Chapter 3

Delia was watching TV the next morning. Andy had just left to go into the office. Ephram was still snoozing upstairs. Delia couldn't find anything on TV but she busied herself by flipping through the channels. The doorbell rang. Delia waited for a second to see if Ephram woke up and would get the door. He didn't come down. Sighing Delia went to the door.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"UPS delivery," the man called through the door.

Delia looked through the window to confirm what he said. She was more cautious ever since her talk with her dad yesterday.

"I need a signature for a package? Is you're dad home?"

"He's busy."

"You can sign it."

Delia opened the door and signed the form he held out. But instead of handing her the package, he reached over and grabbed her hand firmly.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Delia panicked.

"Come with me," he ordered. "Let's go for a walk…"

He was pulling her, grabbing at her waist.

Yell for help as loud as you can, her father's words rang in her head.

"HELP! EPHRAM! EPHRAM!" she screamed before a hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Oh, now I'm mad," the man said. "You shouldn't have done that."

Delia gulped, terror clenching at her heart.

Ephram woke with a start.

"EPHRAM!" he heard a faint scream. He though that he was still dreaming.

But then he heard it again, and he could hear the panic in the high pitched voice.

Ephram raced down the stairs in a frenzy. When he saw the door ajar, he looked out to see a man bothering some girl. No, not just some girl. Delia.

Ephram started running again. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" he bellowed. The man released Delia in his surprise and started to run, but Ephram was already tackling him to the ground, his momentum giving him more force. Ephram could swear he was seeing red spots. He started to punch this guy repeatedly, pure hatred sending each punch harder and harder down on this guys face. The man finally flipped Ephram off of him and started to run. Ephram chased him halfway down the block before he stopped as he watched a bus turning a blind curve. The guy didn't see the bus. Ephram had his eyes closed but he heard a collision and the bus screeching to a stop.

When Ephram dared to open his eyes, he saw the man sprawled out on the ground, blood surrounding him, lifeless. Ephram walked back to his lawn in a trance. Delia ran into his arms and they collapsed to the soft grass. Ephram cradled Delia as she sobbed into his chest. Ephram clutched onto his baby sister as if he feared she'd disappear.

"I'm sorry," Delia moaned into Ephram's chest. While Ephram wanted to comfort her, say that she has nothing to be sorry about, his throat was like long sheets of sand paper. All he did in response was hug Delia closer to him.

Andy rushed through the doors into his house. He freaked when Ephram called him up. It was so much like a repeat of their phone conversation two days earlier.

"Delia!" he shouted.

"We're in here," Ephram shouted back. Andy followed the voice into the living room. Delia was cuddled into Ephram on the couch, and a few police were standing around.

"Dad!" Delia jumped up and ran into her father's arms. She burst into tears.

Andy held her closely, clamping his eyes shut. "What happened?"

Delia tried to talk but she was such a sniffling mess that she couldn't put two words together.

"We suspect that the same man who raped Miss Abbot was the same one who attempted to take Delia," Andy recognized the male police officer, Bryant, for the hospital. His partner Olivia stood next to him.

"Your son tackled him and the man ran into an incoming bus." Olivia said.

"Is he?" Andy asked.

"Yes," Bryant said. "He's dead."

"His name was Dan Hurwin."

Andy didn't know what to do with the name. "Are you sure this is the same man who raped Amy?"

"We can't be sure," Bryant said. "Until we compare the DNA."

"The results will come in five hours. We can notify you when we find out if you would like that."

"Uh, um, yes, thank you officers."

The officers left and the Brown family was left alone in silence.

"What were you thinking," Andy asked. "You shouldn't open the door if I'm not home. You should have gotten Ephram."

"Dad," Delia sobbed. "He said he was a delivery man, he was wearing the uniform, and…"

"That doesn't make any difference. You should have still gotten Ephram or told him to come back another time."

"Dad, lay off," Ephram barked at his father.

Andy looked as if Ephram had just slapped him. "What did you say?"

"Just leave her alone," he said as Delia ran to him. He picked her up and she wrapped her arms and legs around him like she did when she was small. "She's been through a lot and she doesn't need you yelling at her."

"I was not yelling at her."

Ephram gave his father a look.

"Delia?" Andy asked his daughter.

Delia looked away from him and Ephram carried her out of the room.

Andy sank into the couch, and his head dropped into his hands. Oh, God. What did I do to deserve this? I should be comforting my daughter and now she won't even look at me… Andy did what he rarely did outside of his bedroom. He sobbed.

