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Without concern for the structural integrity of the phone, Abbie thrust the receiver end down onto the base and turned back towards Hank. She picked up the brown petticoat draped across the back of her chair and wrapped it around her body arms first. Abbie then took a hold of her purse and set it over one shoulder. The keys she had set down on the desk just before answering the phone she placed in her front coat pocket before speaking to Hank directly.

"Come on, I am taking you home." Abbie walked passed Hank and pushed open the door, again letting him out before locking the door behind them. "Don't say anything to anyone as we are walking out. I just want to keep this between us okay?" She paused again and wrapped her scarf around her neck.

The two walked through the courtyard, for the second time this day. People are going to start thinking this kid is a trouble maker and needs his hand held for him. But that goes back to everyone talking about the current state of Hank's family and his missing brother. They all knew what was going on. No doubt about that. Much to her relief, Hank said little to nothing while on the way out of school.

They approached the parking lot where Abbie parked her small SUV. She opened the back door for Hank to get in after hitting the alarm off. Abbie rounded the back of the vehicle and pulled herself into the driver's seat. "Buckle in." She said quietly waiting for the feint click of his belt that let her know she could start driving. The red-head took out a folded piece of paper in her purse which was the house addresses, phone numbers and all around basic contact information for each child. Abbie kept one on her person at all times while school was in session. Almost all of the teacher's had to keep one of these on them, especially after the uprising of school shootings that happened through out the country. The SUV continued to run as she programmed Hank's address in her GPS.

"Alright, homeward bound." Abbie turned to Hank and smiled, before pulling out of her parking space and out of the U shaped loading zone just in front of the school. Before she knew it, she was driving onto the busy (to a Conton native) streets of town.

Abbie put the SUV in neutral and pressed down hard on the parking break. "What in the world..." Abbie started, but was in a state of bewilderment that words were not yet available for her to speak. She took a quick glance at Hank through the rear view mirror and then back at the scene ahead. The red-head reached for the button to roll down the windows, but the sound did not break through the silence. There was nothing. It didn't even seem as though the birds were chirping which was odd for this time of year. It's spring. The birds are buzzing in their nests searching for mates. This much wooded area it should have been a symphony.

"Hank....." Abbie said, her voice shaky. Something in her told her she should take her usually good advice and stay in the car. Just turn the vehicle around and go back to the school, this is not something that needed her attention. "I don't want to leave you by yourself." She got out of the car and opened the door of the side Hank was on and reached out her hand for his. "Just don't let go of my hand, okay?" However, Abbie wasn't about to follow her usually good advice this time.

Abbie kept Hank close to her as they stepped away from the SUV and towards the accident. The eerie state of silence brought on goosebumps and the hair on the back of her neck was at full mast. "Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone out there? Is anyone hurt?"

Both Hank and Abbie jumped back when, whatever it was, collided with the over turned rig. She had heard the rustling but wondered if it were the people that the cars belonged too trudging through the underbrush. Maybe they were all searching for something? 'At the same time?' Stupid thought, but it did go through her head. She stared for a long time at the overturned rig and wondered if getting out of the car was the best idea. Abbie squeezed Hank's hand tighter in her grasp, it was an assurance that this wasn't all just a very bad dream. He was physically there and that is all the proof she needed. "He-- Hello?" She called again.

"Hank!" Abbie kept screaming, reaching for something faster, stronger and three hundred times more agile than her. The feeling of Hank being ripped from her grasp was like someone reaching inside a pregnant mother and stealing her unborn child. At least, that is what that moment felt like, like all that could have gone wrong in the world just finally did.

She was about to run after the creature before she was stopped by the Conton Police Officer. His arm wrapped around her shoulder lightly and he held her back. Abbie pushed away from him, with tears streaming down her face. "Hank.." She put her hands to her forehead and began pacing practically in place. God, she needed a plan. Her cell phone. She needed her cell phone.

Abbie ran back to her SUV and threw open the driver's side door and jumped into the seat. She did not bother closing the door and instead dug into her purse for her cell phone. The first number she dialed was Hank's. She put the phone to her ear while staring directly at her GPS. Hank's home address was still sitting in the search box. While waiting for the dial to turn to viable rings, she forced the GPS to find alternate routes to Hank's home address. With the forest the way it was, there was bound to be an alternate route. Abbie was thanking her lucky stars she fell for the small SUV instead of the four door car she had been shown that same day. If there were any alternative selections to get to the Oleander's homestead, she would need this kind of vehicle to get to them.

