• Chapter 9: Rescue Attempt

    Brad awakened from his afternoon nap; his hair completely messy and a tired look on his face. “Hey, Miranda, come here please. We’re going to go somewhere to eat because I’m hungry, Ok?” He patiently listened for an answer, but there was none. He walked into the living room to find Ralph watching TV. “Hey, do you have any idea where Miranda is?”
    “Uh… yea. Last I checked, she went into her room. I haven’t heard her since.”
    “Thanks,” Brad said, turning towards the hallway. Once he reached the door, he knocked lightly. “Miranda?” he said after there wasn’t an answer to the knock. “Miranda?” he said louder. He opened the door to find that Miranda wasn’t there. He panicked a little, and ran to see if his truck was still there, since there was no way someone could’ve gotten in. Once he saw the truck was no longer in its usual spot in the driveway, he freaked out, trying his best to hide it from Ralph.
    Brad grabbed Ralph’s keys off the key tree, and got into the car as quickly as possible. He hit the gas as soon as the car was on, knowing where she must’ve gone. He wasn’t completely positive, but he knew she wanted to go to the mall and try on some clothes by herself, since she didn’t want his input there. She wanted to decide if she liked it by herself. He also knew she was pretty upset when he had told her it was too dangerous.
    He pulled into the parking lot quickly, got out of ‘his’ car, and sprinted into the mall. She could be anywhere by now. Just look for a huge group of people. If there isn’t a bunch of people, she obviously doesn’t need too much help, and you can come back looking for her in all the stores. He raced around the mall to find a huge group of both men and women standing in a circle. She’s in trouble. He ran faster to her than he thought he knew how. He threw punches trying to get to her, since she had to be in trouble by now. He faintly heard her voice cut through the excitement.
    “Brad! Get the girls with gold earrings! Then go for anyone wearing gold rings!”
    “I can’t hit a girl!” he screamed, still throwing punches.
    “Just do it! It’s the only way to stop them. If you can get the gold away, I can get my power back!”
    “How about I just grab you and run out?”
    “Do whatever! Just stop them!”
    Brad fought his way through the crowd of people until he reached a group of extremely burly men that had been fighting their way to the front.
    The group started moving, most people leaving with disappointment on their face. The group was made of several men dressed the same and one girl wearing the same clothes, but she was wearing gold hoop earrings. He knew if he could knock her out, he might have a chance of freeing Miranda. The only problem was that the men would probably try to protect her, and all of the men were very muscular. He decided he better take the chance, against the slim odds of him somehow winning. At least there’s a chance, slim or not. It could be worse: I could have absolutely no chance of winning. This is the only way Brad could pep talk himself into doing this. The thoughts repeated in his mind as he ran full-speed and lunged himself to the short, brown-haired girl in front of him. Suddenly, he felt a larger body block him from his target, causing him to fall backwards. The man just turned around and continued his journey.
    Brad pulled out his cell phone as quickly as he could to call Ralph to find that the impact had completely ruined his phone. He didn’t have a quarter to use a payphone with him, since he didn’t expect to need his money. He went to the parking lot to get in the car and go home, since he knew there was no possible way to free her without Ralph’s wisdom and knowledge. As he walked with his head down, out of absolutely nowhere, a quarter dropped. He picked it up and began to look for whoever might have dropped it. There was absolutely no one else in the entire parking lot. He ran to the payphone and inserted the quarter, dialing the number as quick as his fingers would allow him.
    “Hello?” Ralph answered the phone.
    “Ralph, you still have the tracker in the car right?”
    “Yea, why?”
    “Long story, just follow it. I don’t have time to explain. Go as fast as you can, and speed when there’s no cops around.”
    “Miranda! What happened?”
    “Just get here! I’ll explain when you see me. Bye” Brad said as he hung up. He ran back to the car and searched for the car of the people he had seen before. He drove around the parking lot to find them just pulling out in a large, white stretch-van. He began to follow the van, paying close attention to the way they treated Miranda. From what he could see, they all were pretty quiet.