The Three Diapered Amigos

Book III: The Kidnapping

 

Written by JD © August 2013

 

 

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Chapter 3: Mark is Missing!

Craig:

 

"CRAIG, WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP BABY!" I heard my mom's screams in the deep recesses of my mind. I was still full-fledged in my nightmare and was about to have my blue eyes cut from their sockets. "IT'S A DREAM SWEETIE, PLEASE WAKE UP!"

 

Slowly, the darkness of the nightmare dissolved away and the light of day returned to my world. Now awake, my screams of terror turned into whimpers. Shaking like a leaf, I was now able to see that I was back in my own room. Looking up at my mom, I could see that she too had been crying and was holding me tightly to her breast.

 

I wanted to beg my mom to not cry, but as much as I wanted to do this, I found it too difficult to do. So instead, I allowed my mother to calm me. As my breathing and heartbeat turned to normal, my fears began to disappear in the background. Mom, who was sitting on my bed, pulled me into her lap. Now, with my back to her stomach, she began to rock me. For the next several minutes, she tried to sooth me.

 

I finally found my voice. "Mommy, I had a very bad dream!" My voice trembled. As I said this, I thought I heard our phone ringing.

 

"I know sweetie... I know..." My mom continued to try and calm me.

 

Fear had emotionally reduced me to a toddler. "There was a bad man, and he hurt Randy and Mark. Mommy, he wanted to eat my eyeballs!" I cried.

 

Mom just continued to rock me soothingly. "Don't worry Honey, it was only a dream. You and your friends are all safe." She continued to try and calm me.

 

I noticed that the phone finally stopped ringing. I think that was when either one of us first realized that it had been indeed ringing. It didn't matter though, as a few seconds later it was ringing again.

 

"Craig, are you going to be okay now? If so, I need to go see who it is calling, it might be your dad." Mom asked me. I nodded my head and Mom got up and when she did, she sat me down on my bed. "I'll be back in a moment to change that diaper of yours; it looks like it started to leak." At this, Mom left my room to answer the phone.

 

As Mom disappeared down the hallway, I looked down at my shorts. Mom had been right when she said that my diaper had begun to leak. I don't know why, but for some reason my mind jumped from `my leaky diaper' to `how long I had been asleep'. I glanced over at my alarm clock and was shocked that I had been out for almost 2hrs. I then found myself wondering if my mom had been at the neighbors all this time.

 

"Did Mommy just get back from the new neighbors?" I asked myself. As I was thinking this, Mom returned holding the phone. I noticed right away that she looked very worried.

 

"Craig, do you know where Mark might be?" She asked.

 

I started to feed off her fear as I shook my head no.

 

"No Mom, I hadn't seen him since coming home from school today." I informed her and began to worry for my best friend.

 

"Are you sure? Mark's Mom says she will not be upset with you if you tell her where Mark is hiding at." Mom said in a begging worried tone.

 

"I swear Mom, I haven't seen him since then and he said he was going home." I didn't know why, but tears came to my eyes. Suddenly all the fear I had felt a few minutes ago, returned. The image of Mark getting his eyes cut out of his skull returned as I asked Mom if he was in trouble for some reason. "Mom, did Mark do something wrong?" Even as I asked this, I knew the truth.

 

Mom just held up a finger as she listened to what Mrs. Taylor was saying to her on the phone. Finally Mom tried to reassure her.

 

"Sandy, I'm sure there is a simple explanation for why he hasn't come home yet. Don't worry, he will definitely show up soon." Even though I heard Mom says this, I could tell from her voice that she didn't believe this one bit. "Sandy, I have to change Craig, but as soon as I get done with that, we will be there right away!" Normally, Mom saying something like that over the phone might have embarrassed me; but the fear for my friend Mark was the only thing I could think of at that moment. "I am sorry Sandy; I got caught up talking to our new neighbor across the street and didn't realize how much time had gone by. No... Craig was asleep so he must have not heard the phone or doorbell. Now don't you worry we will find him. Okay... Goodbye."

 

Mom then set the phone down and went to work getting the things she needed to change my diaper. The thing was... I was more worried about Mark than I was about my diaper.

 

"Mom, what is going on? What is wrong with Mark?" I asked worried, while she pulled off my wet shorts to reveal my leaky diaper.

 

"His mother is worried; he never came home after school." Mom informed me.

 

This didn't make sense as I had walked with him just a few blocks from either of our homes. He should have got home around the same time I did. I continued to worry while Mom quickly cleaned me up and got me into a clean diaper. All I wanted to do at that point was, to find my friend.

