A house.

Thats what Gwen see's when her mind falls asleep.

A red brick house with a black door and white leafless tree planted in the front yard to match.

Looking around the area, Gwen frowns. The neighborhood seems normal, everything looks fine.

The cracked pavements, the weeds growing along the fence line, the drying grass. Everything looks fine.

"Where am I?" The girl asks herself.

She could tell this was one of her dreams. When she's in her dreams, life feels off.

This feels off.

But why here? What is this place?

Banging echoed from the house and Gwen's head snaps toward the sound.

The front door to the brick house was shaking lightly, moving to each sound of the bang.

Someone was on the other side.

Gwen steps closer, squinting her eyes to see through the glass window on the door but she was too far to see anything specific.

A moving silhouette is what Gwen see's best from where she stands, but it still wasn't enough to the the face.

Gwen looks around before jumping over the short fence and speedwalking over to the door.

When her footsteps neared the door, the banging slowed and soon there was no sound or movement at all. Everything fell silent.

Confused, the girl steps closer to the window in the door, peeking in to get a better look.

Nothing was there.

A scream erupts from her throat when a face appears in the window, along with the sound of more bangs.

Frightened, Gwen falls backwards, landing on her elbows and wincing.

Her head shoots back up to the window, spotting Marilyn through the glass.

Marilyn bangs on the door heavily, screaming for help. Her face was drowning in fear and she had tear stained cheeks. Gwen could tell the girl was terrified.

"Please! Help me!"

Gwen quickly raises to her feet, running to the door and twisting the knob. But it didn't open. The knob didn't even move. It was as if it was glued in place.

The sound of an engine fills Gwen's ears, causing her to turn around.

A black van speeds down the road before making an abrupt turn, pulling into the driveway of the house opposite this one.

Gwen's breath speeds up a little when she spots a man in a mask, his hair was dark gray and greased with sweat.

The grabber.

Panicking, Gwen pulls harder on the door knob, trying to help her friend out of the house.

"Marilyn!" She screams, but its silent. Almost like someone had muted her voice.

Footsteps can be heard from behind Gwen, causing her to spin around.

The man stands there, his head tilted lightly as he shakes his head.

For a split second Gwen suddenly feels like this wasn't a dream. Her fear felt so real that the dream was beginning to feel real along with it.

"Bad girl." He mutters, his voice deep.

Gwen shoots up from her mattress, her breath uneaven as her chest rises and falls heavily.

The room was still dark and there was no light shining through the curtains. Gwen guessed that it must've been the middle of the night.

The house.

Shuffling from her bed, Gwen speed walks to her brothers room, slowly opening the door as she didn't want to make too much noise.

Finney's room was lit up by a blue hue radiating from a little rocketship nightlight in the corner of the room. 

Softly closing the door behind her, Gwen tiptoes over to her brothers bed before shaking him awake.

"Finney." She whispers, shaking a little harder.

Finney's eyes flutter open slowly, humming when he spots his little sister standing above him.

"I had a dream." She whispers.

Finney suddenly feels wide awake. Sitting up slowly, his brown eyes stare at his sister, waiting for more information.

"What was it about?"

"There was a house. A brick house. It had a black door and there was a tree infront of it." Gwen whispers and Finney nods along with her words before she continues.

"But the grabber– he was driving a van. I've seen it in a dream before. He pulled into the house across the street. I think that's where Marilyn is." She says and Finney looks at her in a little shock.

"Holy shit." He whispers. She could've found his best friend. Marilyn could still be alive.

"Holy shit." Gwen repeats, a small smile on her face. "We need to tell the detectives." She adds.

Finney nods. "In the morning. We'll make too much noise if we try now."

Gwen nods, understanding that if they made noise at night their father would hit them.

Finney lays back down, getting comfortable before waving at his little sister. "Goodnight Gwen." He whispers.

Gwen nods to him before walking over to the door. But when her hand rests on the door handle she stops as flashes of the grabber from her dream start popping up.

Turning to her brother, she walks back to the bed.

"Finney." She whispers and he hums, his eyes still closed.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight? I'm scared."

Finneys eyes slowly open as he looks over to his sister. He spots the fear and worry in her eyes, making his heart melt for the little girl. Nodding, Finney shuffles over a little bit, raising the blanket.

"Yeah, come in." He whispers and Gwen smiles, hopping in the blankets.

