Earlier that day - Winnetka, Illinois
The anticipation within Kate swelled as she felt the van stop. She thought it must have been another stoplight, or a turn, but as she looked out the driver's windshield, she noticed the familiarity of her snow-covered yard. She gasped, parting ways with the polka men as she exited the van. She waved off to them before scaling the steps to the house. Since it was covered in freshly covered snow, she didn't slip on the snow underneath.
She gripped the knob with her gloved hand. She felt warmness there; odd, for a brass doorknob in freezing temperatures. She paid no mind to it as she walked into her flooding house. Like the outside of her house, she froze at what she saw.
Not only was it flooded, but micro machines floated in front of her. Two paint cans hung from her railing, and broken ornaments were sprawled over the floor in the formal living room. Where had that small Christmas tree come from? She desperately called out, "Kevin! Kevin!?"
She called his name as she ran through the water, almost slipping multiple times. She checked every room before running upstairs. It was dry as she ran up the stairs, ducking under the paint cans. Kevin wasn't upstairs. She rushed to the basement, only to trap her designer boot in tar. "Jesus Christ!"
By the time she had gotten the expensive footwear out of the mess, Peter and her children walked in. They gasped and remarked at the flooded floor. Kate ran over to Peter, speaking in incomprehensible words. Peter, in a strange way, knew what was wrong and raced around the house looking for his youngest. The kids crowded their upset mother, asking where Kevin was. She tried to explain, keeping calm the way parents do, but as soon as the words, "Kevin's not here," left her mouth, she broke down.
The police came immediately; they were disappointed that they had to leave their holiday party at the station, but when they saw the mark of a stolen house – the flooding – they knew it was serious. What they didn't account for was a child to be missing. After Peter explained the whole incident of leaving their youngest behind, the Sheriff explained what he thought happened. Robbers targeted the house while no one was there, came upon their son, who was a witness, and either killed or kidnapped him. Kate couldn't listen; she already knew what happened, and she didn't need repeated to her.
The cops suggested they left, and so they did. Everyone was so terrified that Kevin was gone; the mother the most. She felt a mix of negative emotions; fear, sadness, guilt, and anger. Fear of what her son was suffering, sadness over him, guilt for leaving him alone in the first place, and anger at whoever did this. They called upon another van, since everyone was too shaken to anything but focus all their actions on Kevin. Kate ignored her four other children as she sat there in the back of the van, staring at the back of the seat. Her husband took one of his emergency cellular phones, calling various news stations.
Kate didn't say anything for hours, or eat anything. Twelve hours passed, but the news stations refused to report anything until Kevin's absence became longer. Peter cursed to himself, throwing the chunky device against the wall. Kate jumped.
"Peter, please," she sternly said.
"I'm doing everything I fucking can, Kate!" he yelled, not at Kate, but mostly about the situation, "The stations down in the city think that we should wait it out, in case there's a chance he returns. They think he's a runaway. A fucking runaway! Can you believe that!?"
Kate remained silent.
"Why – what is this, Kaitlin?" Peter exclaimed, "You're not doing anything."
She spun around from the window she was staring out from, "What the hell do you mean, Peter!? Ever since I noticed Kevin was left home alone, I was the one contacting the police, I was the one calling everyone we know, I was the one who didn't sleep for days on end as I finally found a polka band to travel with."
"Okay, well-"
"You were the one who said, 'It's okay, let's just go to the apartment.' I was the one taking initiative, Peter. Okay!?"
"Okay, okay," he said in a calmer voice, "We'll find him."
