Chapter 17

Aj walked down the back stairs and into the kitchen.  The house was quiet; he notice as soon as he woke up it was quiet.  He went to check on Chelsea but she wasn’t there, no one was.  As he reached the bottom step Aj looked down at the kitchen table and saw a note.

“Alex, you were still sleeping went out for Breakfast, we’ll bring you back something, Kev.” Aj read as his eyes skimmed over the writing. “PS The coffee was made this morning.”  He smiled as he put the note down and walked over to the cupboard.  Pulling the door opened he took a coffee cup down and removed the coffee pot off the burner.  He poured a cup then walked out too the back porch door and sat down on the wooden chair, setting his coffee on the table beside it.  He pulled his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one, taking a drag and sitting back as he exhaled the smoke.  The sun was up but barely and you could tell the grass was covered in a morning due. 

When Aj heard a noise from inside the house, he butted out the cigarette and picked up his cup of coffee.  He walked into the house and across the kitchen to the living room door.

“Hello?” He said as the door whooshed behind him and he stopped in the middle of the living room when he didn’t see anyone.  Something in the corner caught his eye and he looked over to what it was.  The white linen drape was blowing in the breeze blowing through the window.  He looked at it puzzled wondering why they left the window open and walked over to it.  When he walked up beside the couch a crunching noise made him look down and he saw chunks of glass below his feet.

“What the hell?” He said as he looked back up at the window.  Looking closer he saw that the window wasn’t open, it was broken and as he turned around he felt something soft go over his mouth.  He dropped his coffee mug reaching up trying to pull away but something was holding onto him.  Then he smelt something sweet and then something rancid. It made him cough, it made his breathing quick, his head woozy, and then everything went dark. 

“Thank you” Chelsea said with a smile as she took the Styrofoam box from the woman across the counter.

“They’re still using that shit?” Kevin sighed as she walked up to him and Anne.

“Huh?” Chelsea said confused.

“That” Kevin said pointing to the box.  “It kills this planet and people still use it.”

“Ok” Chelsea said with a light laugh.  “When did you go all Green Peace?”

“Chels” Kevin said rolling his eyes as Anne chuckled to herself.  “And I’ll have you know that I’ve always cared, just could never do anything, now I can.”

“And what have you done?” She asked as they walked out of the restaurant.

“You know the mines.” Kevin said as he pulled out her keys.  “ Well the Bush administration energy plan at the time allowed coal companies to plow Appalachian mining waste into river valleys and streams.”

“Eww.” Chelsea said.

“I went to the Senate to testify and I started the Riverkeeper Program, plus Just Within Reach.”

“What’s that?” She asked as she climbed into the backseat.

“It was a charity I started to help raise money to clean up what happened out at the mines and other things.” Kevin said as he started the car.

“Cool” Chelsea said with a nod.  She looked down at the box on her lap and then looked at her watch.  “You think Alex would be up?”

“His ass better be.” Kevin said as he looked at his watch quickly.

“Like you’re one to talk, I may have been gone for 13 years but you still sleep like you’re in a coma.” Chelsea said as Anne started laughing.

“You’re encouraging her?” Kevin asked his mom.

“No hun just laughing.” Anne smiled.

“I wonder how his neck is doing.” Kevin said with a light laugh.

“Or his back.” Anne sighed.

“What?” Chelsea asked confused.

“When I went back to bed I opened the door to check on you and he was sitting propped up beside your bed with his head on your mattress passed out.” Kevin said as he looked back at her through the rearview mirror.  “Woke him up sent him back to his bed.”

“Oh” Chelsea said with a light smile as she looked out the window.

“You know now that it has sunk in a little, you two really do make a cute couple.” Anne said as she turned a little in her seat looking back at Chelsea.

“No” Chelsea said shaking her head.  “We’re not a couple.” She said quickly.

“Well I know hun, what I meant was just seeing you two together.” Anne told her.

“It’s a vibe.” Kevin nodded.

“A vibe?” Chelsea said with a little laugh.

