Ok, ya dicknuts. So I've been doing some thinking about the entirety of my story. If it wasn't obvious yet, I never planned to go this far when I first started. Originally It was going to stop after 20 chapters or so and I would move on but the farther I went the more I started to come up with. It was just supposed to be one fun little story but it's evolved in to so much. I figured it's time to make it a bit more... I dunno, professional? Clean it up a bit, make it not a pile of shit right from the get-go. Now, I don't want anyone to hate me for this, but that may involve... deleting the time skips. Ok, ok, I know, you don't have to yell at me, I'm sorry. But, I just feel like that's the direction this story needs to go in so it's gotta happen. Other than that, I've been talking to a friend of mine that I've been helping write their own story and after they got the idea to go back and polish some of the writing, and after I went back and read, like, the entirety of my work, I figured I might as well do the same and overhaul everything. I'm gonna keep the story the same, just clean up some writing and what not. I'm sure you all understand. This probably won't happen until I've finished this arc so let's just enjoy what we have now until then. Also I might put a majority of the author's notes at the end of each chapter instead of the start, beginning with this chapter. Seems reasonable.

Sorry for taking up so much of your time, and for making you all cry or something, I honestly don't care that much about your salty tears, but, as we all know, Time is valuable. So, let's get back into the story.

Chapter 38

The Waiting

Mrs. Diaz got home that night before her husband. She pulled onto their street to be greeted by police cars and fire trucks. They looked like they were parked right in front of her house. In a bout of fear, she hit the gas a bit, speeding up as much as she could while still avoiding the large group of people scattered around the asphalt. When she got closer she found that they weren't in front of her home, they were there for the neighbor's place. She managed to get into her driveway and take a look at what was going on. There was a huge hole in the side of the neighbor's house. Right on the second floor. A perfect circle, with a small tinge of red around the outside. In a panic she ran into her own house.

Other than the panicked voices that permeated the walls, the house was strangely silent. Marco was no where to be seen. She checked his room first. His computer was still on, some game flashing a "you died" message on the screen. While this felt weird for Marco to leave his computer on and his chair out of place it didn't necessarily show any suspicious signs. She checked the bathrooms next. All vacant. She opened the front door and took another look outside. She scanned over the crowd that surrounded the street. No sign of Marco anywhere. But she did see two police officers walking in her direction. When they got to the door, the one on the left, a rather large man with a goatee, addressed her first.

"Evenin' ma'am." He tipped his hat lightly before returning his hand to his belt.

Angie offered a slight head nod in return, her face still riddled with small clues of fear.

"I'm sure you've seen all the commotion out here. Any idea what happened?"

"I- no. No, I just got back home a minute ago."

"Yes, we saw you pull in. Figured there was no harm in askin' you since we've already talked to everyone else on the block and the next one over."

Angie was silent for a second, not sure how to respond, before she remembered what she was doing just seconds ago.

"Did you two happen to see a boy out there while you were asking around? He's fourteen, about this tall," she raised her hand just above her own head "brown hair, probably in a red hoodie, constant look of apathy on his face?"

The other officer, a taller and skinnier man, answered her. "No, nothing like that comes to mind."

"Oh… well, thank you anyway." She was about to close the door when the second cop changed his mind.

"Actually, now that you mention it, that does kind of ring a bell."

Mrs. Diaz swung the door back open as a shrivel of hope filled her eyes. The first officer looked at his partner in confusion but the second kept going.

"Yeah, now that I think of it, I was definitely here recently. I was here on a noise complaint."

Angie was almost angry that this man would start to waste her time like this. "I don't see what that has to do with any of this."

"I don't mean the area, I was at this house. Yeah, I've definitely met your son before. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him in th-"

"Woah, hold on. You were called to my house on a noise complaint? That doesn't sound like Marco."

"No, no, actually you're right. He had a friend over. Little blonde girl…" His voice trails off for a second as he starts to put pieces together in his head. He snaps his fingers in realization. "The blind neighbor!"

"Yeah, her name's Star." The cop repeated her name as the mention of it sparked his memory. "But what does that have to do with a noise complaint."

The fatter cop seemed to agree with that logic. "Not really much of a lead to go on there."

"No, it's not that specifically. When I was here the living room was an absolute wreck. It looked like they were fighting or something. Said it was just horseplay but the tip said they were screaming at each other like they were angry with one another. Not to mention they both looked scared out of their minds when I got here. Not like the classic 'kid-afraid-of-a-cop' scared but like more of a guilty scared."

Angie thought this over for a second, recognizing some pieces of her own that fit into this puzzle of a narrative. "Actually, the two have always been really hostile towards each other. I thought it was just the way kids were these days but maybe they were genuinely fighting."

