Being sick was the worse. Homework, please. I always did my homework immediately when I came back from school. I collapsed on my bed and started rubbing my forehead to stop the headache. My brain felt like it was going to melt and my throat was so sore and dry. KNOCK, KNOCK! I sat up, because I thought it was Mom.
“Come in.” I said. Izabel came in and I relaxed and laid back on my bed. “Oh, it’s only you.”
“Hi Finnie.” I smiled. That cute nickname for me was something I adored about her. She sat at the corner of my bed and frowned at me. She was dressed like a doctor with a toy stethoscope around her neck, a First-aid kit, and a teddy bear. I raised my head to see her better.
“So, Doctor Izabel, are you going to make me better?” She nodded. She started poking and hitting me with different things and it was really hurting. But for my little sister, I allowed her to go on.

After all the pain was gone, she wiped her forehead.
“Doctor Izabel is very tired. Finnie better now?” I nodded.
“Much better.” I lied. She gave me a big hug.
“Yay! Now we can play tea party.” Uh-oh! She dragged me out of my bed and into her room. Everywhere you looked, you saw teddy bears and toys. A little white table and a few chairs with stuffed animals were there. Izabel sat me down on a chair, which shouldn’t have fit a 12-year old, but I was pretty short and skinny, so I did. Curse my stupid, puny body. Izabel sat down next to me and poured me a pretend cup of tea.
I really was in no mood to play, but I couldn’t say no to her. So I ignored my headache and for an hour as we played together. I really wanted to get out now. My head was feeling heavier than 10 pounds. Finally, Hailey opened the door to Izabel’s room.
“Izabel, Mom says it’s time for bed.”
“Aww, but Finnie and I were just playing!”
“Sorry.” I quickly got up.
“Bye Izabel!” And ran to my bed and covered my face with a pillow. I was so glad tomorrow was Friday, a whole weekend to rest. I closed my eyes and drifted off.
When I woke up in the morning, I felt a little better. I quickly changed my clothes and ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Hailey was the only one up and was flipping through a magazine while talking on the phone.
“No Susan, I don’t think sandals are appropriate…why, because it’s November!” Hailey smiled over at me and pointed at the phone like, Can you believe her? I smiled. I sat down with Hailey and ate an apple while she talked. When she was finally done, she hung up and looked at me. “Good morning, Finn. How are you?” I still couldn’t buy Hailey’s sweet attitude. Why was she acting strange? Why was Mom so happy when she came from work last night? I couldn’t understand anything.
“Is something wrong?” I asked her. “Why are you being nice all of a sudden?” The color from her face drained away.
“Nothing. I’m just being nice. That’s all.” I snorted.
“You’re not that nice unless something’s wrong.” She crossed her arms.
“Alright then, make me some pancakes!” She demanded. I raised a brow but that just made her crankier. “NOW!” She demanded. I quickly got up and started making pancakes. I turned around and Hailey was smiling. She was just kidding around. I smiled down at the pancakes.
Izabel skipped her way over to the table and I placed pancakes in front of her.
“Blueberries?”
“Chocolate chips.” I told her. She licked her lips and took a bite. I wiped my hands with a towel and sat down to eat my breakfast. Mom wouldn’t come down for another few hours. She worked, came home, slept, and then went to work again. It was the same old things over and over. If it was Mom’s day off, we would enjoy it like it was the last day of our lives. But that was 2 years ago, now that special day we used to call it was just filled with paying the bills we were behind on.




I really missed my Dad. He could make any situation the best. His kind smile was like the whole sunshine smiling at you. I sometimes liked that I had my father’s traits, but it also made me remember him too much. I stared at my sister’s brown eyes. People always questioned that we were all a family. And I didn’t blame them. I was like a complete outsider from my family.
“Finnie?” Izabel asked me. I looked up.
“Yes?”
“What are you doing to your pancakes?” I looked down and realized I had smashed them all with my fork. Why did I do that?
“Um…I don’t know.”
“Are you going to eat it?” I slid the plate to my sister.
“You can have it.” She happily ate them. I sighed and went outside to play some basketball. I dribbled the ball around and tossed it in the hoop. Dad always used to basketball with me when I was little. I dropped the ball, remembering the good old times. I was done with basketball now. I went into the house and grabbed my book bag.
“Izabel, you’re going to be late for school!” Hailey yelled.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, but I can’t find my backpack!”
“It’s over here, Izabel!” I yelled. She ran over to me and grabbed her bag from my hand.
“Thanks.” Hailey pushed us outside.
“Let’s go, we’re going to be late!” We all ran over to the car. Izabel and I sat in the back while Hailey quickly drove us to our school. Luckily, our schools were completely close together. Izabel and I went to the same school while Hailey went to her High School.

Hailey dropped us off at our school then drove to her school’s parking lot. I took Izabel’s hand and walked her over to her class. Then I ran over to my locker and quickly got my books.
“Hey, Finn.” I looked behind me and saw my best friend, Jerry. We were both best friends because we were short and thought we could look out for each other. Also because we sort of both didn’t have a father. His father was in the military and only saw him once a year. But that was completely different from my problem. I could never see my Dad, unless I looked in the mirror and saw a younger version of himself.
Jerry wore his hair in a Mohawk like always and his hands were always in his jeans. He had on a red shirt and a thin black windbreaker.
“Hi, Jerry.” He studied me.
“What up with you?”
“Nothing.” I sighed. He punched my arm.
“Aw come on, I know you and something’s wrong.” I shrugged.
“I really don’t know. Just sick like always.” He frowned.
“You’ve been sick since the 1st grade!” We both walked over to our class and sat next to each other. “You wanna come over today?”
“Maybe next time. I think Hailey’s going over to Susan’s so I’ll have to take care of Izabel.”
“Are they still obsessing with that party? Morris isn’t that cool!” He protested. Jerry really liked my sister and knew almost everything about her. That’s kinda creepy.
“Jerry, give it up, would you?”
“No, I’m better than Morris and Hailey knows it!” I just rolled my eyes. Explaining something to Jerry would require graphs and puppets.
“Forget it.” I mumbled under my breath. The bell rang, and Algebra class started.
After school was over, I stopped by Izabel’s class and waited. She came out skipping over to me.
“Hey, Finnie. Today was the best day for me!”
“Really, tell me.” I said walking out of the school with her. She started talking about her day and I of course had to listen. RING-RING! I quickly got out my phone and answered it. “Hello?”
“Finn, its Hailey. I’m going over to Susan’s today. Do you mind taking care of Izabel? Maybe take her to the park or something.”
“Um…sure thing.”
“Thanks, I owe you one.” I closed the phone and stopped Izabel.
“Wanna go to the park?” Her eyes lit up.
“YES, YES, YES!” She said jumping up and down.
We crossed the street over to Kissena Park and Izabel ran over to the swings. She started swinging by herself. I sat down on the benches and started doing my homework. But I wasn’t really focusing on it. I was wondering how much I seem like Dad, a parent. I had to do the chores in the house, I did most of the cooking and I had to take care of my little sister. I wanted an ordinary life, but with our father gone, nothing would ever be the same.

Finnie wasn’t even focusing on his homework and he was a big ‘nerd’ as Hailey called him. She says it means a person who’s too smart and like’s homework. I always knew why he was sick all of the times and why he was so sad. He missed Dad. Hailey told me Dad was very nice and kind. She also told me that Finnie missed daddy the most. I wish I saw my daddy, but I was in mommy’s tummy.
I saw my brother tapping his pencil on his lips and his eyes were down at the ground. Mommy told me Finnie looked exactly like our Dad. He even acted like one. I try not to be so bad so he doesn’t have to take care of me so much. He’s very kind to me but I always saw sadness in his crystal blue eyes. His blonde hair was always covering his eyes like he didn’t want to look people in the eyes and he had a little scar on the tippy-top of his head. Mom said he fell down on the street and blood came out and Finnie was crying.
Finnie was pretty short but not too short. He was still taller than me. His skin color was very white unlike Hailey, Mom’s and mines, which was normal. If anybody saw him, they knew instantly he was sick because he was so weak and his eyes were pretty droopy. I stopped swinging for a second and walked over to Finnie. He looked up.
“Why did you stop swinging?” I sat down next to him.
“Can I ask something?” He placed his pencil down.
“Of course. About what?” I knew he would be very sad when I said this.
“Dad.” I saw Finnie’s face turning green and he was breathing funny. “Finnie?” He shook his head and tried to smile, but he was faking it.
“W-what about Dad?” He asked kindly.
“Everything.” He stared out at the blue sky.
“Dad.” He sighed. “Dad was a very nice man. He was so sweet, thoughtful and nice.” Finnie said smiling about the good times he was thinking of.
“Did he love me?” Finnie looked at me.
“Of course! He loved everyone. He couldn’t wait until you would come out so he could give you a big hug.” I smiled.
“Really?” He nodded. I wanted to ask something else and I got out a tissue from my bag because I knew he would be crying soon. “Finnie, how did daddy…go away?” I asked. I saw his blue eyes being covered in tears.
“H-he was driving to work.” He said with his voice cracking up. “Workers were putting up a new bulletin board for an advertisement.”
“An adver-what?”
“An advertisement. Like ads you see on TV’s but on a big board for a lot of people to see while they are driving. Anyway, the bulletin board wasn’t very steady yet and it was very dark. By accident, Dad hit the big board and it…” He covered his face. “It fell on him, crushing him.” I saw Finnie crying. I just sat there for a while, looking at my brother crying.
“So, daddy was…gone?” Finnie wiped the tears with his jacket sleeves and nodded. I wiped his tears with my tissue and he smiled. “Finnie, I don’t think daddy is gone. He’s still with us.” He nodded and looked up to the sky.
“Yes, he’s watching us and guarding us.” I gave him a big hug and he hugged me back.
“Thank’s for telling me, Finnie.” He just nodded.

