Chapter Eleven: Purposeful Accident
The holiday was nearly over for holidaymakers and the children on the Island of Sodor as Autumn was approaching within a couple of weeks. Despite this, The North Western Railway was still busier than ever as all the engines worked hard to be really useful. However, James was pleased with himself as The Fat Controller instructed him to deliver waste trucks to Whiff's Waste Dump.
Although James despised jobs that involved pulling anything smelly or something he didn't see as "important", he was told that if he could do it all day, he could spend time with Cara for the rest of the afternoon. James only agreed to it as he wanted to see his best friend again. After all the events and her birthday, their friendship grew. With that, he happily agreed, although he held his nose as closed as possible to avoid the aroma of waste items.
Once he completed the task, he quickly went to have a washdown to get rid of the smell on him and make his shiny red paint gleam under the sunlight. As he was getting washed, he thought of an idea on where to take Cara this time. He thought he should take her to Knapford Station as he overheard that there was a bakery stand that was selling goodies like cakes, and he knew that Cara loves cake, especially lemon cake.
When his plan was settled, he was ready to go and fetch Cara from Wellsworth, "Oh boy! I can't wait to see Cara again!", he exclaimed to himself, "I bet she will be so excited about this!"
…
Meanwhile, at Cara's cottage, she was outside in the gardens, playing fetch with Stella as she was ready to throw her favourite ball, "Stella, wait!", she commanded as Stella wagged her tail rapidly as she bent down, panting excitedly.
"Catch!", Cara yelled as she threw the ball as hard as possible.
As a result, Stella ran backwards and leapt in the air, and caught the ball in her mouth. Stella kept chewing the ball as she wagged her tail. Once she had done that, she went over to Cara to pass her the ball when suddenly, they heard a familiar whistle, "Here's James!"
Cara covered her ears as he whistled loudly before she giggled and exclaimed, "James! I didn't expect you to arrive today! I'm glad you came!"
As Cara went over to James, Stella began to zoom with such energy and excitement as she howled crazily. Once she was done, she sprinted to James at full speed and began to lick his cheek, "Ah! Stella! Stop! Please no! Hehehe! That tickles!", James squealed as he laughed.
Once Stella stopped giving James puppy kisses, Rayne showed up at the door as she was surprised as well, "Well, good afternoon, James.", she greeted him warmly.
"Good afternoon, Rayne.", James smiled before explaining, "I decided to take Cara somewhere special."
This got Cara curious as she asked, "Where?"
"Knapford Station!", James revealed the answer dramatically with a big grin.
Cara was puzzled, "Knapford Station? What's going on there?"
"Well, I overhead that they are selling goodies there, and there's lemon cake involved.", James explained while still having a massive grin on his face.
Hearing cake involved got Cara excited, "Oh, yes! I love lemon cake!", she explained as she turned to where her mother was standing based on remembering where her voice was coming from, "Umm, Mum. Can I borrow some money, please?"
Rayne smiled, "Of course, but do spend wisely.", she replied as she retrieved some money and gave some cash to Cara, "Here you go, sweetie."
"Thank you!", Cara exclaimed as she hugged her mother before running to James' can, but before doing so, she asked James a question, "James? Can Stella come this time?"
James thought about it with a cheeky grin, "Well.."
Cara went to James as she gave him pleading eyes as her eyes glistened, "Please!", she said it as long as she could as Stella came in and gave him cute puppy eyes.
"Alright, she can come!", James answered as Stella barked happily.
With that, Cara and Stella hopped into James' cab as James tooted his whistle merrily, "Let's go!"
Before James puffed away, Rayned reminded James and her daughter, "Please come back by six o'clock!"
"Don't worry, I won't forget!", James assured her as he went on his way as Cara screamed with joy while Stella stuck her tongue out with her head out of the cab.
…
At Knapford Station, James parked right next to where the bakery stand was as he smiled, "Here we are!"
As Cara peeped her head, she immediately caught the smell of the pleasant aroma of baked goodies and cakes as she thought it smelled wonderful. Stella sniffed too as she barked with excitement. With that, the two hopped off as Cara immediately greeted the baker and requested a lemon cake and a scone. The baker happily did so as Cars exchanged the cash with the food.
Once that was done, she sat on James' running plate as she giggled. James smiled as Cara happily ate her cake, as they started to have a conversation, "School is nearly coming. I can't believe it.", Cars exclaimed, "It feels like time went quickly."
James couldn't agree more, "I agree. I wonder what I've been doing this whole time", he joked.
They both laughed as Stella listened while waiting patiently for the scone that Cara brought. Everything seemed well for the three. However, that wasn't the case for things to be peaceful. Trent, Darren, Samuel, Joseph, and Oscar saw them nearby as Trent glared, "Look guys, it's Zero Eyes and that James engine!"
"So?", Darren questioned.
"Well, we can't let her be happy, idiot!", Trent replied as he shouted at Darren right in the face.
"Yeah, what should we do?", asked Samuel.
"Throw goodies at her?", Joseph suggested.
"We need to do more than that!", Trent frowned.
"Then what?", asked Oscar.
"What we need to do is not only make Zero Eyes cry, but teach that engine who is boss because we aren't scared of that red bully!", Trent explained.
"Yeah, but… he…", Darren stuttered.
"He what, Darren?", Trent questioned with a big frown and raised an eyebrow.
"Nevermind.", Darren sighed in defeat.
"Good.", said Trent, "So, I got an idea that you all better listen carefully!"
