No Escape (A Bob Mod AU) [Re-write]

Chapter 1

On a Thursday afternoon, quite a while after almost everyone else had already left the school, Ron stood alone in front of the building. Such loneliness... It felt unnatural. And yet, this feeling had slowly grown over the course of the last few months.

First, it was Meri. Then Cody. Then, Lune. All of whom seemed to disappear into thin air one-by-one. Now all that remained was himself, and the white-haired boy who had been doing his diddly-darned'est in keeping his spirits up, Bob. Ron could not be any more grateful for them still being here.

Ron let out a short sigh, unaware of his shorter friend standing behind him. Bob gently put a hand on his shoulder, almost spooking Ron in the process. However, he was able to recover pretty quickly, as if he wasn't about to let out a short squeal of surprise.

"Ron?" Bob spoke in a soft voice, hoping to comfort his aquaintance.

"Yeah.." Ron breathed in response, "What's up, Bob?"

"I imagine you're still not over all of this, huh?" Bob gently guided Ron away from the school, with their hand still resting on his shoulder. Ron went along, stuffing his hands into his blue-jean pockets with a sigh.

"How can I?" The two made their way to the typical path they'd take to get home. Or, at least Ron would take to get home. He knew Bob went the complete other direction to get home, but appreciated that Bob seemed to silently insist that they stick with him for now.
"They all just vanished out of nowhere, Bob. I-" His voice cracked, as he was about to break down yet again, but he quickly composed himself. "I can't just get over something like that."
He hated publicly crying. His face would get all puffy and gross when he did, so he found it best to at least try to hold in his tears. It had admittedly become a lot harder to do so, But he felt he was managing.... mostly.

Bob finally let go of his shoulder after a little bit, mumbling, "Sorry I asked."

"No. No. Don't be." Ron held his sleeve to his eyes, carefully dabbing out any tears that might very escaped. Bob them both briefly to carefully lower Ron's arm to make eye contact.

"Hey.. don't start crying over it now. Listen," they let go. "I'm sure they're gonna be back. Sure, the whole 'vanishing into thin air' thing sounds incredibly convincing. But surely impossible. Right?"

There was silence between the two for an awkward amount of time. Before Bob cleared his throat. "Am I right? Ron?"

"Yeah- yeah you're probably right."

"Thought so!" He patted his taller friend on the back, before continuing with their walk to Ron's.

Ron speed-walked to catch up to Bob, taking in deep breathes to help him calm down. That's right. Meri, Cody, and Lune? They were gonna be alright. Eventually, they'll be found. They'll all hug, and go hang out like old times.. although...

"How do you know for sure?" Ron allowed his wondering thoughts to reach his mouth. Bob turned back around to give Ron a look of shock.

"Golly! You of all people? Asking that?? Wow. This situation really has messed with you. Maybe more than I thought..." He slowed his pace to walk closer to the brown-haired one, mumbling that last sentence under his breath.
"I'm just trying to keep a positive mental attitude, yknow? Golly, with Meri gone, somebody's gotta do it!"

Bob had this.. odd tendency to say things like that a lot. The thing in question being "golly". As if he were in some old-timey cartoon. Ron had always figured this was just... how he was. There certainly wasn't anything wrong with it. Ron had just simply caught on to that little thing only now.

But anyways, Ron gave a little nod, deciding not to think too much into Bob's response. With another couple of moments of silence, the two were almost at Ron's home. The house itself looked much like the other houses the two had passed on their way here, with the biggest difference being that it was a little more secluded. Bob had assumed this was just because of how Ron's father was. But who was he to assume?

Before they got to the house however, Bob stopped Ron yet again.
"Hey. I've got a pretty cool idea."

Ron immediately looked Bob right in the eyes upon hearing the word 'cool'. "I'm listening."

"Before school on Monday. Sayyy 5 am?" Bob began, "Meet me there. I'll get something together that'll cheer you up."

"Why Monday specifically?"

"Well-" Bob quickly thought of his reason. Because he knew that blurring out a random word wouldn't be all that convincing. "I just need time to get it together. It's gonna be so cool, man! Trust me!!"

Ron smiled genuinely, maybe for the first time in a while, before continuing forward. "Alright, bet. Monday it is."

The two confirmed their plans once more, before beginning to go their separate ways. Ron closer to his front door, and Bob going back the opposite direction to his home. Before being stopped once mode

"Oh- Bob?"

Bob turned his head to face Ron one more time.

"..thanks." with that, Ron finally stepped inside. Bob couldn't hear anything from where he was standing, making it hard to tell if Ron's father was even home yet.
Although even if he was, Bob knew better than to think about trying anything too soon.

A little patience will go a long way. After all, they were in no kind of rush at all. And? The longer he waits, the more out of nowhere the events he planned to cause could seem.

And this was exactly what he wanted.