Lost and Found

It was pouring down raining with a young red head walking across an open field. Looked like she was crying but couldn't really tell due to the rain. She stumble slightly, but kept going. A flash of lightening lite up the sky, but she didn't seem to notice.

As I watched her against the light, I could see she was struggling to carry something along with her. But with the darkened sky and the distance between us, I was not able to see what she was clapping in her arms, but I was sure that it was something she did not want to fumble and loose as she struggled
along.

This young girl started to pick up her pace, trying not to lose balance of this object. I was curious to see where she was going and more curious of her story. Why was she out in the rain? What was she carrying? Why was she crossing an open field and not on a well-traveled road? As I watched and
followed her, I noticed she was headed towards an old a banded shed. She turned her head a few times that indicated to me that she knew I was there following. As she got to the door of the weathered looking shed, she looked back at me with a worried and mad expression, and quickly opened the door and entered the room and quickly closed it.

I slowly walked up to one of the windows on one side of the building and slowly wiped a very small hole on the bottom portion so I could see inside. I couldn’t see much because it was dark, but I could make out a few things every time the lighting flashed through the opposing window. She was kneeling down on the floor and opened up two loose floor boards. What I saw next was shocking, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I couldn’t move, I froze with fright, I wanted to run but my legs wouldn’t move.

Beneath the floor in perfect alignment, placed on what appeared to be sheepskin cloth, was a row of knives, polished to perfection. And with each lighting strike captured their own sparkling glimmer.
The Red headed girl then looked sharply over her shoulder to me at the window. She stared into my frightened eyes and I then knew, she discovered I had followed her.
She slowly pulled from underneath her own clothing what I then realized what she had been carrying all along. Another knife. But with the next lightning strike, I could see, only this one was not shiny and clean. It appeared to be freshly blood stained.
As the next crack of thunder hit the sky, so did my feet hit the earth running as fast as I could.

I ran like the wind for a short distance and stopped. I stopped and turned toward the cabin and waited. What was wondering in my thoughts was, “What was going on with this girl that she would have a blood stained knife.” Was she in a self-defense situation, was she crazy and just killed someone? Now my curiosity was up and wanting to know more, but still unsure if I wanted to get involved and attach myself to a situation that would further hurt this girl or even yet get myself injured or killed. With my firefighting training and experience I thought I could hand myself and decided to go back and investigate this and slowly approach her with assurance and try and help. Not knowing where to start, I slowly walk back to the cabin and talking softly but loud enough to be hear from inside. I was talking about some of my bad and wrong choices in my life, hoping to reach her on a level that she wasn’t the only one with troubles.

I think this was working because the front door slowly opened as I stepped on the porch. I couldn’t see much at first, and then I slowly saw her face. It was a face of worried, sad and yet looking for assurance of everything will be ok. I’m not sure if she was crying or if it was just left over rain. She didn’t say anything, but she did open the door even wider as if to invite me in. I stood there for a long time think whether or not I should enter. The movie “Silence of the Lamb” came in my thoughts and not sure where to go from here.

I decided to walk in slowly. Still softly talking to the girl. She kept her eyes upon me as I entered. I glanced around the room. The cabin was dark but I could see that this girl had been apparently had been taking refuge here, as there were things about that showed that she came here often. As I entered further she backed slowly away from me. I softly whispered "I won't hurt you". She just stood there and starred at me. I was not sure if she understood me or not.

Can you tell me your name? I asked. Again only a blank stare. Are you in danger? Aging nothing. I now thought to myself, is she more afraid of me then I of her?

I took a chance and turn my back on her and now looking out the door. I mentioned that the nice cool rain reminded me of a time when I was playing in the park at a very young age. How great and fun it was to play in mud puddles and run around in the rain slipping and sliding around on the grass. I said that I thought that rain was a cleansing process that washed away all the dirt and filth in the world. I walked back outside in the rain and stood there. I leaned my head back to catch all the rain drops on my face. I heard one of the planks on the porch creek a little telling me that she stepped outside. I turned half way in her direction and showed a little smile. Surprisingly enough, she half smiled and laid the knife that was still in her hand on a small table next to the door.

