Four Flames for Angela

“Angie’s at the house waiting on us to bring you home. Can you tell me what the problem is? Why are you in here?”

Todd sat up and reached for Sawyer. Sawyer picked him up and sat on the cot with Todd on his lap. “Tell me what happened, Todd.”

Todd wrapped his arms tightly around Sawyer’s neck and pulled his head down until he could whisper in his ear, “I saw him.”

“Who did you see, Todd?” Sawyer asked, confused.

“Shh, I’ll get in trouble. It has to be a secret,” Todd whispered again.

“Okay,” Sawyer answered quietly, looking at Felicia for help.

She just shrugged her shoulders. “No clue,” she mouthed and turned to her son. “Dustin, do you know what Todd’s talking about?”

“Yeah, but he might get in trouble if I tell,” Dustin answered.

Felicia knelt down to Dustin’s level. “Honey, if you know something that will help us figure out what is going, would you please tell us?” she said softly.

Dustin looked at Todd and said, “You better tell them. They’ll find out.”

Todd nodded back and said, “I lied,” very softly.

“What did you lie about?” Sawyer asked.

“I said I was sick.”

“Why did you say you were sick?” Sawyer was even more confused.

“Because of him.” Todd stuck his thumb back in his mouth.

“Him who, Todd?” Sawyer could tell something had really upset the child, and he needed to figure out what it was.

Hunter had stepped outside to call Rock, River, and Angie and tell them what was going on.

“Do you know what he’s talking about, Dustin?” Felicia asked her son.

“The man. There was a man. He didn’t look nice. He was at the window. The teacher didn’t see him. He said something to Todd, then Todd started crying and said he was sick.” Dustin grabbed Felicia and hugged her tight.

“Todd, do you know who the man was?” Sawyer asked, pulling Todd’s thumb out of his mouth so he could answer.

“The mean man. He pushed me down when he yelled at Angie. He wants to hurt us.” Todd started crying and clung to Sawyer.

Chapter Fourteen

Hunter explained the problem with the teacher to River. He wasn’t sure why River was answering Rock’s phone, but whatever. They needed to get Angie to the school before the teacher left.

River hung up the phone. “We need to get to the school. The teacher knows where Todd is, but she won’t tell Sawyer or Hunter since they aren’t a parent or a guardian.”

“That’s Ms. Jean. She’s good with the kids and very protective of them. I need to add all of you to Todd’s pick-up information. We can do that on Monday. Everybody likes to get out early on Friday if they can. She won’t tell anyone but me what’s going on.”

River helped Angie stand up, and they told Alvin they’d be back soon and headed to the school.

Sawyer, Hunter, Dustin, Felicia, and Todd were all standing outside the school waiting when they arrived.

Angie rushed out of the car and ran up to them, grabbing Todd and pulling him close to her. “What happened?” she asked no one in particular.

“The mean man was here and I lied.” Todd started sobbing again.

“Oh, honey, it’s okay. Let’s go home and we’ll talk about it.” They all started walking toward the vehicles.