Chapter 9

Nick's View

"And that makes you larger than life..." I sang softly driving slowly through the streets. I was near Brian's house and I couldn't have been happier. All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. I was so tired.

I pulled up to the gates and punched in the code numbers. The gates slowly opened and I passed through them slowly. I drove up to the front of the house and noticed that the front doors were slightly open. I looked out the wind shield curiously and turned my car off opening the door and stepping out. I looked up at the house closing the door gently behind me and noticed that only a few lights were on, the rest of the house was pitch black.

I walked around the car and stopped abruptly when I saw a dark shape laying on the ground a few feet away from the house. I rushed over and bent down, I noticed the body right away and drew in a shaky breath. I slowly lowered my hand on his shoulder and turned him over.

"Jason?" I said wide eyed. He didn't move, he just laid there with his eyes closed. "Come on buddy, wake up."

He groaned and his eyes fluttered open. He held his head and slowly sat up, I helped him.

"Jason what are you doing out here?" I asked looking at him curiously. He looked up at me and then around him and all of a sudden he got wide eyed, "MICHELLE!!! CHRISTIAN!!!"

I fell back startled at his outburst, he jumped to his feet and ran to the front. I quickly got to my feet and followed him. I burst through the front door and stumbled back swallowing hard. The sight before me was horrible. Jason was kneeling down next to Michelle's broken up body, blood was dripping from her head and making a small puddle on the floor. She was badly bruised and cuts were clearly visible.

"We gotta help her!" Jason cried holding Michelle's lifeless hand. I stood there my eyes wide, my mouth wide open not knowing what to do. I ran up to Michelle and gently turned her on her back. She was very pale and she didn't look like the Michelle I knew at all. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my cell phone tossing it to Jason.

"CALL 911 NOW!" I yelled checking Michelle's pulse, I heard it faintly.

I looked up and looked around the house, the glass table that was in front of the stairs was broken, flowers cluttered the floor, blood and glass was everywhere. What happened?

I looked back down at Michelle and then quickly got up sprinting up the stairs. I didn't know where to go, I just went with my gut instinct and ran down the hall to my left. All the doors were open and each room was cluttered and partially destroyed. Dressers were overturned, TVs were crashed and broken on the floor, the bed sheets were thrown all over the room.

I finally got to the last room down the hall and walked in. This room seemed to be the worst. The closet door was hanging on one of it's hinges, I was surprised it was still attached at all. The pillow cases were shredded, the blankets were torn and thrown around the room, the TV was broken, the VCR lay in pieces and the double doors were...

I stopped in the middle of the room. I was paralyzed with horror. Jagged pieces of glass were still connected to the door, most of them filled with blood, one of the doors had fallen off it's hinges and landed right on top of...

"Ohhh," I moaned, I was going to be sick. Christian lay under the glass door, cuts all over his body, blood all around him, pieces of glass were sticking out his arms and legs and other body parts, his head was scrapped up and his leg was in a position that I knew shouldn't be in.

I rushed over to him and gently pulled the door off him, he didn't look like Christian at all, this was someone else, this wasn't the handsome, smiling, so full of life Christian that I knew. This was a lifeless ghost that I was even afraid to get near.

I gently kneeled down and reached out my hand to touch him but I yanked back my hand and fell back against the balcony wall trying to breath, I was breathing heavily. The sight of Christian made me want to be sick. I closed my eyes tight and rubbed my face with my hands and noticed for the first time hot tears streaming down my face.

I just sat there, my eyes closed tight, breathing heavily, waiting for the ambulances to show up. The faint sound of the sirens filled my ears and I was slightly relieved that help was finally coming. I knew that I should have been doing something to help him but what? What could I do? I was afraid to even touch him fearing that I would make things worse, I didn't want that. I wanted him to be OK.

I heard running from inside the house so I leaned forward and saw about 4 paramedics rush in. One gently grabbed my arm and helped me up.

"Sir, what happened?" one asked. I just stood there looking at motionless Christian and shook my head slowly.

"If you could please step to the side, we'll try to help this young man out," the young paramedic said lightly pushing me to the side. I stood there watching as they moved Christian inside the room, putting him on a stretcher and hooking him up to various things. Many were cleaning up some of the blood on him to get a better look at him. The sight became too much for me so I ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Jason was being comforted by a female policeman near the living room as about 5 paramedics raised Michelle onto a stretcher. I moved away from them and spotted my cell phone on the ground near the stairs. I picked it up quickly and stepped outside dialing Brian's number quickly.

Brian's View

I took my hand out of Tiffany's and reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I sighed and just looked at it, I knew it was Nick calling to tell me how the kids were but I was just too tired to answer it. I finally just decided to answer, "Hello?"

"Brian! Get down to the house quick!" Nick said in a panicky voice. I stood up from my chair and said, "Nick what's wrong?"

"The kids..."

"What about them!?" I cut him off. He didn't answer, I just heard people in the background talking and moving around quickly.

"Nick, what happened?" I asked worried.

He swallowed hard and said, "Courtney and the babies were kidnapped."

"WHAT!?" I yelled into the phone. "Nick! If this is a joke I swear I'll tear your head off!"

"I'm not joking Brian," he said quietly. Tears stung my eyes and a moment later they started to fall freely down my face.

"My poor babies," I softly cried.

"There's more," Nick said.

"What else could possibly be wrong?" I asked through my tears.

"Michelle and Christian are badly hurt."

"What? What...what happened to them?"

"Michelle was thrown down the stairs and Christian...he was thrown through the double glass doors in one of the guest rooms," Nick said softly. I broke down crying then. Who would hurt children like that? Only monsters would hurt a child that bad.

"What about Jason?" I asked.

"He's fine, I found him out front passed out by fear, the paramedics checked him over and they said he was completely fine."

"Oh thank goodness!" I sighed, a little relieved.

"Is he there with you now? You are at the house right?" I asked pacing the room.

"I'm about to get on one of the ambulances to go to the hospital. They're going to the hospital you're at now and Jason is inside with a few policemen."

"Is he getting questioned?"

"I...I don't know. I wouldn't think so," Nick said. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, tears still flowed down my cheeks.

"Rok, I'm gonna go now, I'll see you in about 10 minutes," Nick said.

"OK," I said and then hung up the phone. Tears blurred my vision as I looked over at Tiffany, she had no idea what had just happened to her babies...no idea at all.