Wow, you guys have really creative imaginations. Kirsten and a gun? I'm not brave enough to try that. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. You guys are super, duper awesome! Oh and now that I've gotten some sleep, being evacuated and having to sleep on the chairs in the lobby of the only building that had power now is slightly entertaining. Wasn't so much when I was running on 4 hours of sleep. Okay, I'm done talking. Read and review!
Disclaimer: Nope. Still not mine.
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Her hand fumbled around in her purse until she felt the phone.
"What?" Dawn said.
"I said, he's not staying here," Kirsten repeated. She opened the phone up silently and hit the second speed dial. Please pick up, she begged silently, please pick up. She had no idea if this was going to work or not, but she hoped that it would. "Ryan, go pack your stuff we're leaving." Ryan looked torn. He stood there in the middle of everyone looking from Kirsten to his parents. He could see that his father was becoming angrier by the second, and with a sinking feeling, he knew that it was anger directed at Kirsten and not at him. He could deal with anger directed towards him; he could not forgive himself if something happened to her.
"Kirsten, please go," he tried one more time.
"No. I am not leaving without you."
"Kirsten..." He was terrified. Both for her and for himself. But mostly for her. She needed to leave.
"He said go," Dave said coming over to Kirsten. Ryan took a step and stepped in between his father and her. "Ryan move."
"Don't touch her."
"Ryan. Move."
"Dad, she's leaving, okay? Don't touch her." Kirsten's heart was beating and she was nauseous. But she wasn't leaving without Ryan.
"I am not leaving without you," she said one more time.
"Ryan move."
"Dad. Kirsten, please."
"No," it was said at the same time by both Dave and Kirsten. Dave took hold of Ryan, who struggled out of his grip.
"Let him go," Kirsten yelled. Dave tossed Ryan easily to the side and grabbed a hold of Kirsten again.
"I told you to get out."
"I'm not going without him, just let him get his things and we'll both leave."
"He's not going anywhere," Dawn yelled from where she was pouring herself a drink in the kitchen. Kirsten winced in pain as Dave tightened his hold on her.
"We told you to get out. He's not going anywhere." Ryan climbed to his feet and rushed to his father to get him to loosen his hold on Kirsten, and the impact startled Dave who let go of Kirsten, who lost her balance and tumbled to the ground, hitting her head hard off the coffee table as she went.
As her world went black, she heard Dawn screaming for Dave not to kill Ryan, and heard Ryan struggle with his father, and then she heard nothing.
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Sandy had placed his phone, and the house phone on the counter in the kitchen for easy access in case Kirsten called. He was worried about her. It had been twenty minutes since she had hung up on him and told him that she was going into the house.
It had been the longest twenty minutes of his life. He knew that her being there was just going to end up badly for Ryan. She wouldn't be able to convince him to leave his parents, it was hopeless.
As he turned around getting himself some coffee, he heard his phone ring. He dove for it and with a feeling of relief rushing over him saw that it was Kirsten's number.
"Honey? Where are you?" There was no answer, and he thought maybe she had gotten cut off, and was going to hang up when he heard her voice clearly.
"I said he's not staying here." Sandy's heart quickened. She wasn't talking to him, but she had called him. Something was wrong. Things had gotten out of her control. Sandy heard her tell Ryan to pack his things and then heard Ryan telling her to leave. But it wasn't in anger, it was in desperation. Sandy could hear the panic lining Ryan's voice. What was going on?
"I'm going to call the police," Sandy spoke into the phone. He knew that Kirsten couldn't hear him, but he wanted to pretend that this was a normal conversation. He couldn't bring himself to hang up the phone, so he picked up the house phone. Seth was babbling onto someone, Summer, Sandy assumed, about some comic.
"Dad, do you mind?" Seth said as soon as he realized that someone had picked up the other extension.
"Seth, get off the phone, now." There was something in his father's voice that Seth took notice of. For once, Seth didn't whine or complain, he did exactly what his father had asked. Maybe it was because his dad sounded weird. Maybe it was because Seth knew, instinctively, that it was fear in his dad's voice.
"Summer, I've gotta go." He didn't wait for Summer's goodbye, before hanging up and running down the stairs. "Dad? What's going on?" His father was clutching both phones in his hands.
"Okay, please send someone over. Thank you, yes, okay, thank you."
"Dad? What's the matter?" Seth asked again. His father wasn't paying any attention to him; instead his phone was pressed tightly to his ear and he was concentrating on whatever was on the other end.
Sandy heard Kirsten cry out and then he didn't hear her anymore. He could hear someone yelling in the background, Dawn, he presumed since it was a female voice and not Kirsten's.
"Kirsten?" Sandy said into the phone. "Kirsten?" It was a little louder this time, but when he didn't hear her answer, or hear her at all, he felt his heart stop. "Honey? Are you there? Kirsten?" He turned around and was surprised to see Seth there.
"Dad? Where's Mom?"
"I need to go," Sandy said grabbing his keys, but not hanging up the phone. "Stay here in case the police call."
