Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:28:44 -0800 (PST) From: Joe Parker Subject: I think I'm in trouble Part 1 Chapter 17 I THINK I'M IN TROUBLE Part One Chapter 17 - (Part One of Two for this Chapter) Dear Jake, Please came to my bithday party on NoVember 29 it helloween dress up ok? Mom sed you can. she ganna send you a invertat---. You can bring that ather boy to. Love from Mikey ********** The resounding alarm of a phone breaks the restless silence of the Griersen residence. Both adults awaken immediately, neither one having really slept at all. The time is 2:12 AM, and it is the woman who answers first, hoping it's her son.., crawling roughly over her husband to get to the phone. A mother missing her child and desperately wanting him home and safe with her. The father holds her so she does not fall off the bed. His hands wanting to reach out into the emptiness and pull his son back into his arms. If only he could have another go at last night, he would have tried to remonstrate with his son seeking resolution, not outright punish him, sending him off into the night and away from them. Dina Griersen listens to the voice on the other end of the phone.., "Yes, yes okay - yes here he is" Her expression is puzzled as she hands the phone over to Jeb. "Jebediah Griersen here" he says. "Hello boy it's Miss Carol here" "Miss Carol! - it's an honor Mam!" "There's no time for that boy, where your son at?" "I - I don't know, he, we, well we had a - a - disagreement tonight and he left... I don't know where he went, I thought he'd be up there with Jake" I was planning on calling him in the morning..." "Now Jebediah, hear me good - y'alls got to find that boy now! NOW!" she commands. "Do you hear me boy?" "Ye-yes Mam but what's going on? - Is, is something wrong?" Dina's head snaps up, her eyes wide with fear. "Somin ain't right boy and you must call the sheriff and find yalls son before he hits de water. Water?!? - A wave of terror and panic rushes through Jebediah Griersen and into the body of his increasingly frantic wife. "Tell me Jeb, what is it? - Tell me!!!" she grabs for the phone. He listens to the voice on the other end, the hand piece in a death grip his wife cannot break... "If the boy falls in that creek son.., he's gone. Find him - do all y'alls can afore it's too late! Go now! - your heart will lead you to him! Hurry - Go!" Mr Griersen has been holding his breath since he first heard the words 'water' "Oh my God Dina, I think something very wrong has happened to our baby!" he begins to dress, sobbing as he goes. "Oh God please don't let it be true!" he cries out... "Call Junior, Dina - tell him Miss Carol has had a vision!" Dina though, is already ahead of him, she has punched in the buttons and called 'Junior' the nickname of not only young Mathew Rivera but also his father the Sheriff. Her eyes are dry, her heart is calm and her mind is in perfect working order. A fury of gigantic proportions is beginning to build in her soul. 'If anything happens to my son' - she thinks.., 'There will be hell to pay, beginning with this man standing next to me' She turns and faces her husband and points to the door, her eyes ablaze and finally the tears begin to fall. "I tell you straight Jebediah Clarke Griersen, you get out there and you find my son and DON'T YOU COME BACK UNTIL YOU DO! - AND HE BETTER BE ALIVE OR YOUR LIFE IS F----CKING FORFEIT!!!" she screams. The man hurtles out of the bedroom, sprinting for his car, everything now on the line. The woman collapses to the floor screaming in anguish holding her stomach where for 9 months she grew the light of her life. "Clarke! Clarke! - oh God CLARKE!!!" her screaming wakes their neighbors the Thomases next door. *** (Felix) Flash the horse hates me. He tried to bite me the moment I met him. He knows that I been get tin all cozy with his master and he ain't happy bout it at all. He senses that Jake has feelings towards me and he gonna do everythang to make my first horse back ride the ride from hell. This horse is the devil. At first Jake tried to put me on the giant stallion and then lead me around the corral. No luck... So now here we are on his huge black stallion, Jake in front and me hangin on for dear life while this horse tries his best to dislodge me. Jake growls every now and then and warns me to quit fiddlin but I swear it's this damn creature I am precariously perched on. The horse grunts with a self satisfied 'Whuff'. We're at Jake's house now but we have spent the last 10 hours searchin for Clarke with no luck. We didn't go to school today, the whole Senior class and most of the Junior year decided to join in the search for our friend. We could be in deep trouble