rated *
Not mine.....I do not own anything
Running Out Of Time
by Funshine
Dan Mangan, twenty-three, let the water rush over him. He had spent the afternoon with Trixie and then her brothers. He smiled as he remembered the conversation he had had with them.
“So, what were you and my LITTLE sister doing out here, all ALONE?” Brian asked. He picked the ax up.
Dan eyed him, “We were just walking and talking, I swear.” He glanced nervously at the ax in Brian’s hands.
Mart hooted, “Yeah, and that almost-kiss I interrupted was my imagination?”
Dan glared at his blond friend. “Okay, so I almost kissed her, is that so bad?”
“What are your intentions?” Brian pressed.
“I don’t know!” Dan said.
“Do you like her?”
“Yeah.” Dan was really thinking about talking to Trixie, he noticed Brian seemed to be swinging the ax.
“Are you planning on marrying her?” Mart was laughing so hard he almost fell down. Dan really was beginning to think Brian was a whack job. He wondered why they let him use sharp objects at medical school.
“Well, um, uh, I don’t know,” Dan stuttered.
Suddenly Brian’s face broke into a grin and he started laughing. He had to set the ax down so he could properly fall to the ground laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Dan snapped.
“You,” Brian managed. “Oh God, that was hilarious!”
“You mean you were just pretending to be all psychotic?” Dan asked.
“Oh yeah, you actually believed me? Maybe I should try for a career in acting instead of medicine!”
Dan looked at the two hyenas laughing on the ground, “You know I was really worried about you. I was wondering what people were thinking giving you sharp objects,” Dan said. This sent the two on the ground into more gales of laughter.
Brain and Mart managed to finally stop laughing at poor Dan.
“Well, man, just don’t hurt her okay? Otherwise I’ll have to come after you with a scalpel," Brian told him in all seriousness.
“Aye, aye, Doctor.”
“Well, now, should we get to work on lugging this stuff over to Maypenny’s?” Brian asked.
“Yeah,” Mart agreed.
The three worked hard.
“Got a question, Brian,” Dan said.
“Yeah?” Brian grunted.
“Do you really like Mr. Health Inspector, what’s his name, Jordan?” Dan asked.
“No, not really. He’s so boring. I think Jim fell asleep while he was talking to him. Oh, and his name’s John.”
“Whatever. Trixie dates too many J. guys,” Dan complained as they started for Manor House.
“Huh?” Brian asked suspiciously.
“You know, there was Jim, Josh, and then Jordan.”
“It’s John! And as far as I know Trixie never dated a Josh before,” Brian said.
“He means Jacob, I think.” Mart looked at Dan.
“Yeah," Dan agreed. “But hey, that is still a lot.”
“You are right, I guess.” Brian sounded mad that he had to admit that Dan was right.
“Well, c’mon, men, I want to see Di before she leaves,” Mart said.
Upon arriving at Manor House, they noticed that Trixie wasn’t there. Honey said she had wanted to see something.
Her brothers looked mystified, but Dan nodded smugly. For once he knew what was going on. Trixie had mentioned to Dan that she had wanted to go check out this place she had found last time she was home. It was a stream on the outskirts of the preserve. Dan, who had spent all those years patrolling the preserve, never noticed it. Trixie said she had found it near the bluffs. It was weird-- she had just been wandering around when all of a sudden she heard the sound of water and there it was.
Dan jolted back to reality when he heard the phone ring. He glanced at the clock as he pulled on a pair of pants and grabbed the phone.
“Hello?” he asked, slightly irritated. It was after eleven. Dan was staying at Maypenny’s for a while. He was house watching until the old man got back to town. Mr. Maypenny was in the city at the hospital. He had been ill for a while. Dan was really worried about the man.
“Dan?” Honey’s voice came through; she was crying.
“Trixie’s not with you, is she?”
“What? No! Why would she be?” Dan asked.
“Well, she’s not picking up her cell-phone and no one has seen her since Di and I left her.”
“Maybe she went out of town?” Dan asked, but he knew in his heart that that was not the case.
He replayed the conversation they had earlier.
“Oh, Dan, what should I do? I thought Jacob loved me, he said he did, but he didn’t. Oh woe! I’m sorry, Dan, you probably don’t care...”
No, that wasn’t what was wrong.
“Sometimes I’m scared to be alone. It’s like all the old mysteries come out and attack me. And then with all this boy stuff, I get so lonely. Sometimes I’m afraid to leave myself alone with me. Do you ever feel that way?”
No, he didn’t think that was it either, but that would be something he needed to talk to her about.
“He was crazy, did you know that? He was insane, I didn’t know that either, not until after I found them...... I really am worried about him, I mean, even though he treated me like dirt, I still worry.”
Bingo.
“Dan!” Honey yelled.
“Sorry, Honey. Hey, get everyone together at the clubhouse, now! It’s an emergency!”
“All right,” Honey said. She hung up.
Dan grabbed his cell phone and a flashlight and set off at a sprint toward the clubhouse. He cursed as he remembered he forgot a shirt. That didn’t matter, though.
He reached the clubhouse before the others. He was just pulling on an old T-shirt when they got there.
“Hey, Dan, long time, no see,” Mart joked without humor.
“So, what’s going on?” Jim asked. He had just received a call from Honey and all she said was Clubhouse now, you can bring Meghan". He had done just that, but he was still in the dark.
“Well, I’m not entirely sure, but Trixie’s missing and, well, I’m worried,” Brian said.