 

As soon as mom helped me into a clean pair of shorts, we rushed to the car and drove straight to the Taylor's home. Mrs. Taylor ushered us in the house as soon she answered the door. I couldn't help noticing that the living and dining room were filled with several people. A few of them were obviously police, as they were in uniform and were toting gun belts!

 

I found Randy sitting at the kitchen table and when he looked at me, I could tell that he too was very worried. "Craig, somebody has taken Mark." He cried out to me.

 

As Randy walked over to me, Mom noticed him. She paused her conversation with Mrs. Taylor to address me and Randy. "Sweetie, why don't you go and talk to Randy for a minute, I need to talk to Sandy." I nodded my head as Mom went back to her discussion with Mark's mom.

 

Even the kitchen was filled with people, so trying to have any private conversation with Randy turned out to be impossible. I wasn't even sure how all the adults could hear themselves over all the racket they were making.

 

"Hey, can't we go to Mark's room and talk there? I can't hear a thing out here." I shouted to Randy.

 

"Naw, the police don't want anyone in there. For some stupid reason, they think Mark might have run away from home or something!" Randy shouted back annoyed.

 

This didn't make sense as I was sure that Mark wouldn't do this. "Mark wouldn't run away from home!"

 

"Well DUH! That is what I just said!" Randy grunted.

 

I just rolled my eyes at him. "Anyway, the way my mom was saying, we were just going to go out and help his mom look for him."

 

"Yeah, my mom said the same thing. I guess a neighbor told her to call the police though. They got here shortly after we did." Randy explained.

 

Still having a hard time with all the noise, I made a suggestion to Randy. "Maybe we can go out back; it is way too loud in here!" I shouted.

 

Randy agreed and on our way out back, we came across our mothers speaking to Mrs. Taylor.

 

"Mom, we're going out back." I informed her and the other 2 mothers.

 

"Okay Sweetie, but I want you to stay in the yard." Mom than looked at me seriously. "Do you hear me!" It didn't take a genius to see that our moms were very worried and I guess last thing they wanted was another missing kid.

 

"Alright, we won't." Randy promised them before I could say anything and then dragged me outside.

 

Finally out of the noisy house, I was able to actually hear myself think.

 

"God it was noisy in there." I pointed out the obvious. I then looked at Randy quizzically. "Do you really think he has been kidnapped?" I asked him, my voice full of obvious worry.

 

"Well he didn't just up and take off like the police think!" Randy grumbled. "Some detective asked me a bunch questions about Mark and his habits right before you guys arrived. He will probably want to talk to you too!" He spat out in obvious annoyance.

 

"Wow! I really hope Mark hasn't been kidnapped!" As I said this, the memory of the nightmare I had not too long ago, again came back to me.

 

A shiver ran down my spine as I started to wonder if the dream was some sort of omen. It was as if it was trying to tell me that Mark was in danger. This of course made me think of the Blue Eyeball killer.

 

"Randy..." And the way I said his name showed how terrified I was at that moment. "Do you think that maybe the Blue Eyeball Killer grabbed him?" And once again, another shiver ran down through my spine when I mentioned the killer.

 

Randy gave me a serious look and I could tell that it was exactly what he had been thinking. "You know, Mark fits the profile of the boys that he kidnaps. He is a small thin kid, who has blond hair and blue eyes." Randy said this as if he was sure that this was what had happen.

 

"My God Randy! If they don't find Mark soon and if the Blue Eyeball Killer does have him, he doesn't have much time at all to live!" Fear then overwhelmed me as all these thoughts came crashing together. "We got to find him! He's one of us... one of the Three Amigos. Nothing bad is supposed to ever happen to us!" And at this, I began to cry out of fear.

 

At this point I was about 2 seconds away from a major breakdown. I couldn't stand the thought that some monster now had my best friend and the boy that I was sure I loved! If anything were to happen to him, I don't think I could ever live through it!

 

As I looked at Randy, for a moment I thought he was going to make fun of me for crying. Instead he hugged me and wiped my tears from my cheeks with his hand.

 

For the next hour or so (I wasn't sure as time seemed to be standing still at that moment.) Randy and I decided to sit on Mark's swing set. For the most part, neither of us said a thing as we swung back and forth. We were both lost in our thoughts and worries for Mark. What made it even worse for me was that, I couldn't help thinking that maybe it was my fault somehow.

 

I started to think that coming home from school today would be the last time I would ever see my sweet Mark and his dazzling blue eyes. I couldn't help wondering if only I had walked with him all the way home. Then this real live nightmare wouldn't be happening right now. It was then that I vowed to myself, that if even one hair was touched on my Mark, I was going to make whoever did it pay! I wasn't sure how yet, but I knew I wouldn't be able to rest until the person who took and/or hurt Mark, had paid!

