Shadows

Chapter 6 - Missing

Sitting here, looking at the clock and thinking about all of the possibilities. What happened within in those few minutes that I took to go upstairs and grab my things to the time I went back downstairs to meet up with them again in the car? Did I really take that long? It was only a quick minute, and even then I heard nothing. There were no noises to indicate that the went outside, or that someone may have broken into the house. I'm sure mom would have tried to get my attention some how if someone had broken into the house with the intention to hurt us. Mom wouldn't just like someone take them that easy, she would at least fight back a little bit.

The screech of tires bring me back to reality, I jump up and run to the door. Is it mom, did she just go off with someone and forget to leave a note. I open the door and am disappointed with the sight of it only being Lisa. I am glad that she has come to my rescue, I need some company to keep me from going absolutely insane. I take quick glances around the neighborhood in hopes that maybe I will see them and that this was just all for not, but no luck, there's no one around besides Lisa. She sprints to the door and embraces me.

"Steph, are you okay? Have you found them yet?"

"No, still nothing. I continue to look for them in places that I have already checked thinking maybe I missed them or something but it's a lost hope."

"It's okay, we'll find them, we will figure this out. Don't fret, we will work through this."

"That's the thing though, what is there to figure out? What am I suppose to work through? They are missing Lisa, gone! They were here and then gone in less than 5 minutes! That's not normal for my mom!"

"Steph! Breathe! You freaking out like this is not going to fix things any faster, OK?"

"I know, but I don't know what I am going to do if something happens to them. It's my family, I want them to be safe, I want them to be here, at home."

"I know, I understand. As I have said before, we will figure this out and we will find them."

We make our way to the living room and sit down, as I am walking I trace my steps again and think about everything that occurred. I try to recall if I heard anything strange or even seen something that was out of the normal but just couldn't recall anything.

"Steph, have you taken the time that you have been freaking out to call the cops and report them missing at all?"

"I would but the only problem is that if I do that they are just gonna tell me that they can't do anything until they have been missing for 24 hours and clearly they have only been gone for about an hour, so I'm not gonna bother until this time tomorrow."

"I understand that but it might be best to report it now and then they can check back tomorrow to see if you've seen or heard from them."

"But I don't want to end up calling and then just out of the blue have them show up again, out of no where."

"I understand that Steph, but you said that this isn't normal for them, so that being said, you should call and report it. If you know for sure that this isn't normal then you shouldn't just sit here stressing about it, do something about it."

"OK, if you think that it may help then I will. But I just hope that my instincts are correct. And if they are I just hope that they are okay."

I grab my cell and call the cops, I explain to them exactly how the events occurred and what I may have seen or heard. After I explain my emergency to the lady, as I expected she tells me that they are unable to do anything for 24 hours and tells me to make sure to let them know if I hear anything from my mom.

Once I am off the phone I make my way to the kitchen to get something to drink. As I am getting my drink I try to look around the kitchen to see if there are any signs of there maybe being a struggle but there is just nothing. Everything is as clean as mother would have left it and nothing is misplaced, it just seems so out of place in general. What do I do?

I make my way to the living room to sit back down and think. I continue to think of every single possibility, they could be anywhere. Then I remember, if mom was heading out to the car when she ended up disappearing then she had her cell phone with her which means she may still have it with her. I pick up my phone and attempt to call her, the phone rings but no one is picking up. Suddenly I hear a faint sound, I run to try and find where it is coming from, Lisa follows right behind me. We are led out to where moms car is, I see her phone laying in the car and it's ringing.

"Well, there goes the last hope I had left to finding out where she is."

"Steph, don't give up hope yet. You will see them again, I do promise you that."

"I know, but I told you, I want them back here now. I was hoping that if I could call moms cell that she would answer and say that she is OK, but it's obvious that's not possible. The only small hope I may have is if the police can figure it out, but we won't know anything till tomorrow"

"Exactly, so until then you need to get yourself some rest. So why don't we head back into the house."

"Yeah, I will. Just give me a quick second I want to check something"

I walk over to the driver side of the car and get in, I sit there and look around to see if mom was there and if she was then maybe there are signs of a struggle here. I check her phone and the only recent call the she has received was one from me and another from her boss, who she was suppose to contact today. Oh no, I need to contact them and update them. They need to know why she hasn't got back to them. I take one last glance at the car to see if there is anything else, and I notice Aaron's backpack in the back seat. So Aaron was in the car at some point this morning, but for how long? It also seems that mom may have been here as well, and she must have went back in to get her keys which gave a minute or two for something to happen to Aaron. Mom must have came back out to start up the car and then something happened to her as well and she wouldn't have had any warning because Aaron was no longer in the back of the car, so she wouldn't have known.

I grab Aaron's bag and mom's phone and run into the house, I start off with calling my mom's boss and explaining to him the situation. He told me to keep him updated and that he would let me know if he happened to see her. Once I was off of the phone, I searched Aaron's backpack looking for anything that might lead me to a hint or clue. Everything in his bag seemed to look normal, he had his homework, books, and projects for school. I began to look at each paper individually to see if there are any hints written down in places that are not as obvious. I reach papers of pictures that Aaron had drawn in school and these pictures include a weird figure in them, and if i'm not mistaken it looks like the exact same figure that I had seen outside of our house the day before.

I quickly shuffle through the rest of his papers, finding a few more drawings that have the same weird figure. I grab these papers and head to his room, searching to see if there are more like this and find myself in a drawer filled with drawings that look like the rest. What are these? Who is this? How does Aaron know him? Why is he drawing this thing? I don't know what to think, I can't move. What do I do?

"LISA!"

I hear her run up the stairs as quick as she can, she walks through the door and sees the pictures laying on the floor and says nothing. She just stares and I fall to the floor.