Chapter Twenty-THree

Peter quickly took Kristin, whose breaths had became quick and shallow. "Auggie, run ahead and go tell Sophie that you're coming with me to the hospital with Kristin and tell her she's been stabbed and I need someone to come with me and tell her to call the police and tell them to be on the lookout for Steven and then tell her to get Scott and Ezra, okay? Hurry, meet me at the jeep!" Peter yelled at Auggie and Auggie started running.

Peter carefull wrapped Kristin so she would get warm and started for the school, going quickly enough to where he could get there in time but slow enough to where he wouldn't trip. Flashbacks were going through his mind so fast he couldn't quite sort them. Most were about Kristin, but one was where when he was running to get to his father's. The flashbacks about Kristin were her laughing, hiding, joking and playing games with the other Cliffhangers. One particular one stuck in his mind.

***Flashback-about 2 weeks after Peter and Sophie officially adopted her***

The Cliffhangers were playing baseball. Peter was the catcher, Sophie the ump, Kristin was up at bat and Scott was pitching. Shelby and Auggie and Kat were on Kristin's team and Daisy, Shelby and Ezra were all on first, second and third bases. Kristin had one chance, for she had 2 strikes already. Kristin was really nervous. Scott threw the ball and Kristin pulled back the bat and hit the ball as hard as she could. She gaped at the ball-she had hit a home run!

Scott groaned. "Man it's not fair, shes better than I am!" He complained as she ran the bases. When she got to home base Peter picked her up and swung her around. Sophie picked up the camera she had set on the bench and took a picture of the 2 hugging. "Aww ain't that cute?" She had teased.

***End of flashback***

He got to the school and Sophie was talking on the phone, frantic, and Auggie was waiting by the jeep. "Open the door!" Peter yelled at Auggie. Auggie swung the door open and jumped in, and Peter put Kristin in his lap.

While they were driving Auggie asked, "Why don't we call an ambulance?" "Because it'll take up to 30 minutes just for one to get there, and with us driving it'll take 10 minutes to get there." Peter answered. He swerved into the emergency parking lot and took Kristin from Auggie and ran into the hospital. He nearly crashed into a man with a cast. "Whoops, sorry," he muttered and darted away from him. He ran to the receptionist desk. "She's been stabbed by her brother!" Peter told the Nurse who jumped up.

"Child has been stabbed, immidiate ER NOW," (I have no clue what they say) the lady yelled into a microphone. Suddenly there was all sorts of commotion as Peter was directed to an emergency room and a Doctor took her and put her on the stretcher. "I have to go with her!" Peter protested as someone tried to get him to go to the waiting room. "Are you her father?" A doctor asked suspiciously. "Yes." "WHose this?" He asked, pointing towards Auggie. "He's one of her brothers," Peter said, knowing it might as well be true since Auggie loved her more than her father and brother did put together plus some.

The doctor gave a suspicious look at Peter. "Blood related?" "She's from a high school in the mountains-" "Aahhh I know what you're talking about. But what is she? 9?" "She's 12!' Auggie said, coming to her defense. "Her father abused her, and she was in a lot of trouble so they sent her up here, plus her band teacher is my best friend. I adopted her a little over a month ago, me and my wife run the school. THis is Auggie, he attends the school to, now can we stay?" Peter asked, annoyed that this doctor was asking all these questions while the other 4 or 5 doctors started working on Kristin. "You can stay ouside the room-" "I'm staying, to!" Auggie demanded. The doctor rolled his eyes. "FINE, stay outside, call your wife or whatever, we'll update you. Plus you need to fill out some paperwork." The doctor said. "Okay, whatever," Peter said and took one glance at Kristin. He dropped his voice a little so Auggie wouldn't here. "Is-is she going to make it?" He asked hoarsly. THe doctor's face softened a little. He looked back at Kristin, who wasn't concious, but she was alive and breathing. "Honestly, I don't know. She lost a lot of blood. Luckily the cut doesn't look to be to deep or didn't hit a vein. Where's the guy who did this?" "It's her biological brother-he abused her to. I'm going to take a wild guess and say he took her to the woods and she wouldn't co- operate with him so he stabbed her and took off. My wife called the police." Peter explained. The doctor nodded. "Okay, I hope you find him And don't worry Auggie and Mr..." "Scarbrow." "Mr. Scarbrow."