Finney tucks her in tightly, placing a light kiss on the top of her head, he snuggles in closer.

"Was it a bad dream?" He asked and the small girl nods.

"The grabber was there. I thought it was real. I thought he was going to get me." She whispers.

Finney looks at his sister with saddened eyes before shaking his head. "Don't worry. I've got you. I'll keep you safe." He whispers back before giving his sister a tight hug.

"Get some sleep Gwen."

Gwen nods before snuggling into the soft sheets. "Goodnight Finney." She whispers.

"Goodnight Gwenny." He whispers back to his sister before the two fall asleep in eachothers comfort.

+++

Detective Wright and Detective Miller stood infront of the house after having recieved a call from Gwen just a few minutes ago.

Knocking on the door, the detectives both wait for an answer, not wanting to fully do anything yet.

After a few seconds of waiting the door opens and a lanky middle aged man with a mustache opens up the door, a slight smile on his face.

"Hello?"

One of the detectives step forward. "We're canvassing your neighborhood, mind if we take a quick look inside?" The detective lies, not wanting to warn the man of any sort of suspicions toward the house.

The man nods before stepping out of the way. "Yeah, sure."

The detectives step in before the guy runs over to a map board of suspects and pinpoints. "I want to show you this."

He says and the detectives look at him confused.

"The missing kids all live in the same district right? They all walk to and from school."

The detectives look at eachother annoyed before nodding, Wright opens his mouth to say something but the man cuts him off.

"They were all grabbed on the way home from school except for Robin Arellano he was grabbed on a Saturday afternoon on his way to the store to get some pop and a candy bar, right?"

The detectives look at eachother once again before nodding. "Sir, we're well aware of that information—"

"Just listen." The man steps toward the board, gesturing to the different houses.

"The grabber has to be able to grab these kids and get them back to his place very quickly, which means he’s got a house with a garage. There's only a few houses with that luxury, which means the grabber had to live somewhere around here." He finishes, gesturing to the area of the house they're in right now.

The detectives stare at him as he continues talking. They would've thought he was onto something if Detective Miller didnt spot a certain substance out of the corner of his eye.

"The grabber had only taken boys. So I thought 'why would he suddenly change and take Marilyn?' Then it hit me."

Nudging Detective Wright, Miller gestures towards the lines of cocaine set up on the coffee table.

Detective Wright shakes his head with a sigh before stepping forward, stopping the man from his theories.

"Listen, Mr..."

"Max."

Wright nods. "Mr. Max—"

"No, not 'Mr. Max' just Max."

The detectives nod before Miller speaks up. "Right. How long have you lived in the area Max?"

Max shakes his head. "I don't. I live down in Durango. This is my brother's place, I'm just crashing here." He says and the Detectives nod at him.

They look at eachother before shaking their heads.

This isn't the house.

Detective Wright steps forward, handing Max a business card. "Here. You keep working on this, and if you see any of the boys or Marilyn. Give us a call."

Max looks at them with a small smile. "Or if I have any new leads right?"

"If you see the boys or Marilyn, give us a call." Detective Wright repeats as the two begin to make their way towards the exit.

"Wait, I've helped you a little bit right?"

"A little bit." Detective Miller says to be polite before gesturing to the drugs scattered on the table. "And uh, you might want to clean up before your brother gets home." He says.

Max's he's snaps towards the coffee table, realizing what had happened. His eyes shut tightly as he begins to scold himself in his mind.

The detectives step out of the house, closing the door behind them as they make their way to the car in disappointment.

If only they knew that the answer was right under their noses.

+++

"Fucking! Piece! Of shit!" Marilyn screams, stomping on the ground between each word.

It was nightfall. She had successfully used the cord to rip the bars from the wall this morning, but that was completely useless. There was nothing she could to with the window.

Now she's just stomping around the room, annoyed that she couldn't come up with anything.

She raises her hand and begins to fiddle with her necklace, her mind running at a hundred miles per hour as she tried to think of a way to escape.

But her thoughts were soon cut short by the sound of clicking.

The door.

Marilyn quickly sprints to the bed, laying down and pretending to be asleep.

She hears the door open slowly before footsteps begin making their way into the room. She feels her heart rate speed up when she hears the heavy breathing of the grabber behind his mask.

"I know you're not sleeping little girl."

That fucking name.

Marilyn's eyes open, realizing it was best not to pretend.

She spots the grabber standing there, a tray of the same food in his hands and a full mask covering his face.

