CHAPTER 8

Mac woke up gradually, disoriented and trying to open his eyes. He was cold, though a moment later he realized it was just a cool breeze he was feeling. Slowly opening his eyes, he blinked a few times and tried to take in his surroundings, but he was still groggy and disoriented. He went to wipe his eyes in order to clear them and became aware that his arms were tied behind his back. He shook his head quickly to clear it, and then remembered what had happened. They had fallen into a trap, him and...

"...Bloo..." he managed to say, still groggy. "Where are..."

"Behind you," came the reply in a hushed tone. Mac still couldn't see clearly, but he looked back over his shoulder and caught sight of Bloo, who was also tied up and was back-to-back with him. "Mac," he continued, still whispering, "We're in a lot of trouble... We need to find a way out of here before they get back..."

"W-... where are... " Mac began; his eyesight, blurry as it was, came back into focus little by little until he was able to discern their surroundings. They had been taken up to the Foster's roof; it was dark, except for the moonlight coming from above, and a little light coming up from the streetlamps below. The cool breeze he felt before was gently washing over the two of them. Why'd they take us up here? Mac wondered. There's nothing here, it's a dead end...

The door slammed open and Coco walked out onto the roof, carrying Rainbow on her back. Her expression looked very upset as she glared at the captives. Who knows what Rainbow's been telling her? Mac thought. She's probably completely under his control though. As he watched, she began squatting down and laying her usual plastic eggs, Rainbow hopped off her back and opened one of the eggs, apparently looking for something. A pile of paperclips fell out of the first one, and he moved onto the next.

"What are you doing?" Mac demanded, while Bloo struggled behind him to see. "Everyone knows you're the one behind all this. The police know, and they'll be here any second. You're not going to get away..."

"That's what you think," Rainbow told him. He tossed the second eggshell aside, and the 2-litre bottle of soda it contained rolled away across the roof. He opened the third egg, which held a monkey wrench, and considered for a moment before moving on to the next egg. "I realize that everyone is after me," he continued, "but that's why I came up to the roof. It's part of my escape."

"How?" Bloo asked. "There's nowhere to go!"

"Nowhere but over the edge," Rainbow reminded them. He opened the fourth egg and discarded the contents, which looked like a bunch of frozen fish sticks. Whatever he was looking for, Mac knew it was only a matter of time; Coco had an uncanny knack for laying eggs containing exactly what one was looking for, even if they were laid before it was needed.

"Listen," Mac said. "Rainbow. You've gotta stop this. Tell us what's wrong, and maybe we can help you."

Rainbow split open the fifth egg, and he smiled at the contents. He said, "Help? You don't know what help is. I tried it myself, I really did. But nobody listens to sincerity. You only get hurt because of it. You, and the ones you try and protect."

There it is again, Mac thought. He said carefully, "Something happened to you, and I want to know what. Please, tell me what happened. I want to know."

Reaching into the open eggshell, Rainbow withdrew a very sharp-looking knife. It was actually taller than he was, but he lifted it with no problems, inspecting the blade carefully. With horror, Mac realized what he intended to do with it. Even so, Rainbow said, "All right. If you must know, Kevin's parents were bitter and unlikable husks of human beings. They fought, they yelled, they cared about nothing but themselves. It was torturous for the boy, and that was why he created me: to put an end to their bickering once and for all."

"I-I see..." Mac replied, starting to get very scared and finding it hard to take his eyes off the knife.

"Now," he said, walking over to them, "to be fair, I tried it the nice way. Kevin brought me to them, and I talked to them both. I gave a stirring speech, augmented by my own aura of happiness. I told them things that should have rekindled their love and rebuilt the family once again. But they were not affected in the slightest; they did not change. Instead, they were angry with me. Angry with Kevin, for 'sticking his nose where it didn't belong'. They punished him severely. And me... I was thrown into an old, rusted cage and put away in a closet. I was there for weeks... no food, no water..."

Bloo remembered a time when he had also been treated like an animal by a so-called talent scout, and said, "That... that's terrible..."

Rainbow nodded, and continued, "But Kevin... he always watched out for me. Though he couldn't unlock the cage or move it without being seen, Kevin snuck into the closet whenever he could to bring me water and bread. I would've starved to death were it not for him. I would've starved, and his parents wouldn't have had any remorse over it. It was a sad and lonely existence, but it made me all the happier to see him. It wouldn't last, however; eventually, he got caught. My boy got the beating of his life... but that was nothing compared to what they tried to do to me..."