She took a few more steps closer and proceeded to mimic my head tilt to the rain. In a soft and gentle voice she quietly said, “Ma Ma use to let my brother and I play in the rain in the warm summer times". I looked down at this red headed girl. Trying to imagine what was going on with her. I wanted to ask but wasn't sure how to go about getting my answer without loosening the trust I was quickly gaining.
She appeared to be about mid-twenties. She had the prettiest, soft green eyes I had seen in a long time. It was not hard to tell from her rain soaked dress that her body complimented her well. It was then that I thought to myself that this is no girl, but a troubled but yet beautiful young woman.
I brought my focus back to the fact I wanted to know who and why she was here. I turned a little more towards her a looked as easy eyed as I could. I saw you going thru the field and thought it was strange for anyone to be out on a night like tonight. That’s why I followed you. My name is Charlie. Charlie Thornton. I own the place up over the hill. I don't believe I have ever seen you around here before.
I stood there looking at her. Hoping I didn't come across to brass. I searched her eye's trying to figure out what to expect next.

We both stared at each other to what seemed be a very long time. She took a long blink and turned her head and fell to her knees. Shoulders were shaking tell me she was crying. I couldn’t make out all the mumblings but I did pick up a few words and sentences. Something about parents, death, little brother, strangers, thought she was in love, abandoned, hospital in pain and tired of living alone. There was so much going on with her I didn’t know where to start. I stepped back a little and sat down on a stump and just listened. She slowed down on the crying thing and talked a little clearer. Apparently both her parents were killed in a car accident, then her little brother was taken to a foster home somewhere far away and then there were some people came around saying that they would take care of her. One of them was a good looking young man and he seems to like her. After a period of time she took a liking to him as well. Come to find out all he wanted was the money that was to be left to her from her parent’s death. After he found out that he couldn’t get any money because there was a will that put funding in an account for her when she was 35 years old. She said that she is only 22 and this young man was not willing to stick around until she’s 35 and left. Not only did he just leave but he was mad and beat her so bad that she had to go the hospital for treatment. She found this little shack and was staying her until she figured out what to do next. She collected knives and cleaned them, sharpened them and took care of them so NOBODY will ever heart her EVER again.

I stood there for a while not sure what to do next. Do I reach down to her? Or was it best to leave her there to continue. I reached down and gently touched her shoulder.
Just as quick as the lighting that bolted the sky that night she jumped up and ran out the door, grabbing the knife on the table outside she had previously set down.
I moved to the door to see her sprinting across the field again, heading towards the woods that bordered my place and this shack. I tried calling to her but she just kept running.
I shut the door behind me and pulled my collar up around my neck and headed across the path in which I seen her run. I started mumbling to myself, "Damn now what?" "Why would she bolt like that out in this kind of weather?" "Why on earth am I chasing after her?"
I got to the entrance of the woods were I believe d I had seen her go in and called out to her. No response. "Damn" I mumbled to myself again. "Hey you out here?" I yelled. Still nothing. I strained my sight to see but the darkness of the woods was too vast.
I stood there for a couple minutes trying to decide what to do. Do I just go on home or keep looking? But my answer came. About 10 feet away I heard the sound of a branch on the ground break as it was stepped on. A very chilling feeling came over me, I quickly realized they were not from her, for the strength of the break told me it was something much heavier that was there. I froze trying to see what it could be.

