Disclaimer: I own nothing…related to this series, that is.
Chapter 11
"What the He-"
"Language!" The initial man's roommate scolded, grinning at the girl, "You need to watch it around the little people."
"Do you know this kid?" His friend insisted.
"Of course I do."
He may have been sure; but the red-head wasn't.
Seeing the skepticism reflected in her face, he smiled; "I'm Cale, remember?"
She did.
"You came to my class the other day."
The child nodded, recognizing the shady character. "I wemembew."
"Cool." He eyed her shredded garments, "What's your name, honey?"
"Danielle." She promptly replied. After all, Mommy had told Aunt Buffy that Danielle was her official name. No one needed to know about the old days when she was known as 'Willow, the weepy tree'.
"So; are you lost, or did you just come special to see me?" Cale continued. His roommate snickered, but the child didn't see what was so funny.
"I'm looking fow my Mommy." She confided.
"Tara, right?"
The girl nodded shyly.
"Did you run away again?" Cale inquired.
"No. I woke up and Mommy wasn't thewe."
"She wasn't there?" The young man gasped in mock concern, which the girl was slow to pick up on.
The pathetic child stood forlorn, not feeling the need to answer Cale's rhetoric question.
Seeing the child's reluctance to warm up to him, the college student changed the subject.
"So what about your clothes?"
"They'we wipped." The girl stated the obvious.
"And how did that happen?" He patiently waited for her response.
"Mommy was kidnapped, and the kidnappews must have done it when they wewe twying to gwab me fwom hew; but they couldn't get me, so they took Mommy instead."
The boy listened to his guest's childish logic with amusement. The poor thing thought her Mommy had been kidnapped? Try abandoned. He could see the headline now.
"Come on sweetie." Cale grabbed the child's hand, "I know just where to find her."
Back at the ranch, or rather, the dumpster, a certain witch was being suffocated. Not so much by another person, or a plastic bag, so much as by the stench. What could kids these days possibly have thrown away that created such a horrendous odor? Tara couldn't venture to guess. But she did know of one thing that was buried in the debris; and it was something she had to find; fast. The dumpster truck came at 6:00 am; she had four and a half hours.
For an average person, the finding of an ancient text in a pile of garbage would entail the use of their own hands to sort through the immeasurable amount of trash, leaving them not only with the sought-after object, but also with an irrevocable stench that would remain on their skin for days. However, in Ms. Maclay's case, only one of the aforementioned outcomes would be attained. After the utterance of a few choice chants, the black plastic bags began to rise in the air, lining up before the witch. Placing a hand above the first collection of junk, the bag was illuminated, and, with the use of her mind's eye, Tara was able to quickly skim the contents. Deeming the bag of no value, the young woman released her intangible hold, allowing the petroleum-encased garbage to fall back into the dumpster.
"One down, twenty-two to go." The blonde sighed. It was going to be a long night.
"Can we go now?" The irate four-year-old whined. Cale had taken her not to her mother-but to a payphone.
"Just a sec-I'm on hold." He didn't bother to look at the child as he spoke, merely gripping her tiny wrist so she couldn't run off.
She tapped her foot impatiently. They had been 'on hold' for at least fifteen minutes. And it took way less than that for someone to get hurt. Like Mommy, for instance.
"Hello?" A voice on the other line crackled through the earpiece.
"Hi; I'm Cale Burns."
"How can I help you, Mr. Burns?" The woman politely prompted.
"I have a little girl with me, by the name of Danielle Maclay."
"Yes? Is she alright?" The woman asked, concerned.
"Yeah, yeah-she's alive and all. But her clothes are kind of ripped up, and she's got a couple of bruises-"
"Are you a relative?"
"No; just a helpful kinda guy. She just walked into my room-"
"Which is where, exactly?"
"Sunnydale U; in Sunnydale California." He confided.
The red-head, who had previously been counting the cracks in the wall, tuned in to her current guardian's conversation.
"Anyway, she keeps muttering something about her mother leaving her-I think there might have been some abuse too; but she won't admit to anything."
The girl looked up at Cale questioningly. Abused? Why was he using that word in relation to her? Her Mommy never touched her-never!
The young man listened to person on the other line for a moment, before answering, "Yeah. I've seen Tara Maclay-her mom-take her around school. She lost the kid the other day, and she didn't seem too pleased that she left. Who knows? Maybe she thought the kid needed to learn her lesson with a good beating-"
"I'm not abused!" The girl in question protested, searching for any sign of understanding in her captor's cold, sly face, "Mommy loves me –she wouldn't huwt me-nevew!"
The student ignored her.
"Yeah; that was her. I think she's in denial or something. You'll come pick her up? Great. I'll meet you in the front building in half an hour." He grinned evilly, "Thank you so much for all your help. I don't know what she would have done without you." The literature major slammed the phone down in its cradle.
"You lied! You lied to them!" Tears were streaming down the young girl's pale face, her turquoise eyes more blue than ever.
"That's life kid-it's just a hoax. The truth? Doesn't matter. What people think happened? That is what it's all about. That's media. And you can't have 'media' without 'me'." He chuckled at his own amateur pun.
"B-but you lied!"
"So what? No one knows that but you. And who do you think everyone's going to believe? You, or me?"
She wasn't going to stand for this. Working fast, the little girl twisted her arm out of Cale's stronghold, and ran down the deserted hall.
"Oh no you don't!" The older boy's long legs enabled him to quickly catch the screaming child, "Shut up!" He whispered harshly.
She paid him no heed, and the screeching continued as he dragged her towards the main building.
"If you ruin this for me-if I don't get my headline because you messed it up, I swear I will hunt you down, and by the time I'm finished; not even your 'pwecious' Mommy will be able to recognize you."
'Danielle' may have been little; but she understood a threat when she heard one, and she was intelligent enough to realize that between the two of them; Cale was sure to win in any type of physical competition. She was no match for his fully-developed adult body. The whole situation was hopeless.
"I w-want m-my M-m-mommy!" The four-year old cried, as most sad children do.
"I said; shut up!" The older of the two reminded, squeezing her so tightly it hurt.
She didn't need to be asked twice. After all, her life was in his hands now.