After a couple of hours, the door bell rang.

"Amy?" Andy said when he opened the door. Amy and Bright stood there. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard about Delia," she said as though that was enough. It was. Andy let her in.

"Couldn't really stop her," Bright said.

Andy nodded.

"Delia?" Amy knocked softly on Delia's room. Amy came in when she heard a 'come in'.

"Amy?" Ephram said, sitting up.

"Bright told me about what happened."

Ephram couldn't believe this. Amy could be at death's door and she'd come and help her friends if she could help it. It reminded him of when Rose came in a wheelchair to talk his father out of leaving Everwood.

"Hi, Amy," Delia said, suddenly shy.

Amy tilted her head toward the door. "Oh, right," Ephram said quickly, getting up to leave. He gave Amy's hand a quick squeeze on his way out. "Thanks," he whispered.

Amy climbed onto the bed next to Delia when the door closed.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," Delia said.

Amy tilted her head. "That's what I was going to say to you."

The two girls giggled a bit.

"Can I ask you something?" Delia asked.

"Anything."

"Is it stupid for me to be so upset about this?"

"Of course it isn't."

"I mean, he only tried to grab me. But you…"

"Listen to me," Amy put her hand on Delia's. "He might have done the same thing to you if Ephram wasn't there."

Delia nodded her head slightly, slightly scared by this thought. "You don't blame him for not saving you, do you?"

Amy flashed back to Ephram's words she thought about while she was being raped. The thing is that I'm here for you. I love you. I'll do anything for you. Amy shut her eyes to shut the memory out.

"No," she said. "I don't blame him."

"That's pretty cool," Bright said. "Like, being able to save her."

"I don't even want to think about what would have happened if he had taken her."

"Don't man."

"Why is all of this shit suddenly happening?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, this is Everwood. Since when do you get 3 life-altering tragedies over a period of 4 days?"

"Dude, just don't jinx us."

The phone rang that night.

"Hello?" Andy answered.

"Mr. Brown, this is Officer Bryant."

"Yes?"

"We called to notify you that the Dan Hurwin who tried to take your daughter is, indeed, the same man who raped Amy Abbot."

"Um, thank you officer. I will let their family know."

Andy hung up the phone and dialed the Abbots.

"Yes?" Harold answered.

"It's Andy."

"Oh, hi Andy."

"It was the same guy."

"The one who…?"

"Yes."

There was a slight pause on the other line.

"What was his name?"

"Dan Hurwin."

"Thank you, Andy… for everything."

Amy turned off the TV when her father walked in.

She smiled at him. "Hey."

"Hi, honey."

"What's wrong?"

"So they found the guy who did this to you."

Amy looked at her hands. "Is it the same guy who grabbed Delia?"

"Yeah. Bastard died before he could suffer."

Amy looked up at her father in surprise.

"At least it's over. We can gain some closure."

"Yeah," Harold said to the wall. "Closure."

Ephram was exhausted. The last few days have been so hectic, he was so drained of energy from the lack of sleep. Ephram was fast asleep on his pillow.
Delia was fitfully sleeping. She kept on imagining what happened to Amy. She dreamt that she was Amy being raped and now she had a face to match the attacker. Delia sat bolt upright in her bed panting.

She laid back down and tried to fall back asleep. She couldn't. She got up and scurried down the hallway and crept into Ephram's room.

"Ephram?" she whispered hesitantly. She nudged him a little, but he snored on.

"Ephram," she whispered more urgently and nudged harder. He didn't wake up. He only shifted over in his sleep so his back was too her. She blinked away desperate tears.

"Dad?" she asked into her father's room.

Her father shifted and eventually sat up to look at her.

"Delia?" he murmured sleepily.

"I had a bad dream."

"Climb in," he said soothingly, lifting up the covers and scooting over to the other side so she could climb in.

"Thanks," she whispered. Not five minutes later was she peacefully sleeping.

"Harold?"

"Andy?" Harold asked into the phone. "Please don't tell me something else just happened."

Andy gave a sad chuckle. "No."

Harold sighed with relief. "Thank God."

"I thought that it would by logical if we were communic- I just have to blow some steam with someone who understands."

Harold waited silently. "Doesn't it just make you're blood run cold? Just thinking about it?"

"Like it was stuck in a freezer in Antarctica? Yeah."

"Exactly."

"I feel so cheated. That man died a quick death. He didn't learn a thing. If it were left to us to punish him…"

"I know. We try to give our children faith and show violence is not the answer…"

"But we can't take our own advice," Harold finished for him.