At every crack of lighting I could see a figure that was big and tall and just stood there and then after a few minutes that figure moved further into the woods and I could still hear some of the forest floor branches snapping. The forest snapping was getting farther and farther away until I couldn’t hear anything except the rain pounding on the ground and my rain jacket. I wasn’t about to go tracking her in the woods so I turn around and started back to my truck which was still on the side of the road when I spotted her. When I arrived at my truck, something didn’t seem right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off. My truck was at the same place on the side of the road, the head lights and wipers were still on. I didn’t realize that I left the engine on, but I had enough gas in the tank. I opened the driver’s side door and jumped in looked around didn’t see anything out of place. I put the truck in drive and slowing moving down the road to my house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move in my back window. I stopped the truck, grabbed my flash light that was stuck to my metal dash. I shined the light in the back of the truck and low and behold, there was that red head. She held out that knife in my direction and said that she’s not going back. I told her it’s ok, not to worry, I’m not going to take her back. Back to what I had no idea. I told her it’s pretty stormy out here and why not get out of the rain and in the truck and get inside where it’s warmer and maybe something to eat. She was very hesitant but did climb out of the bed of the truck and walked around to the passenger side. I got in on my side and closed the door. She was standing outside looking in the passenger side window staring at me. I rolled down the window and told her in a very calm voice that everything will be ok. No harm will come to you, my house is just down the road and my wife can make up a nice plate of warm food. If nothing else at least you’ll have a real nice house to live in after you kill me and my wife, ha ha ha. I guess that wasn’t a real good thing to say. She slowly opened the door and slowing entered the truck and sat there still staring at me. We slowly moved down the road to my farm house.
As we drove along I kept watching her from the corner of my eye. She sat in an eerie silence. I just couldn't place what she was thinking.
All of a sudden she let out a blood curling scream, as someone jumped out from the side of the road right at the truck. She started screaming louder, "IT'S HIM.... DON'T STOP!!" I swerved the truck to miss him and stepped on the gas. She started screaming again. "FASTER.... OH MY GOD HE'S GOING TO KILL US!!" I put my foot as fast as I could go. We managed to get down the he rode out of site of him but she just kept screaming "FASTER...MR OH PLEASE FASTER!!!"
I took a deep breath. My hands were so tight gripped on the steering wheel that I thought they would go numb. I looked over at her and hollered back, "PLEASE QUIT SCREAMING, I'M GOING AS FAST AS I CAN!!!!"
Silence engulfed the cab of my truck again. When I looked over to her, she was hunched in a ball on the floor. As I brought my eyes back up to the road, it was to late. The curve was right there. I tried to maneuver around it with no avail. Before I knew it, we were going off the side.
The truck slid sideways and started to tumble. To this day, I'm not sure how many times it flipped but I knew it was one hell of a ride. And all I could do was start praying. I prayed for life, my wife, this woman in the truck with me and then for a few short moments I kinda felt as if I was suspended in time. Not going forward, but not knowing the past either.
The truck finally stopped with a fierce and forceful jolt. I remember glass still cracking and shattering around me. I also remember looking around for the woman, I did not see her. Then I blacked out.

I must have blacked out for a long time because as I was slowly opening up my eyes, I could see a huge nose sniffing my face. I heard chicken kackeling not to far away, something behind me chewing. When my eyes were fully open I sat up, I looked around and I was in a cow pasture, actually it was one of my cows that was licking the back of my head. The sun was out in full and sweat was rolling down my forehead which was stinging when it touched my cuts. I slowly stumbled to my feet and was assessing my next move. I saw my truck off in the distance, still half in the ditch and on the other side of the cow fence. Not sure how I got all the way in the cow field, but I limped and stumbled toward my truck. I knew I wasn’t that far from home because I could just barely see my house roof top off in the distance. Must have been somewhat early morning because I heard crows making their noise and my rooster was still crowing. I finally made it to my vehicle with great difficultly while crawling under the barb wire fence. The drivers’ side door must have gotten jammed from the accident because I couldn’t get it open and the passenger side door was blocked by the ditch. I looked around, up and down the road and thought maybe I would see that red head somewhere. Had no idea where she went off to. She could have run off after the accident or carried off by whatever I hit last night. I started walking down the road toward my house, keeping a watch full eye out for anything. My head was still hurting and as I wiped the sweat off my forehead I noticed blood on my hand. I don’t know how bad my injury is, so I continued walking toward my house. Getting closer to my house I saw the sheriff’s car out front and one of the officers talking to my wife on the front portch. They only noticed me walking up the driveway because our dog, Baxter, was barking and running up to me. Scott, the Sheriff, ran up to me and helped me in the house. Rachell, my wife, got a bunch of stuff from the medicine cabinet and started doctoring me up while I was explaining to her, the sheriff and the deputy what had happened. The Officers looked at each other when I got done with my story and said that they found a young red headed girl just outside of town with cuts and bruises and mumbling something about “don’t let them get me”. They took her to the medical center in town for treatment and going to have a phycologist talk to her and see what’s going on. Stan, the deputy, took down my statement and said that they would let me know what they find out later.
Baxter came out of the kitchen from eating and climbed on his big thick blanked on the side of the fireplace and laid down his head. I felt Rachell put a blanket over me as I fell asleep.
I started to stir trying to gather where I was. The room was dark and quiet.

