I'm so glad that you all liked this chapter! Grissom can't be defeated... at least I don't think he can! But will he be able to save Mr. Peanut, too?
I think I forsee some Mr. Peanut rescuing in the future. Mwahaha. Wait a minute, that sounded evil. Let me try that again: hehe.
Hi. I'm back from holiday. I was sssoooo delighted you have added another chapter. It is getting better and better! I cannot wait for more!!!!
That's so funny you should post today, because I was just wondering if you liked the last chapter! I'm glad you did, though! I'm hoping to write another one this weekend. Hehe... I'll use it to procrastinate working on several presentations (but shh, I didn't say that!).
Good, someone replied, so I don't have to worry about double posting. yeah... presentations... can't procrastinate. I still have 300 pages to read, so... I probably won't be writing a chapter this weekend. I'm sorry, guys, but I know that you all understand! I haven't forgotten about this story, and... maybe I'll buy a mini-tape recorder, so that I can write chapters in the car on my drive home/there (it's almost 2 hours). Hang in there, though, and please be patient!
I'm glad! Working on the next chapter, I promise! Grr... computer broke my presentation, so I spent all day writing that, rather than a chapter. Frustrating! But I'm so glad that you liked it, margFAN17, and hang in there! Another chapter is coming soon!
A/N: Here’s the next chapter for you! I’m trying, really, I am! Just please try to be patient with me. School is a tad harder than I was expecting it to be! Once again, thank you to everyone who read and or/reviewed the previous chapter! Enjoy! --------------- Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI or its characters. That honor goes to the good folks over at CBS. Title: The Boogeyman to the Rescue Summary: A raging storm, four trapped children, and an exploding vehicle. Will Grissom be able to save the day? --------------- “Mr. Peanut, where are you?” Katie continued to sniffle, as she and her brother waited for Grissom to come back with the rope. “Where are you, Mr. Peanut? Mommy said that you would never leave my side. She said that you’re very special, and that I’m very special, and that we can both do good things together, ‘cause we’re good!” Twisting her body around, she studied the ground of the car, trying to find her bear. “Jake,” she started to sniffle even harder. “I can’t find Mr. Peanut, and I want him!” “Seriously, Katie, shut up about the bear, okay?” he hissed at her. Staring over at his Bobby’s limp form for a moment, he frowned. How dare you leave us! I can’t deal with her alone! Returning his attention to Katie, he cleared his throat. “Your bear is already dead, anyhow. Just leave him alone!” he lashed out at her in anger, instantly regretting the words the moment that they were out of his mouth. “Wh-what?” Katie swallowed, her face paling. “Mr. Peanut is dead? Nuh-uh! Mommy said that he can never die!” “Well, Moms and Dads lie!” Jake continued to torment his little sister. “And we’re going to die, too!” Katie immediately burst into tears, her breath catching in her throat, as she tried to find the words to express herself. “I don’t wanna die, Jake!” she screamed. “‘Kay? I’m sorry that I made you mad, but I don’t wanna die!” Clawing at her seatbelt, Katie finally managed to unbuckle herself, falling against the window, due to the fact that the car was still on its side. Landing on her arm, she shrieked once more, before turning her face to look up at Jake. “I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die,” she repeated over and over again. “Mr. Peanut, we need you! Where are you? You’re not dead, either, but come out, please!” she sobbed. Jake stared at his broken leg in frustration, cursing himself for the way that he had spoken to his baby sister. “It’s okay, Katie,” he mumbled to her. “I’m sorry, and—” he started to say, before he heard a loud crack coming from somewhere off to the side of the car. “What is that?” Katie sobbed, cowering against the ground. “ Lucy, you have to wake up now! I said so, ‘kay?” she asked her older sister. “Why won’t you move? I want you to move!” Up in the front seat, Jake turned his head to stare out of the broken window, freezing in place as he saw what was going on. Trees were falling all around them, and the car was no longer a safe place to be. “If lightning strikes one of the trees near us,” he mumbled under his breath. “It will light on fire, and fall on us… that would be bad.” “What’s going to be bad, Jake?” Katie softly asked, reaching her arms up to her unconscious sister, and trying to pull herself up off of the ground. “I don’t wanna die,” she murmured. But before anyone had the chance to say anything else, another loud crack filled the