For you :: Robin Arellano

Attempt ' 004

—"THE PHONE! ITS RINGING!" I said to Finney. He whipped around toward the phone to see it ringing, we walked over toward the phone, I slowly picked up the phone , "hello?" I asked, "don't hang up" the kid on the other line said, I scrunched my eyebrows, "that doesn't sound like Bruce" Finney said. I nodded in agreement , "that's because it's not" the other person on the line said. "Then who is it?" I asked. "you won't remember" he said. I huffed in annoyance, "look man I'm kinda in a tough situation so I'd appreciate to know who you are" I said with an irritated tone, Finney elbowed me, "what?" I said. "It's me Billy, the paper boy" me and Finney looked at eachother in realization, "but don't call me Billy" "well what am I supposed to call you?" I said. "Paper boy?" Finney suggested, "paper boy" Billy said. "Ok paper boy" I said. "Look, don't go out the door, it's a trap" paper boy said. "Ok so what do we do" I asked. "Wait, when he's asleep, you go out the door, there's a combination lock, it was my old bike chain lock" paper boy said. "Well what's the combination??" I asked urgently. "I don't remember" he replied. "Are you fucking kidding me??" I asked. "That's why I wrote it down" he said. I looked up at Finn, "where?? Where at??" I asked frantically, "the farthest wall about shoulder length, well for Finney Anyway, it might be a little higher for you" he said. I rolled my eyes and urgently walked toward the wall to find the combination. "This one!!" I said to Finney, a glass bottle spun and pointed toward it. Me and Finney searched for the combination and finally found it. Finney ran to the phone "we found it! But what's the order??" Finney asked. "I told you guys I don't remember" "then what do we do?" I asked. "Try them all, but be very quiet" he said. I sighed and looked to Finney. We made our way up the stairs and toward the door with the lock, my heart was beating as fast as it could go, I stood in front of Finney while he put in multiple combinations. The first one didn't work, the second one didn't work, and as Finney was putting in his third attempt in, I saw the grabbers eyes open, but before he could do anything, the door opened and Finney grabbed my hand, we ran, we ran as fast as we could, "HELP!! THE GRABBER" i yelled. I glanced behind me to see the black van pulling around. No I thought. We are so close. No. I pushed Finney so he would run faster, the grabber hopped out of the van and ran after us, he was way faster, I then grabbed me in a headlock, "RUN FINNEY" I yelled. He turned around, the grabber took his chance and tumbled us to the ground, he but a knife to Finneys neck, "say a word and I'll gut you right here" he said. We watched as our only hope, turned their porch lights off. I wanted to scream, we were so fucking close. Maybe if we tried the last combination first, maybe we would be free, how could we mess up so badly. The grabber took us back to the basement, he threw us down there , "you two, you two are special, I can't believe i was thinking about letting you go" he said while shaking his head. I kicked the wall in annoyance, "so fucking close" I said while sliding down the wall, I was exhausted. I could tell Finney was too, he just sat on the bed, staring at the door. I looked around the room, I glanced at the unconnected wall, I walked over to it and put my hand under the crack, I tugged at what felt like a rope, I pulled it out quickly, Finney walked over to what I was doing, I quickly tied a loop at the end and began throwing it at the vent near the ceiling, after a couple of times I got it, I pulled, I pulled as hard as I could, nothing. I sighed in annoyance and began climbing up with the rope, I finally pulled myself up to where I could see the vent screwed in, "shit" I said and jumped down, "it's screwed in" I said. Finney then had a look of realization, he walked to the bathroom and looked into the toilet tank, he pulled out different parts and then finally pulled out a small circular piece. He then walked toward the rope tied vent and climbed up, he used the small piece to unscrew the vent, he jumped down and pulled on the rope, at first nothing happened, but then I grabbed along and with our strength together we got the vent off, it slammed down right into my face, I fell to the ground, blood spewing out my nose, "ow fuck" I said. Finney immediately bent down to my level, "Roni are you ok??" He asked, "yeah I'm fine" I said. We tried our best to break the window that was behind the vent, it was no use. I sighed and sat down on the bed, every single fucking thing we've tried has failed, there was no escaping. I wanted to give up, but I couldn't. I needed to get out of here, I needed to get Finney out of here, then we could stop the grabber, stop him from taking other kids. Finney snapped me out of my thoughts when he sat beside me, he began crying, I pulled him into a hug, he cried in my shoulder, "Roni we were so close, so fucking close" "I know Finney, I know".

                         * third person pov *

It had been officially 2 weeks since Veronica has been missing and one week since Finney went missing, Robin felt like he was going insane, all he wanted to do was find them, or atleast know they were ok. He sighed as he went outside and searched for them, it's been a habit he's done every night since the night Veronica went missing, he looked for anything, basement windows, houses with tinted windows, and specifically houses with black vans, this is because two days before Veronica went missing, she told Robin that she thought a black van was following her, he walked her home every day after that, well except one day, the day she went missing, Robin blamed himself everyday for that. Why did I have to get detention. He thought. He was so pissed with himself. It should of been me , not her, anyone but her. He knew Veronica didn't deserve this. He also knew Finney didn't either. He blamed himself for Finney aswell. Why didn't I walk him home after Roni went missing. He thought. Why didn't I try to help he thought. Robin felt like he was going fucking insane. So you can imagine what he felt when a group of kids who stood together in a stance, kids covered in blood, they looked like ghosts flashed in the road one second, and weren't there the second. He looked over to the side and saw a house with a small basement window and a black van. The exact van that Roni pointed out.

"Do you see that van?" Roni asked while nudging her friend who walked beside her. "Yeah why?" Robin asked. "Because I've seen it for like two days, I think it's following me" "idk maybe it's just a coincidence" "yeah...maybe."