I opened my eyes to the room very dark. My head was pounding. I felt as if my brain was in a fog. I remember lying on the couch at my house but something just wasn't right. I tried to sit up. I could hardly move. What in the? I struggled a little harder only to find out that I was not able to fight it. Was I tied up? I shook my head trying to clear my mind of what was going on. Was I dreaming? It seemed real but I know I was at my house. I called for my wife. There was no answer. I called again, still nothing. I tried to look around but the pitch of the darkness was intense. The haziness of my mind was immense. My head pounded fiercely.
Where the hell was I and how come I could not wake myself up from this dream? From a far corner or what looked like a corner I thought I saw a slight movement. Is someone there I asked? What the hell is going on? Answer me!
My skin crawled as I realized that I wasn't alone. The movement got closer. I yelled, “what is going on!?”
A very deep monotone voice spoke over me. “They don't know your here yet, but they soon will. And when I get her back. They can have you back. It's a shame they do not know of my ways, it’s too bad that I could remove you and they didn't even know. When they return they shall know that I mean what I say. Nobody will have her. She is mine.”
“You son of a bitch”, I said to him in a hoarse voice. “You will not get her back. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Before I knew it I had one heck of a blow to my chest. “Shut up” he yelled. And before I could even catch my breath from the blow, he delivered another one to my still pounding head. I tried to yell back at him but pain overtook. My head spun even faster, I knew I was going to pass out again.
As I regained my composer, slowly getting my head straight, I stood up and looked around walked over to the light switch on the wall and turned on the wall light. There was no one in the room, that figure that was talking to me was gone, must have left through that open window. I went to the window and saw that same figure that I saw earlier in the woods, running down the fence line of the horse pasture.
I went to the bathroom and got some pain killer from the medicine cabinet. Rachell must have left with the Sherriff and Deputy to the hospital to check on the red head. I proceeded down to the basement and stared at a big wooded chest. I made this wooden box about twelve years ago when got back from Afganistan serving in the United States Marine Corps. I spent a lot of years training in different fields, such as a sniper, hand to hand combat, art of camouflage, and creating and defusing explosives. I spend my last fourteen years of my military career in various countries performing rescue missions and offensive maneuvers. When I got back and retired, I placed all my combat equipment in this box and swore I won’t open it or ever use my skills again. I was in a different place back then, my attitude was a lot different, I was young, restless and careless, which made me unpredictable and dangerous. I have gone up against organizations and syndicates without fear. During those same years, I have made a few friends due to the rescue missions as well as helping certain smaller organization get free from larger organizations.
As I was staring at this box and thinking back to all those years and now about that red head in danger, maybe it’s time for me to rescue her from this monster, or whatever you want to call it. I lost the key to the lock, so I took a hammer that was on the work bench and broke open the wooden chest. As my head was starting to feel a lot better, I started to unpack my forever survival equipment. Laying out everything to take inventory and making sure everything still worked, I was preplanning all my moves in my head.
The sun was just starting to come up when I call a friend of mine that served with me in the Corps. I haven’t spoken to him in years. When he answered the phone, all he said was “whatever the mission is, I’m in”. Rachell finally came home and said the girl was doing fine and even spoke a little. She said that the girls name is Audrey and from what they gather is that she was kidnapped about three years ago from a family that was visiting the area.
I relayed the little information I had to Josh, Staff Sergeant (SSGT) the friend I called, and he went to work on intelligence. In the mean time I called out to four more individuals that worked together in several operations over in Bosnia. Barry, Second Lieutenant (2LT), communication, Christopher, Gunnery Sergeant (GYSGT), supply Gregory, Master Sergeant (MSGT), Operations and Logistics, and Stephanie, 1st Lieutenant, Medical support. I explained the situation to each of them and the risks that maybe involved. It’s been a lot time since we all worked together, so we agreed to get together that same afternoon and come up with a solid Operation Plan (OP).