The first cop was still unsure where his partner was going with this. "What're you thinkin' here, Monty?"

"I'm thinkin' if we find the girl we'll probably find Marco, too."

This only made Mrs. Diaz all the more frightened. "You don't think she hurt him, do you?"

"I'm thinking more of them running away from home together but with the way they acted towards each other we can't take anything off the table just yet. Maybe he just happens to be at another friend's house?"

She shook her head. "He doesn't have any other friends." She let her eyes slide away towards the ground in disappointment of her own son.

"You sure there's no where else he could be?"

She nodded her head. "Star's the only one he talks to anymore."

"Then it looks like we know who your son's with. We'll get him back for you, miss. Don't you worry."

"Please do. I don't know what I would do if I found out he was hurt or… worse."

The two parties exchanged passing pleasantries and the door was closed. The two officers headed back to their cruiser. The bigger one voiced his disbeliefs first.

"You don't really think her son's missing, do you?"

"I don't know. A family disappears the same time their neighbor does without a trace but a hole blasted into a wall, which we have no idea how that was made, and we know the two children had some sort of connection between them. Not to mention when I saw them there's was definitely something going on. Something… unpleasant."

"You know we can't go off a coincidence and a feeling you had awhile ago. That's not solid evidence."

"It's just too convenient, is all. It's fine, though, we don't need to include all this in the report but I'm definitely keeping it in mind."

The two of them drove off away from the scene, leaving a mother to call her husband back.

When Rafael came home he found his wife in the kitchen, pacing back and forth in thought and fear. They locked eyes, a shared concern connecting them. The father was still convinced his son wouldn't just run away, and he found it hard to swallow the idea that the little neighbor girl had taken him, but there was still the concern in the back of his mind. Something telling him there was something wrong. Angie broke the silence first.

"What are we gonna do?" Her voice was shaking as much as her hands were. "Marco's gone, Raf. What are we gonna do?"

He placed his hands on her shoulders, attempting to steady her. If anything, it helped calm his own nerves. "It's fine, everything's fine. How far could he have gone in a few hours? We'll put up some fliers, make some calls, see if there's been any sightings. Someone had to have seen the two of them."

She nodded her head in short, fast movements. "Yeah. Yeah, of course, how far could he have gotten? Right. Makes sense."

"Good. I'm gonna call the Cleides down the street. Just try to… hold it together."

He let go of his wife and took out his phone. While he left the room, phone in hand, Angie went back to going insane. Did he leave willingly? Did he really want to? She knew there was something wrong but everything they did for him, every penny they spent on his mental health, none of it ever seemed to change anything. Did he finally get fed up and just leave to fix it himself? He had never shown any sort of initiative like that before. Was it something she had said? Maybe she was too hard on him when she warned him about getting too close to another girl. But he couldn't have taken it the wrong way. He knew she was just looking out for him. He knew she would always be there for him as a mother. He knew she would never do anything to betray him or hurt him! He knew!

And yet, still… where was he now?

She returned to her previous task of anxiously pacing the kitchen and crying. Where was he now? Was he thinking of home? Did he even want to be there? Did he really leave on purpose? Against her own wishes she began thinking about what the rest of her life would be like if Marco never came back. She immediately tried to push the thoughts to the side but eventually succumbed to their vicious rage. She was going to grow old and sad with her husband, no family to speak of. Maybe she could adopt. But how would everyone view her for such an action. Was it too heartless to replace her only son after he just up and left? No, he didn't leave. He was taken. She had to reassure herself of the conclusion she had just come to minutes ago. He didn't leave. He was taken. By that little blind girl and her family. What kind of monsters would go and steal a child from his parents? What kind of absolute fuc-

"That's the fourth house and still no one's seen him."

Angie's internal monologue was cut off before reaching its chilling climax as Rafael addressed her with an update. She immediately looked his way and stopped moving. She knew that this was going to be the case and yet the news still shook her to the core.

"Well try the whole god damn neighborhood, then! Someone had to have seen something!"

"Angie, please, calm down. Freaking out isn't going to make him turn up. We can go out and make posters tomorrow, the cops are already looking for him, what else is there really to do but wait? We're still not even sure he really left."

She looked up at her husband, tears flowing from her eyes. Her heart ached for her son but she knew the man's words spoke the truth. She nodded lightly. Rafael moved his wife over to one of the kitchen chairs and sat her down.

"Sit here for a bit and cool off. I'll try a few more calls and we can talk after that."

He picked the phone back up and left the room once more. She was left to her harrowing thoughts once more. They seemed to pick up right where they left off.