"The police? Dad, what's going on?"
"I need to go to Chino."
"Is Ryan okay? Where's Mom?" Seth's head was spinning. "Dad? I want to come with you."
"No, you need to stay here. You need to stay here in case the police call," Sandy repeated.
"Dad...."
"Seth, I will explain everything later. But your mother went to Chino to see Ryan and I think things got out of hand. I don't know more than that. I will call you when I find something out." With that Sandy threw open the door to his car, slammed it shut, and peeled out of the driveway leaving Seth holding the cordless phone in the doorway.
Seth picked up the phone and called Summer back. He would ask her if she would come over and wait with him. There was no way that he wanted to stay there alone. Why hadn't he insisted that his father let him come along? Now Seth had sit back and wait, and Seth hated waiting more than anything else.
"Cohen? What the hell? What's going on? You didn't even say goodbye."
"Can you come over here?"
"Cohen?" Summer asked again. "What's going on?"
"It's just....well, not to rely on an old cliché or anything, but I think the shit just hit the fan."
"What are you talking about?"
"Please, just come over here and I'll explain. I just...can't be alone right now."
"Where are your parents?" Seth sighed.
"My mom apparently went to Chino tonight to check up on Ryan, and my dad just left to go down there too, because apparently something's happened. Could you...."
"Oh God, Cohen, I'm on my way," Summer said before Seth heard the dial tone. He ran a hand through his hair and went back inside to wait for Summer to come, and for his father to call him and let him know what was going on.
Why had his mother gone there by herself? Seth was all for going down and getting Ryan out of that house, but he had assumed that it would be his father taking care of the situation, and not his mother. Not that he thought his mother couldn't handle it, but it was just...this kind of stuff was his dad's domain. And now, what had happened? His dad had called the police, so something was up, and then he had been shouting into the phone for his mom, so Seth was fairly sure that his mother had called and whatever she had said on the phone had made Sandy call the police and speed away in his car. So what did she say? And was she okay? Was Ryan okay? Seth's head was spinning and he wished two things, that Summer would get there soon so that he could talk over everything that was running through his head with someone else, and that everyone had just listened to him in the first place when he had said not to let Ryan go back there.
Seth had decided a long time ago that everything would be better, always, if everyone just learned to take his advice.
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Sandy made it down to Chino in record time. He figured that was mostly due to excessive speeding, and the few stop signs and even red lights that he had run. He was almost daring a cop to pull him over. Sandy found the street of the address that Dave had left them and his heart sank when he saw the police cars in front of what he presumed to be the right house. It sank even further when he saw the ambulance parked there as well. Kirsten. Ryan. The names repeated in his head like a broken record. Ryan. Kirsten. And guilt plagued him. Why hadn't he just told Dave Atwood on that first morning that it would be better for Ryan if he stayed out of his life?
And why hadn't Kirsten listened to him when he told her not to go down to Chino by herself? Why hadn't she just turned around and come back when he asked her to?
It was because she was so damn stubborn. A trait that he would admit, he shared as well, and a trait that usually he loved about her. Not right then, then he wished that she actually listened to him every once in awhile. Usually she was so level-headed about decisions. She thought every thing through to the very tiny of details. But it was because Ryan was involved. She would have reacted the same way if it had been Seth. She would have said, to hell with the consequences and rushed in to do whatever she could to save her son.
Sandy jumped out of the car and ran towards the house.
"Sir, you can't go in there," an officer stuck out his arm, blocking Sandy's path into the house.
"I called the police," Sandy said breathlessly. "My wife was in there. My foster son. What's happening? Where are they?"
"Sir, why don't you come with us?" Another officer stepped up, and Sandy noticed the serious expression on his face. What was wrong? Kirsten. Ryan. Repeating over and over again. They had to be okay. Kirsten. Ryan.
"Where are they?" Sandy repeated again. "Where's my wife? Where's my son?"
"Sir, why don't you follow us to the hospital and we can fill out the police report there?" Police report, Sandy didn't give a damn about a police report. But his stomach heaved at the word hospital.
"Hospital?" Sandy repeated. "Are they okay?"
"Sir, why don't you follow us?" The officer repeated.
"Are they okay?" Sandy yelled. "Tell me if they're okay."
"We don't know," the first officer said. "Why don't you ride to the hospital and the doctors will tell you? We don't know anything sir, other than we were called for a domestic disturbance and they took a woman, mid-thirties, I'm assuming your wife, and a kid, about sixteen to the hospital with injuries. I don't know how severe. It could be just stitches," the officer offered when he saw Sandy's face.
"Okay," Sandy said taking a deep breath. He had to keep in control. Kirsten and Ryan were taken to the hospital. It could be nothing. It could be just stitches as the officer had suggested.
But what if it wasn't?
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Ohhh, another cliffhanger. You must really hate me right now, haha. Okay, but I'm being quick with these updates right? That has to count for something? No? All right. Please review anyway, and tell me what you think....of the story...not of me. I'm sure that you really don't like me right now.