ok... seriously... THE HARDEST CHAPTER EVER!!!!!
but its worth it...
its also one of the longest chapters this story will have...
I'm having a dillemma...
I can end this story with the next chapter...
or continue it with a GREAT!!!!! twist of things
but... there's a catch...
I want at least 10 reviews on this chapter -grins-
and I'm serious, give me 10 reviews and I'll continue it with a madly twist..
or I'll end it at the next chapter...
i don't say this to get more reviews... but only to see if YOU GUYS want me to continue this...
so... think about it... ;-)
Read, have fun during reading, and after reading, please me with a review :p
'nough said i think...
Chapter 7:
"So… let me get this straight… You called me because you want to find your girlfriend, who is buried yesterday?" Brian asked while driving towards the subway.
"I know that it sounds unlikely, but she IS still alive, now i know for sure…" Ned said determinedly.
"Ned, they buried her…" Brian said, shaking his head.
"Brian, they never found her body to begin with, and she called me this afternoon!" Ned threw his hands in the air in frustration.
"Yes, but Ned, its unlikely… Even if she did call you, the possibility still remains that she's…"
"Don't finish that sentence, she isn't," Ned interrupted angrily.
Brian sighed. "You know I'm on your side Ned, no matter what…"
"You sound like I'm gonna rob the bank…" Ned laughed.
"What you want to do is also illegal, no one is allowed to enter the crash site," Brian explained. "They will never let you pass…"
"I know, but I have to try… It'll be well worth the trouble…" Ned said softly.
Brian sighed again and placed a comforting hand on Ned's shoulder. "If you really sure about this, who am I to stop you?" he laughed.
"Thanks Brian, I really appreciate this…" Ned smiled at his cousin and stared at the road, his mind wandering elsewhere.
- Flashback -
"I'm serious Ned, I really think that you're just dating Suzie because she and Moze are almost the same qua personalities…" Cookie said in an almost desperate tone.
Ned leant against his locker. "That's ridiculous, Cookie. Moze is my best friend, she could even be my sister considering how close we are…"
"Ask yourself the big questions, Ned: why do you like Suzie?"
Ned frowned, deep in thought. "Because… she… she really is…" Ned's frown grew deeper. "I liked her since the fourth grade…"
Cookie nodded but grinned nonetheless. "Keep telling yourself that Ned…"
"Hey guys…" Jennifer walked towards them, with the most brilliant smile.
"Hey," Ned and Cookie said, the one more enthusiastic while the other was still in thoughts.
"Exited about the upcoming Valentines Dance?" Jennifer asked, even more smiling.
"Ab-so-lute-ly," Cookie grinned. "I'm gonna ask Lisa to be my valentine," Cookie placed a hand over his heart and sighed.
"But… aren't you dating her already?" Jennifer asked, confused.
"Yes, but this would be our first real date, besides, I'm gonna tell her that I love her for the first time… we've been dating for almost a year…" Cookie explained.
"That's sweet! How 'bout you Ned? You and Suzie are dating for over two years now…" Jennifer said while patting Ned on the shoulder. "How does she put up with you for so long?" she added with a grin.
"I've charm.. just call me irresistible…" Ned grinned. "But what about you?" He asked, changing the subject.
"I'm going with Trevor…" She sighed defeated.
"The football captain? But you despise him!" Ned exclaimed.
"Yeah, I do… But coach Horckx made us, he's convinced that the team's captains are destined to go out…" Jennifer shrugged.
"He's exited though…" she added with a frown.
"Jennifer!" Trevor called from the science class doorway across the hall.
"Speaking of the bastard… gotta run…" with that, Jennifer took off.
Trevor watched her stalk off with a dreamy look on his face that reminded Ned of Loomer. "If he ever tries anything funny with Moze, I'm gonna castrate him with a spoon…" Ned said darkly.
"Just admit that you like her Ned, so I can go on with my life…" Cookie sighed.
"Cookie, I see her as my best friend, as a sister! I don't have romantic feelings for her in any way…" Ned said, getting tired of the subject.
"But…" Cookie started.
"No buts, I don't see her that way, and that's final!" Ned closed his locker and stalked off.
- End flashback -
Ned smiled softly, Cookie knew all along what Ned felt for Jennifer, probably long before Ned realized it himself…
"We'll find her Ned, don't worry…" Brian said assuring when Ned's smile turned into a troubled expression.
"I hope so Brian, don't know what I'll do otherwise.
Multiple scenario's played in Ned's head, scene's on how bad Jennifer would look when they find her… it they find her.