We went home after I played for a few more hours. It was getting dark and I was getting scared as we walked home.
I was afraid of the dark. It was like ghosts were coming out and they could get me and separate me from my family. I squeezed Finnie’s hand and he just smiled.
“Remember what I told you. The ghosts wouldn’t come if you don’t let them. Be brave.” I nodded and took a deep breath out. I tried to be brave as I could see our houses light a block away.
I ran ahead, leaving Finnie alone. I wanted to see mommy. When I opened the door, I saw mommy laughing with a man. I gasped as I saw at the man. He looked exactly like Finnie. He was blonde hair covering his eyes, crystal blue eyes. But he was an adult and very tall. When mommy saw me, she smiled.
“Izabel, come give mommy a hug!” I did. I still couldn’t take my eyes away from the man. He was looking at me funny and instantly, I knew I wasn’t going to like him. He had a disgusting sneer, Finnie told me that word, on his face that told people, I am dangerous! The man cleared his throat. “Oh, sorry, Izabel, this is Mason, my co-worker.” He shook my hand.
“It’s very nice to meet you, young lady.”
“I’m 5.” I said bitterly. He laughed.
“She’s a feisty one, Eloise.” My mother laughed.
“Gets it form her mother. Sweetheart, where’s Finn?” Right on cue, Finn came running into the house, panting and his hands were on his knees. I guess he ran for me. When he looked up at us, he stopped breathing funny and stared at the man.
“Um…” Was all Finnie could say. I couldn’t say anything either. The man called Mason looked like an older version of Finnie. Both of them had white skin and their faces were very smooth. Finnie walked over to our Mom to give her a hug. “Hi Mom.”
“Hello, Finn. Finn, this is my co-worker, Mason Harrison. Mason, this is my son, Finland.” The man extended his hand and Finn took it carefully and shook it.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Finn.” He just stared at the man. “Um, do I have something on my face?” Mommy just laughed.
“No, Mason. I think he’s just staring at you because you two look so alike.”
“Well, my handsome features do catch on to others.” My Mom and the man laughed again, I didn’t see why adults laughed so much about stupid stuff. It wasn’t even funny. Finn had a blank expression on his face.
“Oh, Hailey wants to talk you. Say’s it’s something important.” Mom told him.
“Okay.” Finn said, still staring at the man as he climbed up the stairs. I followed Finn, because the man was scaring me. Hailey was trying out outfits with her best friend, Susan. Finn and I entered. “Hailey?” Finn said. Both girls turned around.
“Oh, Finn, Izabel, sit down.” Hailey said. We both looked at each other for a second. I saw Finnie’s face said, Let’s run!” But I sat him down on the bed with me. I knew Finnie was afraid Hailey would make him do something weird. Last time, both girls wanted him to wear a dress so they could see for themselves if it was good enough.
“No more dresses, or make-up!” Finnie declared. Both girls giggled.
“Fine.” Susan said. Susan looked about the same height as Hailey. She had black short hair, unlike Hailey brown hair that were long, and she had golden eyes. Everybody liked her when they saw her eyes, except Finnie and me. We knew she had tried to steal something from Hailey once, but Hailey didn’t believe us. So, Finnie snuck into her bag and stole it back without telling Hailey her favorite dress was missing. We did the right thing, but Susan doesn’t like us anymore.
Hailey and Susan always asked Finnie for advice. Every girl did! He always listened to their problems and helped them out. He gets it from Hailey. Finn sat there and shot me a look that said, Help me! I smiled and patted his hands, telling him it would be okay. He smiled brightly at me. He never got mad at me, no matter what I did. He was the best brother, but his life wasn’t the best.
Hailey had on a pretty red dress on with her hair in curls.
“Finland, which dress is better? This red one or the pink one over there?” She said pointing to the pink dress that had pretty ruffles and a golden lase around the waist. Finn tapped his finger on his lips.


“Hailey, the hair’s fine, but the red dress isn’t a party type. It’s sort of like a dinner-evening dress. The pink one will really be nicer for a party.” Finn told her. Hailey looked the dresses over and smiled.
“You’re right! Thanks!” Then she took out two pairs of shoes. A pink pair of high heels and a purple pair of sandals. “Now which one?”
“None of them.” Finn told her. I nodded.
“The pink shoes downstairs are good. The one with little heels.”
“Izabel’s right. They would be better for dancing. You don’t want to trip and fall, do you?” Hailey smiled and handed us both Twix bars.
“Thanks for your help, guys. I’ll be right back.” As Hailey went downstairs, Susan scowled at Finn.
“Your sister would be better off without you. You’re going to make her dress like a freak!” Finn smiled.
“Like you.” Susan walked over to Finn and he quickly stood up.
“Shut up, Finland”
“Make me.” He said with confident. Susan pointed a finger at him.
“Listen here, you better stand back.” She then smiled and placed her hands on her hips. “Not that you have your daddy to protect you.” I saw Finn’s face turning red and his eyes were about to be filled with tears.
“Shut up, Susan! I know you stole that dress from my sister! She may not know it, but I do!” She shove him hard and he landed on the bed.
“What are you gonna do about it?!” I quickly ran out to find Hailey. She was in the living room, trying on her shoes.
“Hailey!” I yelled. She looked up. “Susan’s going to kill Finnie!”
“What?!”
“She’s being mean to him!”
“What are you talking about? Susan’s a nice person.” I grabbed her arm and dragged her upstairs into her room. We both gasped when we saw Finnie on the ground, faced down. He was groaning in pain. “What happened here?!” Hailey demanded with her hands on her hips. I looked at Susan and gave her a look that said, Busted! She just helped Finn up, who looked hurt.
“Um…he just fell.”
“How?!” Hailey asked. Because a fall like that wouldn’t leave Finn that hurt. He was weak, but not that weak.
“Um…he sorta hit the closet door and landed on the floor.” I think she meant she pushed Finnie to the closet door and he fell. Finn moved away from Susan. Hailey faced him.
“Is that true Finn?” I saw Susan making a, you’re dead if you tell, look and Finn gulped as saw Susan. He turned to Hailey and didn’t know what to say. His mouth was open but no words came out.
“Y-yes. It was just an accident.” Hailey sighed with relief. “I’m going to my room, bye.” He said and ran to his room.
“Hailey, Finn’s lying because Susan was threatening him.”
“What?! Hailey, Izabel’s a relay lunatic!”
“Am not!” I demanded.
“Izabel why don’t you go check on Finn.” She said pushing me out of her room.
“But.-” She slammed the door in my face. I couldn’t believe it. Hailey chose to believe her best friend than me! That Susan better watch it, because I’m going to kill her! I walked to Finn’s room. He was on his bed and a pillow was on his face. He was screaming into his pillow. He always did that when he was miserable. He didn’t like taking out his anger on people, so he took it out on a pillow. “Finnie, why’d you lie?” He stopped yelling and looked at me.
“Izabel, Susan is Hailey’s best friend. If we take that away from her, she’ll be very sad.” He told me. When I thought about it, it did seem true. Hailey was happier when Susan was around. I sat next to Finn.
“Hailey doesn’t know it. Mom doesn’t know it, but I know. You are a very good brother.” He smiled and tapped my nose.
“And you’re a very good sister.” We both hugged it out.
“Do you like that man downstairs?” Finn shook his head.
“He doesn’t seem nice.”
“I know, he seems so mean. Should we tell Mom?” Finn shook his head. He threw his pillow on his desk in frustration.
“It’s not fair.” Finn mumbled.
“What?” I asked him. He looked at me, startled like he wasn’t supposed to tell me that. He sighed.
“It’s just that…life hasn’t been normal for the past 5 years and it’s not fair. Bills, Mom’s not home, and we have so many enemies. Mom and Hailey mean well, but they don’t know everything. Only we do.” I smiled.
“So we have to care for them.” He nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Do you think Dad would be proud of us?” Finn laid back.
“Yes, I think he would.”
When we looked out the door, Mom’s ‘friend’ was gone. Finally. Both Finn and I walked down over to Mom, who was in the living room, watching TV. When she saw us, she patted the seats on the couch and was telling us to come sit with us. We did. She placed an arm around the both of us and kissed us on the head.
“Do you both know how much I love you?” Finn smiled.
“A lot?” Mom nodded and smiled.
“A lot.” We both watched TV and I could hear Hailey and Susan dancing, because the ceiling was shaking and the music was on loud. Finn was asleep in Mom’s arms, but I wasn’t. I watched as the koo-koo bird came in and out of the clock. It was 9:00 P.M. “Izabel, do you want dinner?” I shook my head.
“Hailey gave me a candy bar.”
“Okay then, brush your teeth and up to bed. I’ll take Finn upstairs.” I nodded and ran into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Twenty times up, twenty times down, Finnie always told me. I ran to my room and placed on my pajamas and hopped into bed. I stared at the ceiling for a while, looking at the glow in the dark stickers Finnie had bought me for my birthday. I stared at them until I was asleep.