because our 'Dear Leader' as Clarke loves to call her - well she don't think there's any reason to be out searchin every stream in the surrounding hills and forest for a boy when he prolly jez (and I quote), "Ran away from the shame of being found out as just another typical cheating male" If she was a man I think Jake would have decked her. As it is he told his father when we came back up top. Ryan called Ms. Lewis and she denied having ever said any such thang, and accused Jake of trying to put words in her mouth and u ndermine her authority. Ryan asked her when she was gonna start showing some concern and support for Clarke and she said she was already onto it but needed to be sure that Clarke was indeed missing first - whatever that means... If Miss Carol says the boy is in danger, then he is in danger! I know that whatever Dr. Lewis does, it will be very grudgingly. We got home last night, after the disaster at Fast Eddies.., we showered spent a lil time with Momma and Uncle Gary telling them bout what happened at the diner earlier that night - explaining our red faces. And then we headed up to bed. The grandfolks had already hit the hay hours ago. We were both too tired to do much more than cuddle but it was real nice anyway. Jake is like the best kind of blanket ever! He jez wraps his arms around me and I feel totally safe and secure. I feel loved. 4 hours later we were woken by Ryan who informed us that Miss Carol had gone into some kind of coma, but not before telling him that Clarke was some kind of trouble. We have been up since then, deeply worried bout two important people and wanting to do anything we can to help fix thangs. Shortly after Uncle Ryan's call we got another call from Jessica saying that her Mom was looking after Miss Dina Griersen who was in one hell of a state - she also told us what Miss Dina had said bout Clarke's leavin his home last night. We were shocked! Then Jessica said that she had received a frantic call from Sue who was beside herself with worry and fear about Clarke's where-abouts. Jessica told us that the last time Sue had spoken to Clarke, was to break up with him. It seems Beth had told Sue bout Clarke goin missing. Beth had been woken by Junior who said that their dad the sheriff had rushed out the door but not before letting him know his buddy was in danger out in the cold somewhere. It's amazin how watertight Miss Carol's word is round here. Nobody questions that somin is wrong with Clarke. They seem to see her gift as kind of like her job. That is to say - in their view it's Miss Carol's job to jez know stuff. She has now done her job and now they jez doin theirs. Within the hour we had received text messages and phone calls from all of the gang, the news had spread like wildfire. We all decided to meet up in the school parking lot and coordinate ourselves into an inpromptu search party. There were nearly 60 kids there by time Jake and Mark split us all up into groups of three and sent us out to search all the places by water we could think of that Clarke might be. It was 4 AM. Sheriff Rivera showed up and told us to be careful, don't get lost or cold, report any strange activity immediately, don't take the law into our own hands (he looked directly at Jake while sayin that) and if we find Clarke.., please don't disturb the scene because there could be vital evidence there which could be used to bring his possible abductor/s to justice. Nobody liked the sound of his last words. Abducted?!? - has Clarke been abducted? Junior went pale when his dad said that and Jake jumped next to me and then began to growl... We have searched all over the place but we just can't find him. Uncle Ryan's prized bloodhounds have been brought in and a crew of experienced hunters and trackers begun searching the surrounding hills a couple of hours ago. Uncle Gary is one of them. Naturally Junior and Sue are beside themselves with worry and concern and I can only imagine what Clarke's folks must be goin through... Everybody went down to the church hall where hot food and drinks was waiting. Everything is being coordinated from the Sheriff Station and the Church Hall. After that we came back up top here. Jake and I went straight to Miss Carol's quarters to see if Miss Carol has recovered yet but she has not. She is just layin there in her bed, labored breathing and she seems just so far away, I can't explain it but it's like she ain't even here in the room. Her awesome presence is missing. The Maxson's have brought in a doctor and two nurses to look after her and all we know is that she is in a deep coma. Apart from her labored breathing her vital signs are strong so that's a good thing. Jake is scared and