Taken

1 - Red dot

RED DOT

I guess, at that time, I didn't exactly understand what we were running from.

We couldn't eat, sleep, or drink without fearing that something bad was going to happen.

During the time of the first few incidents, I thought my parent's overreactions were just paranoia. But now, to be honest... I'm beginning to feel a little scared myself.

It was after school ended today that my nervousness started to really kick in.

On the way home, I picked up my little sister Sarah from her elementary school, which wasn't too far of a ride on my skateboard.

She was literally the only student left in the class, since everybody else's parents had already come to pick up their child.

"You're always so late!" She teased in a high pitched voice, picking up her backpack and skipping over to me.

I laughed apologetically and patted her head. "Sorry for making you have to wait so long, my teacher was scolding our class and we had to stay back awhile." I looked at her teacher, Ms. Rosey, as my statement was also directed at her.

Ms. Rosey smiled at me and brushed it off. "Ha, don't stress! You're doing a great thing, and I know how hard it can be. Take your time, I'll always be here to make sure she's alright."

I nodded and thanked her before grabbing my sister's hand and heading out the door.

My sister and I looked at our house in shock and disbelief when we saw that there has been some major security upgrades done to the house inside and out.

"24!" My mom yelled when we arrived, pacing back a forth in the living room. "You know how big of a number that is?!"

I slumped in the my seat, regretting that I ever opened my mouth and let the words "paranoid" and "overreacting" slip my tongue.

I sat there in the couch and watched my mom lose her cool. "Yeah. I know."

"It's not just that they all went missing. Like, yeah, people go missing all the time! But they always end up found or dead, right?! Whatever the reason, we end up knowing what happened to them. Well... Most of the time. But for 24 people to go missing all in one month? Unknowingly?! Hell no!"

I hate to admit it, but she was right.
Imagine, a family of people, all gone missing day by day and the police can't even find a single trace or a source. Not one.

Are the police even trying? If so... hard enough?

"It's like they're not even trying to find them." A male voice remarked from the entrance door, and I looked up to see my dad entering the room with a coke in his hand.

I swear he could read my mind. "Exactly!"

"But honestly, Rachael, this is a bit too much. You know how much this is costing us?" He remarked, making mom stop pacing the room and give him a dangerous glare.

"Can you put a cost on our safety?!" She retorted, making him sigh in defeat and put the coke down.

She was right, once again.

"Trev..." A soft voice mumbled beside me, and I looked down to see Sarah tugging at my jeans with a worried look in her eyes. "I'm scared..."

Mom saw this and immediately let out a long sigh. "Aw, Sarah baby come here." She said, motioning for Sarah to go to her. She held out her arms and hugged her. "Mommy is so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that I want us all to be safe. But don't worry, nothing will ever happen to you."

Sarah nodded half heartedly and let go of mom, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, check this out," Dad announced, turning up the volume to the TV that was quietly playing in the background. "It looks they might've found something."

We all turned our attentions to the TV that was turned on to the News station. A man with a microphone talked on the screen with bold red headlines surrounding him.

"After investigating this situation even further, the team was still not able to find out who was the culprit of these convictions."

"Ughhhh." We all groaned, ready to turn away from the TV.

"But," the broadcaster continued, peaking at our attentions once again. "They were able to notice a visible pattern of these convictions. See, we already know that the people who have gone missing have nothing in common, as they all range from different races, sexes, and ages. But, if you take a look at this map here-- you will notice that the areas of these people who have gone missing show a pattern-- a line going down this path."

He pointed to a map of our city which enlarged on the screen, and traced his finger over the small red dots that were placed in different destinations. Each red dot represented a person who had gone missing. They were quite close to each other, as if the theif was travelling down a path and stealing these people on the way.

"Shit. Look where we're at on the map." Dad pointed out, noticing that we weren't too far from the last dot. "Someone from our area will be gone next."

That worried the heck out of me for some reason. I felt my panic start to rise. What if it's one of us?

"We're moving." Mom declared in a sharp tone, but even she knew that it was a lie. It was too late for that. So nobody argued with her.

I brought Sarah upstairs to her room and played with her the rest of the night. I didn't want her to worry about all this, so I agreed to play an everlasting dress up game with her dolls.

"Trevorrrrrr! That's not how you fix a ponytail!" Sarah groaned, grabbing her blonde Barbie doll from my hands.

I shrugged. "I don't know how you expect me to know these things."

"Here, take this!" She shoved a stuffed panda bear in front me, along with it's sidekick, the stuffed bamboo. "You can have Mr.Panda."

"Wow, that name was so creative. How did you come up with it?" I teased, picking up the panda bear and placing it on her head. "Watch out, Mr. Panda ate too much bamboo and he's about one let one rip!! RUNN!!!"

I started making fart noises with my mouth and laughed hysterically when she jumped up and tossed Mr. Panda across the room like he was a time bomb ready to explode.

"My god, Sarah, did that come from you? Gross! I'm gonna have to tell mom and dad!" I said in between chuckles, getting up and pretending to head for the door.

"Noooo!!!!" She screamed, grabbing my leg and begging for me not to leave. "It was the panda, not me!!"

I laughed and sat back down. "Okay, I believe you."

"Yay!" She rejoiced, putting Mr. Panda in the 'time out' corner for his inappropriate behavior.

Being goofy with Sarah was nice, I enjoyed it, even though it meant that I sometimes had to play with girly dolls. But as long as she was happy, I was fine.

After a round of hide and seek, we both headed to our beds. It was kind of hard for me to fall asleep since my mind kept racing. I had so many questions.

Why are people disappearing? And how? What if they take one of us next...

What if they take Sarah?

I let out a long sigh.

You know what? Screw it. I'll find out tomorrow.

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\\End of chapter\\