"No, let him go!" Kevin yelled, struggling to break free from his father's firm grip on his shoulders. The boy had a black eye and was covered with bruises, and watched with his one good eye as his mother walked to the edge of the old stone bridge. Rainbow was gripping the bars inside the old cage she was carrying, his skin a bright yellow color and his gray eyes as wide as they could go. Kevin continued to struggle and said, "Look at him; he's scared to death! Don't..."

"Shut up, boy!" his father shouted angrily. "Yer punishment fer this ain't over by far. I knew it was a bad idea t' keep that thing 'round, 'n I was right."

Tears were running down Kevin's face as he pleaded, "Please, mom! Y-you can't... it's m-murder..."

Rainbow nodded rapidly, "J-just let me go... I'll leave and n-never come back, I-I swear..." Kevin's mother didn't say a word in response; she just looked down at Rainbow with utter revulsion, the way she might have looked at a mangy rat. She held the cage out over the side of the bridge, the rushing waters of the river running beneath them. Rainbow looked down at the water, shaking fearfully, and then clenched his eyes shut.

Before the cage could be dropped, Kevin noticed Rainbow's color changing again. The yellow faded, replaced by a deep red. Kevin had never seen him turn this color before and watched with a mixture of curiosity and concern. His mother hesitated, noticing the change as well, and watched Rainbow apprehensively. In the next moment, the tiny friend's eyes flew open, and he glared at her intensely through the bars, growling, "I'LL KILL YOU!!"

The sudden outburst and change in demeanor took them by surprise. In that instant, Kevin pulled free from his father's loosened grasp, and he ran over, grabbing the cage and shoving his mother aside. She lost her footing and toppled over the edge, but grabbed onto an outcropping of rock at the bottom edge of the bridge. His father blanched and ran to the side, leaning way over and trying to reach her, though it was a bit too far. Kevin, in the meantime, smashed the cage door against the bridge a few times until it broke open. Rainbow, still red, hopped out of the cage and onto Kevin's shoulder.

"Good work, Kevin," Rainbow told him. "Now... finish it."

Kevin was shocked and replied, "W-what?"

Rainbow indicated his parents, his father still trying to reach his mother, and said, "Now's your chance. We've tried everything... they had their chance already. How do you feel about them now?" Kevin didn't answer, but he felt flooded with hatred, and he knew Rainbow was right. He also knew it would be so simple... one push, and it would be over. The tiny friend spoke with amazing ferocity for his size and yelled, "You can do it! Bring this to an end, now! DO IT!"

Mac listened to the story, feeling sick to his stomach, though he couldn't tell if it was because of the way Kevin's parents were, or Rainbow's solution to the problem. He could definitely understand how Rainbow could have so much hatred, at least for Kevin's parents. But that didn't explain why he kept forcing Kevin to kill. "Rainbow, I'm so sorry about what happened," Mac said, "but not everyone is like that. There are a lot of good people out there too."

Rainbow moved closer, and abruptly raised the knife he was carrying. Mac and Bloo both leaned away from it, but they couldn't get far. "Like you?" Rainbow asked. "You fight too. You argue, you yell... why should anyone be allowed to live like that? Bloo, you say nasty things all the time to all your friends, things that can even hurt—" On that word, he struck Mac in the arm with the knife, drawing blood and a loud yelp from him, and the tiny friend finished, "—your own creator."

Mac was starting to panic now, as the realization came to him that Rainbow could quite easily kill them both at a moment's notice. Coco had turned away, but her expression showed very little concern, mainly disgust. Bloo, in the meantime, was wide-eyed in horror and said, "B-but I never r-really want to hurt him! Leave him alone!"

Rainbow frowned and ignored him. He glared at Mac, whose teeth were gritted against the pain in his arm. The tiny friend said, "And Mac. Do you really respect Bloo? Do you try and let him be his own person, or do you keep him from enjoying himself? Is he a friend or a burden to you? You sometimes entertain thoughts of leaving him behind, don't you?"

