Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:28:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Joe Parker <jjptex@yahoo.com>
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!"


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