The entire bus shared a collective groan as the lights turned back on.

"Sorry kids, there was an accident, the road's closed off. You're back home."

Great. The long-awaited camping trip was over before it even began. Of course, most people in Nightingale Square could afford to have plans to spend the summer elsewhere, but it was still disappointing. For most seniors, this would've been their last school trip. Instead, they were picking up their bags and left the bus to walk back home.

EJ was the first to step off the bus, of course. Only the best for the Blackwood Industries heir. Maxxie and Danny left hand-in-hand, with Mae following soon after. The Belmont sisters were next. Octavia thanked the bus driver, just as smiley and energetic as ever, while Colette trailed behind her with their head down so only their blonde waves were visible, still trying to blink the tiredness out of their eyes. Laura was the last off the bus, and being woken up when she didn't want to be had clearly done no favours for her volatile temper.

As soon as Laura made her exit, the bus abruptly drove off, probably breaking every speed limit of their suburban paradise.

"Huh. Doesn't seem like anyone was expecting us." Maxxie whispered, but whispers sounded like shouts against the complete silence.

The streets were empty. Even the streetlights were dead.

Maxxie's hand was still intertwined with Danny's, but they were looking around as if void had some sort of X-Ray vision that would detect any sign of life in the apparently dead town. Mae just edged a little closer to Danny. She didn't like this. It was far too quiet.

Octavia took her phone out, and Colette craned her neck to see what she was doing. Mom flashed across the screen, but it just kept ringing. And then it went to voicemail. "Can you try to call her?" Octavia kept their voice low, like the two had some kind of secret pact. "Octavia, if she's not answering for you, she won't answer for me."
"Please?"
"Fine."

No response.

"Maybe everyone's asleep?" Mae thought aloud as both her and Danny's attempts to contact either of their parents fell flat. Danny smiled in response, but both of them knew the most likely cause of their sudden absence. They'd been caught.

Maxxie squeezed Danny's hand three times. Their secret code for "I love you. I'm here."

"I'm going home," EJ announced as if the entire town were his admirers. He walked away with his bag slung over his shoulder.

"Can we go home?" Colette asked her sister after exhausting just about her entire contact list and finding no response from anyone that wasn't on the bus. "Of course," Octavia replied, as positively as she could, given the situation. "Don't worry, CoCo. It'll be fine."

Danny, Mae and Maxxie walked towards their homes. Maxxie wanted to check if Natalia and their parents were okay, but Danny refused to let either Mae or Maxxie out of their sight. If Varvara and Sergey were really gone, Danny could not lose the only two people left that she gave a shit about. So, a quick search of the Lewis home, and then a quick search of the Wilson home, and if they still didn't find anything, Maxxie would stay over at the Lewis house, because they had more locks on their door. And the trio would never have to be separated.

Laura searched her home, looked through every nook and cranny, and still couldn't find a sign of anyone. Fuck. She really felt like breaking something.

"Maybe Mom and Dad just took Adri somewhere?" Octavia tried the third theory of the night, trying to stop Colette from spiralling any further.
"Without telling you? No fucking way."
"Maybe they sent a text and it didn't go through. I don't have any data, do you?"
Colette took their phone out of their pocket to check for a moment.
"Nope."

-

"Okay, who the fuck declared a town meeting?" EJ asked as if he had somewhere else to be that was more important than searching for his missing family.
"I did," Octavia replied with a smirk.
"What the fuck, Octavia?"
"Someone had to do something before we all have a mass panic attack. Has anyone been able to reach anyone?" There was an overwhelming no. "Really? Not a single person?"

"There has to be some simple explanation for this, right?" A certain blue-haired demigirl asked when the silence became unbearable. "Yes! But, there's plenty of time for us to figure that out. For now, we should just all get some rest and think about it again in the morning. And anyone that doesn't want to be alone can come to our place." Octavia looked at Colette for approval or forgiveness or some mixture of the two, but Colette just nodded.

They'd just wake up the morning and it would all be over. Just a bad dream. That's all.