gwen woke up in a cold sweat. she quickly looked around her room to make sure she was just dreaming. she fell asleep a couple hours after vance a bruce arrived, so about late afternoon. the sun looked as if it was setting and you can see the dark night sky towards the east. she knew she only had so much time. robin was going to try and escape tonight, according to her dream, gwen knew out of all the boys he's taken not one of them has escaped. not one. she hurriedly rushed up the stairs to finneys room and opened the door, to find bruce, vance, and finney still scouring every paper ever written. "i found him." gwen said out if breath. "found who?" vance blew the hair out of his face. "robin, i know where robin is."
the four raced outside and grabbed their bikes, and followed gwen to robins supposed location. "how do you know it's not just a regular weird dream?" bruce asked peddling faster. "because my dreams always come true." gwen said looking over at finney who nodded. "it's true." he testified. finney was praying that he was right about gwen, that he didn't just get his and his friends hopes up for nothing. that robin will be exactly where gwen says he is, and that they'll be able to find him alive.
robin was restless. he was excited but terrified. he was going to escape the grabber tonight, and he was determined to not die trying. he could see the light getting dimmer by the window on the anticipation top of one of the walls, he guessed it was around 6pm. almost time. he told himself, almost time to go home, almost time to see finney, almost time to beat the hell out of the grabber, it's almost time. it's almost time. but now almost was getting boring, he needed now. he knew if he wanted to survive he should wait, but his anticipation was overwhelming. he as quietly as he could opened the door and left the basement. he crept up the stairs making as little noise as possible, he was hardly even breathing. once he got to the top he took a deep breath and slowly peaked his head out so he could see into the kitchen. oh shit. robins mind yelled at him. he nearly gasped, the grabber was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen, with his shirt off; and he was wielding a belt. he quickly turned his head out of view and tried to as quietly and quickly as he could run down the stairs back to the basement. but it was too late, the grabber saw him. "where are you going naughty boy?" he bellowed from upstairs. robin quickly got back into the basement and shut the door hard behind him. he tried to make a move to go grab the phone by his mattress, but the grabber was already down the stairs. he swung the door open with so much force he knocked robin off his feat and he landed in the cold cement. the last thing robin saw was the grabber standing over him then it all went black.
robin was going in and out of consciousness, one moment he could see and understand his surroundings, the next it was all dark. when he finally fully got a grip of his environment he noticed it was now dark, and that the door was locked. robin stubbled over to the door and pulled on it a few times with the minimum strength he had left. it wouldn't budge. he felt a pit in his stomach, this was the end. right when robin really figured out who he was, right when things were getting better, right when he got finney. it all got taken away from him. robin felt hot angry tears begin swelling up in his eyes and clouding his vision. he frustratedly swiped them away and stared lifelessly towards the door, waiting for the wrath of the grabber.
when the four finally arrived at the house it was already dark, according to gwen robin was going to try and escape, and not even robin is a match for the grabber. they began fiercely banging on the door yelling for someone to answer. they were ignored, and stoped banging after a few minutes of unsuccessful attempts. they turned ti gwen who looked defeated, "you sure this is the right house gwen?" asked finney holding back tears. "i swear it is! gwen said pleadingly. "my dreams don't lie, this was the exact house!" "maybe we should call the cops." suggested bruce. "they could actually legally get in here." vance snorted, "how about we just break down the door? i mean we will be doing the police a big favor." "i don't feel like getting arrested." bruce said back. " so what do we do?" asked finney. "we call the cops and tell them that we know robins in there, they can go and help him get out." bruce responded trying to sound calm. finney ran his fingers through this hair and looked at the floor. he was still so shocked that this was happening, but he was also terrified and hopeful. terrified about robins fate, hopeful that they can change it. they went to a nearby park where finney sometimes plays his baseball games, finney could feel his face heating up and his eyes fogging. this was the field where robin had kissed him for the first time, he was praying it wouldn't be the last. gwen ran inside a nearby phone booth and pulled out the card the police gave her when she was being interviewed. she quickly dialed the number and held the phone to her ear awaiting an answer. after about 2 rings she heard a familiar voice come through the receiver, "hello police." the voice said. "it's gwen blake, and i um i know the location of the missing boy robin arellano." gwen stuttered into the phone. silence for a moment, "we're on our way what's the address?" within a matter of minutes 4 police cars and an ambulance arrived at the house. they went up to the door and knocked hard, " police open up!" no answer. they banged on the door again, no