Annual Purge || tøp

Chapter 2: Can I Stay Over At Your House?

Maddy Brett held her first child Mia - whom slept soundly in her mother's arms - as she watched Jenna unpacking in the guest room, genuine concern drawn over her face. Some sort of fear, probably coming from the two's assumption, loomed over them. The air in the room felt so heavy, it made it a bit hard to breathe.

"You're staying here until we find Tyler and Josh, right?" Maddy asked hopefully.

"I think so, if it's not a problem to you and Will, of course." Jenna said, pushing her luggage up against the wall with a grunt. Then she patted her palms onto her jeans, sighing. "Feels too lonely to even be in that house anymore. With Tyler missing... I don't know, it just feels so empty, yet I have a feeling that, like... ugh, I don't even wanna think about it."

Maddy nodded. "Save it. But we'll figure this out somehow. Besides, leaving you alone is a bit too risky."

"It's not that, you know." Jenna shook her head, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. She looked down at her luggage sadly. "I mean, I've got professional chef knives I'm not afraid to fight back if someone were to break into my house and kidnap me. It's just that..."

Jenna paused for a second.

"Yeah, I don't know."

She plopped down onto the guest bed and rubbed her face, clearly starting to get quite sleepy. It was only then that she realized, she does not know how many hours she had slept for the last three days. Probably nine hours in total? No idea either. Maybe she should just get to bed. But what about finding Tyler and Josh? As long as they aren't found, there would be no time to rest? Right?

"Do you think..." Jenna began. "This actually has something to do with Tyler and Josh going missing? It's around the same time as last year. And that Johnny O'Donnell guy kinda proved that it's not supernatural, someone is out there capturing others."

"Maybe, but we don't know for sure yet." Maddy replied, gently rocking her sleeping baby. "Tyler and Josh's stuff, their phones and all, were sent back to us. All of them. There's probably something else that we don't know about this yet." She started to walk out the door. "In the mean time, you should get some sleep, Jenna. You're exhausted."

-

Later that day, when the night has fallen, Brendon Urie was laying awake in his bed. His wife Sarah was fast asleep, but he couldn't close his eyes shut for some reason. He had found himself with a pencil and a notebook, scribbling something down while the desk lamp shone its light onto the paper. And it was warm, in contrast to the coolness of the blankets and pillows and the straight up freezing air.

Brendon rubbed his eyes, thinking about the news on the TV that he saw just a few days ago. He couldn't stop thinking how that many people are going missing, and for what reason? It felt too much like a Zodiac Killer story to even be true. What if it's a prank the government set up to trick us?, He thought to himself. What if humanity has teamed up with the Illuminati?

But then his thoughts shifted to Josh Dun, one of his close friends. How is the man doing? And where is he? Where is he now, after being released from jail just a year ago? He went missing, too, just like those thirteen and five people whose names were called out on TV. But... where on Earth is he?

Jordan - Josh's brother - did come to LA just a week ago. But sadly, Brendon didn't have the time to meet up and ask him about the disappearance of Josh.

Is he okay tho

Brendon wrote down in his notebook.

Is he?