I knew my best friend wouldn’t push Finn down. Susan was a sweet girl and I knew Izabel was lying again. Like how she tried to tell me Susan stole my favorite dress. As if! I changed my clothes the next morning and ran downstairs. My mother was sipping coffee and I saw Finn and Izabel playing outside. I skipped over to my Mom.
“Mom, guess what?”
“Good morning, Hailey.” She reminded me.
“Good morning, now Mom, I have the perfect dress for tonight’s party!”
“Let me guess, Finn helped you?” I smiled and nodded.
“So,” I said sitting down. “How’s Mason?”
“He’s very sweet.” She told me with excitement. “But the weird thing was that Mason looked exactly like Finn.”
“Don’t you mean Dad?” I asked softly. She nodded.
“Mason had the exact features as your father. Sweet, kind, and he even has those same blue eyes and blonde hair. Hailey, it’s like he was your father’s twin brother.” But we knew that Dad didn’t have any other brothers or sisters. “And, I’m going to meet him again tonight.”
“Tonight?” I asked.
“Yes, why?”
“What about Finn and Izabel?” My Mom slapped her hand on her forehead.
“I forgot! Maybe I can reschedule-”
“I think Finn can take care of Izabel.”
“I don’t know. I think we should give him a break, he’s always taking care of Izabel and I think he’s starting to feel neglected. He can’t even go to his best friend, Jerry’s house anymore”
“Nonsense.” Finn and Izabel came in, all sweaty and laughing. “Hey Finn, do you mind watching Izabel tonight?” I asked. The question seemed like I just slapped him in the face. He shrugged.
“I guess.”
“But tonight mommy’s supposed to go to the party with me to Julia’s house!” Izabel demanded.
“Finn can go.” I told her. Finn’s eyes widened.
“Hailey, that girl always had face paintings at her party!”
“So?”
“So, the last time I went to her house, I refused to get my faced painted and they tied me up to a chair!” He demanded.
“Thanks again, Finnie.” Mom said.
“But-” Finn started to argue. Maybe he was feeling neglected. Maybe we were being tough on a 12-year old. But Morris’s party was going to be awesome and Mom needed to go out with Mason. Maybe next time I’d do him a favor.
“I’ve got to go upstairs. Susan will be calling soon.”
“And I have to go to work.” Mom kissed all of us and left. I ran upstairs but quickly hid first so I could hear what the two of them were going to say.
“I’m sorry you have to go.” Izabel said softly. I heard Finn sigh.
“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s the first.” He did feel neglected.
“Don’t worry. When the parties over, I’ll do anything you want.”
“Thanks sis.” I ran into my room and closed the door. I’d make it up to Finn. But right now, I had work to do. I called up Susan.


For the next few hours, I was busy talking to Susan. When it was 7:00 P.M., I quickly hung up and placed on my dress and curled my hair. I placed on my new shoes and looked at myself in the mirror. Finn was right, this dress was better than the red one. I opened my door and saw Finn and Izabel downstairs. Finn placing on an army jacket and Izabel had on a sweater over her white dress.She had a gift bag in one hand and held Finn’s hand with the other.
“Let’s go Finnie, we’re gonna be late!”
“Calm down.” He said and placed the house keys and a phone in his army jacket pocket. “Okay, let’s go.” Izabel dragged Finn out and slammed the door behind her. I walked down and waited for Susan to pick me up.
A few minutes later, I heard a car honk. I went outside and saw Susan in her red Ferrari. A birthday gift from her father since both her parents were divorced.
“Hailey, my god, you look wonderful!”
“Same to you.” I said getting in the car. The party was only 2 blocks away, but girls had to enter with style. The whole house was covered with streamers and music. I saw teenagers dancing around and laughing. We parked the car and got out.
There was no sign of Morris yet, so for the past few hours, we danced around with a few of our other friends. When it was about midnight, we finally stopped. Morris was outside near the pool. He was talking to one of the boys from the football team.
“Hailey!” Susan screeched.
“I know!” I said. We both fixed ourselves then headed outside over to the pool where Morris was. We were both about to walk over to him but Susan stopped me and faced me. “Why’d you stop?”
“Well, you see there are two of us and one of Morris.” I stared at her confused.
“What are you trying to say?” Susan sighed.
“Hailey, you are supposed to be smart. I’m saying that maybe I should go and take it from here.” My eyes bugged out.
“Are you saying that you want to ask him out?!” Susan nodded.
“Now you’re getting it!”
“Susan, we’ve been friends forever, we’ve been talking about this party for weeks and now you’re betraying me for a boy!” I bellowed with my hands on my hips
“A boy! Morris is not just a boy!”
“And you’re not my best friend either!” I unlocked the half necklace around my neck that said, Best Fri. It was the friendship necklace we had worn since the first time we met.
“Oh come on, Hailey, don’t be like that.” I stormed out of there and walked home.
I couldn’t believe it. My best friend stood me up for one boy. We had been through tough times but this was the final straw. I cried a few tears. I wish my Dad was here. He would hold me and tell me it would be alright. Mom would try to do it, but Dad had a way with his words that made me smile. Mom’s voice was just filled with stress and sounded like she was quoting something directly form a book if she tried to comfort me. I walked all the way home and opened the back door that led to the kitchen. Finn was there and he was mumbling to himself. He was covered in glitter, jewels and was wiping paint off his face. Guess he had a rough night too. When he saw me, he frowned.
“Why are you back early?” I sat down next to him and told him what Susan did to me. I let out a few tears. My life was falling apart by the minute. I have been living a peachy life and now I felt like Finn. He patted my hands like Dad would always do. I looked up and saw him smiling. “Listen, I always knew Susan was bad. And now you know too. Susan was never your friend, just a monster that was pretending to be one.” Then a thought came to me.
“So, she did steal my dress!” Then my eyes widened. “And she did push you down!” He nodded slowly. “I’m so sorry, Finnie. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. Now I know you can’t be hurt. You know that girl, Talia?” I nodded. She was a very sweet girl who always tried to be nice to me, but I always ignored her because Susan told me to. “She’d be a better friend. I met her a few times and she wants me to introduce her to you.” I gave my little brother a hug. He was acting like Dad.
“Thanks, little brother. You always know what to say.” I let him go then giggled when I looked him over. “You look like a unicorn threw up on you!” He looked himself over then groaned.
“You’re going to take care of Izabel tomorrow.” I nodded.
“Deal.” We both smiled. “And I’m really sorry I haven’t been treating you nicely. You shouldn’t be treated like a slave. You’re only 12. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” I smiled.
“Your birthday, silly!” Finn smiled.
“Oh right, I forgot.” I ruffled his hair.
“Why don’t you go to bed now? You look tired.”
“Tired? Hailey, those kids are like animals!” He said grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. “They want me dead!” He said goofing around. I laughed.
“I’ll make it up to you.” I gave him a kiss on the check and he stared at me. “Good night.” He stood there for a while, looking at me.
“Good night.” He finally said and went upstairs. I went upstairs and changed too. I went to sleep 5 hours later.
When I finally woke up, it was noon. I changed into jeans, a pink shirt and a jean jacket. I went down and saw Mom baking a cake. Oh my god! Mom was cooking!
“Mom!” I said very surprised. She looked up and smiled.
“Good morning, Hailey.”
“You’re cooking!” She nodded.
“I burned about 5 cakes but finally got this one right.” She said frosting it with white icing. “I felt bad about leaving Finn, so I thought I should make him a homemade cake.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“I asked him to take Izabel to the park while I plan the surprise party.” I climbed down the stairs and helped hang up the decorations and blow up the balloons. “So, I heard about you and Susan.”
“Susan is a two-faced backstabber. She betrayed me, she stole from me and she tried to hurt Finn.”
“What?!” I nodded.
“She’s not my friend anymore. I don’t care if she does get Morris, I’m better than her.” Mom smiled.
“Yes you are. I’m so proud of you for standing up for yourself.”
“It felt good too.” I told her. I blew up a few more balloons and taped them to the wall in the living room. I placed the cake in the living room and helped Mom make grilled-cheese sandwiches, Finn’s favorite.

2 hour later, Finn came home with Izabel. Mom told me she told Izabel to bring Finn back at exactly 2 P.M. and to blindfold him and lead him to the living room.
“Izabel, why do I have to put on a blind fold?”
“Just walk, Finnie.”
“Izabel-”
“Finland, just walk.” She never called him Finland unless she was getting annoyed with him. Finn kept quiet as he was led into the living room. “Okay, take it off.” Finn did and we all yelled,
“SURPRISE!” He jumped a little then smiled. We all ran to give him a hug.
“Happy birthday, Finland!” Mom and I told him.
“Yay, Finnie’s 13!” Izabel cheered.
The whole day was the best. Mom didn’t go to work so we enjoyed Finn’s birthday. We ate cake and laughed it out when Izabel couldn’t pin the tail on the donkey poster. Mom took lots of photos and then gave Finn a small gift bag. Finn opened it up and it was an eBook. Finn just looked at my mother with surprised.
“You like it?” Mom asked.
“B-but, Mom-” Finn started to say and we all knew what he was going to say. He didn’t like it when we spent too much money for him. He didn’t even like buying clothes over $15!
“Finn, it’s your birthday. You wouldn’t be my little baby forever. Just this once, except it.” Finn hesitated for a minute, then sighed.
“Alright, but I think I should share it with everyone.” He said handing it to Izabel and she immediately started using it. Finn smiled and I sat next to him. He was a very loving brother. Anybody who saw him would love him instantly, no one could ever hate him. But the one thing that caught people’s attention was the sadness that was always in his eyes. His blue eyes would always sparkle but anyone with eyes would see this boy was a mess. I wonder if he would ever actually be happy.