frustrated that nothing more can be done for Miss Carol at this stage and we still ain't found Clarke. We were gonna go to that Atami Bath House place for a soak but Jake changed tack and here we are on his crazy horse. We are gonna hit the sauna later. They keep 14 horses here and I don't know much bout their breeds cept that they are Arabian and somin else as well. There is a giant indoor barn so in the Winter the horses can be ridden and let loose indoors. Miss Alicia rides every day and so does Ryan. Jake rides every weekend and 2 days a week. Nobody else can get on Jake's horse so unless Jake is here, the horse is pretty much left to his own devices in the stall, in the corral or outside on the pastures. Except for Jake he does not like males... The horse might be crazy but he is certainly havin a good affect on Jake. I can feel some of the tension leaving Jake as we ride round and round the extra wide circuit of the large corral. "Do you think they will find Clarke?" Jake thinks out loud. "Yeah I'm sure they will and he will be okay" I reply. "What makes you so sure? - How do you know?" Jake's voice sounds shaky. "I mean.., Felix - who would want to hurt Clarke?" To be honest I can think of a few people who might wanna put a rocket up him but I can't think of anyone who would wanna abduct him. Besides, Clarke's a strong boy.., you would have to take him by surprise or somin to get a shot at him. The horse whuffs again, letting us know that we are neglecting him. Jake leans down and hugs his horse. "I got a bad feeling Felix" says Jake. "I think something terrible has happened to Clarke and I hate that I don't know where he is or what on earth is going on!?!" He shudders and I encircle his lean strong frame in my arms resting my head just behind his shoulders. "Felix, if anything ever happened to you I'd go nuts" "Same here Jake" "You know Felix, it hurts to love you?" I wish I could see his face, but I think he's glad that I can't. "What do you mean Jake?" I question... "I become anguished over the fact that you've been out there all my life and I never knew you.., And, and anything could have happened to you before I even got the chance!... And Dad, well he just screwed everything up didn't he? And we should have met such a long time ago, you're my cousin for gods sake!" His body twitches and tenses up. I can tell he's getting frustrated bout his father, this is a dangerous place to be. "Felix, I've only just found you and to lose you would be the end of me" "Jake this is silly talk, you ain't gonna lose me and there's nothin either of us can do bout the past." He relaxes, but only a little. "Listen Jake, with Clarke missing it's probably just natural for us to feel a lil insecure bout our loved ones an all" He turns his head to look at me and I kiss him. "Yeah you're probably right babe, but it's not gonna stop me from being protective of you" "Nor I you Jake, it goes both ways" "I love you Felix", "And I love you Jake" Flash the horse takes this opportunity to finally buck me off... Listening to Jake's accompanying howls of laughter doesn't exactly give me much confidence about his previous declaration of love and protection... "Screw you and the horse you rode in on Jake Maxson!" I huff and storm off to the gate. Suddenly he's off his horse and I'm in his arms again, this time facing one another. "Yes please Felix!" "Wha....?" I'm a lil confused... "You can screw me anytime you like but Flash doesn't like the kinky stuff.., and frankly I don't care to share..." He takes my chin in his most capable left hand and kisses me senseless, our tongues doin a lil horseback riding of their own. Flash turns his back on us and defecates loudly and for a long time. That horse has a bad attitude, one wonders who he picked it up from? "Jake can we go soak now?" "Yeah sure - as soon as we finish grooming Flash we'll go to the spa and sauna, then we should go rest up, if they don't find Clarke tonight I wanna get out early in the morning to carry on searching" The plight of our friend is never far from our thoughts. He whistles to his horse and we walk into the stables. I make sure to keep some distance between me and Flash who glares at me with baleful eyes. He gnashes his teeth menacingly until Jake barks at him to cut it out. Flash neighs in protest he hangs his head, ears flicking, tail swishing in barely controlled fury. I have to laugh at some of the situations I find myself in lately since coming to know Jake. I am the new guy, Jake's new squeeze and I guess I'm just gonna have to get used to competing for his time. But I never thought I would have to deal with the jealousy of some damn horse! Sheeese! Eventually he finishes grooming and