By 1430hrs that same day, we were all in the horse barn laying out a basic plan on capturing this threat to the Audrey. Josh found out through all his resources that Audrey was the daughter of Colonel Todd Brooks who what visiting one of their friends. All the police reports and news clippings reported the abduction. All these report showed a mysterious figure taking Audrey while walking down the street in a busy town. Numerous siting reports but with no solution. Now were know where Audrey is but for some reason is being held by a force that is keeping her from going home. Barry contacted Col Brooks and told him what we have found. Col Brooks was once our Company Commander when he was a Major. In the mean time I had Rachell pack up and drive up to her mom’s place which is about 5 hours away so she wouldn’t be drawn into any harm.

Our first step was to go to the hospital and make arrangements with the administration along with the Sherriff to have them report through the media that this girl was found and medically sound and released to our custody. This way when this thing finds out that she is released and is at my place, he will have to come to us to get her. That’s when the trap will be set.
I spoke to Scott and Stan who agreed to the plan and made our way up to the Mason Memorial Hospital to speak to the Chief Physician and the Administrator. When we arrived, the Chief Physician said that she left. She said that Audrey left on her own accord. They all advised her not to for medical reasons, but she didn’t care and got dressed and walked out.
Now the search is on, Scott got the rest of his officers involved and even called in outside help. I went home and got my gear and informed the people helping me to work with the search and rescue. I even got Baxter out there since he is trained in search and rescue. It was almost noon now and the sun was out in full bloom. This wasn’t going to be easy and we had our work cut out for us. Barry got all his equipment for communications and was sending out information to all his contacts for assistance and any additional information on Audrey. Chris somehow wrestled up a helicopter to search, which was awesome, but not quite sure how he managed that and I didn’t ask any questions. Josh and Greg stayed back at my house, which they set up as the command post. I set out with all my gear for the search, I figured she couldn’t be that far out due to some of her injuries. Audrey was to soar to run, so with all the information I had and put together, there was a three mile radius to work with. Baxter and I started coming the woods and park that was surrounding the Hospital and spanned out.
After about 2 hours, I heard a gunshot off to my left and turned and started running in that direction. I heard another shot and another. Baxter and I got to the scene and found a very large body laying on the ground, it was still a live but not moving.
As I got closer to the body I realized it was my buddy Scott. I knelt down beside him. “Scott man what happened” I asked. “I seen the guy, he has her. I tried to stop him. When I tried to tackle him, he threw me to the ground and drew a rifle on me. I pulled my gun and fired at him, not sure if I got him though. He then shot at me. I'm hit Charlie. you need to call someone”. I looked to see where he had been shot. Blood was coming from his shoulder area and leg. “I can hardly breathe Charlie, call someone”. I grabbed the radio out of my bag and called to the command post. “Hey who's there? Scott's been shot, I think he's hurt pretty bad. We need help here now”. Greg reported back they were sending people out right away and wanted to know where I was.
Just as I was getting ready to give Greg my location I heard Baxter barking in the distance. I had not realized he had left apparently to follow the gunman. I heard Audrey scream, followed by more gun shots. “Charlie.... What's going on”? I heard Greg say over the radio. “Greg we have a serious problem up here. That crazy Loone has got Audrey again and is shooting everything and everyone in site”.
“Ok Charlie, we're getting on it, sending everyone in”.
I looked down at Scott. He was starting to breathe heavy. “Greg hurry up with someone here for Scott he's in bad shape”. I looked down at Scott “hang in there bud, helps on the way”. He was trying to talk. I tried to get him to not say anything but he insisted. I was able to understand only part of what he was trying to tell me. Audrey was really scared and this fellow had no mercy on no one, and needed no mercy. I looked at him “don't worry we will get him”.
As the crew arrived to gather Scott, I grabbed my things and headed into the woods. I was on a mission. Audrey had seemed like such an innocent girl. The thought of him harming her more was not an option. I'm not sure why the reason the girl had suddenly been dropped into my life like this, but now I felt the strong need to protect her. But something inside me was just telling me to do it. I have to protect this girl.

