“Let me go.” Bo said as he struggled to break free from the two boys that held him.
All his efforts to try to get loose were in vain, the two boys holding him were both older and stronger then he was. He wished Luke was around, Luke would make these bullies let him go if he was. Luke always took care of him, but Luke wasn’t around. Bo wished that he was bigger and stronger so he could fight the four boys that had started bothering him, while he was fishing at Hazzard Creek, his attempt at fighting back had only rated him a bloody lip.
     “Keep quiet.” Martin said, raising his hand to threaten to smack Bo if he said another word.
Bo looked at the older Bo with unwavering dark blue eyes that shone with anger. Martin had expected the younger kid to be crying in fear when they attacked him, but Bo didn’t seem to be showing any signs of fear, and was remaining defiant.
     “You won’t get away with this.” Bo said flatly, he was actually quite afraid but was trying hard to hide it.
     “I told you to shut up.” Martin said, and smacked Bo across the mouth.
Bo flinched at the sharp blow and took a deep breath to bite back the tears of pain that swelled in his eyes.
     “When Luke finds out he’ll pound your head in.” Bo said.
Martin laughed. “Yeah right. I think between the four of us we’ll be the ones pounding his head in if he comes anywhere near us.”
Anger raged through Bo and he struggled to try to hit Martin for what he said. Jason tightened his grip on Bo’s other arm and Zack kicked him from behind, his foot striking firmly against the small of Bo’s back. Bo couldn’t help but cry out in pain, which made all the boys laugh.
     “Why do you even try to fight back? You know we can beat you with a hand tied behind our back.” Martin said.
Bo only glared at Martin with an angry look. “Why are you doing this?”
Martin only smiled at Bo, there was something in the smile that deep frightened Bo. Bo gave up fighting and stopped talking allowing the older boys to drag him along to wherever it was they were taking him. He began to realize where they were going the old abandoned circus train, that sat deserted in the middle of nowhere. There was an old abandoned building near the tracks, neither had been used in the past ten years, a wide open field was along the other side of the tracks. It was an area that nobody ever went near, there was stories that the circus train was haunted by ghosts. Bo trembled slightly and his eyes widened with fear. Martin smiled seeing that the young boy had become afraid. Bo hoped it wouldn’t take Luke too long to find him, he didn’t doubt that Luke would find him and save him. Luke was not only an older cousin to him he was also his best friend and more like an older brother then a cousin and he was Bo’s hero. Through Bo’s, seven year old, eyes Luke was a hero capable of doing anything, no matter how great the deed, and would always be there for there him to save him and keep him safe.  Bo adored Luke and wanted to be like him, in his mind Luke was a greater hero and was better then any of the television hero on the cowboy movies he watched with Luke. Martin let go of Bo and climbed up on the flatbed car of the train. Jason picked up Bo and tossed him up to Martin. Bo tried to get away from Martin, but his attempts were vain and Martin only held on to his arm tighter.  Martin drug Bo over to a small red cage that sat on the flatbed car. Bo’s stomach tightened as he realized just what these boys were planning to do to him. Bo tried hard as he could he to break free, and managed to twist out of Martin’s hold. Bo started to run but tripped over an old circus tent and fell down, slamming his knee hard into an old chain, Bo cried out in pain as it felt like a firecracker going on in his knee. Martin grabbed him by the back of his neck and hauled him to his feet. Bo stumbled unable to put any pressure on his left leg, his knee had already started to bruise, turning a dark purple. A sharp pain raced through Bo’s knee as Martin forced him to walk back over to the cage, his lip trembled and his eyes watered with tears. Jason, Zack and Matthew were all standing by the cage waiting. Bo stumbled into the cage, as Martin shoved him in, collapsing on the dirty floor of the cage. The door of the cage slammed shut like a gunshot. Matthew locked the door with a pad lock handing the key to Martin.
     “What should we do with the key?” Martin asked.
     “Why not just get rid of it, it is not like we will ever be letting him out of there.” Jason said.
Bo trembled in fear, terrified at the thought of being trapped in the small cage.
Martin smiled nastily. “True. Maybe one day someone will find the key and then can take his decaying remains out of there.”
Martin tossed the key from the train; it landed in a patch of tall weeds. Bo’s knee throbbed as he pulled himself into a sitting position and sat against the far wall of the cage.
     “Now what?” Matthew asked.
     “Now the real fun begins.” Martin said.
     “Do you think this train is really haunted?” Zack asked.
     “Yeah it is, and come night fall Bo will find that out for himself.” Martin said.
Bo watched the four older boys with terror filled eyes, he prayed for Luke to find him before nightfall, before the ghost came out. Bo was scared about what they were going to do him, in time in the past a bully had picked on him Luke had been right there to save him but Luke wasn’t there this time and Bo was scared of what might happen if Luke didn’t appear soon.