air, and a tree came crashing down on top of their car, knocking it right-side up again. “Jake!” she wailed, as she threw her arms over her head in order to protect herself. “Are you kids okay?” Grissom screamed from up above them, once the tree had finally settled on top of the roof of the car. “Nuh-uh,” Katie very quietly replied to him, too softly for him to actually hear her. “We’re not okay, right, Jake?” But Jake, buried in the leaves of the fallen tree, could not respond to her. “Jake? Katie?” Grissom’s voice again called out. “I want my Mommy,” Katie sobbed. “Wake up, please!” she begged her three older siblings, jumping, as she heard more thunder rumbling from outside of the car. “I don’t want you all to die! I have to find Mr. Peanut!” “Kids? Hold on, I’m coming!” Grissom shouted once more, before scanning the ground around the embankment’s edge. Immediately wiping the rain from his face, he glanced down, before tying one end of the rope to the tree that had previously fallen across the width of the road, and tossing the rest of the rope over the embankment. Giving it a test tug to see if it would hold him, he quickly shuffled back over to the Denali, grabbing some extra rope, a knife, a couple of flares, and his cell phone. Sticking the rope, the knife, and the cell phone into his kit, he walked a short distance away from his vehicle, setting up the flares. Then, with one final sigh, he carefully shuffled over to the edge of the road, kneeling down beside his makeshift rope ladder. “Mr. Peanut?” Katie tried again, pulling away from her sister for a moment, and trying to find her stuffed bear. “Where are you?” she whispered, jumping, as more thunder rumbled from just above the car. Grabbing the now slick rope between both hands, Grissom turned around, and very carefully tried to walk down the muddy slope. Grunting with the physical effort of doing so, he tried to focus on his task, once again wishing that someone more physically fit was here to help him. “Jake? Katie?” “Mr. Peanut?” Katie sniffled, crawling along the floor of the car by her sister’s feet, and using her hands to search around. “I know you’re here, and I know that you’re still alive! Come out, it’s okay! The Boogeyman won’t get you,” she assured her stuffed animal, although she herself was still worried that the monster would try to attack her and her siblings. “I’m coming,” Grissom took another deep breath, stopping for a moment, and very carefully looking over his shoulder, and down. Fifty feet was not that far down, but with the rain pelting his body, combined with the muddiness of the slope itself, he knew that it would still be very difficult to keep his footing. “Really, no Boogeyman,” Katie continued, wiping a few of her tears away, and managing to smear her sister’s blood under her eyes. “Please? I need you!” she started to sob again, terrified with everything that was going on around her. Grunting once more, Grissom tried to take another step down, accidentally slipping along the slope. “Shit!” he yelled, clutching the rope more tightly, and giving his feet the opportunity to find something to stand on. Groaning, and pressing himself against the side of the embankment, Grissom took one more deep breath, before continuing his journey downwards. The moment that Grissom swore, Katie’s head popped up. “It’s the Boogeyman!” she anxiously announced to her siblings. “The Boogeyman is coming!” she repeated, scrambling to get into her sister’s lap. “Don’t hurt me,” she whispered to the Boogeyman, staring out through the broken window, and trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. “Please, don’t hurt me!” she begged him. Grissom stopped his descent for a moment, cocking his head toward the car. “Katie? Jake? Are either of you able to reply?” he calmly called out, trying to listen for any evidence of movement coming from within the battered Saturn. “If either of you can talk, please answer me,” he tried again, raising his voice so that he could be heard over the storm. “M-mister?” Katie asked, blinking her eyes as the rain continued to fall into the car. “Is that you, Mister?” With a sudden sigh of relief, Grissom nodded. “It’s me, Katie. My name is Gil, and I’m going to help you. Is Jake okay?” “Nuh-uh,” Katie quietly replied, her gaze now fixed on Grissom as he tried to climb the rest of the way down the slope. “And he told me that we were all gonna die, Mr. Gil! I don’t wanna die, ‘kay?” she asked him, her voice barely audible over the sill raging storm. “I’m going to get you out of there, Katie,” Grissom assured her, continuing to speak calmly as his feet finally touched down on the ground. Briskly shuffling toward the car, and setting his kit down a short distance away, he examined the Saturn, analyzing it for clues as to how he