Hours later, Don woke up still lying on the Dennis' living room floor. The sun was shining in through the window, and his phone was buzzing in his pocket. He sat up and rubbing his head took the phone out to look and see who was calling. No one was calling, but he had a text message from a number that he recognized as Eddie's. Don opened his phone to read the message.
"No police...if you call them I'll know"
Don shut the phone. "Great," he said to nobody but the two cats, curled up in the patch of warm sunlight. Then he got up and walked out the front door. Looking around, he wasn't sure what he expected to find. None of the neighbors were out. There was nothing Don could do at Nickole's any more; so he got in his car and started to drive to Eddie's. On his way, he tried to call Nickole on her cell phone, and then Eddie on his phone. As Don expected, there was no answer on either. Just as Don was putting his phone back into his pocket it rang. He pulled it back out. INCOMING CALL: ANN. He answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, where are you?" Ann, but not waiting for an answer she went on, "I've been trying to get a hold of Nickole all morning. I've called her cell and her house, and she's not answering! I thought she might be with you. You did go over to her house last night, right?"
"ANN, slow down!"
"Sorry."
"Yes, I was over at Nickole's last night."
"Then where is she?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"Eddie came over."
"Oh no… Oh no no no no no no no! What happened?"
"He came, and left with Nickole."
"She went with him?!?"
"Sort of…No not really,"
"He took her?"
"Um, yeah,"
"WHAT?" Ann interrupted, "And you let him?"
"I tired to stop him."
"Oh no, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen can you meet me at my house? I just pulled in the drive way."
"Umm, yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can."
Don waited in his driveway; five minutes later, a little red car pulled up in front of him, and Ann got out of the driver's side. Don looked up in surprise, "Whose car?" he asked.
"Mine," Ann replied, "It's new, well pre-owned. That's what I wanted to show Nickole. Gosh, you don't look fine. Look at your face!" she said referring to the bruises, bloody nose, and busted lip. "He got you good."
"Did not," Don argued.
"Okay, whatever. So why haven't you called the police?"
"Eddie left me a message not to." He showed Ann the text message. "How will he know?"
Ann thought for a minute, starring at the message. "Eddie is a volunteer fire fighter; he has a police scanner in his truck."
"So, no police; then I've got to find her myself."
"I can help. Obviously, I know Eddie a little better than you do. I assume you already tried his house."
"When I was on the phone with you I drove by; no one was there: no parents or sisters …nothing."
"Great!" Ann said sarcastically, "I guess we should start looking around..." she started back, but Don wasn't listening. Instead, he was looking over her head at something in the distance.
"What?" Ann asked.
Don pointed, and Ann turned around. On the horizon you could see a cloud of black smoke. "What's burning?" Don asked, not taking his eyes off the smoke.
"I don't know," she paused "but it looks like it's coming from the Miller house."
Don paused for a minute then yelled "COME ON!!!" as he rushed back into his truck. Ann ran over to the passenger side and got in.
"What is it?" she asked anxiously.
"The Miller house...Eddie told us that he used to go to the Miller house all the time when he was little..."
Ann interrupted, "It's the perfect place for him to hide, and if you wanted to get rid of..." her voice trailed.
"He's burning the place down, with Nickole in there!" Don finished accelerating. When they turned the corner out of the neighborhood, they saw it. The miller house was up in flames, and a person, unmistakably Eddie, was running for his truck. "Call 911!" Don ordered as he threw on the breaks and jumped out of the truck. He started to run toward Eddie, but Eddie was already leaping into his truck and, once again, speeding away. Ann came running over to Don.
"The fire department is on its way, and I asked for an ambulance." She panted,
"Good," Don said, and then he started to run over to the house.
"Where are you going?" Ann called after him as he ran across the field,
"I've got to get Nickole!" He yelled.
Once he reached the house he ran inside, and started to look around. There were flames everywhere, but Don kept going farther into the house. Then he saw Nickole, lying unconscious on the floor of what used to be the living room. He ran over, scooped her up, and started carrying her back out of the house. Don came sprinting out of the house just in time. The second both he and Nickole were safely out of the house, the old roof caved in. Once they were farther away from the house, Don put Nickole gently down on the ground; she was waking up. She opened her eyes, looked up at Don, and smiled. Don looked back at her, and then he bent down and kissed her, really kissed her. In the distance, they heard sirens. A fire truck and an ambulance arrived on the scene.
Two EMT's came running over to where Don and Nickole sat. "We're gonna need some room." one of them said to Don. Don stood up and took a few steps back, while the paramedics helped Nickole onto a stretcher. Then, Ann came walking over.
"I'll take your truck back to your house, and get my car. You ride in the ambulance with Nickole." she said, and holding out her hand she added, "I'll need your keys." Don reached in his pocket and handed her the keys, then replied,
"Thanks,"