It All Started With A Lamp

Chapter 19

Audrey's POV:

We both jump at the scream we just heard, and I fell down, again. Scrambling to get back up on my feet, we both start calling out Michelle's name in hopes that she's okay. "Michelle! MICHELLE WHERE ARE YOU! MICHELLE!" I scream, over and over. Noah and I start out to find her, following the direction of the sound. He assures me that everything will be okay.

           "Calm down, Audrey. I'm sure she's fine." He says, trying to make me feel better. But I don't listen.

           "Calm down? CALM DOWN? WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT? IF SHE WEREN'T IN TROUBLE SHE WOULDN'T HAVE SCREAMED!!!" I yell, stomping my foot and glaring at Noah. He looks at me sympathetically, but says nothing. He just takes my hand and guides me towards where the sound originated.

We stumbled around in the woods until we came to a small clearing. We saw a tall, lanky figure bent over a body. "Michelle!" I went to scream, but Noah's hand covered my mouth. He put his finger to his lips and crept silently forward. I followed, only getting close enough to recognize the figure. Jacob.

I grabbed Noah's hand and pulled him out of the clearing. We snuck around the edge until we were standing in the brush and trees right behind Michelle. I studied the two. Michelle was beaten and bruised, but it didn't look like anything was broken. Jacob looked sickly pale, with bags under his eye, like he hadn't eaten or slept in days. His knuckles were cut and bloody, and he favored his right foot. It look like he was unarmed, so I formed a plan, then pulled Noah away to tell him.

"Okay," I whispered, "Jacob looks weak, and his left ankle is bad. You hold him off while I get Michelle away." He nodded, but looked nervous. We went back to the edge and I held up my fingers to signal a countdown. Three....... two.........one. We leapt in. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I screamed. He looked shocked, but then smiled sickly. "Hello Audrey, Noah. I've been waiting to see you." He said. I paused, stared at him, then laughed. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"You....sound....like a... Disney....villain" I managed to get out between big gulps of air. And it's true. He did sound like he had been talking to Ursala or Ysma for lines. I mean, how cliche could you get? I looked at Noah, and he started laughing too. Soon enough we were on our hands and knees clutching our stomach.

"It isn't funny!" He grumbled, huffing. Which just made us laugh even harder. "You're right, you're right. It's not. Let's get this over with, shall we?" I said, standing up. Jacob reached back and pulled out a sword. I collapsed in a fit of laughter yet again. "Jacob, are you trying to look stupid? Did you set a trap door too?" I asked. Noah joined in: "Oh no, what are you going to do? Tie us to train tracks?" We both faked a look of horror before laughing again. Jacob blushed.

"Stop it!" He screamed, and pointed the sword at me, pressing its tip against my throat. "Now is it so funny?" He asked, and I shook my head, even though I was trying not to laugh. I signaled to Noah with my hand, and he jumped at Jacob, catching him by surprise. While Noah was disarming him, which seemed to be quite easy, I tried to wake Michelle up.

"Michelle! Wake up! How did you even get kidnapped by this idiot!" I yelled, shaking her. She groaned, but wouldn't open her eyes. I lifted her up, with some difficulty, and ended up having to put her back down. I looked over and saw Noah holding the sword and Jacob and chuckling.

"You are an idiot, my friend." Noah said. I though Jacob would be cowering in fear, now being overpowered by my six foot brother, but he wasn't. "Nothing good ever comes that easy, does it?" He said. "No matter how cheesy I sound, or how weak I may seem, Michelle won't survive without me. She wants to be with me." He said, looking confident.

I scoffed, "I highly doubt she developed Stockholm Syndrome in a few hours. It's just a tad unrealistic." I said, not even slightly convinced anything he was saying was true. I was expecting him to falter, to show at least some sign of weakness, but he still held full confidence in his eyes. He bent over and shook Michelle awake, "Honey, wake up, Audrey's here," he said gently, and the way he looked at her. It was as if he really cared about her.

           Michelle slowly opened her eyes, grasping her head and grimacing at the sunlight. "Wha- Oh, hey babe, what did you say?" She asked.

           Babe? Honey? What is happening? I wondered, do they know each-other? Is that what he meant? All of the questions swirling through my head made me dizzy, and gave me a headache. I was confused, and hurt. Why didn't she tell me? If she knew him, why did she scream? Why was Jacob acting like the bad guy if he really cared about Michelle?

            "Are you okay? What happened? Why did you call Jacob babe? How do you know him? Are you hurt? TELL ME!!!!" I scream, all of the worry and confusion vomiting out of me. I crouch Down beside her. She looks at me

           "I'm okay, I promise. It wasn't Jacob who hurt me, I promise."

           "Then how do you know him?"

          "I'll tell you later, I promise. But right now, I should probably get to a hospital, or at least a police station, and you want to know what happened to get me here, I assume."
  
           I nodded, then waved Noah over to come pick her up. Jacob tried to step in and grab her, but I glared at him hard enough to make him back off. As Noah picked her up, Michelle started to explain.