With that, the five boys huddle and listen to Trent's plan as most of them agree, while Darren is questioning his motive. Was this a good idea or a terrible idea? Whatever the idea was, it would be a whole new level of bullying as it would involve James the Red Engine.
…
Back with Cara, James, and Stella, they were constantly laughing when Stella's ears perked as she thought she heard a noise. This got her on high alert before she looked to her right and saw what looked like pieces of crumbs being lined to a particular place. Stella tilted her head before she slowly approached the crumb and sniffed it. When done, she couldn't resist the temptation to eat as she ate the crumb before following the trail of crumbs. What the poor canine didn't know was that it was a trap. Once she was far away, Oscar and Joseph held the dog, "Gotcha!", shouted Oscar.
Stella yelped as she growled at the boys before she howled for help. This got Cara and James alerted as they realised that Stella was missing, "Stella? Stella girl, where are you?", Cara called out.
However, she only got the same howling as the result as Cara began to worry, "Why isn't she coming?"
"I don't know.", James replied as he looked worried.
"I'll go look for her. I'll be back.", Cara assured James as she went to follow her howling noise.
James looked worried, "Are you sure you can go on your own?"
Cara nodded, "I'm sure."
With that, Cara went off to follow Stella's howling noise as James waited. Once Cara was out of sight, the howling stopped. James sighed in relief as he thought Stella just got stuck and Cara helped her, but when he waited, both Cara and Stella didn't show up. This made James worried as he tried to think positively.
As this occurred, Trent and Darren snuck up to James as they looked at the cab. The inside was empty as James' Driver and Firemen were eating some scones on the other side, not noticing what was happening, "Perfect.", Trent whispered.
"Now what?", Darren whispered.
"Time to jam it.", Trent replied as he hopped inside the cab.
"What?", Darren whispered in shock, "That wasn't part of the plan!"
"It is now!", Trent smirked as she began to fiddle and mess around with the controls.
Darren gasped in horror as he witnessed Trent was causing trouble. While James waited, he felt a jolt as he began to move slowly, "Wait? What's going on?"
With that, James' Driver, Ryder, gasped in horror as he noticed the boy was inside James' can, "Hey, what are you doing? Get off!"
"Shoot!", Trent gasped in horror as he hopped off before he and Darren ran off.
Ryder was furious, "Come back!"
As he began to chase along with James' Fireman, Carter, three more boys ran off as Cara and Stella came out unharmed. It turns out that the boys were saying nasty words before Stella growled and chased the boys away. Once they walked towards James, they heard steam being produced as pistons were pumping wildly, "James? Where are you going?", she asked worryingly.
"I can't stop!", James explained as he began to go faster and faster until Ryder and Carter came back, but it was too late. James was far away from the platform as James puffed away as James gasped in horror, "Help! Help! Help! I can't stop!"
Once James puffed away with full speed away from Knapford, Cara cried, "James!"
However, Ryder held her hand to prevent her from chasing after her, "Cara, don't! It's too dangerous! I'll report this to our boss!"
With that, Cara, Stella, Ryder, and Carter went to The Fat Controller's office to report the incident of the boy messing with James' control, and James was now a runaway train. The Fat Controller wasted no time as he reported to every signalman to stop James from crashing. As this occurred, Edward came in. This gave The Fat Controller an idea as he went to Edward, "Edward. James became a runaway engine, and I need you to find him and stop him from crashing."
Edward gasped before blinking as a nod, "Yes, Sir."
"May I come?", Cara asked nervously.
The Fat Controller and Edward glanced at each other before Edward kindly explained, "Cara. It's too dangerous for you as I'll be going at full speed."
Cara couldn't care less, "But he's my friend!", she explained, "I want to come and help!"
Again, The Fat Controller and Edward glanced before Edward replied, "Alright, but you better hang on tight, dear."
Cara understood as she hopped into Edward's cab as Edward's Fireman, Sidney, explained, "Good thing is I got the rope."
With that, Edward tooted his whistle loudly as he puffed as hard as he could to find and catch up with James. Stella waited with Ryder, Carter, and The Fat Controller as they all looked worried. Whatever happens to James won't be a good one.
…
As James approached Wellsworth, he couldn't help but scream in horror when suddenly he heard a familiar whistle, "Edward?", he gasped in surprise.
"Don't worry, James! We're coming!", Edward huffed and puffed out of breath.
What surprised James the most was when he heard a familiar voice, "Hang on, James! We are coming to rescue you!"
"Cara!", James gasped before he looked ahead and realised he was approaching Gordon's Hill, "Oh no!"
As James was getting closer to the hill, Edward was getting closer to James, "Okay, you got the rope?", asked Charlie, Edward's Driver.
"Got it!", Sidney replied as he climbed out of Edward's cab and held tight to prevent from falling.
Edward tried to catch his breath as he went red as James' paintwork as he knew he must get closer to James, "Must… keep… going!", Edward puffed.
Cara encouraged Edward, "You can do this
Unfortunately, they were climbing up the hill, which spelled bad news for James as James slowed down, but it was more difficult to reach him. As Edward got closer to James, James was closer to the hill's peak. Once James was up the hill, he began to go down the hill with more speed that it would be too dangerous for anyone to ride on, especially for a child. James screamed as Edward reached the hill and gasped.
Once James got down the hill, he began to tilt at an angle, "I'm coming off the rails!"
With that, James fell to the side violently as he crashed brutally. Edward puffed down and gasped in horror as Edward, Charlie, and Sidney was James on the side, knocked unconscious, but before James could close his eyes, he saw nothing but darkness as he heard a familiar cry from Cara, "James!"