I felt sort of bad accepting the gift, but my Mom told me it would make her happy. So, I did. Izabel played with it all day and then Hailey used it to look over new magazines. I was pretty excited I was finally a teen now. Mom was in her room for an hour, getting dressed. I wasn’t sure what for, but I hoped she didn’t have to leave. I really wanted her to stay.
She came down and she was wearing a black dress.

“Mom?” I asked her. “You’re not leaving, are you?”
“We all are!” She said in excitement. We all looked at her and stared at her with confusion.
“Where?” Hailey asked.
“Well, Mason has invited us to dinner at his place. He wants all of you to get to know him more.”
“Why, he’s just your friend?” Izabel asked.
“He wants all of you guys to be his friends. Now go upstairs and change.” We all did. I changed into a black button down shirt and black jeans. I wasn’t really sure I wanted to go. This guy didn’t seem to want to be our friend. He had a very weird sneer that was always on his face. I didn’t like it at all that he looked like me and my Dad. My father looked like that and he was a kind man. That man wouldn’t know what kind was if it hit him in the face. I hope something would hit him in the face. But my Mom seemed to like him so I should pretend I did too. But I hope he didn’t like my mother like my Dad did, or we’d have a problem.
“Come on Finn!” Hailey yelled. I took a deep breath and went downstairs. All the girls were wearing dresses with sweaters. Being the only boy in the family isn’t very fun. We all got in the car and drove. I didn’t want to stay out too late because tomorrow was school. We drove over to the biggest house in the world. Well, I live in a 2 story house so that did look like the biggest house in the world.
The whole house was completely black and the front gates were painted gold. A few guards stood there and asked Mom who she was. When she told them, they nodded and opened the gates for us. I wasn’t very excited like the other’s to meet this, Mason guy. He seemed like a complete phony and my Mom deserved better. When we got out of the car, we were immediately greeted by Mason Harrison. He gave my mother a hug. UGH! Then he shook hands with Izabel and Hailey. When he looked over at me, I saw something in his eyes.
If a bunch of kindergartener’s saw his blue eyes, they would be afraid and running away home. He wasn’t very friendly, he was only friendly to the others and clearly, I was in his way. But, he shook my hand anyway and gave me a smile.
“Finland, I hear it’s your birthday. Happy birthday.”
“Thanks.” I said flatly. I saw he was getting tired of me and turned over to the girls.
“Come on inside ladies…and gentleman.” We all entered and I tried my best not to stay so close to Mason Harrison. The place was really something. Huge rooms everywhere, wonderful decorations, just like the dream house Izabel had once drew and told me she wanted to live in someday.
We went inside a huge room with a large table and many chairs that weren’t even needed. Mason gestured us to sit down. Hailey and Izabel sat together and Mom and Mason sat together. I sat far away from all of them as dinner was served to us and we ate. I wasn’t exactly hungry, as I was feeling sick again. My eyes were getting itchy and my throat felt like it was swelling up. I really hated it. I got sick, than I got better again. It happened every few days. Not like a flu a person got one month and a few months it came back like a normal case. It came back very quickly.
“Thank you so much for inviting us over, Mason.” Mom told him.
“You are most welcome.” I rolled my eyes. This guy just wouldn’t stop. He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “How about a little tour. Ladies, my servant can show you around.” Right on cue, a man in a tuxedo arrived and took my sisters away. “And Eloise, let me show you around.” He said, then forgot I was still here. “And Finland.” I growled quietly as he said my name. We all got up and started walking around. Mom and Mason were pretty close and I hoped they wouldn’t get too close. I stood in the very back, being ignored on my 13th birthday. But I didn’t mind, it was fun while it lasted.
While they were walking around, I spotted something that caught my eye. It was a very large statue that looked exactly like The Thinker. It was bronze and I could see my reflection in it. Guess they polished it a lot. A few minutes later, Mason came by to look for me. “There you are, Finland. Do you like this piece of art?”
“It’s very interesting.” I told him. That was the only thing I wasn’t lying about when I talked to him.
“I like this statue. It tells everyone that a person’s thinking can become very important or famous.” I think that’s the smartest thing he has ever said in his life. I saw Mom with Izabel and Hailey. They were putting on their sweaters, so I guess it was time to go.
“Come on Finn. Thank you again, Mason.”
“My pleasure.” As the girls left, I was about to follow but Mason placed a hand on my shoulder and stopped me. “Finn, may I ask you something?” I immediately had a bad feeling forming in my stomach.
“Um…sure.” I said, which was a big mistake.
“You know your mother is very kind.” Of course I know that, you big doof! But I decided not to say that. “And since you are the man of the house,” I winced as he said that. That was exactly what Dad used to call me. “I was wondering if I ask your permission first.” I looked him straight in the eye and it seemed as if I was looking at myself in the mirror.
“For what?” He pulled out a tiny red box from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. I stared at him confused and he told me to open it. I carefully opened it and saw a shiny diamond ring. I gasped and looked up at the man who was smiling at me and back at the ring. “You want to propose to her?!” I said, trying to breath. Dad was the only man, other than me, in her life. She couldn’t marry this lunatic! He nodded.
“Wouldn’t it be great? We’d be one happy family? Well, when we sent you to military school, anyway.” I felt my anger rising as he said us being a family. He was not part of our family. I pointed a shaky finger at him.
“You will never be part of my family! You don’t know the first thing about being a family! I’ll make sure my mother never marries you, you can propose to her over my dead body! I am the man of the house and I’ll keep them away from you!” I saw his anger rising.
“Listen here, Finland. Your mother will be mine. Your sister’s are going to be fine with the idea and I really like them. It’s you that’s disrupting my plans of having a new family!”
“New? So you used to have a family?” His expression darkened and I saw sadness in his eyes. Something that I thought I wouldn’t see from him.
“My son was 5. He died of a stroke in his brain. I have never stopped remembering about him, but my wife told me to move in. I told her I wouldn’t and…she left me.” Wow, this man had a rough life, like my family.
“Oh.” I said, feeling sort of sorry for the guy. But then he faced me and I saw the anger in his eyes again.
“And now I will marry your mother so I may have another family again.” He grabbed me by the collar. “But I don’t want you in the picture.”
“Why? Just because I look like your son?” The man snickered.
“You’re not stupid.”
“My mother would never marry you, and I will make sure that never happens.” I said pushing him away and I ran to my mother’s car and quickly got in.
I couldn’t believe it. This man didn’t look like someone who would just listen to a 13-year old and back off. He’d try something, and it wouldn’t be nice. Hailey, Mom, and Izabel locked their eyes at me and stared.
“What’s wrong?” They all asked. I took a shaky breath.
“N-nothing. Let’s go home, we have school tomorrow.” Mom hesitated, but started up the car and headed home. I laid back in my seat, very uncomfortable. Izabel nudged me.
“Are you okay?” I didn’t know what to say to a 5-year old girl. So, I should just lie to her.
“Y-yeah.” I lied. “I’m fine.” She looked at me.
“Finnie is lying.” She whispered to me. She was smart, but I wasn’t going to tell her what just happened. I just kept quiet and laid back. I wanted to forget about this night. It was my birthday, but it wasn’t at all like I imagined it would be.
When we got home, I ran straight to my bedroom. It was a very windy night. My window was wide open and blowing cold air, messing up my hair. I quickly closed the window and closed the lights. I collapsed on my bed but didn’t sleep. I was too busy thinking about Mason Harrison. His image was all I could see in the dark, and that is not a good thing.
In the morning, I just took an apple and ate it with my bag on my back and I was waiting by the door for Izabel. Hailey had to leave early today because she had exams. Izabel was humming while eating her cereal. Mom was getting ready upstairs.
“Izabel, let’s go.” I snapped. She looked up and immediately I felt bad. “I-I mean, come on, you don’t want to be late.”
“Okay.” She got her bag and the both of us walked to school in silent. Well, I was silent but Izabel was blabbering away. I wanted to think for once and tell her to shut up, but that seemed pretty rude. I just ignored her and walked quietly.
I dropped Izabel to her classroom then marched over to my locker and forced it open. Jerry walked up.
“Hey, hey birthday boy. You’re finally 13! How was it?” I slammed my locker close hard.
“Terrible.” He placed his hands up in innocents.
“Sorry, I thought birthdays were supposed to be happy, not make you angry.”
“Sorry. My birthday was fine at first, then it turned for the worse.”
“Why, what happened?” I didn’t answer. Should I tell him? “Come on, Finn, I’m your best friend. If you can’t tell me, then who will you tell? Your diary?” I sighed and told him about what happened between me and Mason Harrison.

