AGAIN! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS! Too bad he doesn't turn around, eh?
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Numb3rs… or the show… or a fish pond.
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I'm barely three blocks away when a woman runs out into the middle of the street. Slamming on the breaks I stop just before I hit her.
"Please help me! He's going to kill me!" She screams and bangs on the hood of my car. I leap out of the car pulling my gun out and searching for her attacker. The woman, seeing my gun; cries out and tries to run, but years of practice tell my left hand to grab her then pull out my badge.
"Oh officer, thank God. I was walking down the street when this man came out and grabbed me. I ran away but he was chasing me," She explains breathing heavily. Suddenly, a man jumps out of from behind a car and slams into me. My gun falls from my grip and I here the girl screaming.
The man forces me back against the damp walls of a local deli. The street lights illuminate his face but I don't know him. He knees me in the stomach and my breath rushes out of my lungs in a heavy wheeze. He goes to hit me again but I put my foot up and try to pry him off of me.
"Some one please help! Help him!" The woman is crying. The last time I heard someone scream like that was…
"Aw, come on Charlie, the roof is the coolest place in the whole house." I tell my 7 year old brother as I pull him roughly up the stairs. He's resisting and yanking at my hand every chance he gets.
"But Donny I don't WANNA go on the roof!" He shouts childishly at me.
"Oh, yes you do. You just don't know it yet." Yesterday was my 12th birthday and Charlie messed the whole thing up by getting sick. I only turn twelve once and he has to pay for what he did.
"No! Please, I don't wanna!" He props his feet on one of the stairs and heaves back causing me to backtrack about 3 stairs, but my grip on his forearm doesn't loosen.
"For the last time, Charlie, you do want to get up on that roof and get up on that roof you will!" I give him a final yank and he follows me dejectedly for the rest of the trip. Once we get into the attic, I open the small window and push him out.
"Aren't you coming?" He questions wrapping his arms tightly around himself to keep warm from the winds.
"Yeah, yeah, just hold on a minute." I get a shoe box that has one of Charlie's favorite toy planes in it and pull it out on the roof with me. His eyes light up when he sees the box.
"Oooh, whaaaaat's innnnnn the boooooox?" It's amazing. He takes a sentence that should've only taken a fraction of a second to say and drags it out to practically last 20 seconds.
"You'll see" I whisper menacingly and take his shoulder. I lead him to the very edge of our house and I feel him shiver under me. "Pretty high up, huh?" He swallows and nods, but still he stares down at the ground. "I bet you it would hurt if you fell." I say, kneeling down to his level, but I keep my hand on his shoulder.
He nods again and leans outward to peer further. He jerks back when I stand up to full height again and open the box. He flips around and starts hopping eagerly into the air.
"What it is? What is it? What is it?" The last one comes out as a high pitched whine. I lift the box up away from his grasp.
"I told you already, you'll see," He looks down sadly. "Now, didn't I tell you you'd like the roof?" He looks out at the setting sun. Taking a deep breath and remembering how he ruined my birthday, I pull out the plane and discard the empty box.
He turns around in a hop then stares confused at his plane… his favorite plane.
"Why do you have that?" He whispers and I can tell that deep in his mind he can see what is coming.
"Your plane it going to fly Charlie," I pull my arm back and forth, pretending that the plane is souring openly through the sky.
"No," He pleads. My eyes turn on him fiercely.
"Yes," I pull my arm back, ready for take off.
"No! NO! Please, Donny," Tears fill his eyes, but I don't care. I take a step forward and hurl the plane with all my might. Victory is mine, but before I can celebrate, Charlie dives. He flies off the roof faster then I can think, catching his plane but falling.
I run to the edge and see him hanging from a lower window sill. His voice is frantic and under him I see his plane shatter, his favorite plane.
"PLEASE! HELP! PLEASE HELP ME DONNY! I'M SORRY ABOUT THE PLANE!" His tears dry up in the wind and his face is tinted a bright shade of pink with the effort it takes to keep his slim arms from slipping off the flimsy wood. "PLEASE!"
"PLEASE! Someone help us!" She yells into the warm night air.
