Ch. 9 Blast to the Past

Chief Ezra Collig ran his hand through his hair as he mulled over the request he just got. Fenton Hardy didn't ask for things much, which meant something big is happening. Collig knew already about the little girl, Crystine Hampton was it? He was actually good friends with her father when he was still on the force here in Bayport. The day that R.J. left was a sad one, but his replacement was just as good as he was.

When Collig heard about R.J. and his family murder, the chief was devastated. He had looked at the young police detective as if he was his own flesh and blood: a brother or maybe even a son though he was just ten years older than R.J.. Even R.J. seemed to count Collig as family. Collig could remember when he first met R.J. when R.J. moved to Bayport with his parents when he was 17, Collig was 27 at the time and was moving up the ranks at the police department. Collig was coming home from work when he heard over his radio that a robbery was in progress at the local jewelry store. Since he was heading that way anyway, he decided to stop and help anyway he can.

The scene he witness inside the jewelry store still amazed him to this day. The six customers were sprawled across the floor, everyone covering their heads. Collig couldn't see where the workers or the owners were located; he could only see so much when peeking through a window. There was total of three robbers, all three of them carrying shotguns and ski-masks hiding their faces. Two of the robbers were filling bags with jewelry while the third one was on lookout, occasionally spitting out a threat to terrify the hostages.

Collig was about to call for backup when he suddenly saw movement out of the corner of his eye. There furthest away from the group laid a seventh costumer. The costumer was no older the 17, maybe 18, and from what Collig notice (once he shift positions to see the kid better), the boy looked like he was ready to pounce. Even with the distance between the two of them, Collin felt chills going down his spine when he looked at the boy's sea foam green eyes. They were ice cold and held no emotion, but one: determination to protect the other victims.

The boy slowly slid his hands underneath his body and painstakingly pushed himself closer the third robber. Whenever the robber would look in the kid's direction, the boy would stop moving and reclaim the earlier position he had. The robber himself started to freak out slightly whenever he looked at the boy and noticed him slightly closer than before, yet not even seeing the kid move an inch. The kid's eyes were already freaking him out, but seeing him get closer and closer was way beyond freaky, it was down right terrifying.

The robber finally had enough and stomped over to the boy, towering him and shoving the barrel of the gun to his head. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE!?" he screamed at the boy.

Everyone, including Collig, winced at the robber's sudden loud voice. The boy wasn't even fazed, no he did something different than shrink in fright. He straight up smirk at the robber before grabbing the barrel of the gun and quickly yanking it from the older man's hands, tossing it do the side, away from everyone.

"Nope," he stated calmly when standing to his feet. He suddenly punch the robber in the solar plexus. "And neither do these people here, hence why I'm going to take you down."

He tossed the coughing robber to the side and raced up to the other two, who were too stunned to do anything but stare at the boy in astonishment. The robber the boy was closest to quickly came to his senses, dropping his bag of jewelry and taking a swing with the shotgun. The boy ducked, swinging his leg out and knocking the robber's legs out from under him. Just as that robber fell, the boy quickly brought up the palm of his hand, connecting with the jaw of the robber.

Even as far as Collig stood, he could see the robber's jaw break from the force of the palm. The robber made a gurgling noise before fully collapsing on the ground. The boy kicked his gun away as he spun to face the final robber. By this time, the final robber watch as both his partners were taken down easily by this mere boy who really wasn't that tall. The robber was visibly shaking in his shoes when the boy's unique colored eyes laid their sights on him.

"Do you want to face the same situation as you friends there?" the boy asked, pointing at the fallen robbers. He looked back up, smirking. "Or do you want to surrender to the police officer who is outside without getting hurt?"

That final robber dropped everything in his hands and raised his arms up high, just as multiple police cars came rolling in. The officers stormed in, with Collig running in alongside them. It was chaos inside the building, and Collig weaved in and out of the crowds trying to get to the boy that stopped the whole robbery. He finally spotted the boy's messy bright blonde hair.

"Boy," he called out, walking over to him. The kid looked over at him. "Son, I have a few questions for you."

"Yes, sir?" High respect filled those words.

Collig ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to word his question right. "How…how did you even know that I was outside the whole time?"

"I didn't."

Collig blinked then did a double take to the boy. "Wait…what? You were bluffing?!"

The boy shrugged his shoulders casually and looked off to where the other officers were putting handcuffs on the robbers. His unique color eyes fell back to the older man after a moment. Instead of them being almost emotionless like before, they were filled with laughter as if he knew of some sort of secret. "Well, yeah. If you saw your friends get beat up by some kid, wouldn't you have rather surrender to the police than face the embarrassment? It was just luck that you really were there and the others came just at that time."

