“Mmm…” muttered Abby as he slowly opened her eyes, awakening from her sleep.  Her vision was blurred, but as she let out a deep yawn and shook her head, everything started to come into focus.  Directly in front of her, she could see the blue, clear sky.  Opening her mouth again, she let out a long, deep yawn and began to sit herself up.  As she came up, she blinked a few times and looked to the side, seeing Mr. Brimm and a blonde cheerleader right next to her, smiling.

“Miss Abby!  You’re awake!” exclaimed Mr. Brimm, nearly jumping off the cheerleader’s long, soft palm in excitement.  Slowly picking himself back up, he looked at Abby, who was still in a bit of a daze. 

Rubbing her eyes and letting out a third yawn, she started sleepily talking to Mr. Brimm, still half-asleep.  “I’m… I’m awake.  Where am I?  What am I doing here?”  She rubbed her hands over her eyes as she groggily asked her questions.  Still in the process of waking up, she had not remembered the urgency of her trip over to the Cheering Practice Zone, nor could she even tell that she was in that very place.

“Maybe we should give her a few minutes to wake up, Coach,” said the cheerleader, looking down at Mr. Brimm.  He looked up to her and nodded in agreement.  Abby seemed very out of it at the moment and, even if they told her where she was, it was unlikely that she’d remember what she was doing there until she’d woken up anyways.  The two of them sat down in front of Abby and watched as she continued to wake up, blinking and shaking her head.

Abby’s head was a mess.  A lot was jumbling around in her head, but she couldn’t remember much while fatigue was rolling around in her head.  She could vaguely remember rushing around, trying to get somewhere.  Where was that place, though, and what purpose did she have for rushing around, trying to get there?  A lot of questions were running around in her head, but the answers would slowly come back to her.  She closed her eyes and listened to voices and memories that were playing in her head.

‘You seem like a very kind lady, Abby…I understand that you want to tell me, but please, take your time…I’m sorry, Abby…please, no more…We need to get you cleaned up...I have to save my little Jimmy before he gets hurt!’  The collection of memories swirled around and finally made Abby jolt her head up as she woke up the rest of the way.  She gasped as she did and she frantically turned her head every which way.  She finally remembered where she was, and what she was doing there.

Throwing herself to her feet, she began to run up and down the Cheering Practice Zone, looking for Jim, panting and screaming out his name.  “Jim…Jim!  Jim, where are you?”  Mr. Brimm had quickly been set down on the ground and the blonde cheerleader had gotten to her feet, making her way towards the frantic Abby.  Quickly grabbing her by the arms, she turned the girl around and looked her in the eyes. 

“Hey, calm down, Abby!  What’s wrong?”

As Abby had been grabbed, the frantic thoughts going around in her head came to a halt as she looked into the eyes of the woman who’d stopped her running.  She looked deep into her eyes, her own eyes started to tear up from all the thoughts going through her head.  “I, uh…I…I’m trying to find someone.  I know they have to be here somewhere.  I have to find him now before he gets hurt!”  She then tried to wiggle herself free from the woman’s grasp, but the woman just pulled her into her chest, holding her tight so she couldn’t even move.  Leaning her head forward, she began to whisper in her ear.

“Listen, Abby.  You’re not going to be able to find anyone in this condition.  If this person is one of the smaller folks, you’d crush them underneath your shoes before you’d be able to find and bring them to safety.  Now, I want you to calm down.  I’m going to take you over to Mr. Brimm, and you can tell us what’s going on.  Okay, hun?”

Abby felt restrained, but as she listened to what she was being told, she calmly nodded in agreement.  As soon as she’d heard that she could’ve crushed Jim under her feet, she started getting scared and nervous.  If she was being that careless, she would need to calm herself down.  She was then lead back over to where she’d been sitting before.  Mr. Brimm had quickly run out of their way as he saw the two towering ladies approaching. 

After they’d set themselves down, he slowly walked back towards them.  The blonde lowered her hand for him, and he was soon up at eye-level with the tear-struck Abby, who was sniffling and taking deep breaths.  The blonde’s other hand was on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.  Taking control of the conversation, the blonde began to speak to Abby again, asking her to explain who she was looking for, and what led her to this part of campus.

Slowly, taking deep breaths between her statements, Abby explains the events that had unfolded earlier.  She spoke of how she ran into Fran on campus, and learned about a cheerleader with crimson-red hair becoming in possession with Jim King, someone who was new to the school and she’d befriended. 

“She…probably doesn’t even know she has Jim.  Fran thought she’d accidentally picked him up in her pom-pom after she’d run into Fran earlier today.  I needed to get her before she did, so I could try to find him and keep him from getting hurt while you ran your practice.”

Mr. Brimm looked at the woman, and she back at him.  They thought for a minute or so about the description of this young girl.  Mr. Brimm didn’t think they had any crimson-haired girls on the squad.  After a moment, they started conversing with one another.  Although Mr. Brimm didn’t know who Abby spoke of, the blonde seemed to. 

“Mr. Brimm, I think she’s talking about that new recruit.  You know, the cute girl that just finished tryouts yesterday.  What was her name…Emily, maybe?  Yes…I think it was Emily.  She must be the one who has this Jim person.”

Mr. Brimm went into thought about it.  He did remember hearing about some younger woman coming to the tryouts the day before, but he couldn’t picture her face since he hadn’t been there.  The lead cheerleading woman had taken charge of the tryouts this year, so he didn’t know who the new recruits were until today.  He remembered the name, though.  He’d been told that Emily was a brand-new student to the university, of the tall variety.  She’d seemed shy and nervous, but she’d made the cut.  He was about to call up to the blonde and ask about her, but she seemed to be on the same thought as he was, and spoke to him and Abby before he had a chance.

“I remember Emily very well from yesterday.  Her hair would have made her stand out among the rest of us, and she was not here today.  She wasn’t among the students who came to practice before we sent them home when Abby here strolled in and collapsed.”

Abby started feeling a little nervous after she heard that this “Emily” person hadn’t made it to the Practice Zone.  If she was the one who’d taken hold of Jim and she hadn’t made it to this place yet, then where was she?  It’s not like a cheerleader would instantly forget where the Practice Zone was, especially a single day after she’d tried out for the squad.  Something must have happened that kept her from reaching this place.

“W-Well…” said Abby, a little nervous, as she stood up, pushing away the woman’s hand from her shoulder, “If they’re not here, then…where are they!?  She probably doesn’t even know she picked him up!  We’ve got to find them.”

The woman then stood up and grabbed a hold of Abby with her free hand before she could run off to look for them.  She quickly put Mr. Brimm up on her shoulder and looked Abby in the eyes.  “Abby, you’re right.  If Emily is out there, unaware that she has a small person in her possession, they need to be found right away.  But don’t go running off on your own.  Wait here a moment, okay?”

Abby softly nodded as she looked at the woman in the eyes.  Closely watching, she saw her leave her current position and drop Mr. Brimm off in the tower he’d been in when Abby first arrived at the Practice Zone.  Walking back over to Abby, she smiled and put her hand on her shoulder once again.  “I’ll come with you, and help you search for her.  I’ve seen Emily before, and may be able to find her in a crowd more quickly than you can.”

Abby, although still nervous, smiled towards the kind woman and muttered a soft “Y-yeah.  Thank you.”  The two then turned and walked away from the Practice Zone and back into the main set of fields that spanned the campus…