01. vanished

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Our family went for a weekend visit to Central Park. My dad was a working man, so we took this time to spend the lost time with him. He works for someone big, but we were too little to understand.

My parents set out the picnic while I played around them. I ran around, making my twin brother, River, smile and laugh.

"Dev, stay close." My mom tells me as I walked further away. I got further away since I saw a pretty purple flower. I awed and felt arms around me.

"Didn't your mom tell you stay close?" My dad sets me down and kneels to look at me. "My little dove." He smiles, placing his hand on my small cheek.

"Robert! Devon!" Mom was calling us over. We head our way back. My brother started munching his food, my mom passing our ours. We giggled as our dad told us his funny stories about his boss. River and I raced to the playground as we finished our food, i was by the sandlot and he was by the swings. Two men in black got out of the car and headed my way, I didn't think of anything, just two men walking around. As for a 6 year old, it wasn't bad. One of the men came behind me and injected something in my neck, making me fall asleep.

"Devon!" My brother runs after the men who carried me into their car, driving away.

Giana and Robert raced to the crying boy and started looking for Devon. Robert ran around the playground and nothing, no sign of her. He ran around the park, nothing. The parents faces were filled with fear. Who had taken Devon Hobbs?

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I had woken up, still in a car. The same two men were in front, driving me somewhere. They didn't talk, I was too scared to talk. We stopped at a airport and waited for what was forever. The two men got out first, I heard them talking in a thick accent. The car door opens and they pulled me out. Two girls stood behind a women and a man. They tossed me out and the woman comes forward.

"Hello." She was sweet, touched my newly scuffed chin. "You must be Devon." I slowly nodded, how did they know my name? Her accent sounded sweet, but hard to understand. "No need to be scared okay? Me and him and are going to take good care of you."

"Wheres my mom?" The man kneels down and huffs.

"We're going to play this game, shes your mama and im your papa." He looks back at the two girls. "Thats Natasha and Yelena, your sisters. When we are done playing this game, you get to go home, can you do that?" They stood up and made me go with the girls. The one with red hair was about my age and the other was just a little kid, but the red haired girl felt safe to be with.

"Stay with us, you'll be safe." She tells me as she held my hand. The five of us got in a truck and drove off, leaving the two men behind. I watched as we weren't in New York anymore. We all stayed quiet, listening to the music on the radio. When we pulled up into a neighborhood, it was quiet, seems secured, our 'mama' and 'papa' turned to us.

"Remember, this is temporary, we are your family now. Don't talk about anything that has happened or what we talk about. Do you understand?" I nodded. Natasha seem to have this talk before. I have to follow everything to go back home. Yelena and Natasha hopped out of the car and Yelena raced to the front door, waiting for someone to open it. Natasha reached for my hand and walked with me to the door.

The first thing we did was take pictures of us all. There were so many backstops, so many clothes, fake presents that we pretended that were real. 'Dad' took the photos, telling the three of us to smile, to act like we love each other, like sisters. I played my role and all I can think of was my real family, did they know? Are they looking for me? Are they coming?

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'Mom' showed us around the house, everything was already there, tables, couches, food in the fridge. They even showed us the backyard which had a playground, big space to run around. Then the rooms, there were only two room, Natasha, Yelena and I had to share. Yelena and I gasp as we saw the bunk beds and called dibs, Yelena on top, me on bottom. Natasha sat on her bed and looked at us, she was determined that she wasn't gonna let us out of her sight.

"Time for dinner." We came out of room and sat down at the table. I sat next to Natasha, across from Yelena. Mom gave us our plates and we began to eat. Dad smiled at us. "Look at us, a real family. Its not bad." He said in his thick accent. "Dont get to attach, okay?" We nodded our heads and ate. After dinner, the three of us watched Tv in the living room until mom told us its time for bed. She gave us a kiss on the head and closed the door. Natasha stared at the ceiling, Yelena probably fell asleep, but me, I stayed up. I missed my home. I missed my mom, my dad, River. My room, my stuff animal.

"Natasha." I whispered to her. She didn't answer. "Natasha." She looks at me. "I'm scared." She gets out of bed and sits in mine. "I want to go home." Natasha wipes my tears.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" I nodded my head. She sat on the floor and held my hand through the night. But I still couldn't sleep. I was missing something. Natasha fell asleep and I tipped toe to dad, who was in the kitchen. "Dad?" He snaps his head up and looks at me, hiding behind the corner.

"Whats wrong?" He waves for me to come closer.

"I want to go home." I started to tear up. He sighs and pulls a chair out for me to sit.

"You can't go home, not yet. But I promise you, this is going to fun. You have Yelena, Natasha, us. Everything will be okay." He smiles again. "Wait here." He gets up and leaves and shortly comes back with something with his hands. "Here." He hands me a stuffed bunny. "He will not let anything bad happen to you. That is his job, and also my promise to you." I held the stuffed animal tightly. "Go to bed now, its late." I shuffled my way back to my room, crawled into bed and settle Nico, the bunny, in bed. I faced the wall and tightly shut my eyes. You got this Devon, play along and you go home.