Chapter 10: Brittany

Brittany sat staring at Vincent as he played with the t.v. She wasn't sure what he was doing, and really didn't feel like asking. She figured that if it was important, then he would know what to do.

The others were doing the exact same thing, each one excited at the chance of being able to see and hear their parents, again. Believe it or not, going a whole month without either would take it's toll on kids as young as them. Even Alex, who was about to graduate college.

"Okay," Vincent finally said, standing up, "That should do it."

"Are we really going to get to talk to mommy and daddy, Chi?" Drew asked, gazing up at Brittany with hopeful eyes.

"Not quite." Vincent said, kneeling down in front of the little girl who was perched on Brittany's lap. Brittany caught the others tense up at him being so close to her, but paid no mind to it. She was almost completely certain that the black haired boy meant them no harm. "But you will get to see them."

"And hear them." Brittany added, smiling softly.

Drew bit her lip, "Will they be able to see and hear me, too?"

Brittany shook her head, "I'm sorry."

Tears began to well up in Drew's eyes and her lower lip began to tremble, "Does mommy and daddy not love me anymore?"

"Why would you think that?" Hailey asked, scooting just a fraction of an inch closer to them. She probably couldn't get herself to go any closer to Vincent.

"Because they haven't come to get us, yet." Drew threw her arms around Brittany's shoulders, "Daddy promised that he would always come for us."

"Don't worry, hon." Hailey smiled, "They're coming." she winked, "They're just going to need some help. Because you know Uncle Jackson. He can't do anything on his own."

Drew laughed slightly at the semi-insult Hailey had just said about her father, "So mommy and daddy will come to get us?"

Hailey nodded, "For sure."

"And they still love me and Jeffie?"

"Of course." Hailey pinched Drew's cheek, "Now, are we ready to see them?"

"Mhm!" Drew smiled, cheerfully, "I wanna see daddy! I wanna see mommy!"

"Okay, then." Brittany smiled, "You'll have to be quiet, though, so Vincent here can start it."

Drew gasped, before closing her mouth, dragging her thumb and for finger across it. She then twisted her hand slightly and threw an imaginary key behind her shoulder.

"Okay," Vincent chuckled, "All I can show you are things that have been broadcasted down there. So, it'll really just be the investigation of trying to find you guys. So, you're parents won't be too happy…." he shot them a warning glance.

Alex nodded, tightening her hold of Jefferson who was playing with her camera, "We'll be fine. Don't worry."

Vincent nodded back, before sitting between Brittany and Hailey-who moved away-on the couch. He snapped his fingers and the screen grew to life.

First it showed Alex, Lucas and Hailey's parents. They were sitting in what looked like a newsroom, and were really pale and looked as if they hadn't slept in days. Aunt Vivian's hair was just barely brushed, which was slightly disturbing due to the fact that she was as big on looks as her two daughters were.

"They've been missing for almost four days, now." their father said, as if answering some question that Brittany hadn't heard.

There was silence, then Aunt Vivian started shaking her head, sobbing slightly, "We don't know! We've sent out everyone we could think of! No once can find a trace of them! It's as if they dropped off the face of the Earth!"

The scene switched to Stan and Brittany's parents. Brittany felt her gut clench when she looked at them. Her mother's cheeks were sunken in and she looked very fragile. Her father looked stressed and worried, as if he were about to break and go on a rampage.

"No, I don't think our kids ran away." her mother snapped, "Sure their life wasn't perfect, but they were happy. And even if they did, there's no way that they would drag their 7 and 4-year-old cousins into it! My kids aren't some type of delinquents!" there was a moment of silence, "I just said that they didn't run away!" she screeched.

"Calm down, hon." Brittany's father put a calming hand on her mother's shoulder, he then turned back to the man with slightly grayish hair who'd asked the question. "No, they didn't. Brittany had plans with her friends the day afterwards. She wouldn't skip out on them."

Brittany clenched her hands into fists, and glanced away. Her parent's voices… hurt. They sounded so hollow, as if their entire meaning of existence had disappeared. She wished she could do something to make them cheer up.

The scene changed again, this time to Drew and Jefferson's parents. Aunt Cassie's blonde hair hung limp around her face, and Brittany swore that Uncle Jon hadn't had that much gray hair at Thanksgiving.

"I don't know." Uncle Jon whispered, "It was nearing sunset, and they all wanted to go hiking through the woods in my sister's backyard. It's fenced off so we thought that there couldn't be any harm so long as the got back before dark. But then three hours passed-we weren't too worried then, they always took a long time when they went down there. They loved to play with the-"

"-love." Aunt Cassie interrupted, her voice a hoarse whisper.

"Huh?" Uncle Jon turned to her.

"You said 'loved'." Aunt Cassie explained, "As if they're already dead. They're not, Jon. They're alive and well, and they'll come home."

Uncle Jon stared at her for a second, before turning back to the man, "They love to play with the fish in the stream. So like I said, we weren't too worried. But then six hours passed, and it was nearing eleven, and they still hadn't come back. So the father's went out to look, but we couldn't find them anywhere."

The scene changed one last time, this time it showed their grandma.

"The only thing our search came up with was found within the first hour." she was saying, "It was found by my son-in-law, Alek." she held up Alex's camera, "This is his eldest daughter, Alex's camera. It was found in the middle of the bridge where the last picture was taken." there was a pause, "Oh yes, she loved to take pictures. There's thirteen of them from that night while they were out."

The pictures that Alex had taken showed on the screen. There was one of Brittany and Drew rolling in the grass. One of Lucas helping Brittany up after she'd fallen. One of Hailey holding Jefferson up on a fallen tree trunk. One of Hailey jumping up on Lucas's shoulders to try and get Jefferson down. Then the one they took of everyone in the clearing.

And the last one.

Which was the picture they'd taken on the bridge.

Only this time, it wasn't malformed like it had been when they looked at it. The picture on the screen showed how it should've looked. Then the screen went blank.

"You guys looked so happy in those." Vincent said after a second.

"Yeah, well we didn't know what was going to happen." Brittany whispered, "To us, it was just another regular Thanksgiving day."

There was silence for another second, then Lucas broke it.

"Hey, Alexandria?" he asked.

Alex's head snapped up, and she turned to look at him, "Yes?"

Lucas spoke, still staring at the t.v., "How did they get a hold of your camera?"

Alex looked confused, "What do you mean? They just said that they found it on the bridge."

"In the middle."

"Correct."

"Right where we took the picture."

"Yes."

"And right where we found the malformed picture of the bridge?"

"What are you trying to get at, Luke?"

"Alexandria?"

Alex's eye began to twitch angrily, "What is it, Luke?" she hissed?

Lucas turned to face her, finally, his eyes wide with confusion, he then pointed to the object that Jefferson was playing with. "Isn't that your camera?"

Everyone glanced down at Alex's camera. Brittany felt a shiver course through her and she wasn't sure, but she thought she saw everyone else shiver, too.