When I was done, Jerry’s jaw was wide open. “He threatened you?!” I nodded. “Bro, this ain’t just a tiny secret you can hide. You should call the police if he said he wanted to get rid of you!”
“Jerry, don’t be silly. He must have been joking. I hope.” I said walking over to my next class. Throughout the whole day, Jerry kept on complaining to me that I should tell someone, but I told him no.
Finally, when it was the end of the day, I said good-bye to Jerry and walked over to Izabel’s classroom. When she was done talking to her friends, she ran out and smiled at me.
“Hi, Finnie!”
“Hi, Izabel. Had a great day?”
“The best! A new student came to our class and she likes everything I do!”
“Really?” I said walking out of the school with my sister. RING-RING! I opened my phone. “Hello?”
“Hey Finnie, can you-”
“We can walk home.”
“Thanks Finn. And thanks for your advice, Talia and I are going to hang out at the mall! She’s so nice!”
“Glad you made a new friend.” I said and closed the phone. Izabel started talking more about her new classmate and how they were very much like each other.
“You don’t think she’s my twin sister, do you?”
“Izabel, I would have known if you did. I was there at the hospital with you and Mom only showed me one of you.” Izabel sighed.
“Good.” I smiled. She had a creative imagination. I then had a very strange feeling I was being watched. I saw a black mini-van driving at the same speed we were walking and he was pretty close to us. I grabbed Izabel’s hand, for safety measures, and walked a bit faster. The car drive a little faster too. I started jogging and the car followed. I started sweating like crazy. We were being followed, but I couldn’t tell Izabel that.
“Hey Izabel, last one to that stop sign in a rotten egg!”
“Not me!” We both ran with speed, and I saw the car speeding up too. My whole body started shaking when the car stopped suddenly. I saw Izabel who was already at the stop sign, making funny faces at me. I just stood still, like a statue, and hoped for the best. I saw a man in a ski mask and ripped jeans coming out of the black van. He had a black shirt on and a black fleece jacket. He ran directly at me and he landed right on top of me on the ground. I struggled my way out of his grip and ran over to Izabel. Her jaws were wide opened and she looked shock.
“Let’s go!” I yelled. Both of us started running and from behind, I saw the man getting in his car. He wasn’t after Izabel, but me. I quickly gave Izabel my phone and pushed her into some bushes. “Stay down and call the police!” She nodded. I ran with all the speed I had and took a left turn. The black mini-van followed.
I ran faster and faster and the car suddenly stopped. I knew it was the man, He was coming for me. So, I didn’t look back if he was chasing me and ran. That’s when I was tackled again. I tried to struggle, but he held my legs with his knees and kept my arms pinned down to the ground with one hand. In his free hand, he was a white towel and it smelled pretty bad. He pressed the towel against my face and I immediately knew what it was. Chloroform.
I tried to press it away from my face, but my body was going numb and my eyes were seeing double-vision. The man took off his ski mask and smiled bitterly at me. If I could, I would have gasped. It was Mason Harrison.
“Nighty-night.” He said, placing on the ski mask again.
“You…” And the world went black.

I saw the black car and it wasn’t very far away. A man carried Finnie in his arms and threw him in the car. Then, the car was gone. I held the phone and had no idea how to use it. It took me a few minutes before I could find mommy’s work number and I hit SEND. I held the phone at my ear, afraid where they took Finnie and if he was alright.
“Hello?” Mommy said. I cried.
“Mommy, Finnie was kidnapped!”
“Honey, I don’t like you making jokes about your brother. Now give the phone to Finn.” I cried harder.
“Finnie’s gone! A man took him in a car and went away. Mommy, I’m scared!” I think my mommy finally believed me because she sounded like she couldn’t breathe.
“Izabel, where are you?!” She demanded. I looked up at the signs and told mommy the street name. “I’m coming to pick you up, don’t go anywhere!”
“Okay.” I sniffed and closed the phone. I was scared, I was cold and Finnie was gone. I didn’t like it when I was alone. It was when you knew you were by yourself and you’d have to survive on your own. But my mommy was coming and she’d get me.


A few minutes later, I saw my mommy get out of the car and she shouted my name as she walked up and down the streets. “MOMMY!” I yelled. She followed my voice and ran over to me. We both hugged each other for a minute and then cried.
“Are you alright?” I nodded. “Where’s Finn?” She asked, placing my face into her hands. I told her everything that happened, but I didn’t understand it.
“Are we going to get Finnie?” I asked mommy. Her face was telling me that she was ready to find him.
“Yes.” We drove over to the police office and a nice police lady gave me a lollipop while I sat down on the chairs and waited while Mom talked with another person. He was a tall guy with golden hair and golden eyes. I saw a badge around his neck and he was in a tuxedo. Maybe he was a detective, like the one Finn and I always saw in crime movies.





The man took me over to the side and talked to me. Mommy was crying right next to him. He placed his hands on my shoulders.
“Hello, Izabel.”
“Hi.” I said.
“Do you know where your brother is?”
“Finnie was taken by a man in a black car. He was hurting him. Finnie tried to protect me while he ran to get the man away from me.”
“Did the man do anything to you?”
“No.” I responded.
“Did you see his face?” I shook my head no.
“He had on a black mask. With a hole for his eyes and nose. But it wasn’t that cold.” I told him.
“Very well. Thank you, Izabel. One more thing, do you know anybody who would try to hurt Finn?” I thought about it. Susan maybe? But this person was a man. I shook my head. The detective sighed and patted my head. “Thank you.” He turned over to my Mom. “We’ll tell every place to have black cars searched for and to find this man.” My Mom nodded.
“Thank you, Detective Klutz.” If Finnie were here; we’d laugh at the man’s funny name. But Finnie wasn’t here and joking time was over. I thought about who would do this to Finn.
“He’s a nice boy, why would anybody try to hurt him?” Mommy asked.
“We aren’t sure, but sometimes criminals do it for no reason. But don’t worry Mrs. Conner, we’ll get your son back.” And he left. Mom took out her phone and dialed a number. She cried and I heard the name, Hailey, so she must be calling her. I heard a lot of screaming from the phone and finally it calmed down. Mommy hung up the phone, sat down on the bench and hugged herself. If Finnie was here, he’d make Mom to stop crying. But if Finnie was here, mommy wouldn’t be crying right now.


Hailey ran towards us in a few minutes. She hugged Mom and cried. Then she kneeled down at me and frowned.
“Izabel, I need to know exactly what happen.” She demanded. So, I told her what I saw happen to Finn, the man and the black car. When I was done, Hailey pounded her fist into her hand. “When I find out who did this to Finn, oh-ho, they better watch out because they wouldn’t see the last sunrise!” Hailey sounded so confident, but I knew she wouldn’t do that, and that we had no idea who or where this man was and where’d he taken Finnie.
“I don’t understand, what did Finn do? Nothing, of course!” Mom protested. She was right. Finn was nothing but a kind face in the neighborhood. Almost everybody knew him and they were always nice to him.
“Should we put up lost posters?” Hailey asked. Mom nodded. She drove us all home and they were both searching from the camera which picture to pick. They finally chose on the one where Finn was sitting next to Hailey and me on his birthday, but Mom made the whole picture with Finn’s happy face on it. Hailey began typing up everything about Finn and placed his picture in it too and printed it out.
“What are all those words called?” I asked.
“Description.” She said not really paying attention to me. When she printed it out, she almost cried when she saw Finn’s picture and handed it to Mom.


We drove to a copier place and made so many copies of the poster, I lost count at 50. We hung up all the posters around town and asked everybody if they’ve seen him or a black car. Nobody had the answer. It was turning dark and I held Hailey’s hand but she shrugged it away. I wish Finnie was here, he would smile at me and say something kind to me.
“Come on kids,” Mom said when it was very dark. “We’ve done all we can and tomorrow, it’ll be 48 hours and Finn will be on the news. Then we can find him for sure.” She said very sadly. I took her hand.
“Don’t worry Mom, Finnie is strong; he’ll come back.” My mommy smiled at me kindly and led us all to the car. We drove home and I wasn’t very happy of the idea that we were going home, leaving Finnie all alone. What if he was afraid? He didn’t have me to protect him!


Mom called Mason as soon as we got home. Mason came immediately and helped comfort my mommy as she cried.




“Don’t worry Eloise, Finn looked like a tough boy; he’ll come back.” I saw something. I saw something right in that man’s face. He was smiling. But not so he could cheer up my Mom, he was smiling that Finnie was gone! I was sure of it! His smile wasn’t even fake, it was real and alive! He knew something! That’s when I saw something hanging out of his pocket. It was a key chain and I recognized it. It was a keychain with a dolphin and keys. I gave Finnie the exact dolphin! I got the keychain out of his pocket and gave it to my mommy.
“Mommy, look!” She stopped crying and wiped her tears. She stared at the keychain and then back at Mason.
“Where did you get this?!” She demanded. He looked weird for a moment. His face was like when Hailey accidentally stole money from Mom and I told on her. Busted.
“Um…I found it on the street as I was driving home. It looked like your keys. So, I was going to give it back to you.”
“How do you know it’s ours?!” I asked, hands in my hips.
“Because, I’ve seen your mother’s keys before. They look identical.” He told me. I guessed identical meant same.
“Really?” He nodded slowly and carefully, like his plan was going down. Hailey and Mom thought he was telling the truth, but not me. Finn and I always watched crime movies when Hailey and Mom left us alone. Finn loved acting like a cop and he always told me stuff I didn’t really understand. Surveillance is everything, clues can be right in front of you, trust no one, and the most important rule. If you feel something is wrong, you’re right. I had a feeling Mason wasn’t telling the truth. He was a liar, liar, pants on fire. He was guilty. Of course Mom and Hailey would never believe me. Hailey didn’t believe me when I told her Susan hit Finn and Mom almost didn’t believe me when I told her Finnie had been kidnapped. I was going to solve this case with everything Finnie had taught me. I was going to find my big brother.