 

I was so deep in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed my mom and some guy walking towards Randy and me. At least not until Randy got my attention.

 

"Hey Craig." And Randy nudged me a little. "The guy coming this way with your mom, that's the cop that talked to me about Mark." And he pointed towards the guy walking with my mom towards us. "He probably wants to talk to you now." Randy added.

 

As I studied the guy, I found that he didn't seem like the detective type person. Unlike detectives that I had seen on TV, this guy did not wear a suit. Instead, he wore blue jeans and a nice looking shirt. The only thing that gave him away as a cop, was his gun holstered on his right side. When he saw me looking at him, he sent me a friendly smile.

 

"You must be Craig!" The detective stated the obvious as soon as he made it out to the swings with my mom at his side.

 

"Sweetie, this is detective Andrews. He is the one in charge of finding Mark." Mom introduced the detective to me. "He wants to ask you a few questions about your guys' friend."

 

I nodded my head and the detective again gave me a smile before questioning me about Mark.

 

"Craig, I hear that Mark rode the bus home from school with you. Are you sure he went towards home after that?" Detective Andrews Asked me.

 

I nodded my head. "After we were dropped off at the bus stop, Mark and I walked the first block together, then we both went our separate ways home after that. He was only a couple blocks from home when we separated, so he should have got to his home shortly after I got to mine." I explained to the detective.

 

"I see." And the detective scratched his head a little and looked confused. "It is just that we have someone who just informed us that they saw Mark walking back into the school not long after you guys supposedly went your separate ways." It was as if the detective was trying to bait me with this for some reason.

 

I shrugged my head. "I guess he could have run back all the way to school for some reason, but were not supposed to cross Chambers street without permission." I of course said this for my mother's benefit.

 

That was one of our parents' biggest rules; us kids were not allowed to cross any of the local major roads without their knowledge. This of course was a rule we all broke many times! Then again, what they don't know can't hurt them, or should I say us. Anyway, I knew that in order to get to our school, Mark would have to cross that street. This was something I myself had to do not that long ago when I was forced to run all the way to school after I missed the school bus.

 

"I see... Still, we are pulling the video from the school security cameras and checking to see if he indeed did show up there." I just nodded as the detective said. I mean, I didn't know what else he expected me to say here. The Detective just went forward with his questions. "Can you tell me if Mark was upset about anything today?"

 

"Hell no..." I started to say, forgetting my mother was standing there as well.

 

"CRAIG! Watch your language!" My mom shouted at me angrily.

 

As for the detective, he decided to ignore what had just happened. He instead stood there and urged me to continue with the answer to his question.

 

"Mark was happy and we were planning our summer together on the way home." I explained to him. "Why do you ask?" And as I asked this, I got the same feeling that Randy got from him; that they thought that Mark ran away for some reason.

 

"We think that Mark may be upset for some reason with his folks, according to his parents, they had an argument last night before he went to bed. We believe that Mark may be hiding somewhere because he is afraid to go home as he was supposed to be punished today." I found what the detective was saying way too cryptic for my taste.

 

"Mark didn't say anything about that to me." I informed the detective annoyed. "And I know he didn't run away or anything like that!" I added forcibly.

 

At this my mom spoke up. "Detective Andrews, I know Mark and Randy as well as my own boy and they are like part of our family. I agree with my son, there is nothing that would have made that sweet boy run away or hide from everyone. I had a chance to talk to Sandy his mother and she informed me about the argument last night. She is sure, like myself, that her son would not have acted in the way you believe because of it. His punishment was just that he wouldn't be allowed to hang out with his friends for today." Mom explained to him.

 

"I understand Mrs. Pederson. But we like to check out all the angles. Trust me; we are also looking into the possibility of him being abducted as well. There has been an Amber alert put out for the boy, across the country." The detective looked like he might have wanted to ask me more questions but after looking at my mom, seemed to decide that maybe he got all he needed. Instead, he headed back towards the house.

 

Mom then took Randy and me both into her arms and hugged us tightly. "Don't worry boys. I promise that we will find Mark." With that, she let us go and headed back towards the house. Before going back inside though, she yelled out one more instruction to us over her shoulder. "Boys, I don't want you leaving this back yard. If I catch or here of either one of you trying to disobey this, I will personally spank your bare behinds!" She then went inside, leaving us to think about her threat of punishment if we disobeyed my mom.

 

It didn't matter though, we were both pretty sure who had Mark and neither one of us didn't want to be `The Blue Eyeball Killers' next victim! So there we stayed and worried!