Isabella continued to sob. It seemed like the end had finally come. She had tried to stay strong at the beginning but as time passed, her hope began to fade. Now with the man coming closer, her hope was nearly diminished. She was just about to accept death when the sound of something heavy hitting metal brought her out of her thoughts. The man in shadows turned to look out the door. He turned back to look at her. Isabella thought he might have been thinking of closing the door on her and running before someone caught him, but he didn't. Instead, he spoke, and this time, his voice was much more familiar.
"Hey Vanessa, over here," he said. "I found her."
'Vanessa?' Isabella thought. 'What is she doing here? I must be dreaming.'
"Hang on Ferb," another voice said. It was faint, as if it was coming from some sort of metal container a couple of yards away. "We fell down a chute and we're climbing up now. We'll be there soon."
"Who's there?" Isabella asked weakly. She was so tired and so malnourished that all she could think of was that this was all a dream. It couldn't possibly be true, not after all this time. "Please don't hurt me."
"Isabella?" the man asked. "Can't you see who I am?"
"Please leave me alone," Isabella said, tears forming in her eyes. "Please, do this for me."
"Isabella," the man said, "it's me Ferb."
"Ferb?" Isabella asked, looking up. "Is it really you?" The man knelt down closer to her face and Isabella could see green tints in his hair. She smiled.
"It's a good thing we got to you when we did," Ferb said, smiling. "You look about ready to give up."
"I think I almost did," Isabella said, trying to push herself up. But she was too weak and she fell back down to the ground. She tried again but Ferb stopped her before she got too far. Putting one arm under her legs and another on her back, he easily picked her up bridal style and carried her out the door. Once outside, they heard footsteps coming up to them and turned to find Vanessa and Perry running in their direction.
"Oh there you are Perry," Isabella said, looking down at her fiancé's pet platypus. The egg-laying mammal merely made his customary acknowledging sound. "Why did you bring him along?"
"He needed the exercise," Vanessa explained. Ferb just shrugged.
"We should get out of here," Isabella said. "That man could be back any minute."
"No he won't," Ferb said, smiling. "We made sure of it."
"How do you know?" Isabella asked as Ferb began making his way towards the stairs. "Did you catch him?"
"Not exactly," Vanessa replied. "But I think we will have enough evidence to have him arrested. Don't you think sweetie?" Ferb nodded.
"Thank goodness," Isabella said, sighing with relief and resting her head on Ferb's shoulders. "I'm glad this is all over."
"Hopefully it will stay over," Vanessa said, holding the door open for Ferb as the three adults and pet platypus made their way to the first floor of the warehouse and out the door towards the town of Danville.
"You will not defeat me White Queen!"
"In your dreams Black Knight!"
"Can you please just finish the game?" Jeremy asked. "This has been going on for three hours."
"Quiet Jeremy," Candace ordered, pointing her finger at her husband. "Rook to B-11."
"Never argue with a pregnant woman," Jeremy said, leaning over to his brother-in-law.
"Advice noted," Phineas said, his head leaning against his hand. "I wish Ferb would hurry up. Not just for some news but to end this game."
"I never thought chess could be so boring," Baljeet said, joining their conversation.
"Tell me about it," Phineas said. "Hey, where's Buford?"
"Other there," Baljeet said, pointing to the tree. "He got bored after he was captured so he's just sleeping."
"Typical Buford," Phineas said, smiling.
"King to F-4."
"Knight to D-3. Check."
"King to G-4."
"Queen to G-8. Check."
"King to H-4."
This continued to go on for another few minutes as Candace continued to put Irving in check and Irving moving out of check. It wasn't till the sound of the gate opening and closing did the game finally stop.
Baljeet heard the sound first and looked up to see Ferb and Vanessa walking towards the chess board. He shook Buford's awake and before he could be punched for waking the wrestler up, he pointed towards the couple and smiled. Buford smiled too and both looked up at Phineas. It took a few minutes for Phineas to realize that everyone had become quiet and that not even Candace was yelling orders to her pieces. He followed everyone's gaze and saw his girlfriend, safe and sound, in his step-brother's arms.
Looks like Isabella's out of her mind. She's hallucinating that the man is there? Or is he? I'm sure you've figured it out by now. Oh and I lied/forgot. One more chapter left and an epilogue.
~AvatarRikki