Meanwhile Gabriel brought Melinda in an old castle. She sat in a room with one small window on the top of the wall so she couldn't reach it. Gabriel came in.
"Why are you holding me here? I didn't do anything" Melinda said crying.
"You know why I'm doing this. Not because I like your company because I really don't. But YOU killed my father and YOU have to pay for it. Now stop crying you d**n pregnant dog…" Gabriel yelled which made Melinda even more cry.
"I didn't… Kill him… He fell… Off the stairs… I could never… Kill someone" Melinda sobbed.
"Of course. My dad would throw himself down the stairs… Tell me one reason why he should do this?!" Gabriel hit her. Then he punched her into her stomach and ripped off her clothes.
"What are you planning to do?" she asked full of fear.
"Nothing. I won't let my hands get dirty by touching you" he suddenly threw her clothes back to her and left the room.
'OMG…' Melinda couldn't believe what nearly happened to her. 'JIM… FIND ME… QUICKLY… PLEASE…'
Melinda put her clothes back on. Gabriel forgot to handcuff her again so it was easy. When she was fully dressed she thought of a way to get free but she didn't find one. She cried bitterly when she fell to the ground.
"GABRIEL YOU CAN'T DO THIS… JUST LET ME GO" she screamed into the empty room. "I just want to be with my son and my husband again. I need them and they need me. How can we live without each other?" she said quietly to herself and pulled her knees into her arms so she was sitting like a ball on the floor. Suddenly she felt something hard in the bag of her jeans and grabbed for it… It was her cell phone.

The battery was nearly empty so she decided just to text Jim.

Gabe took me to the old castle outside Grandview. U know which one. He's rlly mad… Pls help me!! Mel

She sent the message and switched off the cell in case she needed it again and put it back in her pocket.

At the same time Jim and Aiden went to the police station to report that Melinda was missing.
"Since when do you miss her?" the officer asked.
"Dunno… My son called me like two hours ago because she went to the basement and didn't return. He and Delia Banks were looking for her but she was nowhere" Jim replied.
"Is this your son?" Officer Stanley, his name was written on a name tag, wanted to know.
"No, this is my dog… Of course this is my son" Jim yelled.
"Excuse me but I need to talk to him to know every single detail and there is no reason to yell at me. I didn't take your wife away."
"I know that you didn't take her away. It was that Gabriel guy…"
"But still, I have to talk to your son. Alone."
"No way, I won't let that happen. He's just five years old. It'd be traumatic for him to give a statement at this age."
"Daddy, I want my mommy back. And if that means that I have to talk to him I'll do it… Please" Aiden looked at Jim with the same look Melinda always made when she wanted to convince him to let her do something he didn't really like.
"Okay, but I want to watch and hear what you are talking about. Just in case he gets stressed or needs someone" Jim gave in.
"Thanks daddy" Aiden hugged him.
"Thank you, Mister Clancy. You can watch us behind the window over there plus you can use earphones to listen. But, please, don't disturb us."
"I won't. I promise" Jim whispered trying not to cry. He was very proud of his son. He wasn't sure if he could have done this at his age. But he knew that Aiden was special. Special like his mother. Jim also knew that Aiden wouldn't have any problems to talk to the officers. To tell them everything excepting his gift. But still he wasn't sure if it was too much for him to take in. Loosing his mother, seeing her sitting in a dark basement, seeing her taken away again and making a statement. Aiden saw that his dad was worried about him.
"Daddy, I'm fine. Don't worry" he finally said.
"You are talking like your mommy. She always told me not to be worried."
"Well…" Aiden said and went into the room and closed the door.

The officers were talking to him about 10 minutes when Jim received a text message. He slowly searched for his cell and looked at the screen. His heart skipped a beat at what he read. The message was from Melinda. He opened the message and read it. Tears were running down his cheek when he read it. One of the officers saw Jim standing in the hallway crying.
"Can I help ya?" the officer asked.
"My wife… I… I got a… Message…" Jim sobbed.
"Can I read it please?" Jim handed him the cell and the officer read it, too. "Okay, stay here, I'm gonna talk to Officer Stanley" the officer said and went into the room. They talked about the message about five minutes. Then they both came out leaving Aiden alone in the room.
"Mr. Clancy, it seems like your wife really is in danger. We have to find her. Could you please call her that we can localize her?"
"Of course I can" Jim said and typed in Melinda's number into his cell. "No one is responding…"
"Well, do you know which castle she's talking about?"
"I think I do. Outside Grandview there is a forest… We used to go there for camping. There was an old castle close by. I think that's what she means" Jim explained the officers.
"Okay, we'll go and check. We'll call you if we find her. Could you do us a favour?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Could you take your son somewhere he likes. Not home. You know, a place like the toy store? He needs to think about something different than his mom" Officer Stanley said.
"Okay, we'll be at the mall. He loves to be there" Jim explained and turned to his son who was still sitting in the room. Aiden saw his dad looking at him and ran towards him. "Hey bud, we'll go to the mall now, okay?!"
"Yes daddy" he said jumping up and down, forgetting for a moment that his mom was missing. "But what is with mommy??? I want to see her, please…"
"We'll try to find her while you go to the mall" Officer Stanley said.
"Okay" Aiden whispered.
After saying goodbye Jim took Aiden's hand and brought him to the car and drove to the mall with him.

