Ethan and I sat in front of the store and stared into the distance where we could see the blinding lights of the police vehicles and the ambulance. I felt like my head was spinning and my thoughts were wrapped up around each other. I think that neither me nor Ethan could actually fully process that we escaped Eztli. Once we did, however, I was instantly cruelly reminded that Tim was still down there in God knows what kind of conditions. His stomach had been cut open, he was hooked up to devices to help him breath and even before that he was beaten up by Eztli countless times just like I was and he was tasered on top of it too.
I was so deep in thought I didn't even notice that the police cars had already parked in front of the store and the policemen walked towards us until I saw black shoes on the ground in front of me. I looked up and was faced with two policemen, the others were still in their cars next to the ambulance and the paramedics that got out of it. The two policemen standing in front of us were tall and in shape. The one standing in front of me had blond hair and brown eyes, his lips in a thin line and his hair neatly brushed back. The policeman standing in front of Ethan had light brown hair and caramel like eyes. He seemed nicer. His eyes shone with understanding and his light brown hair was more tousled. He also seemed younger than the other one. He was about 21 years old, while the blond haired one seemed to be about 40 years old.
Ethan and I stood up and introduced ourselves. The blond haired one introduced himself as lieutenant Robert Stone and the brown haired one introduced himself as sergeant Noah Cohen. They told us that they heard about us already and that the case of my disappearance and Tim's was assigned to lieutenant Stone and Ethan's case was assigned sergeant Noah. I immediately decided to call Noah by his name in my head and Robert Stone by his surname. I think Ethan decided to do the same. Noah then started talking to Ethan, because he was his very first job he got when he started working at the police station. Lieutenant Stone then turned towards me to start his questioning.
Of course, the first thing I told him about was the fact that Tim was still down in the mine and the condition that he was probably in right now. I saw the flicker of worry pass over the lieutenant's face, but it was gone as soon as it came. He waved to the other 6 policemen that were now standing next to their cars about 10 metres away from us. They came over and only then did I see that they also had a police dog with them, a beautiful German Shepherd.
They asked me if I could remember where Tim was in the mine or if I had anything of his with me. I dug into my pockets and the only thing I could find was my phone. That was when I remembered that Tim also took pictures of all of the rooms and the things we saw in the mine. I showed the photos to the policemen standing around me and I could see concern, pain and horror painted on all of their faces. The policemen holding the German Shepherd asked me if he could borrow the phone for a little while so the dog could try to get a smell off of it and try to find Tim that way as well as following our smells to get to the correct rooms and take the right passages in the mine. I allowed him to take the phone, the dog sniffed it and five of the cops went into the mine that Ethan and I just came out of not so long ago.
I turned back toward the policemen that were standing in front of me and saw that Ethan was still talking to Noah. They seemed to get along great, even though Ethan still seemed to be in a horrible condition. Lieutenant Stone started asking me questions again, about how long I was in the mine, how much do I remember and if there was anyone else besides Eztli there. I told him as much as I could remember. About coming home from the skate park that evening, blacking out in front of our house and waking up in the cell where I was tied up. I told him about how Eztli came down into the cell every day and would beat me up, I told him how I escaped when I heard that Tim had also been kidnapped and how tried to escape together, only for us to get caught again and for Tim to end up in the situation that he was in now. I told him about meeting Ethan, finding Charlotte's diary and finally being able to get to freedom.
The lieutenant wrote all of the important things down in his notebook, but he said that Tim, Ethan and I will still have to come to the station for further questions. While he was writing things down, he looked serious and like he would rather be anywhere else but here. I looked over at Ethan and saw that Noah and he were talking to each other and smiling occasionally as well. Noah seemed interested in every word that Ethan said, and I was glad for that, considering that Ethan didn't have an easy life, he deserved someone to listen to him and be able to make him smile again.