Honey bit her nail. “Guys, what if she is just out at her place in the city. Maybe I’m overreacting.”
Dan shook his head. “I think there is a reason to be worried. I think her old boyfriend kidnapped her.” The others looked at him like he were crazy. “I know it sounds strange, but I just think, I have a feeling.”
“But why would Jacob do it? There’s no motive," Meghan said out loud. The Bob-wWhites looked at her. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just how did you know about Jacob?” Di asked.
“Well, Trixie and I talk.”
“Huh.” Mart bit his lip in the exact same fashion as Trixie did.
Brian stood up and started to pace around the room. He glanced out the window; it was storming. The lights went out. There was a sound of breaking glass and Brian felt something whizz by his ear. Once Jim got the electricity going, five minutes later, they saw the shattered window.
“Oh, it was all that wind. It must have knocked down a tree or something,” Di exclaimed.
Honey went white as she noticed the blood on Brian’s cheek. “Not quite,” she whispered.
There was an arrow in the wall; pinned underneath it was a letter. Dan walked the length of the room and unpinned it. Honey grabbed a cloth and tossed it to Brian.
Dan forgot to breath as he opened the letter.
Dear Bob-Whites,
She brought this on herself, if I can’t have her no one can. She will be mine forever.
Inside the letter was a blond curl.
“Okay, that’s it! We’ll split up. Someone call the police! We need to find Trixie now,” Brian said. He was already whipping out his cell and dialing the police station.
After getting off the phone, Honey and he volunteered to go towards the old schoolhouse. Mart and Di went off toward the place Trixie had last been seen. Jim and Meghan went towards the old abandoned shack.
Dan headed towards the stream. He heard the scream of a police siren and he knew that Brian and Honey would soon fill the officer in. He didn’t have time to do it; they were running out of time.
“No! Jacob, I am not yours! You can’t have me!” Trixie screamed.
Dan stopped in his tracks as he heard the voice reply, “Oh, but I can, you snooper! I’ll always have you.”
“Luke,” he said out loud.
He was crouching in the bushes. Trixie was getting dangerously close to the stream. Jacob, alias Luke, was going after her. Every time he grabbed her, Trixie would bite his hand. He should learn not to grab the mouth, Dan thought grimly. When he saw Luke give her a shove that sent her sprawling to the ground, Dan attacked.
“Luke, get away now!” Dan snapped.
“Well, if it ain’t my old pal Danny! What’s wrong? I just need to get rid of some trash. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
Dan jumped on his back. Luke had a knife, though. They were fighting like a bunch of wild cats. Trixie groggily grabbed the phone Dan dropped and dialed Honey’s number.
“Honey, help! Get the police. We’re out on the bluffs.”
Two minutes later all the Bob-Whites, plus Meghan and the police officer, came into Trixie’s view.
There was a gunshot. Luke was sent flying threw the air. Trixie looked at Dan who was whiter than a piece of paper. He had blood covering his white T-shirt. Trixie’s world started spinning and someone yelled, “Oh my God, Trixie!” The ground rushed up to meet her.
When Trixie came to, she was aware of the wailing of the ambulance and of the police siren. But she didn’t seem to notice because she found herself staring into the dark, worried eyes of Daniel Mangan.
“What happened?” she whispered.
“Luke tried to kill us,” he said. “God, I’m sorry, Trixie. This is all my fault.”
“Dan, no! You can not blame yourself,” Trixie told him. “If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine. I thought you were dead.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Dan said.
Brian coughed, “You guys could go on arguing all day. Honey and Di seem to think that they are to blame, too. Mart, Jim, and Meghan do, too.”
Trixie looked up. “What do you mean?”
Honey and Di looked at each other. “That was John, Trixie! We set you up with him!” Honey wailed.
“What on earth are you guys talking about?” Jim asked. He, Mart, and Meghan had a stricken look on their faces. “That was Jacob! Trixie’s old boyfriend. We helped you meet him.”
Brian shook his head. “Guys, that was Luke. He was deranged and needed help. You guys can’t blame yourselves.” Brian motioned to leave, he nodded to the others. They all left, to continue talking to the police.
Trixie noticed the patch on his shoulder. She also noticed he was no longer wearing a shirt. The rain had stopped.
“Are you really okay?” she whispered.
He nodded. “Trixie, I was so worried about you. I don’t think I could bear to live if anything ever happened to you.”
“I don’t think I could either.” The tears started to fall. “Dan, when I saw all that blood, the only thing I thought was that he’s dead and he doesn’t know how much I love him.”
“Oh, Trixie,” Dan said, “when I saw you on the ground after Luke hit you, I just thought ‘she’ll die, not knowing how much I love her.’”
“I guess, we’re pretty stupid, not admitting are feelings then?” Trixie asked.
“Oh yeah, we are a bunch of dumb bunnies,” Dan agreed. He laughed, and she hugged him.
“I guess I better tell you now then. I love you, Dan. I don’t think I could live without you.”
“I love you, Trixie. I don’t think I could without you.”
Trixie kissed him, he returned it.
“Ohhhh,” was heard in the background.
The two broke apart, and there were the other Bob-Whites.
Trixie grinned. “If you’ll all excuse us--” She led Dan away.
Dan could hear Brian shouting after them, “You hurt her and I’ll get the scalpel!”
The End
Okay well, that was kinda bad. I was doing my best though. I still do not own anything. Um, Watch out for the next installment.
~Funshine