Chapter One: Dark Skies
A low grumble of thunder sounded from the darkening sky, instantly followed by a downpour of rain, as if that one growl was a sign for the clouds to open up and release their cold shower onto the world. It was a refreshing sight especially since all morning the sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining brightly. Wednesday and Pugsley were almost done with school by this time, 2:30, and would come galloping in somewhere between 3:20 and 3:30, they always were home by that time and if for some reason they wouldn't be they always called from a pay phone or had a friend's parents call. ALWAYS.
Morticia and Gomez never had to worry about them walking the mile to and from school everyday, or occasionally letting Pugsley drive. The two watched each other like hawks and knew how to use their heads, not to mention people never really messed with the two siblings because they knew not only that they were ADDAMS but that whoever did would end up wishing they had never been born.
Gomez was leaning on the mantle reading the stocks while his wife sat quietly knitting in her wicker chair when Gomez suddenly spoke up, "My dear, do you get the feeling that...well...this day just feels weird...like something bad is going to happen?"
She looked up with confused eyes and slightly cocked her head, "No...not necessarily...although by the sight of the weather this morning I figured that nothing good was going to come out of this day, but now...nothing. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know," Gomez answered as he dropped the ticker tape and walked over to his chair next to hers, staring at the floor distraught.
Morticia looked at him concerned for a few minutes before slowly looking back to her knitting, her eyes darting over to him every so often to find him still sitting there, staring at the floor. Soon their Wolf's Head Clock roared out 3 times. It was 3:00.
"I think we should pick the children up from school today," Gomez said suddenly, still not looking up from the floor.
She looked at him with shocked eyes, "Whatever for, darling? The weather just turned nice; why take away the children's opportunity to walk in the cool rain?"
"I don't know...I just feel..."
"I'm sure they'll be alright, they have good heads on their shoulders," Morticia reassured him but now even she was starting to get a little worried. As she looked out the window she noticed there was something different about the rain. It didn't hold its usual dismal peacefulness. There was something foreshadowing about it...tense...
"You're right," Gomez replied, causing her to turn her attention back to him. "They'll be here by 3:30...they always are."
She smiled at him but it was brief, she was starting to feel what he was...something wasn't right.
"Come on, Wednesday," Pugsley called to her as he tugged her hand. "Walk faster."
"Well gosh, Pugsley, what's your hurry? Don't you want to enjoy the rain?" Wednesday asked, slightly crossed at him as she skipped up to his side, balancing on the edge of the cracking sidewalk as she did so.
"I am enjoying it," He defended himself. "I just want to get home."
Wednesday shrugged at her brother and continued to balance on the sidewalk edge swinging her books back and forth from where they were bound together by a chain. Suddenly she slipped and a large hand grabbed her arm from behind, pulling her back.
Wednesday looked up in surprise at the tall man in a trench-coat who caught her and looked nervously at Pugsley. "Thank-you, sir," Pugsley said quickly, before pulling Wednesday away, "Let's go, Wednesday."
"Are you kids lost?" The mysterious man called out to them as he slowly began to follow them.
"Just ignore him and keep walking," Pugsley said softly so only Wednesday could hear him as he still looked forward and sped up their pace.
"It's kinda cold out; do you want me to drive you home?" The man asked still walking at the same pace, un-phased by their change of pace.
Again they just ignored him and sped up their pace a little more. The man, now annoyed, jogged up to them and put his hand on Pugsley's shoulder. "Run!" He shouted to his sister who released his hand and bolted.
"Hey!" The man shouted as he gripped Pugsley tighter when he tried to run.
Wednesday slowed down upon seeing her brother not following her and Pugsley shouted to her, "No! Keep running Wednesday! Get Mother and Father!"
She turned away then and as she did so she ran smack into the hard legs of another tall man, who quickly grabbed her and began dragging her down the sidewalk to where a dark car was parked. Wednesday immediately began screaming bloody murder as she kicked, clawed, and bit at her attacker. The man hissed in pain and hit her across the head, causing her to become stunned.
"Little devil," the man growled as he opened up the trunk and tossed her in, his partner throwing Pugsley in after her and slamming it shut.
"I know, Jordan, but their parents have lots of doe and we need it NOW," his partner told him as he rounded around the car to the driver's side while Jordan sucked at a bleeding bite mark on his hand and got in the passenger side.
"It's 3:30, why aren't they here yet?" Gomez shouted as he jumped up from his chair upon seeing the clock.
"They're probably just running a little late due to the rain. You know how much they love to play in it," Morticia told him gently as she stood up and held his arm in attempts to calm him.
