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Chapter 15: Back to the Drawing Board

I cried for what felt like hours, curled up in Ben's arms. He had say me down, and he was rubbing my head, trying to clam me down. I had been trying to stop sobbing, but every time I try, I remember what just happened. "We will find her... Mar we will find her. She will be okay, I promise..." He murmurs over and over, but I could tell he was just keeping himself together for me. 

Finally I took a deep breath and straightened up. Still sniffling and wiping away tears, my voice cracks as I say, "What... do we do now...?" He turns me so I can see him and I am sitting on my knees facing him. "We will find her, but now we have to patch up the hole before the other masked men find us... okay?" He hugs me tight to him. I nod into his shoulder. He helps me stand up and we slowly unlock the door and peek out of it. The place was in shambles, there must have been more of a fight than we thought. Both people were nowhere in sight, but I saw a blue mask, laying broken on the ground. I pick it up and shift it between my hands, before laying it on a counter. 

The glass on the window was so broken, we would have to replace the whole glass. Luckily we were able to quickly tear out a shelf from a cabinet to put in front of it. We couldn't find a nails or a hammer, so we just used extreme amounts of duct tape. When we were done, the sun was starting to set. I didn't realize how long we took to fix the window. At least the project cleared my mind... I was a little more in control of myself and began to think of ways to get my mother back. Ben and I began to scheme out a plan. "Where did Diane say she hid? Ya know, where the men gathered?" Ben suddenly spurts. "A... warehouse, why?" "Well, I was thinking. What if they took her there? We could use the blue mask and one of those large black shawls to sneak in!" He points to a rack of cotton shawls that I hadn't noticed before. My face lights up. "Ya!... but it's really dangerous... what if they notice us?" "We will have to make sure they don't. Diana never mentioned them taking off their masks, so we'd be safe there." "I will go in." I say determined. Ben shakes his head. "It's my mom. Besides, I need you to wait outside in case I call back up." He hesitates before he nods. "Then we have a plan."