He was stunned. This young kid just beaten the livin' day lights out of two grown men twice his size and bluffed his way out of the third one. This kid was incredible! "Son, what's your name?"

"Richard James Hampton, sir," he held out his hand, smirking slightly. "But you can call me R.J."


Collig saw this boy grow into a fine man with a great family. It heartbreaking to see him gone, never to return, but if there was a chance for him to still help out R.J., even in his death, Collig was going to take it.

He stood from his desk and went over to his office door. Opening it, he stuck his head out calling, "Hey Riley!"

Almost everyone was already gone for the evening except one or two who were still at their desk for the graveyard shift and the few on patrol. A muffle "Sir?" could be heard from further back in the department, the archives possibly.

The Chief smile slightly. "I need you to make a fresh pot of coffee and come into my office. Fenton Hardy needs me to look up something related to R.J.. Since you took over R.J.'s duties, I need your help in this matter."

There was some shuffling then suddenly a loud crash. Everyone jumped slightly at the noise, turning their heads to the archives' door. A moan could be heard and young officer Con Riley looked out the door, rubbing his head. "Right away, sir."

Collig nodded his head and closed his door, heading back to his desk. It was time to figure out what was really going on.


Crystine groaned softly as she was pulled away from her much needed sleep. She rubbed her eyes with one hand while using the other to slowly push herself up. Something had woken her up and she didn't like that. She looked over at the cot at the end of her hospital bed. The lights from the hallway casted a soft beam to the two bodies occupying it. Frank and Joe were sleeping peacefully, Frank's arm draping over his little brother while Joe was snuggled up close and holding his big brother's shirt.

Crystine smiled at the sight, her heart tightening with happiness. She then turned her sights to Laura, who was sleeping in the chair next to the bed. After her little crying episode on the girl's shoulder, Laura crashed out hard in the chair. Crystine had never seen anyone sleep that deeply as quickly as she saw Laura did. The woman's cheeks were still stained by her earlier tears, but a smile traced at her lips as she dreamed.

The little girl also smiled at the woman before finally laying her eyes on the equipment she was hooked up to. Nothing seemed wrong with that, so if it wasn't any of what she check, what woke her up? She started looking around her room again when a chill suddenly ran down her spine. Her head turned so fast to the door, her neck popped a few time. She withheld a moan as she looked out into the hallway.

What was that that just walked by?

Her eyes narrowed as she glared out the small window. Wait…and….there, right there! That was a shadow of a person, but not the shadow of any nurse or doctor from this floor. She has watched the shadows passed by the window so many times, she could tell by just looking who it could be. This shadow though, this was someone she didn't recognize. It didn't have a stethoscope or any distinct outlines of medical instruments that the doctors and nurses usually had. Whoever it was, didn't even look like the occasional janitor that walked by. The shadow did have the built of an older man.

Whoever kept walking by her door kept giving her the creeps, but Crystine didn't dare move to wake up Laura. The poor woman needed her rest, and Crystine didn't want to ruin it for her. Eventually, five minutes passed without the shadow walking by again. Crystine gently laid herself back down onto her bed, laying on her side to face the door. If someone tried to break in, she would be the first to see his face, maybe even be able to defend the others if need be. She would just have to stay awake for the rest of the night to keep that from happening.

But, just as she was moving to get more comfortable, she gave a big yawn and felt her eyes begin to droop. She slapped to cheeks lightly, forcing herself to stay awake. Her body though had other plans. Her body still needed rest after her attack and the blankets covering her just felt so warm. She reached behind her, hand searching for her stuffed toy. Ah…there it was. Pulling it over, she held it close to her body.

Tomorrow, she thought yawning once again. Tomorrow, I'll figure out who that was. Maybe I'll get Mrs. Laura to take me out for a stroll and I'll see if anyone saw anyone strange here last night.

And with that last thought, Crystine finally closed her eyes, dreaming about how she was going to figure out who that shadow was.


A/N: it's been months and I am super sorry! I never thought my summer would be as busy as it did. I was planning on posting this chapter a whole lot earlier, but something traumatic happen. Girls, let me tell you one thing: if anyone tries to pressure you to do something you don't like or even touches you wrong, tell someone.

I was sexually assaulted by my best friend that I knew for 8 years. I never thought that would happen, but it did. I want y'all all to know that if something ever happens to you, boy or girl, like that, tell someone. My best girl friend pushed me to tell someone and we stopped were able to stop what happened right away. There is nothing wrong with telling, you won't get in trouble, no matter what you may think.

Anyway, there's my little lesson about that. And tomorrow, I will be officially moved into my college dorm and living on my own (with a roommate)! I can't wait to start my new chapter in life.

I promise next time will be a longer chapter.

Till next chapter! Love y'all!