(3)-Gone.

Sharon drove back to the house and parked her car, got out and closed the door, and went up to the front door, unlocked it with her keys, and went inside the house and then closed the door, followed by putting her keys back in her purse. She had returned to apologize to Aiden for the way she had spoken to him before she left. She then heard the sound of barking coming from upstairs.

"What's Friday carrying on about?" Sharon asked herself. What was up with that dog? Was Aiden teasing him? He sounded upset. "Aiden?!" She called as she ran out of the kitchen, rushed up the stairs, and headed for Aiden's bedroom where Friday obviously was. "Yoo-hoo!" She called again, getting no response. "What's going o-" She trailed off as she went into Aiden's room and saw that her son was nowhere around. Friday was present...but Aiden was nowhere to be seen. "Aiden, where are you?"

Friday barked and Sharon looked at Aiden's bedroom window and saw that it was broken. How she missed that was anyone's guess.

"What on Earth?" Sharon asked before walking over to the now glassless window and looked outside. "Aiden? Yoo-hoo, Aiden! Aiden, where are you?!" She called as she looked around for her son. But he was nowhere outside either. "Where is he?" She asked before looking down at the ground to see the broken glass. Sharon then turned away from the window, reached inside her purse, got out her flip-cellphone, opened it, and dialed her father's phone-number. She held the phone to her left ear and waited for him to pick up on the other line.

"Hello?" Came the voice of Sharon's father, Charlie, on the phone.

"Aiden's gone." Sharon said.

"Well, good evening to you too, Sharon." Said Charlie.

"Dad, Aiden is missing." Sharon said.

"Missing? What do you mean he's missing?" Charlie asked.

"Just what i said, Aiden's missing. He's gone, he's...he's disappeared." Sharon said.

"Oh, Sharon, he couldn't just disappear." Charlie said.

"Well, he's nowhere i can see, that's for sure. Which is strange, since i just said goodbye to him a few minutes ago before leaving for work." Said Sharon.

"Where are you now?" Charlie asked.

"I'm in Aiden's bedroom. Friday's here with me, but Aiden's nowhere in sight." Sharon answered.

"Well, he must be somewhere in the house. Did you look under his bed, Sharon?" Charlie said.

"No, i didn't. But i suppose it wouldn't hurt to look." Sharon said before sitting her purse down on Aiden's bed and then getting down on her right hand and knees and lifting the bottom of the covers and looking under the bed. Seeing nothing, she stood up.

"Well?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing." Sharon answered. She then remembered Aiden ranting about some silver magic shoes he supposedly used to get back home from Oz and how she blew up at him earlier about believing such a thing. She wondered if that had something to do with his disappearance. "Uh, Dad...you don't think that this "Oz is real" business could actually be true, do you?"

"Of course not, Sharon. Aiden said the whole thing was just a dream. You know that." Charlie said.

Sharon turned to face the broken window. "Well, what i'm looking at right now isn't a dream."

"What are you talking about?" Charlie asked.

"Aiden's bedroom window is broken and the glass is on the ground outside." Sharon answered.

"That's not good." Charlie said.

"What do you mean?" Sharon asked.

"Well, if the window is broken and the glass is on the outside of the home instead of inside, then that would mean someone must've snatched him. Someone who was already inside the house." Charlie explained.

"What?! You mean we've lost him again?!" Sharon asked in shock. "Oh, Dad...i don't think i can bear it. Is he gone for good this time?"

"Now, now, now, let's not panic, Sharon. Just call the police and report Aiden missing. It's that simple." Said Charlie.

"Thanks, i will. I'll call you back later and let you know what's happened. Bye." Said Sharon before hanging up. She then dialed 911 and waited for someone to answer.

"911, What's your emergency?" Asked a female voice on the phone.

"Yeah, hi, i...i need to report my son missing." Said Sharon.

OZ
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