One By One (editing)

Chapter Eleven

We had barely made it a foot through the front door when Granma Jo bombarded Teddy and I with a shower of kisses.

"Well hello, you little cutie," Granma Jo gushed at Teddy, pinching his cheek.

"Ow! Gwanma!" Teddy smacked her hand away and rubbed his cheek.

"And hello Carter. Oh, you're just so grown up," she enthused and squeezed me in a tight hug.

"Thanks, Granma." She stood back and held me at arm's length. Her graying hair framed a persistent and wrinkly face. Her features were harsh but based on Mom's stories, they'd softened up with each new grandchild.

She peered into our grocery bags. "I see you've brought some food home suitable enough for," her sharp eyes flicked over to my mom, "healthy children."

After a quick glare at Granma Jo, Mom scooped up the bags and hauled them into the kitchen, muttering, "I'll make some dinner suitable enough for healthy children, then."

Teddy trailed after her, leaving me with Granma Jo. She clapped her hands together, "Now, I just arrived, where are my other grandchildren?"

"Probably in the basement." I pointed towards the door that lead downstairs and began to climb up the stairs towards my room, dragging my backpack up with me. I soon as I shut and locked my door, I unzipped one of the pockets to retrieve the sketch from today's art class. I lay on my stomach, spread out across the covers on my bed, observed the detail. It was hard to believe that my hand had really created that or even why I did. It was true that I had been thinking and agonizing over every little angle in who had taken Sam and Jack, why they had taken them, what their motives were, where they were, and how it had happened. But when I stood on the balcony of my parent's bedroom, I didn't realize it was my aunt I saw.

I slid off the bed, and opened up the closet to rummage through any pictures. I slipped out one from the stack, pinching it in between my fingers and laying it next to my sketch. In the picture, my mom, my aunt Mary, and I were all posing in front of my new car. All three pairs of brilliant blue eyes shone with laughter and happiness, the complete opposite emotions to my impression of a kidnapper. However, the picture was a full body shot so it was evident to see Aunt Mary's curvy figure, strikingly similar to the silhouette in my sketch.

It didn't make sense why Aunt Mary would kidnap Sam or Jack. What was the benefit of that? She was a happy person who loved my mom and our family, her motives definitely weren't for revenge or out of anger. But since she was my mom's sister, it did make sense if Sam got into the car with her, or why Jack's cry was silenced as quickly as it was. Especially Jack, he knew her, he might've only cried out in surprise. Although if this was the case, the puzzle pieces still didn't fit together though to answer the question as to why it was happening.

Frustrated to no end, I groaned and frisbeed the picture into the back of my closet. It didn't make any sense and I felt like an idiot who was almost betraying Aunt Mary for even considering blaming a situation this extreme on her. I stared at the sketch a little while longer, waiting to recognize another person in the figure's curves. But it was no use. I couldn't seem to see anybody besides Aunt Mary.

My door burst open and Sean stood in the doorway, panting. Even though I was less than ten feet away, he bellowed, "Dinner time!" In the same amount of time he was gone again, leaving me to absentmindedly wonder what would happen differently in his absence if he was kidnapped compared to Sam, Teddy, Jack, Emily, or even me for that matter.

Before I went downstairs, I reached past my shoes and fished the picture out of my closet. Pulling it out, I spied something white and small in my Converse. My heart hitched in my throat as I realized it was a folded up piece of paper but then, thinking that I was overreacting, I swallowed and unfolded it anyways.

In the same loopy handwriting as the previous cryptic message, it read: 'Don't call the police. Instead, call Luke the second day at 5:25 pm.'

"Carter! Let's go!" Granma Jo's shout shot up the stairs, making me jump and extremely close to tearing the new note.

"Co-" my voice choked. "Coming!" Quickly, I shoved both notes in the bottom of my underwear drawer and ran down the stairs.

The peppery smell of egg burritos greeted me at the kitchen, however, my granma did not. Her obvious glare of disapproval matched how stiff her fists were, planted on her hips. "Where were you? When we call you come." So, I'm a dog now?

"Just sit down," my mom sighed, shoving a spoon in a fruit salad and setting the bowl on the table. Luke, home from football, followed her with the eggs and tortillas before sitting down next to Mom's chair.

"Ok," I muttered and slipped past Granma Jo's withering stare into a chair between Luke and Emily. She sparked a conversation about how excited she was for dance tonight when my dad walked in. He kissed my mom, kissed his mom, and left again to go change clothes. I tried to look for the differences that Luke saw but other than how quick he was to leave again, I didn't notice anything. Maybe Luke just caught him at a time where he was stressed about work and I was overanalyzing it because of how paranoid I was about my kidnapped siblings.

We all sat down and a minute later Dad came down. Mom folded her hands, "Who wants to pray?"

"Me," Vic chirped. She squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her head, her curly hair spilling onto her plate.

We all mimicked her and she began, "Dear Jesus, thank you for this day. Thank you for Fluffy, our class hamster. Thank you for Granma coming. Thank you for dance tonight. Thank you for this meal. Amen. P.S. please bring Jack and Sam back because we miss them."

"Nice job, honey," my mom smiled softly at Vic and started scooping the fruit salad onto my siblings' plates.

Dad and Granma Jo started talking and that's when I noticed that 'difference' that Luke was talking about. Usually, my dad was really involved in the conversation with his mom. But this time he looked too tense to be comfortable and his eyes looked a little glazed over, like he was in a different place worrying about something else. When Mom served the fruit salad to Sean, who was sitting in the chair on the other side of Dad, I could see in the way her forehead creased with worry that she noticed it too.

I grabbed a tortilla and some eggs, wrapping it up just as Dad's cell phone rang. He jumped up, knocking the dinner table with his knee before excusing himself. As we all settled the drinks in our glasses, Mom leaned over to Luke.

"Do it tonight, not tomorrow," she whispered, unaware that I was eavesdropping. I looked around the table but nobody else noticed the sudden air of secrecy between Mom and Luke.

Luke panicked. "Tonight? Mom, how?"

"We'll figure it out."

He protested. "But I can't, I-"

"No 'buts', Luke. Do as I say and I say tonight, not tomorrow. Be ready." She leaned back and Luke knew the conversation was over but based on his distressed expression, he was anxious about whatever was going to go down.

So was I.

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hiya! thanks so much for reading! let me know what you think about Carter, the rest of the characters, and anything else! don't forget to vote! <3

-_ginger333_