I checked the wristwatch on the lieutenant's hand and saw that it has already been about half an hour since the five other policemen went into the mine to find Tim, Eztli and Doctor Rachel Davis. As if on cue, one of the five policemen ran out of the mine with the German Shepherd in tow. He came to a stop next to us and once he caught his breath he started talking. 'We found the boy' he said, 'he was in the room they said he was going to be in. I don't think that Eztli and the other woman figured out that Juliet and Ethan escaped yet, because Eztli seemed pretty surprised when he saw us. He tried to escape first and then when we had him cornered, he tried to shoot at us with his gun but luckily Romeo here managed to knock him down.' With that he patted the head of the German Shepherd that was sitting next to him, his brown eyes shining with wisdom. 'The boy is in a pretty bad state, however. Two of our guys stayed down with him while the three of went to look for the woman. But she is nowhere to be found. We even let Romeo explore the mine, but he couldn't find her anywhere, we think she escaped. I came up here to tell you that we absolutely need the paramedics down there with us to help us transfer the boy.' The paramedics quickly made sure that Ethan and I were at least mildly ok as soon as they arrived. But now three of them ran back into the mine with a stretcher in hand and the policeman and the dog guiding them. I could only hope that Tim was going to be ok, there was nothing more that I could do right now.
However as soon as I heard the news about the doctor, I felt immense hate towards her. How could she just kill all of those girls and hurt Tim so badly? I knew that some people would do almost anything for money, but hurt and kill other human beings? That crossed every line there was. The policemen told us that before us, Eztli had killed more than twenty girls, but nobody was ever ale to find him, and if anyone was, they were killed by him. They also told us a little bit more about Charlotte. They said that she had a little sister an older brother and that her parents died in a car crash when she was 16. Since then her little sister, her brother and her lived mostly by themselves and tried to get by every day. Charlotte worked really hard in high school and was even able to get a full ride to the college that she was attending. They also told us that they were looking for her for so long, but just couldn't find her. I couldn't believe the story of Charlotte's live. Besides the fact that it was sad and traumatic, it also reminded me of another family's story. Ethan's. It was so alike to Charlotte's story and yet so different. It also clearly showed that people could go more ways after being victims in a tragedy. They could end up like Eztli, cold, dark, manipulative, distant and even murderous. Or they could end up as Charlotte and keep on going, being as positive as they could, even in the times of darkness and full on negativity.
The lieutenant told us that in the end the case went cold and not long after that they got a new one, which was Ethan's and they decided that since they all spent so long with Charlotte's case, they decided that they needed to get another fresh pair of eyes on Ethan's case and so Noah got assigned his case.
I glanced towards the pair again and just as I turned to look at them, Ethan seemed to lose his consciousness and as soon as Noah saw what was going on, he reached out towards him and managed to catch him just in time before Ethan hit the ground. Noah kneeled on the ground and gently laid Ethan down in his lap and called over the paramedic that stayed behind just in case if anything like this were to happen. He quickly ran over to them along with me and lieutenant Stone. He checked his pulse and then told us that we needed to carry Ethan to the ambulance to get some saline in his system seeing as he was dehydrated. Before lieutenant Stone or the paramedic could do anything, Noah had already picked Ethan up bridal style and was carrying him towards the ambulance. I risked a quick glance at both the paramedic and Stone and saw that while they both looked worried, the paramedic was smiling softly, but Stone however was staring harshly and even disgustedly at Noah and Ethan. I could see that the paramedic, whose name tag read James Mills, noticed the hard look in the lieutenant's eyes as well and tried to distract him. 'It's amazing how good he is with people isn't it? Noah, I mean. Considering how young he is, he sure does work hard and knows how to do his work well doesn't he?', Thomas said. 'Hm. I have to admit, I did have my doubts about him at the beginning, when he started working for us, however he has really proved himself so far. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid that would get him fired.' Replied lieutenant Stone while still glaring at Noah as he gently put Ethan down in the ambulance and Thomas rushed over to them to get the saline in Ethan's system.
I really didn't like Stone. He may be a cop and help people, but I didn't understand why he had to be so rude to people and why he couldn't just accept everyone. Of course, I knew that acceptance was hard. I knew that sometimes you couldn't really accept people, especially if you didn't know a lot about them or if they were different than you. And there were so many ways to be different! People could treat you differently just because of what you liked to do in your free time, or because you listened to different music than they did. And while these were only the small things, it's where it all starts. How are you going to accept anyone because they're a different gender than you, have a different religious background, are a different race, come from a different country than you do or have a different sexual orientation if you can't even accept your schoolmate who likes modern day pop music, while you prefer old time rock n' roll? I knew we all had to start small because if we didn't, we won't move on, wouldn't be able to really.
