10 | FOR ALL I KNOW, YOU COULD BE THE GRABBER

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     JAMES WOKE WITH a start, his heart beating loudly in his ears and his lungs pumping at a million miles an hour. He looked around his room, taking in where he was. He was home, he was safe. He had just woken up from the worst possible nightmare he could ever experience, being forced to watch his sister be killed in front of him by The Grabber.

It was nearly midnight when he had woken up, he needed air and to clear his head. He threw on a sweater and headed out of the house quietly, not wanting to wake up his parents. The cold air stung his busted lip as he shoved his cold hand into his jean pockets. James paid no attention to where he was going, he didn't even notice where he was until he heard screaming. His mind automatically went to his sister, he wondering if that was her. Was she being hurt?

He suddenly broke into a run and found himself outside of a house he had visited before. He knocked continuously on the door until the disgruntled man he had met before opened it. He looked annoyed and kept one hand behind the door.

"What?" He huffed out.

James then realised he couldn't just accuse this man that he had taken his sister and was harming her, so he took a second to think about his words. "I heard screaming."

The man seemed to take his own time to think of a reply, he gave James a sadistic smile. "Sorry about that, my wife and I, well, we're just having some fun in the bedroom."

Somehow this made sense to James, the man was half dresses, he was panting and the screaming had stopped. Although a bad feeling did sit in his stomach as he observed the sadistic smile on that man's face. The boy simply nodded his head and awkwardly walked away, the man watched him until he was at least two houses away before slamming the door.

James waited for a few moments, wondering if he would hear the screams again, but nothing sounded. The sinking feeling remained in James' stomach all the way home, where he climbed into his bedroom through his window. He couldn't sleep for the rest of the night, he found the situation he had been in disturbing. He questioned to himself whether he should go to the police about it, the man was suspicious.

So that's what he did, the next day James found himself at the police station explaining the very odd events he had experienced. However, he had forgotten the details of the house. It was dark and he hadn't remembered the house number from the first time he visited. While the detectives promised to keep the information recorded, there wasn't much they could do unless someone else reported the screaming he had heard from that house.

"I know you want to help, kid." Wright spoke, his hand on James' shoulder. "But at this point in the case, another kid usually goes missing."

The boy shook his head. "Abby is strong, she'll make it."

Miller, who had been sat opposite James, sighed. "Yeah, she'll be fine."

He knew it was bad to lie to the boy who had just lost his sister, but to force the truth down his throat would likely send him and his family spiralling. All the family members of the missing kids held onto the belief that no body meant the possibility that their kids were alive, and that was what James was now turning to.

Originally he believed, like everyone else, that once there was a new victim, the old one had been killed. Even with Vance he believed it, but now that it was his own sister, he refused. The moment another kid goes missing will be his breaking point. But even then, he could have the faint belief that his sister was alive as there was no body to prove she wasn't.

Grace had gone to pick James up from the station, the detectives didn't think it wise to let the boy wander back home alone. James sat in the car, facing out to the window to avoid speaking to his mother about why he was in the station, but Grace knew better than to ask anyway. The car ride home was silent.

But when they arrived home, Robert seemed angry. At first, when Abby had disappeared, he seemed worried, putting up posters and asking anyone and everyone if they had seen his little girl. But as the weeks dragged on, his mind began to decide the outcome. He started to believe that Abby was dead, that there was no reason to carry on the manhunt for her. So, upon getting the call from the detectives that Robert had been at the station, again, he grew angry. Why were they wasting their time? Abby was gone.

James suddenly found himself pushed up against a wall by his father the second he stepped into the home. "You need to get it into your head, kid! Abby is gone!"

Anger snapped through the boy. "She's not! She's alive!"

"How do you know that, huh?" His father questioned, getting into his face. "What? You seen her? Skipping down to school with that Finney kid?"

James didn't reply, just stared at his dad who seemed on the verge of a mental breakdown. Grace stood to the side, unsure of what to do as she knew it would be a bad idea to get involved.

"I-"

"Or are you The Grabber?" Robert half joked. "Did you take all those boys and Abby? Hm?"

James finally shoved his father away. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! My sister has been taken and you accuse me of doing it? For all I know, you could be The Grabber! You've always hated us!"

Robert took a step back at his son's words. "You'd think I'd do that to Abby?"

"You already hit her, me...you hit mom!" James argued back, motioning to a shaky looking Grace. "I wouldn't put it past you to kill her."

The man said nothing, he just looked between his wife and son before heading into the back of the house.

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