The police were called and they were out looking for this woman. That night they checked the school records of her and went to the house listed. She wasn’t there she had never lived there. The woman, they realized, had been planing this for quite a while now.

Karen opened the door to her apartment and Chris went in. Inside there was another frightened looking boy. He had dinner on the table waiting for this evil woman.

“Taylor, show this young man where he will be spending the night.”

The boy named Taylor grabbed Chris’s hand and showed him to a separate room.

“Thank you.” Chris said. He didn’t know what else to say. All that he seemed to be remembering were his manners and how his dad had always said that how he acts around other people is a reflection on the family. He so didn’t want to disappoint his dad. He wished he were back home. He began to cry.

Chris sat on the floor and began to cry. The other boy who Chris noted was wearing rags for clothing came closer to him.

He knelt down to Chris. “Don’t cry please.” He said quietly.

“Taylor! Get out here now!”

The boy bolted like a flash of light to the kitchen where the woman beckoned.

Chris sat there puzzled. Who was this boy? Was he a servant? Was he her son? Surely no mother would let their son dress in rags. His mom hated when he got his clothes dirty. She wouldn’t let him wear jeans with holes in them much less clothes that were so tattered that they barely kept from showing the world what was under them.

After a few minutes the boy came back in with a plate of food. “Here.” He said simply.

Chris wasn’t hungry. Mark had ordered pizza before this woman had taken him. “No, thank you.”

The boy looked scared. “You have to eat it. If you don’t she’ll get mad.”

“I had pizza not to long ago. I’m not hungry. I don’t want to make her mad but I’m just not hungry thanks.”

“Please, eat it. If you don’t she’ll hurt me.” He said with panic in his eyes.

“Have you eaten?” Chris asked suddenly.

The boy shook his head 'no.'

“Then you eat it, I won’t tell.”

The boy sat down and began eating the plate of food like he had never eaten before. And by the looks of him he hadn’t eaten much lately.

Chris could see the boy’s ribs through the holes in his shirt. I want to go home. He thought hugging his legs.

It was two in the morning and Tommy and Mark were trying to sleep. Mark was so scared.

“Mark, are you okay?” Tommy asked slipping in-between the sheets.

“I’m fine.” He said rather unconvincingly.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it is. I was the oldest here. I turned my back and he was taken. I should have known better.”

“Oh, come on, Mark. How many kids would think. 'oh well jeeze my teacher has a grudge against my uncle and she is going to come in my house and take my cousin'?”

“Still, I’m the oldest. I should have protected him.”

“Mark, just because you are sixteen doesn’t mean that you can take on the world. Protect everyone. You are just a kid. Don’t be so hard on yourself. No one blames you.”

“I blame me. I bet Chris blames me too.”

“I doubt he does. And you need not be so hard on yourself.”

Mark heard Tommy roll over and soon he could hear his brother’s light snoring. He began to cry, he was worried and scared. How could he be so stupid? How could he let that little boy get taken and hurt?

He got no sleep that night.