Before Mac could answer, Rainbow stuck the knife tip into Bloo's side, and Mac protested, "No, don't...!" With a quick motion Rainbow sliced the knife sideways, leaving a cut along Bloo's side, and he howled in pain. "Stop it, stop it!" Mac pleaded with tears in his eyes; having to listen to Bloo's pain was almost greater than the pain he was already feeling.

Rainbow stepped back so that they could both see him clearly. "The bond between creator and imaginary friend should be inseparable," he said, raising the knife blade up in the moonlight. The blood from both slices he had made ran along the flat of the blade until they mixed together near the handle, and he continued, "You should be as one, like a single person. Any family should stay together and help each other no matter what, and never, ever turn against each other..."

Before he could complete his speech, however, he fell silent, listening to something. A distant sound grew louder; it quickly became apparent to everyone on the roof that the sound was a number of emergency sirens approaching the house. Finally, Mac thought, the police are here! Please hurry, please hurry, I don't wanna die... Rainbow looked surprisingly calm, though, and Mac blinked in surprise, clearing some of his tears. The tiny friend glanced at Coco, who continued to watch with a bit of uneasiness, and he looked at the captives again, saying, "It's time to make my exit, after I finish the two of you."

Bloo looked at the edge of the roof, then back at Rainbow and said, "But how will you... I mean... you can't fly, right?"

"Maybe not," Rainbow admitted, "but now that I have a bird helping me out, that won't be a problem, will it?"

Mac narrowed one of his eyes, "Are you talking about Coco? She can't fly." Rainbow stared back at him blankly, looking surprised at the statement. Mac paused before asking, "You mean, you didn't know that?"

"I... but... but she's even part airplane! How can she not fly?!" Rainbow protested. He stared at Coco expectantly, who shook her head to confirm what Mac was saying. Rainbow's color changed to a deeper red, but as the sirens grew louder, Mac noticed that his color flickered yellow for a brief moment. He must not have a backup escape plan, Mac realized... This could be their best chance to catch him!

Waving Coco closer, Rainbow hopped onto her back and said, "Alright, girl; we don't have much time before they find us... let's go!"

Coco nodded and charged for the roof door. Just before they reached it, however, it flung open; a very upset-looking Wilt stepped out onto the rooftop, and Coco skidded to a halt to avoid running into him. Wilt noticed the injuries Mac and Bloo had taken and exclaimed, "Guys! S-sorry! Are you okay?" Mac nodded in reply, but Bloo shook his head.

With their escape route cut off, Rainbow was definitely turning more yellow, and Coco backed away from the door. Rainbow looked at her and said, "D-do something! Wilt's here to..."

"No!" Wilt interrupted. " Coco, he's controlling you! Think about it; there's no reason for any of this! He's forcing you to feel what he's feeling! If we don't stop him, he's going to keep doing this to more people, and this has to end now!"

Coco blinked a few times and looked conflicted as she considered what Wilt had just said. From her back, Rainbow turned red and sighed with exasperation, obviously giving up on trying to control Coco; before she could do anything, however, he quickly stuck his knife out and around her neck to the front, yanking hard and slashing it. Coco gasped and choked, "Ckckkkkhh!" as a curtain of blood poured out from the wound; she fell to a sitting position and grasped her neck with both of her feet. Wilt and the others were too horrified to act immediately, and Rainbow leapt from his position, running for Mac and Bloo with his knife still clutched in his hands.

"Coco!!" Wilt exclaimed, rushing to her aid even though he didn't know what to do. He decided to join her in applying pressure, pressing his hand against the area to try and stop the bleeding. Coco was panicked and trying to gasp for air; she suddenly laid a plastic egg, the orange eggshell splitting open to reveal large rolls of gauze and surgical tape. Without hesitating, Wilt picked these up and started wrapping the area. He hoped she was going to be all right; even in the few seconds the wound had been made, it looked like she had lost a lot of blood.

Rainbow had reached Mac in the commotion, and in a few quick moves, he not only severed the ropes that bound him to Bloo, but also landed on his shoulder and pressed the blade of the knife against his neck. Mac was startled at how fast the tiny friend was; all of this, from Coco's back to his shoulder, happened in mere seconds. Flaring red again, Rainbow ordered, "Get up! Now!"

Mac complied, though he was trembling in fear and biting his lip to keep from crying out. Bloo was free now as well, but a furious glance from Rainbow made him back up a safe distance. He gripped the wound Rainbow had made earlier on his side, and cringed, hoping that he and Mac would make it out of this alive.