I looked back at Noah who was holding Ethan up while Thomas was looking for the right place to sting Ethan with the needle that would deliver him the saline that he needed. He finally found it and gently stung the needle into his vein and then connected him to the bag that contained the saline solution and we could see the liquid slowly dripping down the tube and into Ethan's hand. Even though we all knew that nothing was really wrong with Ethan, that he was just dehydrated, we were still all worried about him. After all the shocks of today, it was pretty much impossible to not be worried about certain things. They told us that after they would bring Tim out of the mine, they would drive the three of us into the hospital to do some more check ups on Ethan and I and to take Tim to the ER.
While the saline was flowing into Ethan's body, Thomas got everything ready for when the paramedics would bring Tim. He double checked all of the devices and machines they had in the ambulance and ready the devices they would need to keep Tim alive and to figure out his blood type, so that as soon as they arrived to the hospital, they would have his blood type ready and could perform needed operations and tests.
I kept looking from the entrance of the cave to Ethan and Noah, waiting for the paramedics to bring Tim back or for Ethan to regain his consciousness again. Speaking of, I could see Ethan's eyelids fluttering open slowly and he looked around himself, probably not exactly knowing where he was for a second. Noah softly tapped his shoulder to make Ethan look at him. He did and smiled weakly and Noah worriedly returned the smile. 'Hey. Do you remember what happened Ethan?', he asked him. 'I think… I remember talking to you and then I remember everything going black. I thought I was back in the mine again, Eztli was there, he was torturing me, beating me up with this baseball bat and it hurt so badly…' I could see tears collecting in the corners of Ethan's eyes as he spoke, and I almost cried myself.
Just then I could hear shouting coming from the entrance of the mine and we all turned to look at where the voices were coming from. I could see the cops first. More specifically, I could see the blue of their uniforms, as they came closer however, I saw the face of the man I hoped that I would never have to see ever again. There, coming towards us, guarded by the cops, was Eztli. One of the cops had a gun pressed against his back and another one was looking back at the entrance of the mine. I could see that Eztli's hands were cuffed so he couldn't escape and that even Romeo's watchful eyes were on him.
The closer to us they got, the more nervous I felt. This was the man that held me, Tim and Ethan captured for so long, he tortured us, he starved us and I don't think that any of us were ever truly going to get over the trauma and the nightmares that we all endured. Especially Ethan.
Speaking of, I glanced behind me, where the saline was still dripping into his body and he still hasn't regained consciousness completely. But as I looked into his eyes, I could see that he was afraid, terrified even. I could see Noah stand up and move in front of Ethan. While Noah's face was sympathetic and soft when he was talking to Ethan, it got hard and full of hate the minute he laid his eyes on Eztli. I might have not known Noah for a long time, but for as long as I did, I've never seen him so mad and full of hate. He was always only understanding and smiling, never with that kind of facial expressions. I would expect that from lieutenant Stone, but not from him.
'Well hello there little brother.' I could not believe it! Eztli just got captured and his brother was finally free and instead of apologizing or something, the first words that he said to Ethan would be normal in, well, normal circumstances which these were not. And even so, he said those words so full of malice and hate, even I shuddered the minute he uttered them. And he wasn't even talking to me. 'So, I come out here and the last thing I would expect to see is you getting yourself a boyfriend the minute you came crawling out. Ethan, really? I would not think you were that easy. I thought that dad taught you better than that!' 'Don't you dare mention dad! He was dead before I even started school!' Ethan was still hooked up to the saline solution, but that didn't stop him from talking back at Eztli.
I could see the smug smirk on Eztli's face and I saw that he was about to tear him a new one, but before he could, the cops pulled him towards the police car and sat him in the back seat. I turned back towards Ethan to check on him and saw that luckily Noah and Thomas were already at his side. Thomas was checking his pulse and the saline and Noah was trying to calm him down a bit even though I could see that he was quite angry himself.
Just then we once again heard loud voices coming from the entry of the mine. We turned around and what I saw almost broke me. The cops and paramedics were carrying Tim on the stretcher and he was still hooked up to the machine keeping him alive. They were running towards us and Stone and James ran towards them to help. Meanwhile Noah helped Ethan to get into a better sitting position so they could fit Tim in the ambulance easier as well. When they reached us, I could see the worried looks on their faces and their next words felt like an ice-cold shower.' His state was bad before, but it's only getting worse. We have to get him to the hospital, and we have to get him there now! It's only a matter of time whether he'll manage to survive or not.'