Lois woke up with a smile on her face. She and Hal had an amazing time last night and to make the night even more perfect, the boys were quietly in bed when they got home; not something she was expecting. She looked at the clock beside her, it was 8am, she groaned, she had work at 10 so needed to get up and make breakfast. As she got to work in the kitchen, she could hear the TV on. Lois walked towards the couch and looked at her boys, but was surprised to see that only two of them were there. "You two are up early." She stated. "Is Malcolm still in bed?" Reese grinned and Lois stared at him expectantly. "He's not here." Reese said smugly, the brothers always enjoyed when they weren't the one in trouble. Lois tensed. "Not here?" she repeated, that boy knew he wasn't to leave the house. "Where did he go!" Lois raised her voice, she needed answers, her mind was already considering how to punish Malcolm. Reese shrugged. "He didn't come back last night." "What!" Lois gaped. "And when were you gonna tell me this!" she snapped angrily before rushing towards her bedroom. "Hal!" she yelled. When she arrived at the door, she saw her husband halfway through getting dressed but looking up at her expectantly. "Malcolm didn't come home last night." She told him, torn between worry and anger. Hal stared for a moment as the information sunk in. "Right." Hal took a breath. "You try the hospitals; I'll try his friend's houses and the boys will go door to door."

Lois had thought that Hal was overreacting at first, but over an hour later and there was no sign of Malcolm. Hal had spoken to all of his friend's parents and the people at the community centre, Lois had been to hospitals and police stations and the boys had walked around the neighbourhood. She didn't want to admit it but she was scared. "Hal!" She called when she arrived home, he immediately ran to her. Reese and Dewy watched their parents talk frantically. "Man, Malcolm is in so much trouble." Reese whispered to his youngest brother. Dewey rolled his eyes, Reese always enjoyed when someone else was in trouble and the focus wasn't on him. But Dewey was a bit scared, be may only be 6 but he knew this wasn't like Malcolm to stay out all night, and even if he had, he should be home by now.

Malcolm's head hurt, it felt like Reese had punched him in the face as he woke up. But it was too quiet. He could tell he was in bed, but the pillow felt too soft and he couldn't feel Dewey's cold feet. He opened his eyes slowly; the light stung his eyes. It took a few moments to realise he was in an unfamiliar room. His heart began to race and he shot up so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, something pulled at his arm and he looked down to see his left wrist handcuffed to the bed frame. His heart beat faster as he pulled the cuff and screamed for help. Tears streamed down his face and it got harder to breathe. After what seemed like hours, he became quiet. His wrist was bruised and chafed from the handcuff and his throat hurt. "Calm down Malcolm." He told himself as he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. "This is probably a stupid prank by Reese and you'll be out of here in no time." As he said the words, he knew something like this was way above Reese's abilities. He looked around the room he was in; it was smaller than his bedroom at home but there was only one bed, the single he was currently sat on. The walls were painted blue but it seemed rushed, blue paint was splattered on the door frames and carpet and he could still smell the faint paint smell, so it must've been done recently. There were some shelves on the opposite wall with books and games and next to that a set of drawers with a Batman clock on top. It seemed like a kid's room at a glance. But as he looked to the window, he realised he was in a basement, it was high up against the ceiling and had bars and thick glass. He bit his lip to stop himself from crying again. What the hell was going on?

Around midday Reese and Dewey sat in their room as their parents spoke to the police officers. They had been sent away but still sat by the door with it open slightly so they could hear what was happening. "We've tried everywhere, no one has seen him since he left the community centre last night." Lois said anxiously. "He's a really smart boy." Hal explained. "He wouldn't do this to us." "And you can't think of anywhere else he could be?" The officer asked gently, both parents shook their heads as they held onto each other's hands. "You have an older son, right?" The other officer asked, he had dealt with this family before and found himself slightly sceptical. "Could they be together?" Lois shook her head quickly. "Not possible." She insisted. "Francis is on his way home from his military school, but he won't be back in town for several hours." "But it's not the first time something like this has happened in your family. He's probably hiding out somewhere so he doesn't get punished." The officer suggested. Lois didn't need to hear that and she felt her temper rise. "Now look here. I don't care what you think of this family but the facts are: Malcolm is 11 years old; no one has seen him since last night and no one knows where he is. You need to do something!" She pointed at the officer as she spoke, he had arrested Francis a few times so she knew what the man must be thinking. "We want to help you Lois." The younger officer explained. "But it's not been 24 hours yet..." "24 hours?... 24 HOURS?!" Lois yelled. "You're telling me that my child has to be gone for 24 hours before you will bother to look for him? God knows what could have happened by then!" "I'm sorry but its procedure." The officers stood up and the older one adjusted his belt and sighed. "Try to contact Francis, if he doesn't know where Malcolm is call us immediately. I'm sure he will be fine." He tried to reassure them. Regardless of how he felt about the family, he didn't like the idea of any kid being out there somewhere in trouble.