Disclaimer: I don't own them, 'kay?
Chapter 8: The Fire of Friendship
"Hello?" Jason Rally said as he knocked on the door. "Hello? I know you're there." His voice turned angry. "Open this damn door, you little shit!"
Sam ran down the hall and knocked on Heather's door. "Heather, wake up! We got to get out of here!"
Jason tried the doorknob and entered the house. "Hello? I know you're in here!"
Heather opened the door and yelled, "What?"
Jason heard this and headed down the hall towards her.
She saw him and screamed at Sammy, "You told?"
"Before you told me not to! You're mom called and I told her, I had no idea that she'd tell!"
Jason had an evil smirk on his face. "Oh she didn't. Apparently she told you're brother, Danny. And one day when I was hitting her, demanding to know where you were, he blurted it out. He doesn't like to see her in pain."
"You asshole!" Sam shouted at him. He lunged at Jason, tackling him to the ground. "Heather out the back window! Run!"
Jason threw Sammy off and against the wall, knocking him unconscious. He raced down the hall to the back window and grabbed Heather, who was in the middle of climbing out.
"Let me go!" She screeched as she kicked, trying to escape his grasp. "Sammy help me!"
Jason dragged her out of the house and threw her into his car and drove off.
"Otto, you're going mental, what does Raymundo think of all this?" Reggie said to her brother as he slid a tray of food under her door.
"Raymundo's clueless, he just thinks that you feel isolated and you want to be alone," Otto explained. He stood up and looked down at his feet, annoyed, as the tray of food came shooting back at him.
"I'm not eating!" Reggie yelled at him.
"Yes, you are!" He shoved the tray back under and stormed off.
Reggie left the food sitting on the floor. She looked out her window and saw Twister outside. She knocked on her window until he looked up at her. She opened a notebook and wrote in big letters, "HELP ME!"
Twister shimmied up the drain pipe of the Rocket's house and sat on Reggie's window sill. "Still being held prisoner?"
"Oh yeah. I need to get out of here, but I'm totally locked in."
"He just doesn't
understand you, does he? He doesn't get that you're growing up
and you can sate whoever."
"Trust me, I've tried to tell
him that but he just doesn't get it."
"I should go before Otto catches me."
"Yeah, he's already mad enough that I'm refusing to eat, he'll blow if he finds you."
"Bye." Twister jumped down and ran back to the safety of his own home.
Sam awoke a few hours later and looked around. He could feel a bump on his head. He remembered what happened. He knew he had to do something.
Without thinking, Sam jumped in his car and sped off to the airport. He ran up to the ticket desk and said, frantically, "When was the last flight to Kansas?"
"About an hour ago," the clerk said.
"Was there a Jason Rally and a Heather Waters on that flight?"
"I'm sorry, Sir, we're not allowed to release that information."
"I know but I really need to know if they were on that flight."
"I'm sorry but we're not allowed to give you that information."
"But you don't understand!"
"Sir, don't raise your voice with me."
"Listen, this is a really complicated situation…"
"Security!"
A few security men came and grabbed Sam's arms.
"No! Listen to me for one second! Without a better way of putting it, Jason kidnapped Heather! He's her step-dad and she ran away because he would hit her! She came to me and then her mom called and found out she was with me. Her step-dad found where she was and took her! I need to stop them!"
"Let him go," the clerk told the security. She looked through the data on her computer and said, "they weren't on that last flight but they left an hour before that."
"Okay, when's the next flight?"
"Half an hour."
"I'd like one ticket please."
"Hey, Dad, cooking dinner?" Otto asked as he entered the kitchen.
Ray was standing at the stove. "Yeah, it should be ready soon."
"Cool, I'm in the other room."
After an hour or two of playing video games and listening to music on his headphones, Otto smelled smoke. He took off his head phones and heard the smoke alarm going off. He ran into the kitchen to see the stove had caught fire and it was stretching from the kitchen to the other rooms.
Otto ran over to Ray, who fell asleep in a kitchen chair. "Dad wake up!"
Ray woke up and looked around.
"We got to get out of here!" They ran to the door but Ray stopped.
"What about Rocket-Girl?" He asked.
Otto looked back at the staircase which was just becoming engulfed in flames. "Too late. We're just going to have to get out of here, call 911, and hope for the best." He and Ray ran out of the house.
"What's going on?" Twister asked as he saw Ray and Otto.
"The house caught fire," Otto replied bluntly and then turned away from Twister, remembering that he wasn't talking to him.