could safely get the children to safety. The car is still hissing, he began his internal narrative. So something is definitely going on with the engine. That would explain the loud bang that I heard earlier. Regardless of what is going on with the engine, the tree is resting on the roof of the car, and the windows look smashed to pieces. Glass is missing from both of the driver’s side windows, and the roof appears to be fairly caved in. It’s going to be difficult to get them out of there, but I need to do it—and fast. “Are you sure that you’re not the Boogeyman, Mr. Gil?” Katie again inquired, the tears still sliding down her cheeks. “Jake said that the Boogeyman lives in the woods, and I don’t want him to get me. Are you sure that you aren’t him?” “I’m not the Boogeyman,” Grissom quietly told her, peering in through the broken back driver’s side window. I’m definitely not equipped to deal with this; seriously, I don’t know what to tell her! Reaching a hand through the window, he gently pressed two of his fingers to Lucy’s neck, feeling for a pulse. Good girl, he wanted to tell her. You just keep on breathing, and I’m going to get you out of here. Swallowing her fear, Katie peered over at Grissom. “If you’re—if you’re not the Boogeyman, then why are you touching my sister?” she softly asked him, trying to wipe the tears out of her eyes. “I just wanted to see if she was okay,” Grissom quietly admitted. God help me, I really don’t know what I’m doing here! And then a flash of inspiration hit him. “Katie, would you like me to tell you a story while I get you and your siblings out of the car?” Sniffling, Katie raised an eyebrow. “Don’t forget Mr. Peanut,” she reminded him. And then, “What kind of a story?” “Okay about Mr. Peanut, and the story is about a spider,” Grissom cautiously told her. “I don’t like spiders, though!” she told him, trying to settle back against her seat. Moving to the front of the car, Grissom stuck his hand through the broken front driver’s side window, feeling for a pulse. Come on, pulse, where are you? Beat, heart! Damn you! “But this is a very special spider,” he calmly spoke up, his tone of voice not betraying how panicked he truly felt. You have to have a pulse; you have to. “Ohh!” Katie sniffled. “‘Kay, what story is it?” “It’s called Charlotte’s Web, ” Grissom replied, relief flooding his voice when he finally felt Bobby’s pulse, as weak as it was. “It’s called Charlotte’s Web, and it’s about a spider who does everything in her power to save a pig.” “Really?” Katie asked, waiting for Grissom to do something to get them out. “Yes, and it goes like this,” he began his tale, as he moved around to the passenger side of the car, trying to glance through the window in order to get to Jake. “Once upon a time, there was a spider named Charlotte,” he adlibbed the book. “And a bear named Mr. Peanut?” Katie interrupted him, before sticking her thumb in her mouth. “Not in this story,” Grissom couldn’t help but chuckle, as he tried to open Jake’s door. Too damaged. Great. “So once upon a time, there was a spider named Charlotte, who lived out in a very big barn.” ”Why did she live out in the barn?” Katie again jumped in. “Uh,” Grissom rubbed his beard. “Because she liked to be around the animals, and the people did not want her in the farm house.” “Oh,” Katie mused, following Grissom’s movements through her dirt covered window. “But why not?” Grissom bit his tongue, before taking a deep breath. Just play along with her; that’s what Catherine would tell you to do. “Because the people were afraid of her,” he shrugged, before reaching for the handle just outside of her door. Giving it a gentle tug, he tried to budge it. “I hate spiders,” Katie admitted. “Oh, really?” Grissom asked, stopping for a moment in puzzlement. “Why?” “‘Cause they bite, silly!” she told him. “You would like my girlfriend, then,” Grissom dryly informed her, as he pulled harder on the door handle. “She doesn’t like bugs, either, but she puts up with them, just for me.” Before Katie had the chance to reply to him, however, the Saturn made another loud popping noise, as the hood suddenly sparked. “What’s happening?” Katie screamed, as she saw smoke starting to spiral out of the front end of the car. “Is it the Boogeyman?” she asked Grissom, the terror evident in her voice. “No,” he told her. It’s worse. Much, much worse. “I’m going to get you of there, Katie, but you have to be brave, okay? Can you do that for me?” “If we can find Mr. Peanut, then uh-huh, I can be brave,” she whispered in fear. “But I need Mr. Peanut.” --------------- TO BE CONTINUED
Hehe, I'm glad you two enjoyed this chapter! I'll keep pluggin' away at them... they are so relaxing to write, and I enjoy writing them much more than I enjoy reading the, uh, stuff for class!