ARTEX
Chapter Three-The clue.
The next morning, Officer Porter returned and said that she had a clue for us. A family driving a mini van had picked Stephanie up and dropped her off at the train station 4 miles from San Francisco.
The family had heard the APB and recognized the description of Stephanie immediately.
The family told police that Stephanie was heading North….away from SF. That only made Danny and D.J. look and feel even worse.
Danny and Jesse headed to the station to ask people if they saw Steph getting on the train. It was kind of like the LIRR in New York. It went from San Francisco, up to Oregon and back. I was sitting on the couch, watching TV. Joey entered the living room and sat beside me. Haley and Michelle were in Michelle's room doing their homework from the day before. I asked them why hadn't they done it that night and if they had gone to school today, they wouldn't've had it. They replied that all the shouting had disturbed them and upset them. I know Haley hates when people shout. She gets all upset and freezes. I wasn't going to scold Haley for not doing it. I was too upset about Stephanie right now and I didn't want to yell at Haley.
"Oh Joey, I'm so worried about Steph. What if something happened to her?" I asked, turning to him with tears in my eyes.
"I know Steph. She's tough," Joey said, reassuringly, but I could hear the fear and total concern behind his tone and I could see it in his eyes.
"I didn't want to yell at Haley for not doing her homework because suppose she got mad at me and decided to run away too?" I asked, bursting into tears.
Joey wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug. I pressed my face deeply into his chest and exploded into tears.
"Everything will be okay…you'll see," Joey said, softly and reassuringly as he too, pressed his face into my shoulder.
He began sobbing as well.
We just held each other for a while and cried.
Danny and Jesse came back a while later and said that a woman saw Stephanie boarding the train.
"My God," I said.
Joey sat close to me with his arm around my shoulders at all times.
Danny looked pale.
"We're going to have to alert the Police as far up as Oregon,"
"That's a good idea," Joey said, nodding.
Michelle and Haley came down stairs.
"Any word on Stephanie?" Haley asked, worriedly.
"A woman saw her boarding the train heading north. We're going to alert the police as far as Oregon," Jesse replied.
Suddenly, all the hurt and anger just exploded from me.
"None of this would've happened if you weren't so quick to accuse her!" I growled angrily, jumping to my feet.
D.J. and Becky came down the stairs and I could feel their eyes on me the whole time.
Joey was standing behind me…I could feel and sense him.
"This is all my fault," Danny sighed.
That made me mad.
"Maybe you should stop feeling sorry for yourself!" I retorted. "And stop thinking that Stephanie is some kind of pest and a bad person! She isn't! If you would give her a chance, you would have seen that!"
"I wish Pam was here. She's be able to handle this," Danny said, running a hand through his hair.
"Wait a minute," Joey interrupted his voice firm. "We're all technically to blame. We all might've accused Steph at one point."
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Haley freezing.
"This is all my fault…" Danny's voice trailed off.
Before I could reply, Haley dropped to her knees. She hugged herself and began rocking back and forth.
Joey and I rushed over to her.
I picked Haley up in my arms. She clung to me and I could feel her shaking. She was also sobbing quietly too. I turned to Danny.
Joey glanced at Danny before following me.
I put Haley down on the bed in our room and tried to comfort her.
"It's okay…we're not yelling anymore," Joey said, soothingly sitting beside her on the bed.
I crouched down in front of her and gently took her hands in mine and squeezed them.
Haley was shaking still, but not as bad.
Joey decided to cheer Haley up by doing an impression. He imitated Scotty, from Star Trek.
"Captain, I can't give no more power! I'm as constipated as old man without his teeth," Joey said.
I laughed. I heard Haley let out a laugh too. She was calming down now.
"Does anyone have any beer? D'OH!" Joey said next in Homer Simpson's voice.
Haley giggled again.
I even laughed myself too.
"Feeling better?" I asked, putting my face close to hers.
Haley nodded.
I gave her a kiss and hug. Then, Joey gave her a tight hug and kiss afterward.
I couldn't believe what Danny said. That stung greatly. I loved those girls like my own daughter.
It would kill me if one of them got hurt. Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Joey called.
The door opened and Becky and Jesse entered with Niki and Alex.
"Danny shouldn't be blaming himself," Becky replied, quietly.
"I know…but it's Danny we're talking about. Naturally he's going to think it's his fault."
Jesse shook his head.
"You're just concerned about Stephanie…we all are. We wouldn't be human if we weren't. Danny's probably just under pressure right now and plus, he's scared for Steph,"
"I am too. I'm terrified that something happened to her," I confessed, hugging myself.
Haley threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back. Joey stood up and stretched.
Just then, Michelle and D.J. came into the room.
"Is everything okay?" Michelle asked, her voice shaky.
"Everything's fine," I said, softly.
Haley rushed over to Michelle and threw her arms around her.
"Emma, wait," Danny said, holding up a hand.
I paused and watched him. Joey was also.
"I'm so sorry. I should've never acted like that. I know it's not my fault…I just can't help it," Danny replied gravely.
I turned around and faced him, folding my arms over my chest.
"Danny, I understand…I love the girls like my own daughter. Feeling sorry for yourself won't help. We need to be strong," I said.
"I know. Please forgive me? You're all my family," Danny pleaded.
I broke into a huge grin and nodded. "Sure. I'll stay,"
The girls cheered as I hugged each of them, then Danny. Joey gave Danny a hug as well.
"So what are we going to do about Steph?" D.J. asked.
"Well, we're going to go North…all of us," Danny said, firmly.
STEPHANIE.
I moaned and groggily opened my eyes. My vision was blurry and it took me a minute to remember where I was. I had fallen down some kind of ditch in the middle of the train yard. I could hear the horns going off in the distance.