feeding his horse and returns him to his stall. The stablemaster guy comes along and Jake introduces me to him. They chat for a few minutes about Clarke and the horses. The world of horses is a whole dimension within itself and despite Flash's best or is that worst efforts.., I quite like it down here. I especially like seeing Jake's package and tight, hard butt in his hot riding pants wow! He just let me wear a pair of his old jeans and a sweater but as for himself he was all decked out in tight beige colored riding pants, a thick white starchy shirt and a black velvety riding coat. We even wore these cool helmet thangs. He looks so cute and sexy at the same time. The horse is kinda cute too I guess, rubbing his head against Jake and making these weird horsey sounds that must pass for affection an all. Jake even kisses him goodbye hehe - they had a goodbye kiss. I shake my head and decide not to comment. What is it with Jake and kissin other guys lol!?! We say goodbye to Larry the horse guy and then walk out into the corridor that leads back into the main house. It's a wide and airy space lined with big bay windows looking out across beautiful edged gardens on one side - all prepared for Winter. And on the other side there are some deserted horse pastures . I can imagine the horses will be glad to be out in them come Spring. All along the white corridor are portraits of various Maxson's on their assorted horses but my eye is drawn to the painting of a beautiful black woman atop a chestnut horse, I recognize her instantly as a much younger version of Miss Carol. "Wow Miss Carol was HOT back in the day!" Jake looks at me as if I've said somin sacrilegious.., "Felix wash your mouth out!" his wide eyes make me chuckle and I grab him by the scruff of his neck and maul his mouth. "Mmmm mmmph! - Felix not in front of my ancestors and Miss Carol please!" His marvelous face is flushed with the heat of lust and not just a little embarrassment, Lord he makes my heart leap! "Oh baby they can't see haha!" His eyes flicker between them and me, not sure whether to believe me or not... "Oh don't be silly Jake sweety, this ain't Scooby Doo, there ain't real eyes lookin out at us from behind the pictures..." Jake shivers.., "Don't say things like that Felix! - You're giving me the willies!" Now I know Jake can get scared pretty easily but Scooby Doo??? - I ask you! I grab my scaredy cat boyfriend and lead him quickly towards the stout oak doors that mark the finish of the breezeway and the beginning of the manse proper. Jake keeps his eyes firmly fixed forward. I'd like to say it was because of my scrumptious ass but that would be lying... at least this time it would be lying. Maybe he'll feel differently in the Bath house... (Miss Carol) 'Hmmmmm Huuummmmm.., Hmmmmm' Miss Carole hums the old black spiritual to herself... 'Oh Mama lay me down, Will you hold me in your arms, Will you be there? Will you be there once again? Oh I remember the times, When you held me safe to keep, Just to be in your bosom again..,' 'Hmmmmm, mmmm, hummm....,' She rocks and holds the boy in her own arms.., Humming and rocking.., rocking and humming. The overwhelming power of her love, tenderness and care soaking into the boys soul, seeping into his tortured dreams. 'Hmmmmm, mmmm, hummm...., Oh yes Lord!' 'Speak Lord!' Leaching out the trauma, canceling out the emotional pain... "Go back boy, back to a better time, go on now sweetheart, you an Miss Carol gonna take a walk in the sunshine" "Miss Carol is here now baby boy and everythang gonna be okay, you'll see" The boy stirs in her arms and emits a soul deep sob. His image blurs for a few short seconds and then shimmers before coming back into focus. He's a little 9 year old boy again... "Miss Carol it's cold isn't it" he states matter of factly. "Yes honey but you jez stay in my arms and we will sing of de sunshine and de fires of homes right?" "Yes Miss Carol and I'm sorry for calling you Miss Barrel" The little boy snuggles into the old ladies arms. "I'm so much warmer now, please don't go away Miss Carol" He cracks open an eye and looks at her searchingly... "You - you're not gonna send me away are you? You won't, you won't leave me will you?" "Can I sleep Miss Carol? -- will I be safe there?" "You can sleep lil darlin and safe you sure will be. Ain't nobody gonna hurt you and ain't no bad thoughts gonna assail y'alls dreams now Miss Carol's heyah" "Something has happened to me hasn't it Miss Carol?" he asks his voice quivering. "Go to sleep boy and we talk bout it nother time, it's way past y'alls sleepytime now hear? Roll into me now and don't let go chile" He does as she instructs and slips swiftly into a warm deep sleep. To