The man's elbow connects viciously with my chin and mouth; my foot slips off of him and my last effort dies down with Charlie's favorite plane.
A few more blows and my mind is swirling. The woman's screams are fading and I can't focus. I wish I hadn't of thrown that plane.
I open my eyes and the first thing I am aware of is how weird my face feels. I reach up and feel it.
"Oh God, Don, I was so worried." Dad says, standing up from a chair and putting his arms around me.
"My face feels funny." I say almost to myself.
"It's pretty swollen up." He pulls away and sighs.
"What happened?" I ask because I honestly don't remember. I remember the… the nothing.
"A woman claims you were attacked." I look up, remembering the frightening fight. "Do you remember?"
"Yeah, but how did I get here?" I ask and look at my bandaged arm. I don't remember getting that.
"The girl called 911. She shot the guy you were fighting with your gun." I gasped. I had forgotten about my gun. Dad looks grimly at my arm. "Missed the first time." I can't help but laugh, but it soon turns into a pained cough. "Hey take it easy. You've only been here for about an hour and a half.
"Where's Charlie?" I ask and spit into a small trashcan next to the bed.
"I don't know. Before I left I searched the whole house, but he just wasn't there." He says and sits back down in the chair. "I'd think he'd of gone to school early, but around 5:00 this morning, he was rummaging around the medicine cabinet in the upstairs bathroom. Something was definitely wrong."
I sit up and swing my legs over the bed. "What if something happened to him? Did you call his cell phone?" Dad nods.
"I can try again. You stay in bed though. You need your rest," He stands up.
"Try the school to," I tell him as he leaves.
Once he's gone I let my exhaustion show and I fall back unto the bed. My arms throbs and I throw my hand to it and dig my nails into the skin. I've always done that, ever since I was a little kid. Whenever there was pain, I'd try and divert it somewhere else.
After a minute, I try to sleep, but it just doesn't come. My discussion with Charlie has left me worried about him. It's almost seven, and the hospital seems to get louder. The only thing I can do now is wait for Dad and Charlie to get back.
I laugh out loud when I remember how absurd my thoughts were when I was getting the crap kicked out of me. Most people would be panicking, or trying desperately to escape, but I was remembering something that happened so long ago that everyone probably forgot. That is if Charlie ever told anyone. I close my eyes and plunge deep into my thoughts and away from the noise.
"Donny, please don't let me die!" I sigh outwardly, but on the inside I'm in agony with worry. My heart is beating so fast and hard that it's making my vision spin. He's going to fall if I don't do something.
"You're not going to die! Now would you keep it down? Do you want mom and dad to hear you?" I hiss and bend down seeing if I can reach him. His face contorts into something I can only describe as his Confusion/sick/sobbing/temper-tantrum face.
"YES!" He sobs. His knuckles are white and his nails are bending from the pressure. I lie fully on the slanted roof and slide half way off. Somehow, miraculously, my hand can reach him, but he needs to grab it.
"Grab my hand!" I call out but he shakes his head.
"I can't," He shuts his eyes and wimpers. "I can't hold on Donny!" Without another thought, I take a chance. Sliding down a little more and hooking my knees on the edge of the roof, I grab my little brother's forearm and pull him up with a grunt.
We both land on the roof, me on my back and Charlie next to me on his stomach, but he doesn't lie like I do. Without waiting a second to catch his breath he scrambles up the roof like a scared mouse. Once at the window he clutches the wall and curls into a ball; his chest heaving.
If he wasn't so short and he could reach the window, I'm sure he would've gone inside first.
I turn over and crawl up the rest of the way.
"You okay, bud?" He doesn't respond. Frightened eyes stare out at something that only he can see. Sighing, I pick him up and carry him inside. "This is our little secret, okay? If you don't tell mom and dad, I'll give you my old power ranger, okay?"
The eyes that were sad and scared a few seconds ago now come to life.
"The r-red one?" He whispers hopefully.
"Yeah," I ruffle his already messy hair and place him on the creaky attic floor. "The red one."
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Sorry about the lack of Charlie, I'm getting ready for the big last few chapters. Those will be chocked full of Charlie! And Don…