"I've got him," Alec replied breezily to Frank. With some difficulty, he managed to bring Ian over to the car. He hung up - for the second time that day - on his boss and unlocked the automobile's doors. "In you go, then." Alec nodded at Ian and and mentally crossed his fingers. He glanced down and noticed he was also crossing his literal fingers.

"Wha-hey!!" Ian protested as he was (slightly) shoved into the car. He toppled in, smashing his head against the floor of the vehicle. "Dang...." he breathed, rubbing his head and sitting up. This is getting dangerous. I wonder where Micah is....I hope he's alright "Alright, if I may ask, what in the heck is going on!? Chasing teenage kids with serious play toys is not my idea of a walk in the park! Plus, I do not take kindly to being head-locked or being pushed into a car by someone quite smaller than me"

******

"No, besides a frog or two I've never had a serious pet." he chuckled. "I had wanted a dog, but my Mom isn't much of an animal person, and my Dad being a lawyer is too busy to convince her" he looked down at his shoes.

Peter could hear Ian yelling to someone on the other line. "He turned to his cousin. "Oh no. Ian's been caught!" After looking at her startled expreassion, he pressed the phone against the curls above his ears. "Ian! Hey, whoever has Ian, don't you dare think I won't call the cops! You hear me? Let Ian go or else!"
Miley gave him a shocked glance. Her cousin was threatening criminals. This was crazy! What if they came after them? "Hang up."
Peter hesistated at his cousin's words adn gave her a quick glance. Then he got back on the cell phone. "Don't think this is th eend of it!"
Miley yanked Peter's cell phone, which he finally relented and she hung up. "Are you out of your mind?"
At this moment he seemed more like an annoying little sibling instead of her cousin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stacey shook her head. "Not often enough. Do you?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MIcah pulled Kahlyn up wiht all his might. Then, he held onto her and grunted as he lifted her out of the hole. "I gotta work out more!" He smiled. "Sorry. I seem like a sissy!"

Alec looked pained. "Hey, I'm not small, I'm just not...you know...too show-offy about my strength." He stuck a key in the ignition and turned.

Rethinking this plan, Alec turned around and snatched Ian's phone. "Sorry about this. You might need to redo your contacts list." With that, he chucked the mobile out the window and smashed it under a front tire.

"Feel free to wear a seatbelt," he called back as the car picked up speed.

Kahlynn stumbled on the ground. "You a sissy?! Hardly! You just saved my life. Thank you." She smiled, sopping wet. Her smile quickly turned to a frown when she saw who had found them. "Micah! Behind you! Run!"

Micah turned to see a bunch of goons after him. He took a deep breath, trying to fight back tears. He ran to find that their friends were gone. He turned to face the goons. "Where's Ian?"
The goon gave him a hungry smile that sent chills up his spine. He turned to run, but tripped in a patch of grass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frank laughed, when he saw his son trip. He felt Micah deserved it. He heard Justin beg, "Please let me go. I have a wife and a baby girl. My wife needs her husband...my girl is just a baby, she needs her dad" Then, he heard a yelp, followed by a scream.

Kahlynn heard the scream. "Micah, I'm sorry, but we don't have a choice." She pulled out her phone and dialed 911, praying Micah wouldn't get in trouble.

"911," A kind voice said, "What's your emergency?"

"Hello we need help in the park! My freinds are getting attacked by a gang of goons..."

Micah heard the scream too. He hoped it wasn't Ian. He would hate himself for getting anyone involved. As soon as he got up, the goon kicked him to the ground and the other caught him. He tried to wriggle out of their grip, screaming, "Let me go!"
He noticed Kahylnn on the phone and knew she had to call the police. He really did not want to go to juvie, but someone needed to get rid of these guys before they hurt anyone else
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin clutched his chest, where he was brutually stabbed. He asked God to watch after his girls-botht he one he had and the one who was not with him- and prayed for Maralyn. He asked God to provide them. He felt them slicing his hair off with a knife at the nape of his neck. One of them said something about it making them rich. He took a few breaths. He couldn't think about his hair right now, not with the possiblity of his wife and his little girl being alone in the cruel, cold world. Still, the scraping continued, as the knife went upward. The pain was too much. Tears blurred his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter turned to Miley. Look, we can't just stand here and debate about what I said. We have to call the police. Why isn't Justin here yet?" He called his cousin's cell phone, to hear a deep voice answer. "He's dying. Here, I'll give you his hair in rememberence."
Peter's eyes narrowed. "No!"
He furiously threw his cell phone against Ian's wall. He turned to Miley. "They have him! They have Justin! Ian and Justin are both in their grasp!"
The two of them prayed, as Peter enveloped his cousin into a strong hug and let her cry into his strong chest, while he choked back a few tears himself.

Kahlynn grapped the nearest stone and threw it at one of the goons who was attacking Micah. Suddenly, the screaming of sirens was everywhere... It was as if they called in the entire police force and the one in the next town.

"No body move!" One of them yelled. The police attacked the goons, some went peacefully, but most not so much. One had successfully clobberred the goon who was tormenting Justin, and called in for an ambulence. Five others and rounded up those who were on top of Micah and Kahlynn, but one of them recognized Micah from a previous robbery and arrested him to.

