Hell on Earth

Chapter Twenty One - Help

When Cynthia woke up in the morning after a very short amount of restless sleep, she heard her mom calling for the cat. She wished she could tell her mom the truth, but that would be way too dangerous. At least they had an excuse to get her out of the house. Cynthia went to the kitchen where her mom was pacing back and forth.

"Cynthia, I know I asked Dustin the same thing, but are you sure she's not in your room?" she asked.

"I scoured the entire room, Mom," Cynthia put her hands on her mother's shoulders. "In the closet, under the bed, everywhere. I'm sure that someone will find her. That's why we called people last night. They're going to help us find her.

"Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle," Dustin was answering the phone. "Thank you so much. You are a true lifesaver. All right, this was great. Thank you. All right, have a good one. Bye-bye, now. All right, you too." Dustin hung up the phone and turned towards them. "All right, great news."

"They found her?" their mom asked.

"No," Dustin shook his head. "But, they saw her wandering around Loch Nora."

"How did the poor baby get all the way out here?" their mom cried.

"I don't know," Dustin told her. "Lost, I guess, but they're going to look for her."

"Dustin and I will stay right here in case anyone calls or Mews comes back home," Cynthia told her mother.

"And you're going to help look," Dustin told their mom.

"Yes," their mom nodded her head.

"Yeah," Dustin nodded back. He opened his arms to his mother. "Give me a hug. Give me a hug. Go get her: you're going to find her."

"Okay," their mom said. "We can find her."

"We can find her," Cynthia echoed.

There was an echo of 'I love you's', but they got their mother out of the door. They watched as she drove out of the driveway.

"Your weird pet just had to eat Mom's emotional support divorce cat," Cynthia sighed.

"Let's do this," Dustin said.

Before they opened Dustin's door, they put some extra padding on. Pillows, extra shirts, a broom to keep Dart at an acceptable distance from them. After they were properly padded, Cynthia grabbed her blade and kept it on her belt. She grabbed the chicken and Dustin opened the door.

"All right, Dart," Dustin called into the room. "Breakfast time."

Cynthia held up the chicken and tried to entice Dart outside. After a minute, he appeared in the middle of the room. The siblings ran out of the room through the back door. Every few feet, Cynthia would throw a piece of chicken behind her.

All Cynthia could hear was Dustin repeating the word, "Shit."

The siblings got outside and opened the cellar door. Cynthia had the entire bucket of chicken. Dart was poking his head out of the back door. He wanted to go after the bucket, but clearly did not trust the situation.

"Come on," Dustin tried to coax him out. "Come on. I know you're hungry."

Dart, well, darted for the chicken. Cynthia dropped the entire bucket down the cellar door. Dart chased after it. As soon as Dart was in the cellar, Dustin and Cynthia closed the doors. Dustin made sure to lock them tight. They held their breath as Dart figured out their trick and tried to get out of the cellar, but he couldn't get past the lock. He made the most awful screeching noises, but Cynthia didn't care. He was contained.

"Sorry," Dustin told the creature. "You ate my cat."

"Let's get reinforcements," Cynthia looked at her brother.