Chapter 7
Arriving at Fosters, the first thing they noticed was that, the van driving right through the gate, and collided it into a nearby tree. Hastily they looked into the van, but when they didn't see her, they headed straight for Fosters.
Upon entering the building, someone had grasped both of their arms. They turned around see Frankie with an angry look on her face. "What have you two been up too?" asked Frankie. "You guys stole the van, and crashed it into a tree. What do you guys have to say for yourself?"
"Look Frankie," said Mac, struggling to break free of her grip. "I don't have time to explain, I just need you get everyone out of Fosters, and call the fire department."
"What are you talking?" asked Frankie.
"There's no time, please just listen to me!" shouted Mac, as both he and Bloo ran towards the basement door. Quickly they opened the door, and ran down the stairs. They arrived just in time to see Berry about to light the stream of gasoline, which was spread along floor and up to a large gas tank.
"Berry stop, you can't do this!" called Mac.
"You've got that completely wrong, I can do this, and I'm going to do this," replied Berry. "You will all pay for breaking my heart."
"No wait Berry. I was wrong, Bloo does love you," said Mac.
"Yeah right," claimed Berry.
"No, it's true," said Mac.
"I don't believe you," said Berry. "You made it perfectly clear that Bloo does not care about me."
"I was lying to you before, you are the only thing Bloo ever talks about," said Mac.
Crystal tears began to form in her eyes as she said, "Really." She then looked away from Mac an over towards Bloo. "Is that really true Bloo?" Bloo didn't say anything; he had no idea what either of them was talking about.
"Bloo go ahead, tell Berry how much you love her," said Mac.
Bloo turned his head towards Mac and said, "Um, who's Berry."
The tears in her eyes faded away and turned back into a demonic gaze, "You're all going to die!" shouted Berry, as she threw the lit match onto the pool of gasoline. The flames arose, as the gasoline was ignited, which quickly spread throughout the room.
Berry threw her arms into the air, and started laughing hysterical. While she was laughing, Mac and Bloo use that as a chance to tackle her to the ground. Bloo held both of her arms to the floor, trying his best to keep her down, while kicked and screamed. Mac quickly opened the lid to her medicine container, and took out a pill.
He pushed the pill into her mouth, and placed his hand over her mouth to keep her from spitting it out. The evil in her could not compel, and was soon silenced, as she swallowed the pill. The evil glare that lurked behind her eyes dissolved into oblivion, she had once again returned to her stable self.
It wasn't too long before she had opened her eyes again, but seeing fire all around them caused her to panic. She was scared, too scared to move from horrifying site of the scorching flames. But before she realized it, Mac and Bloo, had dragged her away for the deadly blaze.
The three of them attempted to escape to the basement door, but by time they reach it the fire had already consumed the area. The wood from the ceiling fell to the floor, blocking off their only exit. At this point the smoke flooded the entire room, making it almost impossible to see through the dense air.
"Hurry up, get out of the building," called Frankie to imaginary friends as she led them out of Fosters.
"Miss Francis, what do you think you're doing?" asked Mr. Herriman. "Why is everyone leaving the building?"
"Well, Mac and Bloo warned me about something going on, and I don't want to take any chances, if it is true," replied Frankie.
"How do you know this isn't all just a prank?" asked Mr. Herriman.
"I don't, but just the way Mac sounded, I could tell he was being serious," said Frankie.
"What did he say?" asked Mr. Herriman.
"Well he told me to get everyone out of the house, and to call the fire department," said Frankie.
"What, there's a fire," said Wilt.
"No-no, there is no fire, said Mr. Herriman.
"Fire, fire!" shouted an imaginary friend, which caused more imaginary friends to bellow "Fire!"
Several Imaginary friends began running towards the main door, when Mr. Herriman hopped in front of them, trying to block them off from leaving. "There is no fire," said Mr. Herriman, trying to calm everyone down. But the ease soon turned into a riot, when they saw several fire trucks pulling up into Fosters. All the imaginary friends pushed Mr. Herriman out of the way, as they ran outside.
The fire alarms began to blast throughout the house, as smoke crept up from the basement. The firefighters quickly unloaded all of their equipment, as the flames arose above the basement, and onto the main floor. Every imaginary friend desperately ran out of the mansion, from any door they could possible find. The fire engulfed most of the mansion, with the smoke pouring into sky. The firefighters unleashed gallons of water, in an effort to extinguish the flames.
While the flames had risen to the upper levers, the dense black smoke had completely submerged the entire room. Mac, Bloo, and Berry were lying on the ground nearly unconscious, their lungs overflowing with smoke.
After only a few minutes, both Bloo and Berry were out cold, and Mac was the only one who was still aroused. He could barely keep his eyes open; he didn't know how much longer he could stand it.
They were all about to die, all because of Berry; she was the one who caused all of this to happen. Mac was rapidly losing consciousness; but in the mix of the chaos, he could hear what sounded like banging at the basement door. But the noise began to fade, as everything went black.
"Mac... Mac, can you hear me," called a voice.
"Will he be alright?" asked another voice.
"Please Mac, wake up," cried a third voice.
