Chapter 10 - Fourth Day, Part 1

Fourth Day



Part 1



The new day has come and it seemed very cruel to the prisoners of the bus. The heat was beyond endurance, although it was only about nine. They were tired, because their sleep was hard-pressed and dreamless. The sun only multiplied their sufferings.
Frankie’s mouth was dry; she looked for the last bottle of water. She couldn’t find it anywhere.
- Where’s the water? – She asked.
- I took it... – replied Bloo shortly.
- Where is it then?
- In here. – said Bloo, pointing at his stomach.
- What?! You drunk all the water???! – shouted Frankie in horror.
- Don’t need to thank me.
- What are you talking about???
- I had to drink the water to put this message in the bottle! I know it’s a dirty job, but I sacrificed myself for the others. – smiled Bloo proudly.
- Give me that! – exclaimed Frankie and took the bottle out of the blob’s hands.
She looked at the childish letters on the message. “Help! We need a big pepperoni pizza!”
- Pretty smart idea, ha? Oh yeah! – enthused Bloo.
- And how do you want to get this up there? – asked Frankie. She felt she’s going to lose her temper.
- A... um... well... I was... You don’t need to criticize me you know!
Frankie’s eyes grew narrow.
- Okay, perhaps my plan needs a tiny bit of correction, but if you have a better one, why didn’t you say so? – Bloo admitted.
Suddenly, Frankie crunched the bottle in her hand, the pieces rolled apart on the floor. She didn’t do anything else, just stared at Bloo in a way that made the imaginary friend retreat.
Mac noticed Frankie’s strange behavior and asked her what problem was. After he got no respond, he turned to Bloo.
- What did you do?
- Nothing, nothing. She just went mad; I don’t know why, I have nothing to do with it. – said the blob.
- Oh really? – Mac raised his eyebrow.
- Well, yeah. I’ve just wasted all of our water, that’s all, no biggy. – answered Bloo.
- You did what?!
Bloo had to repeat it.
- But I did it for our own good! I just wanted to help! – The blob excused.
Before Mac could strike back, Coco joined the conversation.
- Co cocococco cococo cococcocococ coco!
- What? That was too fast... No abla English... – mocked Bloo.
- Stop it, Bloo! Coco’s right! We have to make an advantage out of your foolishness! – yelled Mac.
Bloo’s reply was a skeptic expression.
- All right! Coco gave me an idea... – Mac began, but he was interrupted.
Suddenly, Eduardo stood up.
- I can’t take it anymore! I have to get out of here! Muerto, muerto!!! – He screamed.
He rushed forward, he ran through between Mac, Bloo and Coco, he ran beside Frankie, who was still standing still, gazing into the nothingness. He reached the front of the bus, and then started to punch the door with his strong paws. The whole vehicle teetered by his blows.
- Ed, stop, you’re dooming us all! – shouted Goo, who tried to bring Frankie back from wherever she was at the time. All the others ran to the huge imaginary friend grabbing his fur to pull him back. They couldn’t have succeeded without a little help. All of a sudden, Ed recognized a bigger spider at his feet.
- Spider!!! – He cried and drew back. Then he fainted.
Frankie awakened by Ed’s scream.
- What happened? – She asked. Then she realized she was still holding some pieces of the bottle in her palm.
- Ed went crazy and wanted to kill us! – replied Bloo.
- You’d better shut up! - hissed Frankie. The blob escaped behind Mac.
- I’m sorry, but what was this all about? I’ve never seen Ed so frightened. – Wilt said.
Only Mac answered.
- This situation... This situation slowly makes everyone of us mad...
The gang coincidently bowed their heads down.

***

Officer Thomas Bradley visited the premises of the accident for the first time. As he stepped out of the car, the heat immediately struck his skin. His partner, Officer Steve Mason followed him.
- Man, it’s hot, even up here... – declared Mason.
- Tell me about it. Now, what do we have here? – said Bradley walking to the border. He saw the black stripes on the road.
- What do you think? – asked he.
- It’s quite unambiguous to me. – replied Mason. – The girl had a great time with her friends, got drunk and ran off the road. The wreck must be down there, somewhere under the trees. Case closed.
He picked out a cigarette and a Zippo lighter from his inner pocket.
- I don’t know... That sounds too obvious. – answered Bradley and took his sunglasses down.
- Nah... We have dozens of cases like this in every year! Youngsters... – reasoned Mason and made a deep gulp.
- Maybe you’re right, but my intuition says something else.
- Intuitions? You cannot rely only on intuitions in this job. – declared Mason.
Bradley ignored his partner’s statement, just looked down, but he couldn’t see under the green blanket of trees.
- Our troops have just entered the other side of the forest. Believe me! One or two days and they’ll find a wreck with seven corpse in it. I know it sounds cold and unsympathetic, but I’m just realistic. – Mason continued.
- Yeah, that’s possible. We’ll see what the searchers will come up with. – replied Bradley.
Mason has finished his cigarette. He dropped and stepped on it.
- Hey, you want a coffee? I could use one! – offered he and walked to the front of the car.
- Sure. It’s gonna be a long day... – Bradley made a weak smile. He looked at the scenery once more, while his partner got in. He put his sunglasses back on, got in as well, and started the engine. He turned the car around and drove back to the city.

***

When every single resident of Foster’s came together in the cafeteria, Madame Foster and Mr. Herriman informed them about Frankie’s and the other’s disappearance. Everyone began to talk and set up their own theories what might have happened to Frankie. The chitchat grew more and more intense, as the imaginary friends wanted to outdone the other’s voice. Madame Foster raised her hand and soon, everyone stopped talking. After the residents had lunch, the Madame and Mr. Herriman remained alone in the huge cafeteria.
- That’s terrible, Herriman! If something bad happened to them, everyone will blame me, because I let them go on a trip! And they are right! It’s my fault...
- I’m afraid I cannot agree with you this time. – said the bunny. He always used wide range of vocabulary. – I’ve authorized the excursion, without examining the bus’s mechanic condition. In my opinion, there was a malfunction, which caused the accident, or whatever has happened. If there’s a person who’s responsible, I am!
Madame Foster smiled at him.
- We’ll going to see them again, won’t we?
- Yes Madame... Of course... – replied Herriman, but he was not convinced about this.

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