North by North Tree-st

North By North Tree-st - Part 4

Bob had to laugh. It was true; Louise would scold them for taking so long.

   "You're right," he said, continuing to walk. He couldn't believe that Teddy – Teddy – had made him feel better. This was turning out to be yet another weird day.

   "Hey, you guys! Look what I've found!" Trev's voice echoed through the ravine, and all the adults began heading towards him. To no one's surprise, Linda got there first; she actually sprinted, barely even feeling her heavy bag, and crouched down next to him.

   "Is that -?" she asked.

   "Yep," he nodded, their faces falling.

   "What? What is it?" cried Sylvester, panting heavily, as he caught up to them. Trev held up a black iPhone with the screen smashed.

   "That's Jimmy Jr's, isn't it?" said Linda, and Trev nodded, as Jimmy knelt down.

   "Yep, that's his cell," he said heavily.

   "Does it work?" Bob asked, and Trev pressed the home button, but nothing happened. He pressed the power button, but again, nothing happened.

   "Do you think maybe they left a message on there?" Linda wondered aloud, certain that this broken phone held the clues to her babies' disappearance. "If we charged it, we might be able to find something."

   "What do you expect to find?" asked Jimmy incredulously. "A vlog? A Blair Witch style video? Pictures of where they went?"

   "Um, maybe a little message saying 'we're headed east,' or 'we found shelter over here,' or something like that," Linda snapped. "Don't you think it's worth looking into? What if," her heart started beating wildly, "what if someone took them, and they managed to get something?"

   "Oh, you're outta your mind!" Jimmy growled. "You seriously believe that? How is one person gonna kidnap eight kids? God, you're dumb."

   "Hey, don't speak to my wife that way!" Bob stepped forward his eyes blazing. "I swear to God, Jimmy -"

   "You swear to God what, Bob? You gonna hit me again?"

   "Don't tempt me," the burger man sneered, his hand just aching to punch that smug look off Pesto's face.

   "Who's to say there isn't a crazy group of people living here? Huh?!" Linda's voice grew shrill. "How can we know that? We can't!"

Travis rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently, while Sylvester was frantically studying the map, trying to calm himself. The rangers knew they should step in, but truth be told, they kind of wanted to see where this would go.

   "There are no crazy hermits living here, and if there were, they certainly wouldn't want your kids!" said Jimmy.

   "Oh, like yours are any better? Five minutes with Jimmy Jr., and they'll give him back!" Bob snapped.

   "Not before your crazy daughter's screaming deafens them all!"

   "Well, at least my kids know how to defend themselves! How is Jimmy Jr's dancing gonna get them out of this? Real good survival tool there(!)" Bob gave a sarcastic thumbs up.

   "Yeah, about as good as your daughter's wilderness training!"

   "ENOUGH!" They all turned, shocked, at Trev, who looked surprised at himself. "No one took the kids," he said. "Didn't you even notice?" He pointed to the log next to them. The end closest to them was on the floor, a few wood splinters around it, while the furthest end was lying against the wall of the ravine, as though it had been placed there.