It wasn't too long before Mac eyes emerged open, he felt dizzy, he tried to move but he couldn't. As he slowly returned to reality, he found himself breathing into an oxygen tank. After a few moments the firefighters removed the oxygen tank, when he was able to breathe on his own. When he tried to move, he couldn't help by to stumble, as he attempted to walk. His sight slowly started too returned, to find himself surrounded by several imaginary friends, who among them included Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco.
"Are you okay?" asked Wilt.
"I think so," replied Mac, but before he can say anything else, he was stopped as Frankie wrapped her arms around him.
"Thank god you're okay," said Frankie.
Mac really couldn't think of what to say, but then all of a sudden it hit him, "Where is Bloo, is he okay?" asked Mac.
"Don't worry, he's okay," replied Frankie, as she led Mac over to Bloo. He was really glad to see that he was alive, but there was still one more question that pierced his mind.
"Where's Berry?" asked Mac.
Frankie then led them over to Berry, who was still unconscious, breathing from an oxygen tank, but ever much alive. In less than a minute, she let out soft moan. Mac was beyond words, the anger he felt inside was fuming, to the point that he was practically wishing that she would have burned to death.
Berry's eyes slowly began to open, as she started to regain consciousness. Mac, who was still glaring down at Berry, he was about to say something, when he heard someone standing behind him. Slowly he turned around to find that it was a police officer.
"Excuse me kid," said the police officer. "Are you Mac?"
"Yes," answered Mac.
"I need to talk to you," said the police officer.
"Okay," said Mac.
"Well, Miss Foster said that you were the one that warned her about the fire," said the police officer. "Is that true?"
"Yeah," answered Mac.
"Well, do you know who is responsible for starting the fire?" asked the police officer. Upon hearing that question, Berry's eyes began to widen.
For a brief second a slight smile appeared on Mac's face. This is perfect, Mac thought to himself. I can finally get rid of Berry forever. Mac faintly looked back to see Berry partial hiding behind Bloo.
He could see tears forming in her eyes; they were consumed in a deep scar of fear. There she stood at his mercy, awaiting her judgment. She was terrified, terrified of what was going to happen to her. Time felt still, as if everyone was frozen in place, Mac and Berry seemed to be the ones there.
"So kid, do you know who is responsible?" asked the police officer.
"U-u-um," shuddered Mac. Berry closed her eyes, placing both of her hands onto her face. "Um, I don't know who did it," replied Mac. Berry slightly opened her eyes and gazed over towards Mac.
"You sure you don't know anything about it?" asked the police officer.
"Yeah, I heard that someone was going to burn down Fosters, but I really don't know who it is," said Mac. While Berry was still nervous, she felt a huge sigh of relief.
"I know who did it!" yelled a voice. Both Mac and Berry quickly spun around to see that it was none other than Bloo who had said that. Berry was no longer relaxed, she was now frightened of what Bloo was about to say, Mac too seemed surprised as well.
"So, um Bloo is it, who is responsible?" asked the police officer.
"Yeah, her name is... Heather," replied Bloo.
"Do you know what this Heather looks like?" asked the police officer.
"Ahh... no," said Bloo. For once Berry was happy about Bloo's stupidity, but she still felt a little sadden that he still didn't remember her.
"Well, thanks for your help, and don't worry we'll have her in custody in no time," said the police officer. Berry then glared over at Mac, not sure what to think, Mac then did the same.
Two weeks had passed since that day, even though Fosters was now almost fully repaired, things still didn't seem to return to normal. It was early in the afternoon on a Saturday; Berry was asleep on the couch, curdled up in a ball
On the television, it happened to be playing The Loved and the Loveless, as Mac and Bloo entered the room. Mac walked over to where Berry was, causing her to woke up, she was little surprised to see both Mac and Bloo right there.
"Berry, we need to talk," said Mac.
"Okay," said Berry quietly, sitting up at the far end of the couch.
"Hey is there anything else on," said Bloo, grabbing the remote. He began to browse through the channels, and happened to stop for a moment on the news.
"The detectives of Unsettled Disputes are investigating the case of the arsonist Heather," said a woman reporter. "If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the pyromaniac that goes by the name Heather, please contact them at 1-800-BUSTED."
"Ah, boring," replied Bloo, turning off the television.
"Look, I'm really sorry about what happened," said Berry. "I really want to thank you for not turning me in."
"Yeah, but what happens if you forget to take your medicine, or someone loses it again," said Mac. "Are you just going to go on another psychotic rampage?
"I know, I know," said Berry. "I have to learn how to control myself. Believe me, I want to remain like this, I just can't control myself."
"Well, you better learn, because next you're not going to be so lucky," said Mac.
"I will, I promise," replied Berry. "But for now I just have to make sure I take my medicine."
"Make sure nothing happens to it," said Mac.
"Don't worry," said Berry, placing her arm on the nearby end table. "It's right... Ahh. Berry quickly spun her head towards the table, only to find nothing.
"Wait, you already lost it," claimed Mac.
"No, no it was right there," said Berry, as she began to search around the couch. "I swear, I had it right there. I-I don't know what happened..." But before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by.
"Eww, this candy is nasty," said Bloo. Quickly they focused their attention onto Bloo, who was dumping the medicine into the trash can.
"Bloo!" shouted both Mac and Berry.