Ned shook his head in a unsuccessful attempt to clear his head of the hideous visions. Ned shuddered when the image of a very bloody Jennifer came into his head. Her arms had deep gashes, her blouse soaked with blood, a wooden pin in her left leg and several bleeding head wounds. Her pale skin and dull, empty eyes staring hopelessly ahead of her.
Ned felt like he was going to cry, he couldn't bare the very thought of which state they where going to find her in.
Brian seemed to have the same thought. He looked at Ned and spoke with a deep, serious voice: "Ned, you do realize that, if we find her, she can look… erm… wounded… do you?"
Ned nodded. "I don't care what she looks like Brian, I love her… No matter what," Ned said from the depths of his heart.
Brian smiled. "Jennifer really is a lucky girl to have you…"
"No Brian, I'm the lucky one…" Ned said with a faint smile.
Brian took a turn onto the Capra Road that went over the tunnel. About fifty foot further, Ned saw the remaining bits of the Antilope Valley Line 270. Just by the looks of it, Ned knew that the crash had been enormous. A strong feeling of trounce went trough him like the vast waves of the sea.
Ned knew that there was little chance to find Jennifer. But he had to search every square foot until he found her.
Brian pulled over and turned off his car engine. "Are you really sure about this?" he asked with worry.
"I have to find her Brian, she's my everything…" Ned sighed. He unleashed his seatbelt and got out of the car. Brian quickly followed his example.
They walked towards the crash site in silence. The area was sealed with a broad yellow string. An other scene played in Ned's head, when he and Jennifer just started dating.
- flashback -
"Ned, can i ask you something?" Jennifer asked.
She sat between his legs on the volleyball stance. Ned leaned with his back against the wall, with his arms around his waist.
"Anything," Ned smiled.
Jennifer laid her head back on his shoulder. "If you 'realized' your feelings for me during the Valentine's Dance, then why did you wait nearly two months?" She shifted a little so she could look at him.
Ned smiled softly. "In short: I was scared…"
"Why?" Jennifer asked confused.
"Its quite a step when friends become more then friends… even when friends feel more for each other then friends are supposed to do can be a huge change." Ned explained.
"And in English it means…" Jennifer said slightly confused.
"I was scared of losing you…" Ned said in a tone barely above a whisper.
Jennifer smiled and sat up. Leaning towards him she said tenderly: "You will never lose me, Ned Bigby, no matter what happens…" with that she kissed him softly on the lips before she turned around again and nestled herself against him. Ned grinned broadly and tightened his embrace a little.
- End Flashback -
Ned couldn't help but smile brightly at the memory. He loved that girl with all his heart, and nothing, not even a train crash could change that. He sighed deeply when the site came into better view. Dozens of men scurried around the place. Loading the heavy train pieces onto a huge construction-site truck, and checking the damage on the rails.
He nearly lost all his hope, there was no way they would let a goofy teenager pass, who declares that his assumed-to-be-dead- girlfriend is still out there. And sneaking in wasn't an option either.
"Brian, how do we get in?" Ned asked nervous.
"Don't worry about that, I didn't drive all this way for nothing…" Brian grinned.
They reached the sealed area and stood before the broad yellow string. A man in a orange vest came towards them. His hair was grey, thin with a vague hint of charcoal black. He had a large stomach and big arms. His soft blue eyes where alert. With his brown with grey moustache, faint purple bags under his eyes and thick eyebrows gave him the look of a war-hardened colonel. Ned swallowed nervously and took a step forward when the man reached the string.
"Can I help yeh?" he asked crossly, his eyebrows frowned and his lips a little pursed.
"Erm…" Ned stumbled, unsure what to say.
"Aren't you that goofy kid on the news this morning?" The man asked snapping.
Ned nodded, he started to get annoyed.
"Listen kid, I'm sorry what happened to your girlfriend, but she's gone… Stubbornly thinking she isn't dead doesn't bring her back from the death you know…" the more he said, the less Ned liked him, and he didn't like him at all in the first place.
"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you and your co-workers here… But I have to…" Ned began.
"Forget it sonny, you're not coming in, I have more to do then to babysit a kid who desperately need to find proof that his dead girlfriend is still alive," the man barked before Ned could finish his sentence.
"But you don't understand!" Ned shouted in desperation.
"Don't understand huh?" The man said darkly. "You're not the only one who lost a loved one kid, I lost my son on that damned train!"
"If they didn't found his body, wouldn't you try everything to find it? To reassure yourself that there's indeed nothing you could do to save him?" Ned asked, looking at the man with begging eyes.
The man sighed, and looked more human to Ned.
"Look kid, I can't just let anyone in here, this is a crash site! People are working here on a tight schedule." The man tried to explain himself.
"Would or wouldn't you?" Ned insisted.
"She could be in a kind of state, that would even put your worst nightmare to shame you know…" The man tried to reassure him.