"No Micah..." Kahlynn tried to hold back the tears...it seemed she had lost all of her family and freinds...

Not long after the terrible events in the park, Maralyn was called about her husband. She had been worried about him for hours now, after he hadn't answered her many attempts to dial his cell. She had been kept mostly busy with Sarah, but when she wasn't tending to her baby, her mind was on Justin. When she got the call, she had felt a slight relief, thinking it could be Justin calling her back, but when she picked up it wasn't his voice but the soothing voice of a nurse. "Mrs. Thomas?"

"Yes? This is Maralyn Thomas."

"Mrs. Thomas, I'm so sorry, but your husband is in our hospital. He received a serious chest wound and a head...er...injury" The young woman on the other end wasn't quite adept at describing savage scalpings

Maralyn gasped, sitting back into a plush chair. She felt tears welling up, but she suppressed them and asked "Which hospital?"

"Oak Ridge. 3758 E. Belview Street." the nurse said.

"I'll be right there" Maralyn breathed and hung up, rushing to the cradle in her room. She took Sarah and went to the door, taking the car keys and her purse. She looked the door on the way out, then went to the find buckling her child in, then slipping into the drivers seat. She quickly headed the vehicle toward the directed hospital. On the way, with the silence and the voice of the nurse still in her head, she cried, thinking of Justin. How serious were his wounds? Was he going to die!? What had caused these terrible events!?

***

"HEY!" Ian growled, his anger rising. As Alec pressed on the gas he was throne back into his seat. He grunted, and righted himself pulling on a seat belt. "Exactly where are we going!?"

****

"Mother's aren't always right." David called back. "Your mother especially. Being safe isn't waisting your bullets"

He watched as in the park the action began to heat up. He didn't really keep track of the rest of the gang, all he wanted was Nate, and he was determined to get him.

Peter and Miley rushed to the hospital in Miley's car, soon after he was taken in. Tears in her eyes Miley asked, "Where's my brother? What happened?"
THe police officer sighed and handed her a dark ponytail wiht blood stans on it. Feeling sick to her stomach, she touched the soft hairs taht used to belong to her brother. "No," she cried. She ran down the hall, ignoring her younger cousin who was calling her name. He pressed his own lips together. "Please let me see him."
~~~~~~~~~
Miley ran as fast as she could to the lobby, to find Maralyn holding Sarah and looking just as upset. She held onto her sister-in-law's arms. "They showed me his ponytail and it was no longer attached to his scalp and it had blood." With those words, she burst into tears, "This can't be happening. Why is this happening? Not my brother!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter walked into his cousin's room at the hospital. He had a bandage on his head from mid ear down. What was left of his dark hair had blood on the end. His chest was wrapped up. He rushed to his hospital bed, wishing he were the one there and not Justin. His voice crack, as he stroke his cousin's hair. "Please wake up soon. I need you. Miley needs you. Sarah and Maralyn need you." He looked at his cousin's chest and saw he was still somewhat breathing. He asked God to save his cousin. The doctor walked in and Peter asked, "Who did this to him?"
The doctor gave him a sympathetic look. "A gang of theives from out of town."
Peter took a breath. "What happened, exactly?"
The doctor said, "He was stabbed in the chest and scalped from ear down. We need to give him stiches and a few surgeries."
Peter sat in a chair and wimpered as his role model was being taken out of the room. He prayed once more for his cousin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While waiting to be questioned in the police station, Micah texted Kahylyn : It's okay. You did what you had to do. Who was it that they stuffed in the van?"

Kahlynn gasped when she remembered... I think it was Ian... She prayed they'd both be ok...

***

The police cheif came up to Micah. "C'mon kid, let's get this over with."
He led him to the interogation room. He was a bit of a cowboy type, gruff beard, hat, even spurs on his feet...
"Now then, it'll be easier if you just flat out tell the truth. I ain't one who enjoys being lied to... and I certainly ain't gonna be to happy if I find out you do. And trust me..." He stared at Micah right in the eye..."I'll find out if you do. Have you ever done anything that broke the law, for example... oh I don't know shoplifting, stealing?"

Before he could read his text, he was being spoken to gruffly by a police man. He shuddered under the cheif's glare. "Yes, sir." Memories of the abuse, willing stealings and forced theft flooded through his mind. "I'm sorry. If you need to lock me up, go ahead."

The police cheif, who was mostly known as Buck, was suprised at Micah's honesty. He suspected something else was going on...

"You were the one involved in the robbery last year weren't you in the next town? Why don't you start there and tell me what happened..." He pulled out the other chair, sat in it, propped his feet up on the desk, and pulled out a cigar. He eyed Micah carefully, waiting for him to answer...

Micah looked at the man's cigar. "You know, smoking is really bad for your health, Cheif."
Then, he continued, "I stole a few times because I wanted to, like silly stuff like CDs and clothes. My parents never bought me any presents for my birthday or Christmas. The only time they gave me money is if I stole things like Cars, TVs, DVDS. A few times, I tried to get out fo it, but my dad would beat me until I relented. So, I stole money from him to get out of that lifestyle and run away here fro a fresh start. I'm really sorry, Sir."