roll the other way would drown him in the adjacent brush hidden stream. She cuddles him into her warm arms allowing him to sink further into the comfort and safety of her blazing spirit. Miss Carol continues to hum, pouring all of her strength into keeping the boy warm. (Jessica) Mother and I have been here with Junior's Mom throughout and she has had many kind visitors. Miss Beryl (Mark's Mom) has been over here everyday cooking food and baking for the visitors and I have been assisting her. We don't just serve refreshments to visitors in these parts, we expect them to take full meals with us. And even though it has been hard to have an appetite, it's the hospitality that is important. Besides, as soon as the boys arrive, it's soon gone anyway. The Sheriff has visited of course both on a personal and professional level. A few other investigator types came down from Charleston to ask questions and try to build a picture of Clarkes last known movements. They were fantastic, I was really impressed with the empathy, patience and professionalism they showed. They were human and caring. They did not just want to do their job, they wanted to bring Clarke home safely. Lots of Clarke's school buddies have visited also and Miss Dina found it really encouraging that they came. She made it clear that she wanted to all of Clarke's friends to feel free to visit. The most frequent house calls were from Mrs Rivera, Sue & Beth, Jake and Felix and Junior who sobbed in her arms. Sharing her bewilderment and fear over their missing loved one. When Jake got here he was typical Jake.., quiet and not really knowing what to say but what he did say touched our hearts. He simply said, "I miss Clarke" and like Junior he cried. There was also a special visit from Mrs Maxson Senior. Her secretary called ahead and informed us that the great lady would be visiting within the hour. Miss Dina quickly freshened up and we tidied the house up a little. Alicia Maxson's giant Cadillac limousine soon pulled up to the kerb and the chauffeur opened the door escorting her and her personal assistant lady into the house. My mother met them at the door and showed them through to the main lounge room which was filled with cards and flowers, many of them sent by the Maxson's themselves. Alicia Maxson is an amazing woman. If I can be a tenth of the lady she is I am going to make a great contribution to my family and the world. Her humility and grace has always captured me and she always knows just the right thing to say and do. She stayed most of the day which surprised us, she even had dinner with us. She advised mother have bags packed in case she needed to travel anywhere once they find Clarke. She never explained what she meant by that except to say that Miss Carol had promised he would be found alive. She updated us on Miss Carol's own condition saying that she is stable but gone into a deep coma like sleep. Mr Henry Taylor the preacher and his wife came to dinner that night and they prayed over us. After that Mrs Maxson departed but not before telling Dina to have a care for her husband. I was not surprised at all that she noticed his absence and thought it unusual. Nobody else had dared bring it up in conversation and apart from Miss Carol (who would have been straight out with it).., Alicia Maxson is probably the only person who could raise the matter of the absent husband. It was 3 PM the next day when they found him at Deadman's creek, a stream poisoned long ago by the toxic chemicals of the mines. We always stayed away from there. The Maxsons had bought those particular mines from the original owners and cleaned the mines and the stream up in the late 80's. Ryan Maxson's tracker dogs found him unconscious down a steep bank from the old Copper Hat Road hard on the edge of the stream. Lord knows what shape he is in but I do not believe it looks promising. What I do know is that whoever it was that hurt him discarded him down the bank like unwanted refuse. They just threw him away like trash. My eyes swim with tears at the mere thought of it. Mark, who was there with Jake at the time said that Clarke appeared to go into cardiac arrest as soon as the EMT's attempted to recover him from the bank. He remained unconscious throughout with cerebral fluid leaking from his ears. He was suffering from extreme hypothermia and was wearing only a t shirt and nothing else. I do not wish to think what his lack of clothing could mean. He had a suspected broken leg and a smashed knee cap. Mark said he noticed some things that were not right for a lady to know and I did not really want to hear those details anyway. For the life of me I cannot explain or understand how it is that he comes to