Twister looked around but didn't find her. He glared at Otto. "Where's Reggie?"
Otto didn't look at Twister. "She still in there, we couldn't get her in time."
"So you just left her there to die?"
"No, we're calling 911 and hoping that they get her out in time." He looked back at Ray who was on the phone with 911 at that moment.
"That's not good enough! She could get really sick from just being in there!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Otto. "You're a horrible brother!" He ran into the burning house and looked at the collapsed staircase. He ran back out and look up at Reggie's window. He shimmed up the drain pipe, sat on the sill, and looked through the window.
There was smoke billowing through the bottom of the door and Reggie was passed out on the floor.
"Reggie!" Twister yelled as he pounded on the glass. Reggie still laid lifelessly on the ground.
He reached in his pocket and brought out a pocket knife. He used the knife to break open the window and climbed through. He covered his mouth and nose with his shirt and he was hit with a cloud of smoke. He picked Reggie up as quick as he could and jumped out the window. (AN: I know, it seems unreal.) He embraced the impact on the bottom of the feet and dropped to the ground. He looked at Reggie who was still passed out in his arms. She wasn't breathing. Trying to control his sorrow, he started CPR, just before the ambulances fire trucks, and police cars came. The fire was extinguished and Reggie was put on oxygen to help her breathe. She was loaded into the ambulance and the paramedics asked, "Who's riding with her?"
"Me and my dad," Otto said as they got into the ambulance.
"I am too," Twister added as he got in.
"Not a chance." He pushed Twister out and shut the doors.
Twister sat dejectedly on the ground as the ambulance zoomed off. Officer Shirley came up to Twister and said, "Are you okay, Munchkin?"
Twister looked up at her. "I guess."
"You sure? Inhaling smoke can do lots of damage to your lungs."
"I'm okay."
"You want a ride to the hospital?"
"No, I have my SUV." (AN: Thank you, Not-Right-Now62 for the idea). "But thanks for the offer."
"Bye, Munchkin."
I can't believe she still calls us munchkin…
"What are you doing here?" Otto asked Twister when he entered Reggie's hospital room.
"Reggie's my friend and girlfriend, I have the right to see her if I want," Twister replied.
"No you don't."
"Otto, I don't know what's going on here," Ray said, "but we owe Twister Reggie's life. You should put whatever happened between you guys, behind you."
"He didn't save her life, doctors did."
"You know as well as I that the doctors said if she stayed in there any longer, she could've died."
"I don't care, I still don't trust him."
"I give up. Now the issue is where we're going to stay until we can get the house fixed up."
"The Rodriguez's house is a no." He glared at Twister. "Sam has the guest room but Heather is using that. The Stimpleton's are out of town. I guess we'll have to check into a hotel."
"I-I wan-nt t-to st-tay with Twist," Reggie mumbled breathlessly.
The three guys looked over at Reggie and ran to her bedside.
"You're awake!" Ray said.
"You're okay!" Twister exclaimed.
"You're not staying with Twister," Otto commanded.
She sat up. "Yes, I am!" She seemed angry with Otto.
"No, you're not!"
She stood up. "Yes, I am!" She grabbed her head in pain and took a few deep breaths.
"Reg, you should be sitting down," Twister told her as he ran over and helped her back down onto her bed.
"The doctors also said that I could be released later today," Reggie explained. She looked over at Otto. "And when I'm released, I will be staying with Twister, if that's okay with you Raymundo."
"It's fine with me," Ray agreed.
"Well, I'm not staying with them," Otto replied.
"Okay, Reg will stay with Twister's family and we will check into a hotel," Ray finished. "End of discussion."
Twister rolled Reggie out of the hospital in a wheelchair. He helped her up and into his SUV and he shut the door behind her. He got in on the other side and looked at Reggie. "It's good that you're okay."
She smiled at him and put her hand on his. "You saved my life, it's good to know that you're involved in it."
Twister leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.
It had taken Sam about an hour to get out of the airport and get a rental car. He had a little trouble remembering exactly where Heather lived because it had been about five or six years since he was actually able to see the majority of Kansas. Sure, he visited his dad but they just stayed home since he had to work.
When he did reach Heather's house, he didn't like what he heard. He could he screams and pleads.
"No, Jason! Please, don't-" Sam heard Heather yell which was followed by a smack and a scream.
"Jason!" Heather's brother, Danny, shouted. "Don't you dare touch either one of them!"
"Shut up!" Jason screamed and then another smacking noise.
AN: MORE SUSPENSE! Please Review!