     “What is the matter Bo, are you scared?” Martin asked and laughed.
     “Oh the poor little baby, are you gonna cry?” Jason asked. “C’mon cry like the baby you are.”
Bo bit back the tears, trying hard to be brave like he knew Luke would be, his dark blue eyes watchful of the four boys every move. Jason picked up a metal bar and ran it along the metal bars of the cage, slamming in against the outer wooden frame.
     “All caged up just like an animal.” Zack said.
Matthew set the backpack he was carrying down and opened the bag. He took out a brown paper bag, and opened to reveal it was full of firecrackers. Martin smiled widely and pulled a lighter out of the pocket of his jeans. He pulled a firecracker out of the bag and lit it. Bo’s eyes widened in sheer terror as Martin tossed the lit firecracker into the cage with Bo. It landed a foot away from Bo’s foot and exploded. The sound of the firecracker going off drowning out the sound of Bo’s scream. Each of the boys then took out a firecracker from the bag. Bo couldn’t help but cry in fear and pain as he pulled his knees up tight to his body, praying none of the firecrackers would hit him. His left knee burned in pain from being tucked up like it was, but Bo was to afraid to move his leg for fear of being hit by one of the firecrackers. The four boys lit their firecrackers and tossed them into the cage, just barely missing Bo’s body, two of them landed were Bo’s leg had been. Bo whimpered softly in terror as the tossed the firecrackers in with him. There seemed to be and endless number of firecrackers. Bo screamed in fright a couple times when the firecracker bounced off him before exploding. His ears were ringing with the sound of the firecrackers going off. Finally there was no firecrackers left Martin, Matthew, Zack and Jason all stood there laughing as Bo sat trembling in fear, tears streaking his face. Bo’s knee ached but he was too terrified to move, his whole body frozen in fear.
     Luke sat looking for the science project that he was working on with Alex Chase. They were sitting on the floor in Alex’s rooms, the project spread out all around them. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, and had a twinge of worry that something was wrong with Bo.
     “Earth to Luke.” Alex said, waving his hand in front of Luke’s eyes.
     “What?” Luke asked.
     “You seemed to just space out there, are you okay?” Alex asked.
     “Yeah I just . . . had this bad feeling that something is wrong with Bo is all.” Luke said.
Alex smiled and shook his head.
     “What is that suppose to mean?” Luke asked.
     “Nothing just that you and Bo are closer then me and my own brother and your only cousins.” Alex said.
     “It is just different with me and Bo.” Luke said.
     “So I’ve noticed, everyone knows that about the two of you. You are lucky Bo is a lot less annoying then my little brother whose Bo’s age.” Alex said.
     “Do you mind if we do this another day, the project ain’t due till next month anyways, I just got a bad feeling that Bo is in trouble.”
     “That’s fine.” Alex said, and walked with Luke to the door. “I hope that Bo is okay.”
     “Thanks. Talk to you later Alex.” Luke said.
     “Bye now.” Alex said and waved bye then closed the door.
 Luke walked into the farmhouse, Jesse was sitting in the front room reading a book. He looked up when he heard Luke come in.
     “You’re home early, is everything okay?” Jesse asked.
Luke shrugged, not sure if he should tell Jesse that he thought Bo might be in some kind of trouble. “Where’s Bo?”
     “He’s out fishing at Hazzard Creek. Why is something wrong?” Jesse asked.
     “No. I just have something to talk to him about, and I want to tell him before I forget.” Luke said.
     “Oh okay.” Jesse said. “Don’t you boys stay out by the creek too late dinner is in two hours.”
     “Yes sir.” Luke said and rushed back outside.
Luke got on his bike and peddled fast as he could to the creek. He knew just where Bo would be fishing at, the same spot they always fished from at the creek.
     Luke became even more worried when he saw Bo wasn’t there, but his fishing line laid on the ground, still cast out into the water. Luke looked around for Bo, peering into the shadows of the woods for any sign of Bo.
     “BO! HEY BO, WHERE ARE YOU?” Luke yelled, trying to hide the worry in his voice.
Luke bent down on reeled the line in. He set the fishing line down with his bike and began to look through the woods, calling Bo’s name. Luke finally gave up and walked back to his bike. He became consumed by worry, he knew that Bo would never just take off, and that something had to be wrong. He knew he had to tell Jesse now that his feeling had been right. Luke got on to his bike, carrying Bo’s fishing pole, and sped back to the farm.
     Jesse knew that something had to be wrong as Luke raced into the house, his eyes reflected his worry.
     “What’s wrong?” Jesse asked.
     “I didn’t want to say nothing before in case I was wrong . . . but I wasn’t wrong.”  Luke said, speaking very quickly.
     “Just slow down Luke, what weren’t you wrong about?”
