"No, I am going to get help and everything is going to be fine. You had better not even think of dying on me now," Jason yelled back into his brother's face. But his words sounded on deaf ears. Adam just lay there, crying hysterically. Jason felt like his whole world was coming to an end. His brother lay before him, possibly dying, and now Adam wanted him to let him go. He felt the pit of his stomach sink. "I am going to the road to get help. You stay here and hold this bandage to your head to help slow down the bleeding." Jason started to run up the steep hill, even though he was completely exhausted. But a voice called him back.

"I am sorry Jason. I am not the strong person you thought I was big brother," Adam said. "I will not be a burden." With that, Adam held a gun to his head...and pulled the trigger.

The sound of a banging noise woke Jason out of his fitful sleep. Jason's eyes shot open, thankful that it was just a horrible dream. His face was warm and his body was damp from sweating profusely.

"Oh my God why did I dream that?" he softly muttered to himself.

"I have no idea, but I wish you would wake up to reality!" another voice sneered back. It was then that Jason realized that he was not alone. He focused his eyes on the face that was staring right at him, but everything was still fuzzy. "Come on, we have to go and find them. Something is up."

"What are you talking about?" Jason whispered back.

"Dumb and Dumber," The voice quipped back. "This is Stephanie, your cousin. Now let's get going. I can't wait to see what Jake has done this time."

"Jake? Done this time? Dumb and Dumber?" Jason asked, sitting up to face his cousin. Stephanie was his Aunt Katherine's youngest daughter and she enjoyed putting her nose into everyone else's business. Even though she was sixteen, Stephanie was just as spunky and beautiful as any woman walking the street was. She had often written letters to Jason, expressing a lot of envy for his life of "adventure" as a detective. It was true that Jason and Adam had not only solved a few cases on their own, but had helped their father on some of his cases too. He also knew from her letters that she often bailed Jake out of numerous situations. Jason just could not tell if it was because she loved Jake as a cousin or if she just enjoyed watching him squirm. Jason figured it was for the last reason. When they visited the last time, Jason had paired off with Stephanie for some reason. He also recalled that during that visit, she always wanted to play "Detective" and Adam and Jake were always her subjects.

It was then that she hit him with a pair of jeans and a shirt in the face. "It is time to get up. Jake and Adam are not back yet and it is well past time," She said with a matter of fact tone. "I can't wait to see what the idiots have done this time."

It was then that Jason realized that Stephanie was right. Adam was not home yet and it was three in the morning according to his digital clock. He immediately jumped up and started to change his clothes. Stephanie had already turned her back to give her cousin privacy, even though it was still dark.

"Why did you decide to come and get me?" He asked, putting his coat on.

"I seem to remember that I was always your partner before and I did not want you to miss the fun. I know that he has really done it this time," Stephanie said as they quietly made their way down the steps and out of the house. They started to walk down the path that led to Stephanie's house. When they reached the house, Stephanie went straight to an old black two door Blazer. "I also needed someone to help me push this thing down the hill. I can't wake mom before she finds my note." Jason frowned. He did not know at the time who he was more disgusted with... his cousin Stephanie or his own brother.

Meanwhile, Jake and Adam were making their way over the back hills as a shortcut to get home. Jake was thankful for the moonlight, especially since they were going to have to cross Tucker's Run. He was not looking forward to going across the log bridge in his present state, let alone with Adam, who had obviously drank more of the spiked punch than he did. Adam had been muttering many things along the way about his friends in California and all of the pranks that he had pulled over the past few years. His constant laughing and giggling was getting the best of Jake, who had sobered up enough to know the trouble that they were in at the time. He was thankful that the alcohol did not seem to effect Adam's medication so far. John and Nikki were all going to pay dearly for this prank he thought to himself as they walked and trudged onward in the cold night.

"You know Jake, I have not had this much fun since my accident. Jason will not let me do anything anymore. I am so glad that you are not treating me like an invalid," Adam slurred to his cousin. "Jake, I just want to live you know."

"Adam, he is just lookin' out fer ya. He loves ya. I wish I had a brother that would keep me outa trouble," Jake said as they stopped for a short rest. It was getting harder and harder to steady Adam. Jake had to keep a hold of him to keep him upright and on his feet.

Adam looked at the stars and then looked down. "You are right there Jake. You want to know the last thing I thought of before I crashed that car off that mountain," Adam said, unsteadily pointing his finger to his head. He paused for a minute. "Jason. I thought of Jason." Jake nodded with understanding. "I think I was more scared of leaving Jason than I was of actually dying. Did you know that when I was in a coma, I heard my brother? I heard him crying for me to live and it killed me because I wanted to die so bad. I knew that it was bad. I did not know if I would have the strength to live until I heard Jason. He said that everything was going to be fine."