"I'm willing to take that risk sir…" Ned said, looking him straight in the eye.
"Do you have an idea how to cope if you found the girl you love with missing body parts, soaked in blood en beyond recognizable state?" the man asked.
"Sir, I have prove that she is still alive…" Ned said, using his last resort.
He drew his cell phone, and went to 'received calls.' He showed the man the date, time and name of the caller.
The man sighed again. "Sure it was her who made the call?" the man asked, with a soft, almost fatherly tone this time.
"Yes, she called me before the train crashed, saying that she was heading towards a tunnel… This one I think…" Ned said with a look at the said tunnel. "Then a little later the show I was watching was interrupted by the news that this train derailed… then I collapsed, then my best friend came over… then my outburst on the funeral that she wasn't dead, then she sort of appeared into my dream, telling me to really believe that she was still out there. Then I went to my friend, he told me also to let go of her… and actually, I did for a little while… Then I came home… The rest of my family went to my grandma, so I was all alone there… Then my cell started to ring, I picked up and she asked me for help… no she begged me to help her… then I fainted… my dad found me, I told him that she called, he didn't believe it, so I went to my ex girlfriend who is Moze's best girl-friend, she started to cry and threw my out and…" Ned rambled. He was speaking so fast that the man barely catches any of it. Brian looked at him with a half amused half worried face.
"okay, okay…" The man scratched the back of his head while attempting to sort Ned's story out. "So she called you this afternoon?"
"yes," Ned said with a nod.
"And you're completely sure it was her?" the man asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes," Ned repeated.
"And you're sure that she's still here?" The man asked, now looking troubled.
"Yes!" Ned exclaimed, getting angry.
Wait here…" the man stalked off. Ned saw him talking to another man in a orange vest, gesturing to Ned, and then around him. Ned saw the other man frown deeply before he said something. The 'colonel' walked away, and came back a few moments later, holding two brightly yellow helmets.
"Put these on…" he said while handing the helmets over to Ned and Brian. "You have an half an hour… and you stay close to me…"
Ned and Brian ducked underneath the string. The man looked at Ned. "Name's Redson…"
"Ned, and this is Brian," Ned said while silently thanking him.
"Now, if she called you, she isn't in the tunnel… we know that much…" Redson said while gesturing towards the tunnel on their left.
"So we better check that last…" he continued.
"Any idea's sonny?" He asked Ned.
"I'm guessing on a place near the train, but away from view, since no-one found her…" Ned said with a frown.
He looked around. On the trains left stood a big tree, behind that was a sort of hill that had the same height as the Capra Road that crossed above the tunnel. On the right, the ground was a foot or ten equal with the rails, before it went down warts. The rails that still had a few left-over compartments was build on a sixty feet platform, equalizing it with the rails that came out of the tunnel, before it went down a small hill.
Ned sighed. "Maybe the tunnel is our best shot…"
Redson nodded and turned. The three of them walked towards the tunnel. Redson drew a flashlight and handed it to Ned, gesturing him to go first. Ned muttered a small word of thanks before he went into the pitch black dark tunnel.
He barely set a foot into it, and already saw that it was impossible for her to be there, the walls and ceiling was built with massive concrete, with not even the smallest crack in it.
Ned walked back out of the tunnel and sighed. He felt more and more defeated with every passing minute.
He checked the with grass and weeds covered walls on the outside. Then walked of towards the hill on the trains left side, and looked carefully if there wasn't any hole, big enough for a human to crawl in. Ned hung his head for a moment, and then walked back towards Redson and Brian, who still stood in front of the tunnel. Redson saw Ned's expression of pure disappointment and averted his gaze. "I'm sorry sonny… I…" He was interrupted when a colleague worker of him ran towards them, looking extremely alarmed. "Sir! Sir there's something you have to see!" He turned and ran back towards the platform-build rails, where he knelt down and aimed his flashlight underneath the rails. Redson, Brian and Ned hurried over there and knelt down beside the worker.
"I think she's still alive sir… Lypes already alarmed the ambulance and the police.
Ned caught a glimpse of an arm, and a fraction of a face, but knew nonetheless that that girl was Jennifer. The relieve went through him with such a forceful wave that Ned felt light-headed. All the men worked together to clear the rails of the remaining train parts and slowly, the badly injured body of Jennifer was visible through the rails, lighted by the several flashlights.
Quite a chapter huh?
if anyone DARES to say that my chapters are way to short, i'm gonna kick some butt...
anyway... next update is Saturday, unless something comes up!!!!
but to get one thing clear...
that Jennifer is found, doesn't mean that she is alive... -mad scientist laugh-
leave a review and I'll see about the story...
its on your hands really...