be still alive. I would call it a miracle for want of any other explanation. The rescue helicopter took him straight to Charleston General and the Maxson's sent his folks up to Charleston in one of their personal helicopters. They had a set of suites at the hospital reserved for the Griersen's who are now together again. I believe they will probably insist that Jeb and Dina accept their intentions to pay all Clarke's medical expenses whatever they may be. Mom and I were there at Clarke's house when Mrs Griersen received the news they had found Clarke. The first thing she did was scream the most disturbing scream I have ever heard. Part joy, part anguish and partly infernal rage. As I said earlier we had not seen her husband since their son went missing, he has stayed out searching all the way through without coming home once. At first I was quite concerned at how he did not call or visit his wife even if for just a short while. But Dina seemed to have no problem with it. We have tidied and prepared the house for their return and I am feeding Clarke's cat Minky who also misses her master terribly. Three things keep running through my mind. What's going on with Miss Carol?, who is responsible for hurting Clarke so bad?.., and of course - Will Clarke be okay? Oh and there is a fourth thing... one of the supposed leaders of our community was conspicuous by her absence. I can't say that we missed her, I can't say that we even care... (Jake) We had been chasing Dad's young bloodhound (Burger) down Copper Hat Road and I was grinding my teeth because Burger had led us on 4 wild goose chases already this afternoon. He is still too young really and I wasn't impressed by his last 4 finds.., A tyre, a rabbit.., the same rabbit again and a very old condom wrapper ick... This was enough to exhaust my poor baby and so I sent him to get my truck and drive it up the road to us. In the end I am so glad I did that... Burger went trundling down a steep bluff through the obscuring brush. It was almost a full on cliff and after a few rolls and whimpers he began his awful baying just like he did the other 4 times. To mine and Mark's (he was with Felix and I) shame, we turned around and decided we were NOT going down a steep 30 foot bank after some insane puppy. I gave the whistle to make Burger return but he would not. I swore and whistled again but by now he was howling and baying at the same time. "Jake, maybe he's found something?" - Mark "You th-think so?" I don't know why but I'm scared. "Ummm should we call Mr Rivera or your Dad?" There are about 40 people out searching the area at the moment. Mark's Dad and my Dad are out searching together right now and the Sheriff is busy coordinating everything. "Okay lets do both, lets call the Sheriff and Dad and lets go down there to check" "Deal" says Mark. "Baby would you go get the truck?" I don't want my sweetheart to have to see Clarke if he's.., if he's.... "Yep sure thang Jake" We kiss and he moves off down the road. Marks looking at me and smiling that same annoying smile that I'd dearly love to wipe off his self satisfied face. "What the hell you lookin at Fisher!?!" I growl... "A 6'8 turkey" he replies smugly and then claps me on the back. "But I still love you - come on lets go check it out" "Whatever" I reply and we begin to walk in the opposite direction of Felix, looking for an easier way down. Mark calls the Sheriff and I call Dad and then I call Felix telling him I'll leave my hat up on a tree so he can see where we went down. I tell him to wait up top and wait for Dad or the Sheriff - he replies affirmative. We go back up the road a ways where the bluff tapers off and carefully make our way down to Deadman's Creek. I hate this damn stream, there are legends of how one miner drowned his baby and hanged himself in this stream after he found his wife cheating with his own brother.. it's just evil. This might sound strange but he didn't look like Clarke at all. I did not even recognize him. His face was black and blue, hair matted with blood and clear fluid was running from his nose and ears. He looked much smaller than Clarke, he looked diminished. I almost thought we had stumbled upon someone else. We stood frozen in our tracks for a few seconds before we made to go a little bit closer. I never realized I was holding hands with Mark until he released me to call the Sheriff. But no luck, we had no cellular reception down here by the stream. We snapped out of our daze and rushed over to my fallen buddy... "Clarke oh God Clarke!" I knelt down beside him and checked for a pulse my eyes blurring with tears, but I wasn't crying, there were just tears there. I don't know how to explain it - I've never