"You see, he just cares about you. He doesn't mean to be a party pooper. Now, Stephanie, she does. She makes my life miserable. I am hopin' that she doesn't realize that I am gone yet. She always comes out lookin' for me," Jake said with an agitated tone. "And it is not because she cares, it is because she is a nosey brat!"

"Why didn't your parents have any more kids?" Adam asked.

"Because they did not want to have another dumb kid like me," Jake said. Even though Adam was drunk, he sensed his cousin's painful reply. He put his hand on Jake's shoulder.

"You are not dumb, Jake. A dumb person could not run that jeep like that, let alone through all of that mud in the dark!" Adam said to Jake. "You are just not school book smart. I am not so smart there myself anymore either."

Jake looked at him with a confused glance. Adam read his cousin's mind. "I can't learn that book stuff like that anymore either. The accident left me with brain trauma and things have not been the same since, even though Jason sure does try to make up for it. I guess we are both two peas in a pod uh?" Adam replied, laughing again. Jake had to smirk at the remark, but something caught his eye. He tried to wipe his eyes, but the same sight kept coming back to him.

"Do you see that Adam?" Jake asked, spinning Adam in the direction of the woods at the end of the clearing. Adam swayed and strained his eyes to see what had alarmed Jake.

"Are you talking about those two red dots?" Adam asked finally.

"You see um' too!" Jake exclaimed. He was glad that they both were not that drunk to be imagining things. "What is that?"

"I don't know Jake, but I am going to get a closer look," Adam said as he stormed off in that direction. Jake grabbed him back.

"You can't do that. It might be someone playin' a joke on us again. I have been huntin' many times and I have never seen anything with red glowing eyes," Jake said. Jake and Adam froze in the middle of the small open field that was surrounded by woods.

"Okay, the joke it over! Get on out here and show yourself. We are not falling for that one again, right Jake?" Adam yelled out. His words slurred as he fearlessly challenged the figure in the shadows. But neither of the two boys was prepared to handle what site their eyes saw next. The creature swooped out of its hiding spot and was coming right for them. Trembling with fear, both boys awoke from their drunken state and started to run for their lives. Jake was in the lead followed very closely by Adam. They ran and fell down the hill. Adam looked back to see if they had lost the creature, but he was still met with the same hideous sight. Jake did not miss a step as he guided Adam along the ravine and eventually to the log bridge at Tucker's Run. He slowly inched his way across the log by crawling on his hands and knees. He instructed Adam to do the same, but Adam was not able to balance his body. He fell into the cold waters of the knee-deep creek. Jake immediately jumped down into the creek and led his cousin to safety. Still fearing for their lives, the boys ran up the next hill and literally tumbled down the other side. When Adam felt his body come to a stop, he realized that he was in a culvert on the side of a country road. Covered in mud and shivering from the cold, he glanced around him. The only thing he saw was the shadows of the trees and his younger cousin, getting up out of the same mud-filled ditch. He breathed a sigh of relief as he staggered towards Jake.

"What was that?" he said in between gasps.

"I have no idea. I have never seen anything like it in my life," Jake replied. "Did you see the wings? They were huge! It was like a giant gray bird with red glowing eyes!"

"I was hoping that you were not going to say that," Adam smirked, stumbling to the ground.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because now I know that what I saw was not just a figment of my imagination! That thing was unreal," Adam whimpered back. "No one is going to believe us, not in a million years! Here we are in the middle of no where, cold and, and ..."

"Drunk," Jake added.

"We are totally late and Jason is going to kill me. What a minute, what did you say?" Adam asked. He had just caught Jake's comment.

"We are drunk!" Jake yelled back. He also knew that they were in deep trouble.

"You might be drunk, but I am certainly not drunk. I just drank Kool-Aid," Adam said in a slurred matter of fact tone. Jake had to chuckle at that one even though it clearly angered Adam.

"Well, we will just see what your brother thinks about that when he helps me to sober your rear end up before Sunday church," Jake said with a sneer. It was then that he noticed a familiar set of headlights coming down the road. He would know them anywhere and had seen them on many occasions. But this time, he was thankful to see them because he was freezing and completely exhausted.

"What do you mean? Jason is not going to say anything it is my life and I can do what I want, even though I am not the drunken one. I might be stupid and seeing flying birds, but I am not drunk," Adam smarted back at him. Adam then stumbled and fell to the ground again. This time, he just lay there looking up at the stars again.