𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 : Robin Arellano

THIRTEEN

Robin woke up with yet another throbbing pain in his head. His whole body was screaming in pain, tiredness clouding his mind and better judgement. Although he had been passed out for a while, he still remembered everything.

The pain of the belt as it made contact with his skin, the harsh words from the grabber, the twisted lies he worked into Robin's brain about Carmen's death. She wasn't dead. He hoped.

.....

There were footsteps, lighter than usual ascending down the stairs. He had studied the times and sounds of when the grabbed would appear. This wasn't usual. They were walking slow as if conflicted, did he send another kid down here? Did he have a partner in crime? They stopped around halfway down, something going on that he couldn't quite hear through the gap of the door.

Although they continued again and the door began to creak open. Robin waited in suspense, still as always, ready to attack whoever walked inside.

The first thing he saw was the person's foot, muddy converse with the laces untied, following up the leg which had bruises and blood dried on it. Even the shorts looked like the ones Carmen used to wear. He caught a glimpse of long, brown hair as it trailed up from the person's hips....just like Carmen.

Then the tray of the food he had been so used to getting since he had been trapped here, soft yet dirty hands shaking as they held onto it. Whoever this was it wasn't the grabber and he hoped he knew who it truly was.

Finally his most awaited part appeared, the...face? His own face fell. He couldn't see their face, it was covered by one of the grabbers masks, obviously too big for them. But he knew her even without a face, he could pick her out of a room of 100 lookalikes.

"Carmen."

~

Police had visited the Blake's house asking about Robin. It had been confirmed, Robin was gone. Carmen was gone. All of Finney's friends were gone.

They were only kids, it wasn't fair.

He and Gwen had grown a lot closer since Carmen's disappearance, and now they were never leaving each others sights now Robin was gone. Finney refused to go to school, to eat, get out of bed. He refused to do it because Robin and Carmen couldn't do it.

He had never felt so utterly useless before, his whole soul falling into the trap of futility.

Gwen, on the other hand, had been attempting to have another dream. But to no avail. The more she tried to more frustrated she got and it certainly wasn't helping them come faster.

They just both hoped their friends would come home soon.

~

The masked figure stopped in their tracks, hands tightening on the tray to the point of their knuckles turning white. She hadn't expected to hear his voice so soon. To see him standing before her, broken, pale...hurt. It was such a painful sight to see, tugging harshly at her heart strings as he examined him. How dare the grabber bring Robin down here. How dare he lay a hand on him.

Carmen was furious. But in that moment she was frozen, shell shocked almost. She had to scramble to place the tray on the floor, slowly rising back up with shaking legs.

He was examining her also, bruises and cuts up her arms, everything looked so tired and worn out. He yearned to see her face again. To be sure it truly was her.

However, Carmen knew she couldn't risk staying down here for too long, not wanting the grabber to punish the both of them. She turned on her heel to leave, stopped by a hand on her arm pulling her gently.