Kate stared listlessly out the cab window, watching the cars pass by. She was thinking about the test that was in three days, wondering if she would pass, she usually did. HONK! A loud car horn broke the silence.  “I think this is it,” said Kate a few minutes later. The taxi driver stopped to let her out at her babysitting job.

      A while later, Kate was sitting on the couch, texting her friend Arianna. Suddenly, she heard floorboards creaking upstairs. There was silence again, and she listened a little bit longer then went back to her text conversation. Out of nowhere, Kate heard a door open. She yelled, “Violet, Peter, go to bed! ” To her surprise, no one answered. Kate got off the phone and went upstairs. She looked in their bedroom and there was no one in there. Kate looked around a little more and discovered that the kids were missing!

         Worry and terror washed over Kate’s face as she found out the kids were not there. Kate began to search the entire house from top to bottom. After checking every nook and cranny, she began to freak out. Kate grabbed her phone and, with trembling hands, called Arianna.

    “Hello?” answered Arianna. 

    Kate hesitated before saying in a shaky voice, “The kids are g-gone.” 

    “What!?” said Arianna. “Like missing gone or umm… You know gone, gone?” 

“Missing gone, of course,” replied Kate. “You really are no help, Ari.”

    “Are you sure you looked everywhere?” Arianna asked. “Like even in the washer and dryer?” 

    “Yes, yes I did. What do I do?” asked Kate. 

    “Call the police, of course!” answered Arianna.

    “No! I can’t. I’ll get in bad trouble with the parents! I'm going to look again, I’ll call you back.” said Kate finally. 

    Kate searched the house again, checking even the most unreasonable places. Realizing that the kids were actually gone, Kate decided to call the police.

    As she walked around the house looking for anything that could help her find the kids, she found out that the kid's tablet, which was supposed to be on the counter, was gone. Kate looked in the cabinets again and realized a bag of chips and a thing of Oreos were missing, too. She sat there frozen. Could someone have stolen the tablet, kids, and food? 

    “No, no, no, that's crazy,” said Kate shaking her head. 

     She called Arianna back and updated her on the new events. Then Kate thought of something, an attic! Of course! She began running around looking for a place in the ceiling. In the back of the kid's room, she found a board covering a hole in the ceiling. Kate saw a dresser right underneath the hole. She climbed up and pushed on the board, and it opened. Kate saw a small flight of stairs inside. There was a light at the top!