the emergency room before. I looked around at the people sitting in the room. They all looked worried. They were probably waiting for someone loved that was in a serious condition. One lady looked up at me and her eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, look at her arm! And her leg!" She said to the woman sitting next to her. The woman looked up and her eyes widened too. What? Was it that bad? I glanced down at my leg. Dave's temporary bandage was soaked with blood. I then looked at my wrist, which was almost double the size of my other one. It was purple and blue and black, too. Yeah, it was that bad.

"I need a doctor. Now, please." Dave's voice pulled my eyes away from my wrist.

"I can see," The lady at the desk said, looking worried.

Within minutes I was being whisked down the hall in a wheelchair pushed by Dave. We came to a small room and the doctor had me sit on a bed.

"What in the world has happened to you?" The doctor asked incredulously.

"I fell and twisted my arm in the rocks." I told him. "And I was shot in the leg."

"Well, let's hope it's not as bad as it could be. When did this happen?"

"Two days ago." Dave answered for me. "We were stuck in the wilderness and couldn't get back."

The doctor didn't ask anything else, he just worked on examining my leg. I was somwhat glad for the silence, and for his lack of questioning. If he asked about it, what would I say?

We were hunting and Dave accidentally shot me in the leg because he was pointing a gun at the rabbit and then a flying squirrel came out of nowhere and knocked the gun towards my leg and he accidentally shot me.

Yeah, that was definitley a good explanation.

"It's infected pretty bad." He said after a few minutes. "We have some antibiotics that will clear it up in a while and make the swelling go down. It needs stitches, too. I'll get to work on that now. We can look at your arm after." Then he got to work on cleaning and stitching my wound.

Some time later, my leg was all patched up and cleaned. Now he was examining my wrist.

"We'll have an x-ray done, then we can get you whatever it needs." The doctor said. He took me into a special room and had me lay on a table as he took the x-ray.

After he took it, he had me go back to the little room with Dave and wait as he examined the x-ray.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as we waited, then I asked the question that had been burning my mind for a while now.

"Dave, how can I ever repay you?"

"For what?" He asked.

"Everything. Being there. Saving me. Caring. What can I do to make it up?" I asked. Dave stared at me from across the room for a moment. By the look in his eyes, I could see it.

Something was bothering him.

"What is it?" I asked suddenly.

"What is what?" He said innocently.

"Something's bothering you." I said simply. He thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes, something is bothering me. It has been for a long time now."

"What is it?" I asked. Dave was quiet. What was bothering him? Was he mad at me? I hoped that he would be able to forgive me for all this.

There was a long silence before he spoke. "It's just-"

Then the doctor walked in.