When I woke up, I felt like I was floating. I felt lighter and very dizzy. I tried to sit up but my head felt like a million pounds. I rolled over on my stomach and tried to get up with my hands, but something was struck on my back.
“AHHHH!” I yelled as a huge shock stiffened my whole muscles and I fell down in pain. I was unsteady for a second. Then I tried to get up again, which was a big mistake. I was struck again and I fell down, crying in pain. I felt my body smocking and then realized I was struck with a Taser. A foot turned me over. I was dazed for a few minutes, that shock was very powerful. I saw a huge buff man staring at me. I coughed a few times to get the taste of metal out of my mouth. But I also think it’s because the sickness was getting very weird. I gave a really bad cough and saw blood coming out of my mouth.



The man was as shock as I was. He quickly sat me up and gave me some water. I drank it like I had just been traveling in the Sahara Desert for a week.
“Don’t be so much trouble. We don’t want you dead right now.”

“Then when?” The men smiled bitterly.
“Soon.” He got me up and I almost collapsed onto the floor if it wasn’t for the man holding me. He helped me lay down on a mattress in the corner of the room. “Just relax for now.”
“Oh yeah, I’m about to die and I should just relax.” I said sarcastically. He patted my head.
“That’s the spirit.” He headed out the door and I heard a key turning and realized I was locked here.

I looked around. It was a room painted completely white. There was a tiny window that even a cat couldn’t jump from and the A/C was directly beneath me. I was lucky I still had my jacket on. I shivered. The room looked like a cold chamber. I never actually thought I would ever be kidnapped. I never had any enemies. Then, I remembered what had happened. I was taken away while walking Izabel home. A black mini-van, a man in a ski mask, and chloroform. Who was the man? Then I remembered. It was Mason Harrison. He kidnapped me!
I couldn’t believe it, I knew he was twisted but not this twisted. I got up unsteadily and walked around the room. It was pretty large. But was there a way to escape? I looked at the walls and knocked on them. They sounded like they were a huge vault inside the walls. I looked up, the ceilings had only a small vent for cool air to fill the room that I maybe could have fit if I had something to climb on.




Nothing. There was no escaping. The window was too small and it was too high. I better start writing my will. Not that I would have a chance to give it to my parents. I then thought to myself, I’m going to die. I’m not going to go to prom, I’m not going to go to high school. I was never going to see my family again. I dropped down to the floor. I needed to get out but I had so many problems. I didn’t have anything to climb with, I was too weak, and I didn’t know what floor I was on. So, if I fell would I get seriously hurt or just a sprained ankle? My brain was processing too many things at once. It was like 100 people trying to talk to you at the same time. It was too much. I crawled over to the mattress and moved it away from the air vent. I then laid on it and went to sleep.



When I woke up, it wasn’t to the sound of birds or the sun shining down on me. It was a pain that spread form my hip all throughout my body.
“AHHHH!” I yelled. I felt the room spinning around me. Someone grabbed me and held me at a standing position. I tried to see who it was, but I was too dazed. I felt the person dragging me and I sat down on a chair. I felt my hands and legs being tied and my mouth was covered with a gag. I shook my head a few times and finally got a clear vision.



I saw Mason Harrison kneeling next to me and smiling brightly. He was really enjoying all of this. Me being away from my family and me being zapped with a Taser. I tried to keep my head up, but I couldn’t manage to. Two hands took my neck and straightened my head so I could see Mason, who was standing and walking over to a sofa and sitting down. We weren’t in that cold room anymore, but a lovely living room.
“Finland, what a pleasant surprise!” I groaned in pain from the Taser, and from seeing his ugly face again. “I’m sorry about the zaps, but it’s amusing to me.” He chuckled. He was a sick and twisted person. “So, how’s your family? Oh wait, they are worried sick about you.” He starting reading a few things. A newspaper, and a poster. The TV was on the news and a woman was talking and I heard my name a few times. Mason saw me looking and turned up the volume.
“Yesterday, Finland Collins was kidnapped from his own neighborhood area. He was walking home with his little sister, Izabel. Izabel Collins claims that her big brother was attacked by a man in a ski mask and was driven away in a black mini-van. If anyone has any information about Finn Collins, please, call your local police department.” And it showed a picture of me at the end. Mason closed the TV and slid the pieces of paper across the table so I could read them. One of them was today’s newspaper and the whole front cover had a picture of me. It said, MISSING YOUNG BOY, FAMILY TREMBLING WITH FEAR. I read a line of the article. Finland Collins’ family are scared out of their mind as they cannot find a reason as to why the young boy was stolen. No motives, no reasons, and no enemies. What will the police do now?
Then, I read the poster paper. It had another picture of me with everything about me on the bottom. Mason took it away and studied the poster carefully.
“Don’t you think this picture of you is cute? I do.” I said a few cusses but I forgot my words would be muffled with this gag over my mouth. “What’s that? Gentlemen, remove his gag.” They did and I coughed a few times before I could speak. “Again please.”
“I said, how dare you try to kidnap me?! When I tell my family about this-” Before I could finish, I was interrupted by his laughter. It sounded like a bunch of hyenas laughing.
“You think you will see your family again? Ha-ha! That’s a good one, Finnie, very good.”
“Don’t call me Finnie!” I shouted. He just ignored me and read the newspaper in awe.
“I wonder what I should get for Hailey and Izabel. They deserve some kind of gift for dealing with you for so long. Even Izabel has been neglecting you.” He said looking up at my expression.
“W-what?” I croaked. He smiled.
“Yup, Izabel says she’s better off without you.” I felt my self-esteem peeling right out of me. I knew Izabel would never think that. I had been missing for about 2 days. She couldn’t ignore me that fast…could she?
“Izabel would never say that. You’re just messing with my head.” He shrugged.
“Maybe, or maybe it’s the truth. Only time will tell. But sadly, time isn’t on your side.”
“Why don’t you just kill me and be over with?” I said. He crossed his legs.
“Well, then the cops would know that there a motive to kill him if they did it so quickly, and then I would be found. No, I need you to be missing for a few days and then I can kill you.”
“And then?”
“And then, your mother will be mine. Hailey and Izabel will forget about you and I’ll never have to see your pathetic face again.” That was the harshest thing anybody had ever said to me. It didn’t sounded like much, but it worked. Nobody would suspect Mason. He was Mom’s friend and the police would think of him like a wonderful person and wouldn’t ever suspect him as a criminal. I mean, maybe after I was dead. The man had let go of my neck, so I let my head drop. “Oh, don’t be like that.” I didn’t answer.

Great. I only wished someone would be smart enough to find me. Izabel didn’t seem to like Mason, so maybe she would find me. And I had also told Jerry, but he wasn’t much of a tattle-teller. I felt my breath becoming unsteady as I thought how no would find me. They’d only find my dead body buried somewhere. Then years later, they would finally suspect Mason and take him to jail. But then it would be too late. “There now, don’t be so glum. Look on the bright side, you’re kidnapped and about to die.” I shot him a glare and he laughed. “Silly me, there is no bright side.” If my hands and legs weren’t tied, I would have kicked him and slapped Mason around a bit. The men came back with a newspaper. They untied me.
“Don’t run, or there will be consequences.” One of the buff men told me. He dragged me to the corner of the wall and gave me today’s newspaper. He pushed me back. “Smile!” But I didn’t. As he pressed the camera button, I felt the flash bright on my eyes. I quickly rubbed them. The men gave Mason the camera and he smiled.
“Perfect.” The door was wide opened, no one was looking. Perfect. Count to three, I told myself. One…two…three! I quickly ran out of there. “GET HIM!” Mason yelled. The men did but I was a pretty fast runner. Then, a man came out of nowhere and I bumped into him and fell down. He quickly got me up and I saw one of the men pulling out the Taser. They zapped me with it.
“AHHH!” I yelled in pain, again. My body became numb and I was laying on the man holding me. Mason came walking and smiled.
“Finn, I told you don’t be any trouble, but you just don’t listen.” He pulled out a towel. “Good night.” He said. I tried to swarm away, but the smell of Chloroform was powerful. Mason pressed it against my face and I yelled. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be killed. I wanted to go back with my Mom and sisters, that’s all I wanted. Izabel, Hailey, Mom, Jerry; my life is depending on all of you. Help me. And I collapsed into the heavy man’s arms.

I wish it were me, kidnapped by a stranger. I did a few bad things. I’ve stolen some money from my Mom, I’ve been pushed into peer-pressure, but why Finn? That boy is innocent for everything. He’s never done anything wrong in his life. Nothing. I ate my breakfast in depression. Izabel was taking it the worse. She didn’t sleep at all. She kept on having nightmares about Finn getting kidnapped and she blamed herself. We all reassured her it wasn’t her fault, but a 5-year old never listens. I looked at the stack on poster’s on the kitchen counter with Finn’s face on them. I wish I could at least say good bye to him. I wish I could just speak to him one more time. DING! Went my Mom’s laptop.
I ran to it and saw she had mail. I opened it up and only the words, IMAGE appeared. I clicked it and in a few seconds, it had downloaded. I opened the window and saw my brother. He was holding today’s newspaper and his face was filled with fright. His blue eyes were droopy and red. His blonde hair looked like he had been rolling around in mud and his expression was dark and sad. He wasn’t smiling, of course who would smile when they were kidnapped! I covered my mouth with my hand.
“MOM!” I cried. My Mom ran over to me.
“What is it?” I pointed at the picture of my brother and she gasped. “FINN!” She yelled. Izabel ran over and looked at the picture too. She looked like she was about to cry I scrolled down to read the message below. It said, HE’S GOING TO DIE!