Abbie turned her head towards the sound of Hank's phone going off in her back seat. She almost expected something sinister like that to happen. It even played over and over again in the back of her mind before she even made the phone call. Abbie was furious at herself. So mad that she threw her cell phone to the passenger side floor. It hit the ground with a thud and rolled almost entirely under the seat. She looked down at her discarded phone, or what she could see of it and had an idea.

The teacher reached behind her where Hank had once been sitting and slammed her hand over his phone and pulled it to her. It wasn't hard finding Jeremy's message to Hank and she immediately began to message him. "Please let this work." She whispered to him. Abbie knew that calling wasn't working, Hank had said that he had tried, probably multiple times. But if she could get him to message her... perhaps...

"Jeremy. If you can read this it's Abbie. I need your help. Please. Something took Hank." And she hit send. Her heart raced in the minutes she waited for a response.

The message came at quite a shock but not so much to keep her frozen in place. If there were to be opportunity here, she would indeed take it by the horns and thrust. Abbie wiped the watery mess from her cheeks and looked up. The truck that had once blocked her path was now gone. In fact, it seemed almost everything that had been a hindrance was no where to be found. Out of all the things that had had happened today, this seemed like a naturally normal occurrence. That notion was almost as frightful as watching a young boy be snatched from your grasp, the fact that this, all of this, seemed normal.

Abbie put the SUV in drive and pushed down decently hard on the gas pedal. She had to get to Hank and Jeremy's house, that is all that mattered. Hank had been in her care and she had royally ******** that up. Now all she could think about is getting him back at whatever cost. Abbie shifted the car into all wheel drive and pushed a little bit further down on the gas pedal, lurching the SUV even faster down the road, periodically looking down at the GPS to make sure she didn't miss any turns.

She took a glance out the window at the graying false world that was sweeping around her. Abbie was beginning to realize the idea of this being a prank or an elaborate hoax had flown out the window and disappeared into a storm drain. There was nothing on this Earth that could really effect her mentally like this. She found herself wiping her eyes every few minutes as if something was therein blocking her ability to see the world as it really was, but it proved futile. The red-head came quickly upon the house as the robotic female voice rang: "Your destination is on the right." Abbie pulled up to a large iron gate wrapped around, to be honest, nothing that she had expected.

Abbie got completely out of her car and ran up the pathway leading towards the grand gala that was Hank's homestead. She nearly tripped over her own feet in necessity at getting there as fast as possible, but was able to regain her balance and look up towards the teenager. Abbie wasn't sure if this was Jeremy or not. If it was, there was a story behind all this she didn't want to be witness of. If it wasn't, it begged the question how did he know someone was missing if not Jeremy?

"Jeremy?" Abbie called, still staring at the boy as if she had seen a ghost. IN reality, that might not be all together untrue. "Jeremy what is going on here? What was that, that took Hank?" Abbie found herself nearly screaming, but it was desperation taking over. The longer she stood outside the house, the further Hank slipped through her fingers much in the fashion when he had physically been ripped from her grasp.

Jeremy looked nothing like she thought that he would. She imagined a vibrant kid, much like Hank, very smart and well mannered. With the state of their homestead, she would have imagined him a lot more clean shaven. This was not that same Jeremy she pictured in her head. Something was eerily wrong, but not so much that she felt in danger. In fact, she felt a sense of woe wash over her, as if she should be melancholy by this.

Abbie froze into place when the hands touched her. Her green eyes cast a glance towards the one on her left shoulder to ensure that hands were indeed grasping her, for the feeling was weightless. She looked back at this version of Jeremy with what she believed to be understanding. "Jeremy. You look..." She trailed off, but shook her head. That could be discussed later, Hank's life lay in the balance. Each minute wasted on things that were neither crucial nor relevant to the situation was one less minute on Hank's life. That creature, or whatever that it was, wasn't here to give Hank a ride on a Ferris wheel, this was something sinister.

"Let's not waste time then. Where are we going?" Abbie sounded almost excited. Jeremy had been assisting her this entire time. No matter what kind of sorrow she felt, it didn't matter, she trusted that he spoke true when he said he knew how to get Hank back.