"How can you be sure?" Gomez asked nervously as he pulled away from her to look out the living room windows.
Morticia crossed her arms and looked down as she bit her lip; she couldn't be sure. But they were all right...they HAD to be alright. This neighborhood is safe...they've never had any problems before...
Looking back up she found her husband running back and forth looking out the door and the living room windows as he paced like a caged animal, constantly checking his watch, much like the first day they sent their children to school. Before they realized it, their clock roared 4 times, it was 4:00! No phone call, no sign of them, nothing. Now Morticia was even getting frightened, 'Where were they!?'
Gomez was beginning to curse under his breath in Spanish as he took one last look out the living room windows before heading out the door to Gate and look down the street. "Morticia, I don't see them!" Gomez called to where she followed him to the door and watched him, a stray rain drop occasionally flying into the house and landing on her skin.
Her heart stopped at his words and she felt like she was on the brink of shaking with how worried she was. "I'm getting the others," Morticia told him. "We're going out to look for them."
Pulling a nearby noose, Lurch was immediately next to her and droned out, "You rang?"
"Yes, Lurch," Morticia answered, straining to keep her voice from shaking. "Get the others, Wednesday and Pugsley are missing."
Lurch nodded and quickly disappeared in search of the others while Morticia headed as fast as she could in her dress to join Gomez. She didn't even care about getting her coat, all she cared about was her children.
It was almost 5:00 now and there was still no sign of their children or anybody for that matter. Lurch drove around town with Thing while Grandmama and Fester went South and Morticia and Gomez went North, the route their children took to school. Each would knock on the neighbor's doors and for the few that would open up to the weird family members they answered that they never saw them or anything unusual, not to mention no one was out due to the rain.
Morticia and Gomez went as far North as the school and asked any teachers or staff that were still there if Pugsley and Wednesday were in school and if they left. They all replied they were seen in school and seen leaving.
"Gomez, I think we better call the police," Morticia said, her hair dripping and sticking to her pale skin as she shivered with the chill of not only the icy rain but the thought that her children were missing.
"I'm going to them in person," Gomez declared as he headed to the local police station, his wife alongside him.
As the two burst through the doors, they made a beeline to the front desk and both had to calm themselves for a minute to keep from blurting out what happened incoherently in unison.
"Our two children are missing," Morticia told the male sergeant who sat behind the desk, while Gomez began pacing back and forth behind her.
"Name and when did they go missing?" He asked.
"My name is Mrs. Gomez Addams and my children's names are Wednesday and Pugsley. They..."
"Addams?" The cop interrupted. "Weren't you the ones who called in here a couple months ago claiming your daughter was missing and she wasn't?"
She looked at him with both confused and irritated eyes, "What? When? I see no relevance of that for this, nor do I care; my children didn't come home from school today and we just searched this whole neighborhood for them and found them nowhere."
"Are you sure they're not home now?" The sergeant asked as he wrote down what she said about them not coming home from school.
"I..." Morticia began.
Gomez had had enough at this point and spun around to slam his fist on the desk and shout, "If they were home they would've been home at 3:30 NO LATER! They didn't come home, they're out in the world somewhere, maybe hurt! So why don't you just get someone out there to look for them!?"
Morticia put her hand on his shoulder to calm him, as the cop replied, stunned by the outburst, "I'm sorry sir, but even if I wanted to I couldn't. You see, we have this law that says the person needs to be missing 24 hours before we can get involved."
"You don't get it do you!?" Gomez roared. "My children are barely 10 and 8-years-old, ALONE. What do you mean you can't do anything!?"
"Sir, you need to keep your voice down," the sergeant told him as he glanced around the room at the eyes that were now looking his direction. "I'll see if there's something we can do..."
"No, you WILL do something!" Gomez snarled, his knuckles turning white. Morticia pushed her way between him and the desk and gently pushed him away from it, her eyes telling him he needed to calm down.
At first he saw right through her as his eyes burned with rage at the officer, but Morticia put a hand to his cheek and made him look at her. "Gomez...Gomez, look at me...listen, you need to calm down. I understand, I feel the same as you do, but you need to calm down."
He let out a sigh, and rested his head on her shoulder, his hands holding her in place by her waist as he began to shake.
"Come on, Darling," Morticia whispered to him as she slowly began to lead him out.
"We'll call you tomorrow," The sergeant called to them. "And I'm truly sorry."
Author's Note:
I'm baaacck. I hope you guys like this one, this story was fluttering around my brain like a lost bat so I thought I bring her to life. Enjoy