Maybe if Marco just went out and acted like a normal teenager for once this may have been easier. Maybe if he had some actual friends, ones he didn't fight with constantly, she'd be able to call them. Maybe they'd have a lead on where he is. Maybe he would have been with one of them instead. Maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. She kept repeating new scenarios in her head, desperately wishing for some alternate universe to present itself so she could leave this old, ruined one. Why even was Marco such a social recluse, anyway. She knew he really took it hard when Jackie told him to leave but was he really so weak as to fall into some emotionless pit of nothingness just because of that? No, that was heartless for a mother to think about her son. Maybe there was something else. Maybe there was something he still kept to himself. Maybe Jackie knew something. Maybe, maybe, maybe, there she goes again. She shook her thoughts away and got up from her chair. Jackie might know something. It was as good a lead as any, especially when she didn't have any others. She retrieved the school directory and started thumbing through the pages.

When Rafael returned to his wife he found her with the directory back in her seat. Though confused he decided there were bigger problems at hand to address first.

"So the Halbergs saw him walking home from school with Star, but they're pretty far up the street so we know he at least made it there."

"Let me see the phone for a second."

He handed her the phone across the table.

"You come up with something?"

"Probably not."

She started putting the number in and they both fell silent as they waited. It rung a few times before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

Oh, thank god, it's Jackie. She really wasn't sure what the plan was if someone else had decided to pick up the phone.

"Hi, Jackie. It's, uh… Mrs. Diaz. Marco's mom."

"Oh, uh- hi?"

"I know I'm probably the last person you expected to here from right now, especially because of… well yeah. But I just- I was wondering… did you happen to see Marco sometime after school today? Or, have you talked to him in the last few days?"

There was a short pause. She wasn't sure if Jackie was weirded out or confused by the question. Or if she was just thinking about her answer.

"I mean, no I don't think so. Why, what's this about?"

Angie let out a sigh, knowing she might as well just get straight to the point.

"We don't know where he is. I know this was probably a long shot but he hasn't come home and nobody's seen him and the neighbors are gone and we think they may have taken him or their daughter did something to him and I just thought… I don't know, you two used to be friends, I figured it was worth a shot."

Jackie took another few seconds to process this manic rant that was just flung her way.

"I, uh… I mean, he was at school today? That's about the best I can give you. I don't think we've actually spoken to each other in… god, maybe three years? He's been hanging out with that new girl in school. I think she's been causing a bit of trouble recently if that helps at all."

"Thanks, Jackie. Please, keep an eye out for him."

"I will, Mrs. Diaz."

She hung up. Angie placed the phone on the table and put her forehead onto her clasped hands. Another idea leading to a dead end. Is this how it was going to be until he just miraculously turned up? She was out of ideas. She could hear the chair scratch on the floor and knew her husband had just sat down across from her.

"It was a good idea. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. Let's just get some sleep and get those posters up tomorrow. Maybe you'll feel a little better in the morning?"

"I doubt it… I don't think I'll even be able to sleep tonight."

And she was right. She didn't leave that chair all night, despite Rafael's best attempts to get her to come to bed. She said no every time. She couldn't go to sleep yet. She just couldn't. What if Marco came back in the middle of the night? She sat there in that exact same position for hours. Thinking. Trying to decipher some sort of motive for her son to have left. Trying to piece together what his relationship was with this girl. Trying to figure out whether or not he saw any signs that this girl and this family were kidnappers. The idea of googling this family came to mind to see if maybe they had done this before but she couldn't find the motivation to move. All she wanted to do was sit there and wait for her son to come back. All she wanted to do was wait until her life fixed itself.

She just wanted to wait. And that's exactly what she did.

I honestly didn't have a great name for this chapter and I'm kinda disappointed in myself for that. Also I just realized I made Angie go through the first 4 stages of grief, in order, without doing it on purpose. So I guess that's something.

Y'know what else is something? Reviews~

InfiniteClockWise: Lmao so true. I like to change the characters up with every new rendition. I mean, with some of them there's only so much I can do, but y'know.

Celebrity Martyr: Wow, man, you're still here? Glad to see I haven't driven at least you away. Rip all my other old regulars. That last chapter was definitely not meant to recap any plot but I mean if it helped you then it helped you. Gonna try and stay here. That's three chapters in a row without more than a week in between each. I think I should be fine, at least for the summer.

Glad to have all you still with me, especially in this dying fandom. I know I only managed to gain as much popularity as I did immediately because I used to pump these fucking chapters out at light speed, and I know I'll probably never hit that level again (even with time to write I've just been putting in more effort than 2 days worth maximum) so I really appreciate you all sticking around this long if you have. I have so much planned for this story and I just want it out there for people to enjoy. I just want to share the ending. It's such a fun ending.