Following Baxter’s noise, I was getting into pretty thick brush and all five of my senses were kicking in. After about twenty minutes I came out to an open field. Spotting a trail of blood I knew it had to be what Scott shot. I also knew that ghost don’t bleed, so that was a good sign. Following the trail for a good part of the field I hear Baxter yelling just up over the knoll. When I got to the top of the hill I saw good ole Baxter barking and standing over a body. As I ran down the hill I told Baxter to back off and drew my weapon on the body. I got to the body and nudged with the barrel of my rifle and it didn’t move. I radioed Greg and Josh and told them what I found as I laid out a can of smoke grenade. Josh got on the horn and informed Chris to an open field and look for the red smoke.

It took a few minutes for him to land so I took a closer look at this body. With the long hair and beard it was hard to see any face. He was still breathing but couldn’t move and was trying to speak. I looked into his eyes while trying to listen. As I was talking and listening, Chris brought over the body board to load him on. I was yelling at him of how mad I am for how he was trying to scare and hurt Audrey. His eyes turned to a sorrowful look and through his heavy breathing was saying he wasn’t trying to hurt her, he was trying to protect his granddaughter from the outside world. He thought if he could keep her apart from the rest of the evil world, she would be happier like she was when she was 8 years old. By this time Chris was there and needed to get him loaded on the board to airlift out. Gregg, Josh, Barry and Stephanie showed up on a quads. I briefed them on what this guy just told me. Stephanie went to work on her field medical treatment. Barry and Josh carried the body board to the helicopter. Stephanie went with Chris and the body to deliver him to Mason Memorial Hospital. I took Stephanie’s quad back to the cabin hoping to locate Audrey.

Everyone except me collected their things and headed back out with many thanks and promises to get together soon for a cook out. I finally got my truck out of the ditch with minor damage and drove to the hospital.
I called Rachell and told her all that had happened and she can come home anytime. She was enjoying visiting her mom and all her sisters and was going to stay a little while longer.
I arrived at the hospital to check on Scott and found Stan in the hallway. He said “Scott is in surgery and waiting to hear from the Doctor”. I wandered in the ER section and say them working on the man that was just brought in. When they removed most of his clothing to get to the wounds, he was still a big man. He was fussing a lot because of the pain of the bullet wound, they injected him with an aced dive. As they were rolling him in to surgery to remove the bullet, he looked at me with an apologetic look.
I went back to the waiting room where Stan was and say that he was talking to one of the doctors. As the doctor left, Stan said that Scott will be ok, lost a lot of blood and will be in ICU overnight. As he was tell me all this I notice Audrey slowly looking around the corner. I called her over, which she was reluctant, but walked over. I told her all that had happened and she started to cry. She said that she loves her grandfather but couldn’t take the micromanaging all the time. She wanted to go out and learn new things, experience different things. Her grandfather would keep her locked up and would end up reading books, which is where she would get her thirst for experiencing life, she wanted to travel, to love, to be kissed, to have her heart broken, dance, sing, hold hands with someone, and tell secrets to.
The doctor came out and briefed me on the grandfather. He’s doing fine, they cleaned him up after surgery and was just coming out of antithesis and was asking to see me. I told Audrey to stay put while I went in. This man was still groggy, but was talking pretty clear. Told me his name was Roy Murdock, and said that he was sorry for his intentions for his granddaughter, but was regretful for his actions. While he was talking to me, Audrey slowly came in the room and was listening. He noticed her in the doorway and motioned for her to enter. She only took one step in the room and waited. There were some awkwardness in the room, so I broke the silence and said that I think that things need to be said by both. They were both apologizing, and Audrey said what she told me, that she wanted to travel, to dance, sing, hold hands with someone, and tell secrets to. I noticed that she left out the part of to love, to be kissed, to have her heart broken, which think was a good idea at this point. Roy took a deep breath and slowly said, “I agree child, you have my blessing to go out in the world and experience it”. “Always remember, that when life gets to wild or rough, you can always came back to me”. She started to cry and said “Thank you grandfather, I know you only did what you thought was right for me”. “I will visit you often and tell you my stories of my travels”. “I love you”. Roy asked about the Sherriff and I said he is going to be ok and is recovering down the hall way. I left with Audrey and we said our good byes, and told her if she needs anything to let me know, now that she knows where I live.