“Yeah you know a feeling you get when you see someone.” Kevin said to her as he turned down the Richardson’s street.

“And mine are always right.” Anne said with a nod.  It made Chelsea laugh but inside she was hoping Anne was telling truth.

“Besides if you wanna talk about relationships why don’t you tell me why it took you so long to ask Kristin to marry you.” Chelsea said sarcastically as she lightly tapped him on the shoulder.  She sat back laughing as Kevin turned into the driveway, ignoring her question and parked beside Aj’s car.  Putting the box of food down on the seat she unbuckled her seat belt and then picked the box back up as she opened the car door and got out.  She walked up the drive way but stopped behind Anne and Kevin when they stopped just before the porch steps.

“Forget your keys in the car?” Chelsea asked jokingly.

“Stay here.” Kevin said to Anne.  “Better yet get in the car and lock the doors.” Kevin said handing Anne the keys.

“What? you’re not going in there alone, call the Sheriff.” Anne said in protest.

“What’s going on?” Chelsea asked as she started looking around.  When she scanned along the porch near the other side of the house she saw the broken window.

“Alex..” She said breathless as she made a dash for the house, the box in her hand falling to the ground.

“Chelsea!” Kevin shouted as he reached out for her and just caught her by the sleeve of her shirt.  She quickly spun around from the momentum and then shoved him back but he still had a hold of her arm.  They shoved back and forth as Chelsea screamed at Kevin to let her go but he wouldn’t as long as she didn’t go near the house and he could see her, he didn’t care what she was doing right now. 

“Chelsea stop.” Kevin said as he grabbed her by the arms.  “We don’t even know what happen.”

“Then why won’t you let me go in there?” She asked crying.

“Because..” Kevin said but he didn’t want to say it.

“Because it could be my dad and Alex is in there alone.” She said crying.  “Now let me go!” She yelled as she shoved him again.  He still didn’t let go and she continued to yell at him.  He looked over at his mom and she was talking on the phone.

“Let’s go wait for the police over by the car.” Kevin said to her.

“Kevin” Was all she said as she looked at him, her eyes flooding with tears.  He couldn’t say anything to her as he walked her over to the car and making sure his mom was behind them.  He got her to sit on the back seat but she wouldn’t allow him to close the door. 

It wasn’t long before the police and sheriffs had shown up and began searching the house.  Chelsea stared at the house as the men and woman walked around everywhere.  Poking at the window, poking at the doors, inside the house, outside the house, on the back porch, and the longer they looked the worse she felt.  When someone walked up it broke her daze and she looked up.

“He’s not in there is he?” She said as she looked back to the house.

“No he’s not.” Kevin said and she heard his voice quiver.  She closed her eyes as she began to cry and then felt Kevin pull her into his arms.  “They found a coffee cup spilt on the floor in the living room, over by where the broken window is.” He said as he too started to cry.  “The backdoor was open, so they think he took off with him that way.”

“How could he just take him?” She asked.

“They found a bandana on the floor; they think it was soaked in chloroform.”  Kevin told her.

“Oh god Kevin his Mom, his mom is going to spazz out.” Chelsea said as she started to panic again.

“I’ll handle Denise alright.” Kevin said to her.

“It’s all my fault, this is my fault.”

“No, Chelsea this is not your fault ok?” Kevin said quickly as he tried to calm her down.

“Mr. Richardson?” Someone said from behind them and they both looked up.  “We need to ask a few more questions, over here?” The female police officer said.

“Ok, one second please?” Kevin said and the woman lightly nodded and then walked over to her partner.

“Where’s your mom?” Chelsea asked.

“She’s talking to Brian on the phone.” Kevin said as he gently rubbed her arms.

“You better go.” She whispered.  Kevin hugged her one more time, then stood up and walked over to the police officer who had asked to talk to him a second ago.  Again she felt the sadness over whelm her and she closed her eyes, trying to push the tears away but it didn’t work.  Pulling her legs in she closed the door and curled up on the backseat as she closed her eyes, closing out everything around her.