     “I had this feeling that Bo was in some kind of trouble . . . he is not at the creek fishing, his pole was there, still cast out and everything. I looked around but I couldn’t find him.” Luke said.
Jesse’s face paled slightly. “Are you sure?”
Luke nodded. “Yes sir I am sure. I just got this really bad feeling that Bo is in trouble.”
Jesse’s heart pounded with fear as his mind thought of all the things that could’ve happened to Bo, he could’ve been kidnapped, laying hurt somewhere, or worse.
     “What are we gonna do Uncle Jesse?” Luke asked.
     “About the only thing we can do, tell the sheriff that Bo is missing and have him help us look for Bo.” Jesse said, he tried to hide how worried he was from Luke, as not to make Luke more worried then he already was.
Luke followed Jesse outside and got into Jesse’s old white pick up truck. Luke looked out the window as the headed into town watching the woods they passed, hopeful for some sign of Bo, there was of course no sign of him.
 Jesse pulled to a stop in front of the courthouse, and Luke followed him inside. Rosco looked up from a pile of papers when they walked in.
     “Oh, hi Jesse, what can I do for you?” Rosco asked.
     “Bo is missing.” Jesse said.
     “Oh that’s just terrible. How long has he been missing?”
     “We just found out that he is missing. You see he was fishing out at Hazzard Creek, and he just seems to have vanished.” Jesse said.
     “You can’t legally declare Bo to be missing for twenty four hours.” Rosco said.
     “If you ain’t gonna help us, then we are just gonna go and try to find him ourselves. I know something is wrong and I sure ain’t sitting around for no twenty-four hours to wait for your help.” Luke said.
Jesse put a hand on Luke’s shoulder and gave him a look to hush. Rosco just smiled.
     “I never said I wasn’t gonna help ya Luke. I don’t think we should be waiting twenty-four hour neither, I was just saying that is when you can file a report that he is missing. I can help you know, after all police work is my life.” Rosco said.
Luke gave a small smile, though his heart wasn’t really in it, he was too worried about Bo.
     “Thank you Rosco.” Jesse said.
     “No problem. And don’t you worry about Bo I am sure we will find him in no time and he’ll be just fine.” Rosco said.
They search party then set off to try to find Bo.
     Jason glanced at his watch. “It is almost dinner time, we had best get going.”
     “Yeah, I don’t know about y’all but I was having so much fun I lost track of time.” Martin said.
Jason, Zack and Matthew all nodded in agreement.
     “How about you Bo, you having fun?” Martin asked.
Bo only stared blankly at the older Bo, too afraid to move or speak. Martin pulled out a plastic bag and took out a piece of raw meat.
     “Figure since you are all caged up like an animal that you should be eating like one.” Martin said, tossing the raw meat into the cage with Bo, it landed a few inches away from him. “You had better eat it all up before all the wild animals come around, they’ll be clawing at the cage to get at it and you if you don’t”
     “It starts to get dark in about an hour, I hope you ain’t afraid of the dark.” Jason said, and laughed.
Bo watched as the four boys disappeared from sight then he started to cry, his whole body shook with sobs, he had never felt so alone in his whole life. Bo took a deep breath and started to yell out for help, screaming until his throat hurt and he couldn’t scream any longer. Bo sat quietly watching the sunset over the horizon knowing he’d soon be alone in the dark, and that scared him more then anything. Once it was dark the ghost and the creatures that go bump in the night would be lurking through the darkness all around him.
     When it started to grow dusk, they stopped looking for Bo, knowing they wouldn’t be able to find him in the dark. Rosco told Jesse that he would file a missing person’s report for Jesse first thing in the morning. Neither Jesse nor Luke ate much dinner, they both just mostly pushed the food around on their plates. They were too worried about Bo to eat. After dinner Luke sat by the window watching the encroaching darkness creep slowly across the land. Jesse walked over and stood behind Luke, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
     “I feel this is my fault.” Luke said.
     “It is not your fault Luke, why would you think it is? We don’t even know what happened.”
     “It don’t matter what happened, I should’ve been there to protect Bo, to take care of him like I normally am.” Luke said.
     “It is not your fault Luke, you had no way of knowing that anything was going to happen. I am sure that Bo will be okay.” Jesse said.
     “I still just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong, and now I just feel so alone.” Luke said.
     “You are not alone, I am here.” Jesse said.
     “I know that Uncle Jesse it is just . . . different.” Luke said.
Jesse nodded in understanding he knew it was because a kind of bond that the two boys had since they were so close, or he wondered if it was a bond that made them close.
     Bo laid down on the floor of the cage, laying his head on his hands, and got as comfortable as he could. He started to think about what had happened out by the pond. Luke had gone to work on his science project and Jesse was busy so Bo had gone fishing on his own. The spot that he and Luke fished from wasn’t very far from the farm, and after promising to be careful Jesse had let him go there on his own.