Haven Alpha (title in the works)

Haven Alpha (maybe)

Growing up in the quiet town of Milsing, there were tales of children and adults that would just vanish. Never a lost traveler but always someone that you knew but wouldn't notice. It never seemed to be news to anyone. In our one team high school, there were always the starcrossed tale of someone running away with their boyfriend or girlfriend, that they met through some app or just choosing to go to a town over. But it never seemed to give the families or teachers reason for pause. Like with my best friend from when I was six, Was this going to be the story for me?

The night they came for me was more mundane than any other. The freshly popped popcorn with chunks of kit kat and reeses, a special mix my dad made for me and my siblings on movie night. The smell of moms cooking, a blend of vegetables, seasoning and meat still dancing in the room and on our tongues. It was all so normal. A simple Friday night for me and my family. We all laid underneath each other like a pack of wolves as the movie set the room and lights danced off the dark walls.

It was my sister Liz's turn to pick the movie this weekend and like the rest of the family, we were excited. It could've been the fact that the movie was in French, or that a majority of it was in silence. Either way it was keeping us all captivated, up until the point we were so overwhelmed with excitement that we started to fall asleep. It still baffles me to this day that a ten-year-old would pick this sort of dribble.

I lay my head on my dad's chest as he draped his arm around me and my mom when I got this nagging feeling caused me to open my eyes. I had to pee. I slowly peeled myself out of his grip and moved Noah's head from my lap and quietly slinked away from the pack of sleeping animals and made my way to the bathroom. Upon completion I let out an innocent sigh of relief while turning to the sink to wash my hands when I could hear the distinct creak of the front door opening and a soft tap as it hit the wooden buffet behind it. "That's weird" I remembered thinking to myself knowing that I didn't startle anyone amongst my escape.

I stepped out of the downstairs restroom and peeked my head around the corner from behind the stairs where I could see my little brother Noah standing there with the door wide open. I quickly walked over to him, almost sliding in my socks across the hardwood floor when I noticed he had a blank stare on his face. Ghostly in fact. I tried to shake him awake but something had him in a daze with his eyes turned white and his mouth gaping open.

"Noah. Noah wake up" I urged him in a loud whisper. He usually slept walked and had night terrors but this wasn't that. I shook him over and over again trying to get him to snap out of it but nothing worked. I wanted to go grab my parents but I didn't want to move away and risk him walking off so I yelled. I yelled so loud that it should've woken everyone but it seemed like it didn't even cause them to budge. I kept trying to shake Noah once more when from behind me I could hear a car pulling up the driveway crushing small bits of gravel under its wheels. I turned and looked behind me and there was a matte black jeep with full tinted windows so that I couldn't see the four guys waiting inside.

From the looks of it, I could tell the van was bad news. No one we knew drove a Jeep like that and they wouldn't be coming by this late in the night if we did. I couldn't figure out what was going on but I didn't like it. I wanted to get Noah in and the door shut as soon as possible and wake my parents.

"sorry buddy" I lifted my hand up and smacked him across his face causing it to welp and turn red. He turned his head in reaction but still just stood there, eyes white and mouth open.

"step away from him." A voice bellowed from behind me. I looked back to see a man jumping out of the driver side of the van. His chest and shoulders were broad, hair cut down short up top and tapered on the sides. He looked at me with a face more blank than the one my brother was giving off. "There's no reason to make this difficult boy" he started.