I was the one who was in charge, I needed to get things straight. I closed the laptop and gave it to Mom.
“Mom, go to the police department and find out whose email address this is. I’ll drop Izabel off at school and then help you put up some more posters.” She nodded. I quickly got up and dragged Izabel into the car and drove her to school. She was crying the whole way to school and I didn’t blame her. I shed a few tears as well. I walked Izabel to her class, but she didn’t go in. Maybe because it was a few minutes early. I watched as Jerry, Finn’s best friend, ran over to us.
“Hailey! Where’s Finn?! Is it true he was kidnapped?!” I lowered my head and nodded. He looked pretty shocked and surprised. “Do they have any suspects yet?” I shook my head.
“I have a theory.” Izabel said softly. Jerry and I looked at each other.
“What?!” We both asked her. She sighed.
“I think Mason Harrison did it.” She confessed. I sighed. I knew she was lying. Maybe she was just blaming innocent people to get Finn back.
“Izabel, Mason is a very good man. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Finn. Right, Jerry? Jerry?” He was looking down at the floor.
“Hailey, I agree with Izabel.” My eyes widened.
“You don’t even know Mason Harrison!” I declared.
“Yes, I do. Finn told me about him.” I placed my hands on my hips.
“Oh really? What?” He exhaled loudly and told me what Finn had told him on Monday. Jerry was telling me that Mason was about to propose to Mom and Finn argued he wasn’t worth it. Then he told me that Mason had a boy that looked like Finn who died, and his wife left him. He wanted Mom but not Finn. He would stop at nothing to get Finn out of the picture. Jerry said Mason even threatened him.
“Finn and I both think Mason isn’t a good man.” Izabel told me. I just stared at the both of them. Mostly Jerry.
“Why would Finn keep this from us?”
“He didn’t think it was such a big deal.” He told me.
“And Hailey, Mason said he found Finn’s key’s on the road while he was driving home. But his home isn’t even close to ours.”
“He wouldn’t take that road.” I said. “He could have kidnapped Finn!” I shouted.
“Now what?” Jerry asked me.
“We are going to go to the police,” I told them. I took Izabel. “Do you want to come?” I asked Jerry.
“Finn is my friend! I’d do anything for him!” I managed a smile and all of us ran fast over to the police station.




When we got there, Mom and Detective Klutz were talking while Mom waved her laptop in Detective’s face.
“MOM!” I yelled. She looked at us and looked pretty surprised.
“Hailey?” Then she looked at Jerry and Izabel. “Why aren’t these two in school?” We all quickly told Detective Klutz and Mom everything we knew. Jerry and Izabel did most of the talking since it was their theory Mason was the person who kidnaped Finn. When we were done, they looked like they’ve been electrocuted. Mostly Mom. “B-but, Mason would never do that! He’s a very sweet guy!”
“God!” Izabel shouted. We all stared at her. “You both never listen to Finnie or me! I told Hailey Susan was bad, she didn’t listen. I told Mom Finnie was gone, she didn’t believe me. This is true!” Her eyes were becoming teary. I never knew Izabel was hiding all of that inside of her for so long. She defending herself and Finn. We never really did listen to the both of them much. Mostly to Finland. Now look what happened.
“Mom.” I said softly. “Izabel is right. Finn was kidnapped by Mason. He had his key chain and according to Jerry, Mason threatened Finn. That’s proof that he was kidnapped!”
“Well, technically, that isn’t hard evidence, young lady.” Detective Klutz told me. I felt my face burning and took out all I anger I had in my body.
“Listen here, mister! My little brother has been kidnapped, we have a lead, we have witnesses and evidences being smacked right across your face!”
“Now, Hailey-” Mom started to say, but I ignored her.
“Now, I want you to go down to that maniacs house and get my brother back!” I yelled. All the cops and Detectives were staring at me and Detective Klutz, whose face was pretty red.
“Um…alright. Checking the house out wouldn’t be such a big deal.” He said, scared of a teenage girl and ran. Good, he should be scared of me! Izabel and Jerry smiled at me. Izabel nudged me.
“Hailey, that was funny.” She whispered to me.
“This is Finn we are talking about. We need to find him.” The detective came back.
“Alright, but are you going to come too?”
“Heck yeah!” We all declared. He sighed and gestured us to follow.





We rode in his Black Nissan and we told him the direction for Mason Harrison’s house. I grinded my teeth and clenched my fists. If this man did have Finn, he was dead. We reached the place in a few minutes. We all got out of the car and I was about to run to the door, but Detective Klutz kept me back.
“You might want me to do the honors.” He said and walked slowly to the door and knocked on it. “FBI, open up!” The door opened in a few minutes and I saw Mason Harrison smiling at the officer but I could also see he was a little shocked we were here.
“Hello. May I help you?” The Detective took out a leather wallet and showed it to Mason.
“FBI, we have a warrant to search your house.”
“Whatever for?” He said very innocently.
“For kidnapping Finnie!” Izabel shouted. Mason looked at my mother for help.
“Eloise, you don’t possibly think I kidnapped Finn, do you?” She shrugged.
“Finn told me how you threatened him!” Jerry yelled. Mason laughed hilariously.
“I was just joking! He’s a very nice boy and I feel very sorry he was kidnapped. But I had nothing to do with it.” He told us.
“Let’s just see! Detective, go search that house!” I yelled. He scowled at me.
“Would you let me do my job?”
“I will if you do it right!”











“Hailey, calm down.” Mom told me. Detective cleared his throat.
“Mr. Harrison, would you mind?”
“Not at all.” He covered the door a bit and I saw his hand slide into the door and waved it around. I didn’t know what that was about. He just smiled at us for a moment.
“Well?!” I declared.
“What?”
“Let us in!” The three of us witnesses bellowed.
“Oh right, sorry.” He looked inside and smiled. Then he let us in. I ran all around like a lunatic, searching if there was anything suspicious. Detective Klutz also searched but I was doing a better job of it. Messing every piece of junk and stuff in his house. I checked everything and saw nothing that would convinced anybody that Finn had been taken by Mason. I stormed back to my family and Jerry. Mason smiled at me. “Sweetheart, I wouldn’t take your brother. I’m not that bad, am I?” He said chuckling. I didn’t show any expression.
“Mason, I am so sorry. These kids are just worried about Finn.” He waved his hand at her question.
“I understand completely. I hope you can find Finn.” Mom smiled at him.
“Thank you.” We all went outside. Detective Klutz and Mom sighed as they went outside and looked at us.
“Kids, you have just played with me. I can’t just run around in a goose chase and expect me to follow.” Detective Klutz told us with his anger rising. Mom placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Detective, I am sorry, but they are just kids.” He took a deep breath out.
“I understand that; but I can’t just go around and ask people to check their houses.” Mom nodded.
“Yes. Sorry about all of this.” He waved it aside and we all got in the car. I was still in shock. We all had clues that lead to him kidnapping Finn! Izabel and Jerry didn’t look any better. They were both surprised and in shock. We were all sure that Mason was the kidnapper. He was definitely hiding Finn and all of the evidence. I’ll just have to find more evidence, I thought to myself. So that I can prove to Mom and Detective Klutz that Mason was the real kidnapper and so I could get my brother back.


Detective Klutz dropped us at our house. Mom called Jerry’s mother and tried to explain calmly how we ditched school because he had evidence for Finn’s kidnapping. His mother didn’t mind much and just told him he would be grounded. Jerry didn’t care. Mom turned to us. “Now kids. I know you all want to find Finn, but we can’t just go and crash a man’s house and accuse him of kidnapping Finland. We have to keep our hopes up and leave this work to Detective Klutz.” I snorted.
“Detective Klutz. He couldn’t find a clue if it hit him in the face!” I protested. Mom crossed her arms.
“Hailey Conner, Detective Klutz is helping us!”
“He’s not helping right!” Izabel bellowed.
“Mrs. Conner, I am not trying to be rude; but if we all think Mason Harrison did it, we must have some evidence and a reason to.” Mom sighed.
“Well, we searched the man’s home. Unless you want to give him a lie detector test-”
“Can we?!” We all shouted.

“What? No! I was just saying something. I’ve known him for a long time. He is a very good man.” I crossed my arms. This was getting so tiring. I felt like Finn. Nobody listening to me and being treated like I knew nothing. It was so totally unfair! I just hoped Finn was alright. Where ever he was.

I woke up very dizzy. But my back hurted the most. I realized we were in a car, since I could hear the car engine purring and I was bumping up and down. My back was hurting because I was sitting on the car floor and my back was laying on the bump in the middle of the car. Which is very uncomfortable if you are wondering. I blinked to clear up my vision. Four men in total were in the car. One sat in the front, one was driving and two were sitting on the back seats, staring at the window. I groaned as I tried to get up and cried in pain when one of the men pushed me down with their foot.
“Gentlemen, easy. He’s not strong like you.” The voice belonged to Mason Harrison. He looked in the rear mirror and smiled at me. “How yeah doin’ Finnie!” I wanted to protest I wasn’t doing fine and don’t call me that, but a gag was over my mouth. “Sorry about laying you on the floor, but we are on a highway and someone might see you when we crossover.” I laid my head back as it throbbed in pain.