I propped myself up on my elbows. My leg was bent at an odd angle. The pain was unbearable.
I was covered in mud. My backpack was lying a few feet from me. I tried to move but the pain shot up my leg.
I cried out and felt tears streaming down my cheeks.
I looked up at the entranceway. The sunlight was beaming. I began yelling for help.
After several hours, I gave up. No one could hear me. I was sure of it. I fell silent.
It began getting dark. I painfully crawled over to my bag and pulled out some crackers and a bottle of water. I knew I was going to have to save some of this as I didn't know how many days I'd be here…or if I'd be found at all.
I heard a dog barking somewhere in the distance. I could see a full moon starting to appear as the clouds moved over it, exposing it. Stars twinkled in the almost midnight sky. I was also starting to get cold.
I crawled up into a ball and used the backpack as a pillow. I began missing everyone…Dad, Joey, Jesse, Aunt Becky and Aunt Emma, Michelle and D.J. I also began realizing that running away was a bad idea. But I was still angry and hurt that they accused me in the first place. I didn't touch Deej's makeup or CD player.
I still had no idea who did it…but all I knew was that it wasn't me.
I began sobbing softly into my backpack. I ended up crying myself to sleep.
EMMA.
"Where do you think she went?" Michelle mused.
"I don't know…" Joey said.
"The main thing is that we find her," Danny replied. "And that she's okay and not hurt."
"Exactly…now we're going to split up into two teams. Joey, D.J. and I will drive…Jesse, Becky. and Danny and Michelle you'll get on the train," I said. "This way, we'll cover more ground in finding Steph." I said.
"Sounds good," Jesse replied, nodding.
"Wait…how will we keep in contact with each other incase one team finds her?" Becky asked.
I broke into a grin.
"Way a head of ya," I said as I headed upstairs and then came back with two walkie-talkies.
"I had bought these in NY for some odd reason. They both function on channel 4," I said. I handed Jesse one and clipped the other one to the belt of my jeans.
"Let's get going," Joey said, urgently.
Joey, D.J and I headed out to the backyard. Joey had bought me a Chevrolet Lumina as a wedding present. It was silver and four-doors.
I climbed into the driver's seat, Joey in the passenger and Deej in the back seat.
I started the car and backed out of the driveway. Danny, Becky and Jesse had a short drive to the train station then they'd get on. We had come up with a meeting place. We would drive as far north as Mendocino and Humboldt.
It was going to be a long drive, but we were not going to stop until we found Stephanie.
We were on the highway. I clicked the turn signal up and carefully moved into the right lane.
"Aunt Emma? Can you turn on the radio?" Deej asked, leaning forward in the space between the front driver's and passenger seats.
"Sure," I said.
Joey leaned forward and turned on the radio.
Train's Calling All Angels came on. I began singing along softly with it.
Joey began drumming his fingers on his thighs.
"We could really use an angel to find Steph," D.J. said gravely and quietly.
"Don't worry…we will," Joey said, reassuringly as he reached around the passenger seat and gently squeezed Deej's knee.
Just then, my walkie-talkie cracked and Jesse's voice came over.
"Emma? Joey? Deej? Are you there?"
I raised my elbow slightly so Joey could unclip the walkie-talkie from my belt. He hit the button and put it close to his face.
"Joey here. What's up Jess? Over," Joey said.
"Anything to report?" Jess asked. "Over."
"No. We've just hit Graton in Sanoma," Joey replied.
"Okay…we're at the station. We'll check back in a bout 2 hours," Jesse said. "Over and out."
"Out," Joey said.
Joey leaned forward and put the walkie-talkie on the dashboard.
"We're driving. I don't think there's people walking 60 miles an hour on the highway next to us. We can't just stop and ask for directions. We'd cause a pile up," Joey said.
D.J. laughed.
"That wouldn't be good,"
"No. Definitely not," I said, shaking my head. "It was probably Danny's idea."
"Probably," D.J. admitted.
"Are you two hungry? We can pull into a drive in and grab something," I asked, peering into the rear view mirror at Deej.
"I'm hungry," D.J. said.
"Me too," Joey said.
"Okay…next exit," I said, nodding.
Just then, someone cut me off. It was a large SUV, black. I slammed on the brake. The Lumina's tires screeched over the asphalt.
D.J. slid off the backseat.
I could hear tires and brakes being hit behind us. The front of the Lumina tapped the rear bumper of the SUV. Luckily, Joey and I had our seatbelts on. Then, someone rammed into the rear of the Lumina, causing us to hit the rear bumper of the SUV. Joey and I were thrown forward, but then snapped back against the seat. Joey held his arm out in front of me protectively.
A car hit the car behind us and it flipped onto its side and skidded past us for several inches. Another car fishtailed and spun 180 degrees. It was aimed right for Joey's side. The front of that car slammed into the passenger side door pushing us slightly. Another car flipped completely over onto its roof and exploded. I threw my arms up over my face as I felt the searing heat.
An eighteen wheeler's brake was hit, then it jack-knifed.
The wheels skidded over the highway and it sounded like an air-horn going off. It sent chills down my spine.
I heard more explosions going off. Finally, it seemed like it was over.
"Are you okay?" Joey asked, immediately, turning to me.
"Yeah, you?" I asked, breathing heavily.
He had a small gash on his temple, but he seemed alright otherwise.
We turned around in our seats.
"Deej?" Joey asked. "Are you okay?"
D.J. didn't answer.
"Deej?" I demanded.
I unclipped my seat belt and turned around even more in the seat.
D.J. was lying on the floor her back pressed against the door behind the diver's seat. She had a cut on her temple. Blood trickled down her temple.
I reached around the seat and gently shook her.
She opened her eyes.
"Oh…thank God," I breathed relieved.