Grab N' Go [Robin Arellano]

18: Rescue Robin

After waiting for 4 hours and calling 4 times at each hour, Valentina's stomach was beginning to twist into paranoia. There was absolutely no reason for Robin not to answer her calls. He wouldn't forget, he just wouldn't. It wasn't like him, especially when he knew how she felt about his safety.

That mixed with her previous experience with the strange man was enough to send her into a panic.

By 8:30 she was rushing out of the house with hurried steps in the direction of Robin's place. What would normally take her 25 minutes to reach only took her 15 this time around. Of course, she expected the house to be empty when she reached it, so she wasted no time in pulling the door open without knocking or announcing her presence at all.

Her eyes widen in surprise, and her panicked expression falls when she is met with the sight of Mrs. Arellano sat on the couch with a bowl of cereal, looking to her with an equally surprised look. She was gone so often, Valentina forgot she actually lived here too.

"I-I, um, Mrs. Arellano!" Valentina stammers out, trying to cover up her shock. "I...came to check on Robin. He hasn't been answering my calls."

"Ah, so that was you calling! I thought it might be my loaners so I didn't answer," she chuckles, setting her bowl onto the coffee table and leaning forward. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I haven't seen Robin all day. I figured he might be with Finney, or you."

The young girl becomes immediately distressed by this information, knowing for sure he isn't with Finney. She had already called him in question of her boyfriends whereabouts, and Finney was equally concerned after receiving her call.

"Mrs. Arellano, I think something is wrong. He isn't with Finney, he wouldn't go anywhere without letting me know," she states insistently, clearly becoming panicked. "I think we should call the police."

"Woah, calm down sweetie, just take a deep breath," the woman tries to calm, noticing the girls frantic antics and quickened breaths. "I'm sure he's fine. Robin can handle himself. He probably ran away because we got into a fight yesterday. He's done this before. I'm sure he'll be back in no time."

"Please, no, you have to believe me! Something is wrong," she begs refusing to take the women's hand. "Please call the cops!"

"No. I can't do that. I won't do that. I know how Robin is. Better than you must think you do," Mrs. Arellano bites back, suddenly dropping her patience. "You're no more important than me, his own mom. No matter how important you may think you are to him, he will leave you without so much as a goodbye if he's feeling angry. The same he's done to me a million times over since he was seven."

Her words sting, and it takes everything in her not to yell back at her simple minded thought processes. How could she say that when everyone know there's a serial kidnapper on the loose?

Instead of arguing, Valentina turns and runs out of the house with tears welling in her eyes. She needed to find Robin before it's too late.

His mother follows her to the porch, watching her storm down the path and out of the lawn.

Nervously, she calls out, "and if I find out you got the police involved, I will never allow you to be involved with my Robin again."

Valentina turns to give her the angriest glare she can muster with tears streaming down her cheeks rapidly. Then, she turns on her heel and runs back down the street until she's far enough away to escape the threatening eyes of her beloveds delusional mother.

Once further down the street, she clenches her chest and bends over to let out a few quiet sobs.

Why was this happening to her again? Was she just over reacting? Where does she go from here? What does she do?

After taking a few shaky deep breaths, she finally manages to gather some sense of well-being. Or at least enough to tiredly walk herself home. As she walks, she ponders a plan. If no one was gonna take this seriously and find Robin, then she would.

She refuses to lose him the same way she lost Vance. She won't allow that to happen, and maybe if she can find Robin, she can finally find out what really happened to Vance- if they suffered the same fate. If he's possibly still alive.

When she finally reaches her house, as worn out as she feels, she stays awake writing out a detailed plan about what she plans to do.

It reads:

Rescue Robin:

Skip school to do the following:
•continue searching each house unmarked in journal.
•search area between the school and Robin's house first
•search the neighborhoods surrounding Robin's house
•search area where we met creepy man
•find Robin at all costs

Later, she calls Finney to let him know her theory about Robin's whereabouts. He's upset by her explanation of why she can't call the cops, and how Robin's mom refuses to do so. He admits she also called their home earlier, and his dad seemed too apologetic to simply pass off as "running away". The two even cried together at one point, desperately clinging to the hope that their friend might still be ok.

"I'm not sure if this helps..." he had told her, "but my sister said she had a dream about the missing kids."

"A dream?" She repeated with uncertainty. "What dream?"

"Well, she said there was black balloons," he explained nervously. "I'm sorry, I don't know if that helps."

Her eyes became wide with horror, and she stood there staring blankly at the wall beside her phone for a minute as her mouth fell open in shock. Everything was starting to connect in her mind, but she didn't know if she could be right.

"Val?" Finney calls out. "You still there?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded her head, only replying when she realized he can't see her, "yeah. I'm still here. I..I got to go, Finney. Thanks for letting me know."

"Are you sure you're ok?" He cut her off, and she could hear the frown he must be sporting.

"I'm sure. I really have to go," she told him. "Bye."

"..bye," he replied.

At the end of the call, Valentina laid restlessly in bed for hours before finally falling into a dreamless sleep.

Still, one thing lingered in her mind- she never even got to kiss him. And that stupid black balloon was still floating around somewhere in her living room.