Mac didn't dare move a voluntary muscle; he stammered, "J-just take it... t-take it easy, R-Rainb--..."

"Quiet!" Rainbow yelled back. His eyes darted about furiously as he tried to figure out a new escape route, but aside from jumping off the roof, there wasn't any other way. He grew more and more agitated, and that made Mac nervous, because he would probably be killed at the slightest provocation.

Whether he came up with a plan or not, it was interrupted by a commotion from the stairs leading to the roof. A number of police officers burst through the door onto the rooftop, weapons drawn. Officer Edwards was in the lead, and they all took aim at Rainbow, several flashlights illuminating the area. "Freeze!" Edwards shouted. "Let go of the boy and drop the weapon!" A pair of officers broke away from the main group, going over to provide assistance to Coco, who was still bleeding and struggling to breathe.

Rainbow tightened his grip on his knife and snarled, "Back off! Take one more step, and he dies!"

"We're not moving," Edwards promised, though his gun remained trained on the tiny friend. "Just tell us what you want, and we'll negotiate..."

"What I want," Rainbow answered, "is revenge! Revenge for my boy, Kevin! You... you cornered him... and he killed himself! You made him kill himself!"

"Not them," Mac said, still not daring to move. "It was you... you forced him to do terrible things that you wanted him to do, and he hated you for it..."

"Liar!" Rainbow yelled. "The bond between us was inseparable! I did nothing but help him get over his inhibitions; a little forcing to do what he really desired to do!"

Mac said, "No, that was never how he felt, and I can prove it. Look in my backpack... I have Kevin's diary."

Rainbow glanced at the backpack with his eyes, and then at Mac, "This had better not be a trick..." He called out, "Bloo! Get the book from Mac."

"R-right," Bloo replied, moving up cautiously behind them. He unzipped Mac's backpack and pulled out the book they had found earlier. He moved around in front and held it up for Rainbow to see. The tiny friend's eyes widened slightly at the sight of it, surprised. He motioned for Bloo to open it, which he did, near the end of the book. The cops no longer had a very clear shot on their target anymore, but they waited to see what would happen; the boy seemed to know what he was doing.

Rainbow scanned the pages quickly, his gray eyes darting back and forth. He didn't budge the knife from Mac's throat, even as he read through the passages. Mac could see that the passage was one of the last ones Kevin had written, though he couldn't turn his head to see it clearly. Rainbow's expression softened and his color began slowly shifting from red to blue. His eyes were full of disbelief, and in a small voice, he said, "Kevin... y-... you..."

"What?" Bloo asked.

Rainbow re-read the passage to be certain, and then said, "He... he was confused... I-I made him confused. He was trying to... to find out what his true feelings were, but... I kept interfering with it. The... the last section, after we... after we killed that family, he... sent me upstairs and... and once I was away, wrote this... h-he said he..." His eyes began to well up with tears as he continued, "...he was free. H-he couldn't take being a... a p-puppet anymore... he'd rather be dead... I... had no idea... and then b-before I got back..."

"You were the only one who felt the way you did, Rainbow," Mac told him. "There was no bond with Kevin; there was only your hatred, for what happened to you. You dragged Kevin into it, and much as you tried to make him feel like you did, he couldn't. But you forced it on him, and he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want anyone else to suffer... including himself."

Rainbow looked as if his entire world had crumbled. Tears ran from his eyes, and his color shifted again, changing from blue to a deep purple hue; he lost the grip on the knife, and it clattered to the rooftop. Before anyone could act on this, Rainbow cried out loudly, the tortured cry of a broken mind; he leapt from Mac's shoulder, the jump carrying him over the side of the roof. He disappeared from sight, but they could hear his cry getting more distant until it was cut off abruptly at the end.

Mac looked over the edge; Bloo and some of the police joined him. Way down on the ground, a few more officers had gathered in a circle around a spot that was undoubtedly where Rainbow had landed, even though they could not see it clearly from above. The officers on the ground confirmed what they had already guessed: Rainbow was dead. The tiny imaginary friend lay in a pool of blood on the sidewalk in front of the house, and his skin color had faded to a dull grey that matched his eyes. Mac barely heard the words of confirmation as they came over Edwards's radio, as he was dizzy with relief. It's over, he thought... It's finally over...

To be concluded…