I don't know if anyone is reading this but I saw a few hits on it so thought I'd share some more. If you are reading let me know, I have more of it written.
Ben felt Wayne wrap his arms tight around his body, he hugged his brother back and watched as a woman he didn't recognize sat his other brothers down on the front stoop and walked towards him.
She flashed him a badge, introduced herself as a detective and asked him who he was, how old he was and then asked him if there was an adult he could call. He said his sister was close she was older, their mothers were over an hour away and their father even further. He asked what had happened, where Margene was.
"There was a home invasion." The woman began, "A man and woman forced their way into the home. " Ben nodded and the woman kept talking, Margene was on her way to the hospital. They'd wanted Nell and when she wouldn't hand her over the man had stabbed her and then pulled the little girl screaming from her arms.
Ben nodded trying to comprehend what he was hearing. This was beyond anything he'd expected or imagined could happen.
"Ben?" He heard Teeny's voice behind him. He turned around and saw his sister standing there carrying the milk and ice-cream. "What's happening?"
He looked back at her, the blank confused expression on her face. He tried to talk but he wasn't sure what words to say. Saying it out loud made it real. "Ben?"
The detective caught the fear and disbelief on his face, the verbal paralysis he was feeling. She talked to Teeny told her what she needed to know for the moment and then suggested she go sit with her brothers and they eat the ice-cream. She didn't want to go but Ben knew he needed a moment with the detective. There were more questions which needed answering and phone calls which needed to be made.
The woman offered to do it for him but he thought it would be better from him.
He phoned Sarah first. She was closest, she could be there soonest he needed someone with him. The phone rang for the longest time, he began to think she wasn't going to answer and then the line connected and she chimed down the line.
"Hey Ben what's up?" She sounded so carefree, such a contrast from the way he was feeling, it threw him a little and for a moment he didn't say anything. "Ben are you there?"
"Yeah." He said the word slowly trying to buy himself sometime, he didn't know how he was supposed to do this. "You need to come to the house now." He said taking the easy route by not actually saying it. "Something's happened. I need you to come now."
"Ben," The carefree tone was gone from her voice replaced by concern. "What's happened?"
He didn't want to say it, but he had to, like a band-aid he thought and he blurted out. "Nell's gone, Margie's in the hospital. Please come."
He heard Sarah gasp, then say, "I'm on my way." Before the line went dead.
For a moment he held the phone in his hand. One call was done but there were more to go. Again the detective asked if he wanted her to do it but again he turned her down. Slowly he began dialling his mom's number, at first she didn't answer, he tried again, and on the third time the line connected.
"Ben I'm in a meeting why are you phoning?" She asked, she sounded annoyed.
It made him feel mad, she shouldn't have been annoyed but she couldn't have known. "Nell's gone, Margie's in the hospital." He said getting straight to the point. "You need to come home now."
There was an extended pause on the other end of the line, Ben waited for his mom to say something and then finally she uttered. "What do you mean gone?"
"I mean gone, stolen, some people forced their way into the house and took her. Margie tried to stop them and they stabbed her." The words came out in a rush, when he finished there was silence, a long silence. "Mom?" He asked after a minute, he heard her slowly exhale and finally she spoke.
"I'm here." She said the words slowly trying to process what her son had just told her. "Who have you phoned?"
"Just Sarah, I was going to phone Nikki next."
"Okay. I'll phone your father. I'm on my way."
Again the line disconnected and he began to make his final call. Nikki was the hardest, she asked more questions than the others, she wanted the details she wanted to know exactly what happened and then wanted to speak to her boys. He gave the phone to Wayne and watched as his younger brother tried to answer the questions being thrown at him.
"I tried to stop him." He heard him say, "but he was too big."