answer. hurriedly, the police men broke down the door and began to search around, but even from the outside the house seemed abandoned. "you sure this is the right house gwenny?" finney asked sitting down on the curb next to her. "i'm positive!" gwen said exasperated. vance walked towards them and sat down, "cops arnt finding anything. they say you've got the wrong house." gwen put her face in her hands and groaned, "i don't get it. my dreams never lie! i know this is the house!" they waited for another 25 minutes in anticipation, when the cops finally came out of the house with grim looks on their faces. by now, news reporters were everywhere, fighting their way through trying to interview one of the cops. they all squeezed by them and walked over to the kids. they pulled them aside and one began to pull out photos from his pocket. "we didn't find anyone living in this house, or anyone ever living here actually. we looked in the basement for your friend and-" the officer swallowed. he showed the group the photos from the basement. what they saw horrified them, it was photos of 5 lumps in the ground. they were graves. gwen put her hands over her mouth in horror, the boys continued to stare at the photos in disbelief. "we are very sorry, we know that you guys knew him." the cop spoke again. finney felt a giant lump in his throat at those words, finney didn't just know robin.it's impossible for him to just know robin. finney felt the eyes of his friends on him, but he couldn't bear to look up at any one of them. his best friend was gone. and it was all his fault. he was the reason none of them will ever get to see robin again. vance looked over at finneys sorrowful face for just a second, he could see tears slowly running down his face. vance unsure what to do, put his arm awkwardly around finneys shoulders, " it's not your fault finney, he's the idiot that got kidnapped." vance said trying to comfort him. finney looked up at smiled at vance's effort, he could tell he was trying. the group slowly turned away from the scene and sat at the curb at the house across the street, all trying to take in the horrors they just witnessed. finney was in a dream like trance, none of this felt real. his best friend was just pronounced dead? he could actually laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. he felt as if he should be more upset and crying a lot more, he ridiculed himself for not caring enough about robin to care about his death. but that was simply not the truth. gwen hugged finney tightly, "i'm so sorry." gwen whispered through tears. finney couldn't take it anymore. "why is everyone acting like he's dead?" finney stood up. "robin is fine, we are going to find him. why is everyone saying he's gone?" finney said more angrily. "because he is finney. did you see the pictures?" bruce said back. "that wasn't him. it couldn't have been him." finney said desperately. "please, you can't believe them, they want us to think he's dead so we don't get captured trying to find him." "finney thats crazy. why would they do that?" gwen asked concerned. "gwen you can't possibly believe this." finney retaliated. "it's the truth finney, there's photo evidence." gwen said sternly. finney looked at the other 2 boys for backup but niether of them looked at him. "why is everyone crying?" noticing the tears in all their eyes. "robins not dead okay? he's alright." finney said tears welling up in his own eyes like a disease. "please tell me he's alright. finney began to cry. i- i can't lose him. what am i g- going to do with out him?" finney crumbled to the ground and began to sob, gwen responded with a big hug trying to surround him with comfort. after a few minutes finney was mute, the only sounds that were heard from him were just sniffles from his previous crying outburst. gwen, bruce, and vance got up to leave but finney didn't move. "cmon finney, it's getting late." gwen said softly trying to encourage her brother to get off the curb. but finney didn't answer, he continued to stare at the crime scene unmoving. gwen motioned that the other two boys could leave, they nodded and began to turn away. gwen sighed and sat down next to her brother on the curb. "we can leave whenever your ready." gwen said putting her hand on his shoulder, finney flinched away. after a few minutes gwen could hear a little murmur of a voice behind her. he turned around, expecting to be greeted with nothing but she found a window behind a couple of bushes. when he looked inside he gasped, she couldn't believe her eyes. there was robin standing in a little room behind the window yelling and banging on the wall. "finney! finney look!" gwen yelled shaking him. finney reluctantly turned around, and almost broke out into tears again. it was robin. he wasn't dead after all, but his hair was all messy and his bandana was bloody. he looked like he has been through hell. finney quickly stood up and grabbed gwen's hand and raced towards the direction bruce and vance went. after a few minutes of running furiously, and gwen yelling where he was going, he finally saw them on their bikes ahead of them. "vance! bruce!" finney yelled out of breath. they stopped and waited for finney to catch up with them. before they could say anything finney hugged them both. "robins not dead, but he's in trouble you guys gotta help me." he said letting them go. gwen nodded back at them approving finneys story. " but we saw his body?" bruce questioned. " did we though? we only saw a lump. could've been anyone.". gwen backed up finney. bruce looked at vance, and vance back at finney, " we'll let's kill this son of a bitch."