"I'm starving." She tries to get her mind off of the terrifying man infront of her.

"Tell me your name." He says, tilting his head.

Marilyn looks at him confused. "What?"

"Your name. What is it? Then I'll give you the food." He says, stepping forward.

Marilyn looks at him, not wanting to say her own name. So instead, she makes something up.

"Clementine. Clementine Baker." She says.

Marilyn's eyes watch as the grabbers calm appearance turns fowl. His eyes burn with anger and his whole body stiffens as he throws the food to the wall.

"I dont enjoy when people lie to my face Marilyn." He says, his voice sharp like daggers through skin as he throws a newspaper in her direction.

Marilyn looks down confused before spotting a picture of herself.

MARILYN KATE
Missing as of April 3rd, 1977

Marilyn gulps lightly before shaking her head. "Didn't want your stupid food anyway." She mutters to herself.

A lie.

The grabber tsks. "I was beginning to like you little girl." He whispers before stepping back to the door.

"I almost let you go." He says before closing the door, not locking it behind him as he leaves.

Marilyn glares at the door for another five minutes before her stomach rumbles.

Walking over to the food scattered on the ground.

"Fuck that dickwad." She whispers to herself in disgust before kneeling down and picking the food up from the floor, placing it on the plate.

She makes her way back over to the mattress, grabbing the surprisingly not broken bottle of water before sitting on the edge of the springy sponge, placing the tray on her lap.

"God, I can't believe I'm about to do this." She mutters, her face scrunching up.

She grabs some of the scrambled eggs off of the plate before shoving it in her mouth, eating the horrid food.

She really fucking hated him.

+++

Vance lays on his bed, staring at the ceiling above him as a certain someone clouds his mind.

Marilyn.

He doesn't admit it to himself, but he knows he misses her. After everything the two have been through his feelings had evolved from hatred.

He hates that he can't do anything to help her. He hates everything. He thought he hated her. But that's a lie now.

He hates himself most of all. He could've done something to stop it. He could've walked her home.

"Ah who am I kidding. I never would've done that before." He mutters.

And hes right. If Marilyn wasn't taken, he would've never cared if she walked alone. If she wasn't taken they'd probably be doing the same thing as before.

Fight, call names, laugh about it and repeat.

In a way, he's the slightest bit thankful that she was taken. He would've never realized his feelings if things were the way they were.

But he's mostly fucking worried. Vance would never ever say this shit out loud, but he was worried about her. He was so fucking worried and it terrified him.

He knows that she is the only person in his life that he doesn't truly despise. Other than Ms. Beckett of course. Hell, Vance doesn't even like his own parents.

Shaking his head, Vance raises from the bed. Walking iver to the bedroom door, he opens it slowly to check if anyone was around.

All the lights were off and Vance could hear the distant snoring of his dad from his room.

"Perfect." Vance mutters before closing his door and making his way over to the mirror next to his bed.

Sliding the frame up, Vance almost immediately feels the cold night breeze make its way into his room. Opening the window fully, Vance crouches down a little before ducking under the frame and sticking his leg out the window.

The rest of his body follow in pursuit as he leaps out of his room and onto the damp grass outside.

Looking around, Vance makes sure that no one can see him before he slowly closes his door, leaving just enough of a gap to get back in when he returns.

Jogging over to the side of the house, Vance grabs his bike, wrapping his fingers around handle bars and pulling it to the road.

Vance hops onto his bike, getting his feet ready to pedal down the road before taking off.

The cool night air blows his hair back as he bikes down the road with one thing on his mind.

Find Marilyn.

+++

Marilyn gags lightly before shaking her head and taking the plate off her lap, putting it on the floor and grabbing the drink bottle before downing the water.

She could not eat all of the food. Is wasn't good in the first place and the extra flavor of eighty year old cement didn't make it any better.

Marilyns lip quivers lightly as she holds back tears.

Don't cry. They wouldn't want you to cry.

Her thoughts echoed through her mind as he stared at the still unlocked door.

She felt so hopeless right now. The door was left unlocked and she couldn't do anything about it, knowing that the grabber would be on the otherside ready to beat her to a pulp.

Looking down at her fingers Marilyn sighs.

"I really miss you guys." She whispers, moving her fingers up to play with her necklace, believing she wasn't in the room alone.

That they were with her.

A ringing echoed through the room and Marilyn's head snaps toward the phone.