experienced it before. I just could not tell if he was breathing or not. He was blue and he honestly looked dead. "Mark!!!" I screamed... "Do something God!" Mark could not get a pulse either but then he took off his glove stuck a finger in Clarke's mouth... "Jake he's still alive, his mouths still warm!" He cried. Without thinking we quickly took our Winter jackets off and carefully covered his broken body. I cannot describe what I saw because it was too terrible for me to comprehend, but I look forward to exacting the same punishment on the sick bastard who perpetrated this butchery! "Clarke it's me, Jake buddy" I crooned into his leaking ear. "Every things gonna be alright, Mark and I are here, we're gonna get you to some help real soon." "Auuu woooo woooo wooo woo!" Burger who finally had been behaving himself began to react to the loud sirens just up from our position. I love this dog! The paramedics were on the scene quickly and we moved aside to let them do their job. Clarke began convulsing as soon as they tried to lift him onto the stretcher and within seconds they had those paddle things on his heart. Oh Lord I felt so useless just standing there watching my lifelong friend fighting for his life, his body battered beyond recognition. Me and Mark stood close together holding onto one another while they kept trying to bring back Clarke every time they lost him. I counted 7 times in all. My own heart jumped every time they jump started Clarke's heart. By the time they stabilized him a helicopter was up on the road and my Dad was holding me and Mark to him while we hyperventilated and otherwise lost it. Clarke's Dad was scrambling down the steepest part of the bank like a maniac. The EMT guys told him his son is alive but seriously ill and badly injured. Mercifully, the space blanket obscures the true extent of his injuries from his father. "Oh Clarke oh thank God oh thank God you're alive!" Dad leashes burger and we follow up the easier part of the hill once the EMT's have safely made it up there. An orange day-glo rope has been lowered to allow easier access to and from the scene. I just wanna get Felix and go home but I can't. The Sheriff comes over and orders us to the Sheriffs station to make a full report. His deputies are starting to tape off the area and scene examination guys have just pulled up in a van. The sun is almost gone by now and the trees and hills just make it that much darker and colder. It's going on Sunday night.., how long has my buddy been here? Oh God I felt so useless down there! I did not know what to do apart from checking his vitals and keeping him warm. And I could not even do that adequately! Felix comes running over and he takes me into his arms hugging me close and murmuring that every things gonna be okay. I can almost believe it when he says so. I am so stressed I'm scared I might lash out or something. Clarke has obviously been terribly mistreated, Miss Carol is lying at home in some kind of coma why are so many things going nuts lately? The constant reassurance of Dad and Felix beside me help keep me grounded. Dad directs a distraught but markedly improved Mr Griersen to Deputy Johnson's car, telling him to go home, shower and then go to the school where a helicopter will be waiting to take him and Mrs Griersen up to Charleston. Shortly after that we follow Dad's Land Rover down to the Sheriff's Station. I say a prayer for Clarke and Miss Carol. We missed church today. I promise to be good. (Mark) I don't have much to say about this except to back up what Jake said. I've never been so scared for someone in my life and I'm still really scared now. There's a nutcase roaming round our neighborhood and he likes to mutilate teenage boys! I worry about Jessica, I worry about my family and all my friends. Clarke was in a baaaad way, he was in real bad shape! his head looked caved in on the side. He was missing teeth and his right ear was partly ripped off. He appeared to have a broken arm and a broken leg as well. He was naked except for a thin t shirt and his left knee-cap was smashed to bits. Most horrendous was his penis. It was burned. Clarke has always been proud of the fact that he is uncut. From what I saw, his foreskin was burned off. I stopped looking after that. But in my mind and in my soul I came to two realizations. One - I know what I want to be now.., I am going to be a doctor. I do not ever want to experience this feeling of uselessness again. Two - Some body's gonna pay for what they did to Clarke. I hope to be there when they do. (Miss Carol) "I hear the angels comin down for me, And as they call my name, they reach out for me!" *********************************************************