In the meantime the police arrived at the castle. When Gabriel heard the sirens he went to the room where Melinda was sitting.
"GET UP" Gabriel shouted at her.
"Why? What's wrong?" Melinda asked.
"The police is coming. I think your bastard of husband called them. Oh, he's so dead. I'm gonna kill him just like your son" Gabriel suddenly had an idea but didn't tell Melinda about it. He grabbed her hair and walked away. Because of the pain she felt on her head when he started to walk away, Melinda had to get up, too and followed him. They went upstairs. There he lifted her up and brought her to the car and threw her roughly in the back. Then he drove off. Melinda couldn't see where they were driving because all of the windows were covered with blankets. Suddenly the car stopped. Gabriel got out, locked it and went away.

Aiden was running towards the toy store while Jim was trying to catch up without losing a single sip of his coffee. Suddenly Jim felt a presence and didn't see his son anymore. He thought that he may be at the toy store in order to look for some new items. So he slowed down a bit and walked there. When he arrived he entered it.
"Oh, hey Mr. Clancy. Where's Aiden?" the assistant asked. Everyone in the store knew Melinda and Jim because Melinda used to take Aiden to the mall once a week when he was younger. They always stopped by the toy store then. All the shop assistants were in love with him since they found him really cute.
"Hey, he was running towards the store and suddenly I didn't see him anymore. So I thought he'd be here. Didn't you see him?" Jim responded.
"I was helping a customer a few minutes ago. Maybe he's here but I didn't see him?!"
"Yeah, could be possible. If it comes to toys he's like in another world. I just hope that my bank account will survive it" they laughed.
"I know this question is sounding weird but is Mrs. Gordon alright? I didn't see her in a long time" the assistant wanted to know.
"I don't know if she's alright…" Jim answered sadly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that she abandoned you and her son. She always seemed to love you both more than anything else in life."
"She didn't abandon us… At least not by her free choice…"
"What does that mean? Is she…?"
"I don't know. She was taken away and we don't know where she is."
"I am so sorry… I really am. You know what? Go to your son if you find him here and let him pick any toy he wants. We'll gift it to him."
"Thank you" Jim said.
"You're welcome."
"Could you do me a favour?" he asked.
"Of course, what is it?" she wanted to know.
"If you see him could you please tell him that I'm looking for him?"
"Sure. I'll bring him to you then."
"Thanks."
"No problem" she said as a customer wanted to pay. Jim turned around and walked to Aiden's favourite part of the store but there he wasn't. Jim panicked a bit. Suddenly there was an announcement through the speech boxes.

Excuse me for disturbing your shopping. We found a backpack. It looks like it belongs to a kid between 5 and 7 years. It's black and inside is a note saying that it belongs to Aiden Lucas Clancy. Please pick it up at the information center. Thank you for listening.

Jim didn't really pay attention to the announcement. He went back to the shop assistant.
"I didn't find him" he told her sadly.
"Mr. Clancy, what are you still doing here?" she asked.
"I was looking for my son. Why are you so surprised about seeing me here?"
"I'm surprised because there was an announcement saying that you can pick up the backpack of your son at the information center. I thought that you've already gone there."
"I think I was lost in thoughts because I didn't hear it."
"Oh, okay. I think you should go there."
"Yeah, see you soon. Bye" he said, turned around and left. He was so fast that he didn't even hear the assistant wishing him luck. Jim ran through the whole mall until he reached the information center. He knocked at the door and entered.
"Excuse me" he said to the man sitting in front of a computer.
"Hi, how can I help you?" the man asked.
"You made an announcement that you found a backpack belonging to Aiden Lucas Clancy. I want to pick it up."
"And you are? Sorry, but I have to ask this."
"Sure, I'm Jim Clancy, his father. Do you want to see my passport?"
"No, that's okay. I only believe you" he said, stood up and went away. A few seconds later he came back with the backpack in his hands. He handed it to Jim.
"Thank you" Jim said and opened it. Everything was still there. Then he noticed two little pieces of paper. He took them out and read the first one. It was about a ghost Aiden and Melinda had crossed over a few days before. Tears were running down his cheeks on the thought of the happy times. Then he read the second note. It was written with capital letters.

'DON'T WORRY ABOUT AIDEN. HE'S OKAY. TGS'

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