CHAPTER TWO
I left the hospital that day wondering why all this had happened to me. As I drove home I recalled many a time where I had needed some sort of help along the way and thought to myself, this I guess is what paying it forward is about. I gazed into the sunset thinking, I hope someday they might too.
Back in his hospital bed Roy was lying uncomfortable trying to make sense of all of his past actions. Questioning himself as to why he has made the choices he has been making. He whispered to himself... "you ol fool, how could you have let things get so out of hand? " Why do you always got to be so mean to people? Whatever possessed you to treat an innocent girl like Audrey that way? He shuffled himself around in the bed a little more, not realizing that he had tapped the nurses call button. Maybe you should think about what you really have done he said. Maybe your’ better off not even being here.
The young nurse got to the door of Roy's room. She stopped for a second before entering as she had heard him talking.
Ok ya damn fool, make up your’ mind... what you going to do about all this mess you got yourself into she heard him say. Ah damit why can't I get to sleep.
The nurse knocked gently on the door and proceeded in “Hi can I get you something?” “No” he replied. “Oh, ok maybe you accidentally pushed the button, here”, she leaned over and turned it off. “Guess I did”. Roy looked at her. All he could think was she struck a resemblance to a time where he was trying to rescue a girl out of a fire. He was not able to get her out in time. She looked so much like that girl.
“Ok, well if there is anything you need let me know ok? Ok?” She repeated. “Umm, ok I'm sorry ya”. “You sure your ok?” “Ya I will be fine.
The nurse closed the door slowly behind her. When she stepped into the hall she took a deep breath. Wow that was weird she thought. I might have to keep an eye on that one.

I Drove back to the house for dinner and walked in the house and found Rachell there already fixing my plate with beef stew and homemade Biscuits. We sat and ate and discussed the events that happened these last couple days. After a real good tasty meal, Rachell cleared the table and started in on the dishes, Baxter and I went out and tended to the horses and chickens. I was talking to myself but out loud, and I’m sure Baxter had no idea what I was talking about, but was patient and listening. I was trying to put everything in these last two days into perspective. Ok, so Roy was trying to protect Audrey because he felt guilty not saving that girl from the fire, ok, so I understand that, but why so protective to the point of being mean and dangerous? Why did Audrey called him Grandfather when she said that she was kid napped three years ago. And what happened to Audrey’s Mom and Dad? I can go down to the town library and check some of the archieve records.

The next morning and after my chores, I told Rachell what I was doing and headed for the library. I searched a lot of micro fich files for anything about a fire that involved a young girl. It seemed like hours but I did find an article that told a story of a fire in a home that killed a young girl. The parents got out along with a 15 year old girl. The story went on and said that there was an unidentified man that rescued the parents and a 15 year old girl, and tried to get the other girl out but half the house collapsed just before he tried to enter the house. The parents were rushed to the hospital for minor burns and injuries, but nobody could find the daughter. When the parents were released from the hospital, they search for her, and the newspaper article said the daughters name was Audrey.