We stopped about an hour later. Everybody got out of the car and a man got me out and carried me over his shoulder. I could see it was night already. We all walked over to a huge building. I didn’t know where we were but I decided not to scream and yell, not that I could. There weren’t many people around here. Even if they did see me, it was too dark and must have thought I was sleeping. Thanks a lot, but I’m not sleeping! I said to myself. I’ve been captured! I’ve been kidnapped! Help! But it was no use. I just sighed as I was directed into the building. Nobody was there and the lights were closed. Mason opened the lights and the room lit up. If the furniture and room wasn’t covered with a film of dust; it would have been a very nice place to live. But I didn’t want to live here, I wanted to get back to my family. The men set me down and took out my gag. I tried to run but my hands and feet were tied. Mason laughed. “Sorry Finnie, I can’t let you go yet.”
“You know the expression, ‘If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If it does not come back, it was never meant to be?’” I asked him. He nodded.
“Yeah, so?”
“So, I’ll run away and never come back, so that means I never was yours. Now, let me go!” I demanded. He chuckled.
“You’re funny, Finland. Very funny. Maybe I can keep you like a pet. It would be fun.” I looked around. Why did we come here? Why didn’t we stay back at Mason’s house? He saw me looking around. “We are here because your family was looking for you.” I stared at him.
“WHAT?!”
“Yeah, they searched every bit of the house; but since you couldn’t scream, I quickly ordered the men to take you to the car and we drove over here. To Albany.” My eyes bugged out.
“I’m 4 hours away from my home and family?!” He nodded.
“I thought, how about a road trip? I mean, I’m going to marry your mother and that would make you my son. Dead son, I mean.”
“So you want two dead sons on your conscious?” His expression darkened.
“You’ll never be my real son.”
“You’ll never be my real father.” For once, I saw he was lost of words. I smiled. I was very tricky. I got it from my father when he would sneak a piece of cake from the middle of the night and we would both laugh and eat the cake when we outsmarted Mom. But eventually, she’d find out.
“That’s enough of you!” The men told me.
“You’re not the boss of me!” They took out a gun and pointed at me. I held back a gasp. “Or maybe you are.” I mumbled. Mason held up his hands.
“Men, do not get violent. Not yet.” They reluctantly placed their guns away. Mason grinned at me. “You have a very big mouth.” I shrugged.
“I don’t have anything else, so I’m going to count on my big mouth.” Mason laughed.
“That is so true!” He pinched my checks, which I found very irritating and cussed at him but in my mind, or he’d tell his men to pull their gun’s trigger on me. Even though I had been asleep for quite a while because of the Chloroform; I still felt tired. Everything that had happened today; I was trying to imagine it was all a dream, that I was still dreaming right now and I wasn’t being held hostage. But a bright idea that kept me from crumbling was that my family weren’t giving up on me. They were doing everything they could to get me. And I just had to help them get to me faster.



Mason studied me for a moment, and I wasn’t sure why. “Men, take him to his room.” He said smiling, but it was a sad smile.
“But boss-”
“I said take him up to his room! And untie him.” The men hesitated, but untied my hands and legs. My wrists and ankle were red from the ropes that were tightly fastened around them. Men pulled out their gun and pointed at me. I gulped. Mason gestured me to follow them upstairs. The men surrounded me in a circle, so I couldn’t run away. I sighed and followed them up the stairs. I had no other choice.




The room door was brightly painted blue and was labeled with letter stickers, TRAVIS. I guessed that was his son’s name. Then it hit me. This huge building was Mason’s house and he probably hasn’t been here, since it brought back bad memories. And this was his son’s room. Why would he sent an enemy into a person’s room who he loved the most? The men opened the room with a key and pushed me inside so hard, I fell onto the floor.
“Don’t do anything stupid, stupid!” I stood up.
“You too.” He was about to pound on me, but the other men quickly held him back and closed the door. I heard the lock being turned and they had locked me inside in the room. I would have sneaked out the window if it didn’t have a child lock on it. I looked around.
The room looked completely spotless; like it was cleaned every day. It looked exactly a 5 year old room would look like. Pictures and drawings were everywhere, the bed had car sheets on them and the drawers were wide opened and filled with clothes. I walked up to the dresser and picked up a photo. It was a boy who looked so much like me, Mason and a young lady. She had straight brown hair and hazel eyes. They were a picture-perfect family. I smiled at the picture. Mason wasn’t a real criminal, he just missed his son and wanted a new family. Maybe I was the one who was being stupid. I told him to back away from my mother without even thinking about it. I laid on the boy’s bed. Maybe it was my fault I was in this situation and I deserved to die.

But did that mean he had to kill me? Maybe he was the one who was being the crazy one. Right now, it sure looked like that. I laid down on the bed with my stomach rumbling. But I doubted that Mason would feed me. I was like a pet dog he was waiting to run over and bury. I closed the lights and fell asleep on the bed of the 5-year old boy who had died 8 years ago.
I woke up to a terrible zap, again. “AHHH!” I yelled and fell out of the bed. I rubbed my head as it throbbed in pain. What was it with these people and Tasers? I think they just loved making me scream. My muscles felt numb, so I didn’t feel one of the men grabbing me by my waist and pushed me out the room and down the stairs. I saw Mason eating breakfast on the table. The place looked completely clean. Mason was definitely a neat freak. He smiled when he saw me.
“Hello, Finnie, how are you?” I felt too sore to talk or make a sarcastic comment, so I just kept quiet. “You want breakfast?” That sounded wonderful, but he might put something deadly in my breakfast. I quickly shook my head. He shrugged. “Your lost. Please, sit down, you’re being held hostage, but you’re still a guest.”



I could sit for myself, but the men forced me in my seat. Guess they didn’t like me being treated as a guest. “Easy gentlemen.” But they didn’t care. They’d rather shock me a few times with a Taser, then stand next to me. I felt uneasy being treated like a guest in a criminal’s house. He studied me for a second, but I couldn’t really see him clearly. I had been shocked so many times that I had been really getting dizzy.



He placed his fork down and smiled at me. “So Finnie,” I found the strength not to strangle him. “How yeah doin’” I tried to say my words without getting me into trouble.
“I’m trapped in your home, 4 hours away from my family. What do you think?” I said grinding my teeth. The men pulled out their guns and pointed it at me, like I said something very wrong. I winced.
“Men, please! We are trying to have a conversation! Never mind, you are dismissed!” They all didn’t want to leave their boss alone with me, but they had to. They scowled at me and then left. Mason sighed. “I’m very sorry about that.” I just looked down.
“I don’t get something. You are a very good person, what was the reason to kidnap me and turn into a criminal?” He tapped his fingers on the table. I looked up and saw the pain in his eyes.
“Because, people can change.”
“Yeah, but you have everything. Money and richness. What else do you want?” His eyes looked down on the ground.
“My son.” He looked up and I saw the anger coming back in his face. “You look too much like my son and I can’t stand it!”
“Wait, so why kill me? You could treat me like a real son!”
“It’s too late for that! That decision was supposed to be made a long time ago. Now the only option is to kill you.”
“Do you think my mother would like that?” I said softly. “Do you think she would marry you if you kidnapped me? Just let me go and I’ll put in a good word for you.” I told him. I might be sounding like a phony but it was completely true. He looked up.
“I’m not listening to you!”
“Why not?” He studied me and was again, lost in words. “Come on, why you don’t change, for my mother. She would love you if you changed.” He was lost in his thoughts for a few moments, then snapped back into reality.
“Shut up! You’re just messing with my head?”
“What?! Messing with your brain, I think from all that zapping, my brain’s turned into goop! This is my heart talking!” He snorted.
“Nice try, Finn, but I wasn’t born yesterday.” Apparently, he was born a second ago. He was just thinking with his old brain. Bit of kindness was coming, but it was gone. That was it, he wouldn’t change.




I slouched in my chair. Great, I wasn’t just kidnapped, but soon, I’d be dead. Something I always wanted to be, so I could meet my Dad on the other side. But I didn’t actually imagine I would be killed in pain, I thought I might die of natural causes. Mason sneered at me. “You can’t trick me.” He told me. “So, how do you like dying?” He said sipping his tea, as if asking a normal question. I stared at him.
“I don’t!” I told him. He raised a brow.



“I don’t think I asked for your permission. It wasn’t a request, it was information I was giving you. You are going to die no matter what.”
“I can’t even say good-bye to my family?” I asked him. He looked far away in his thoughts, thinking if he should or shouldn’t.
“Well, I guess that would be reasonable.” He called a man over and handed Mason a phone. Mason dialed a number and handed it to me. I didn’t take it for a second. I thought it was a trap. “Are you going to take it or not? Just don’t tell any information; like you’re in Albany and I took you.” I hesitated, then carefully took it, as if it was a grenade. I held it next to my ear and felt my hands shaking.








“Hello?” Said Hailey’s voice. I sighed and wanted to cry with relief. But I held it in.
“Hailey?” She gasped.
“FINN, WHERE ARE YOU?” WHO TOOK YOU?” She yelled in my ear. I took a deep breath out and looked at Mason. Maybe I could tell Hailey the details and get myself saved…or killed. I sat in the corner of my seat, ready to run and gripped my hand on the table.
“Hailey…Mason took me and I’m in Albany! Tell the police to find his old home he had with his family!” Mason and the men got up, all pointing a gun at me.
“WHAT?!”
“Hailey, hurry!” I ran, ducked under the men’s legs and saw three men blocking the door. The windows were stretched from the floor to the top of the ceiling. It didn’t have any windows guards, so I did the stupidest thing any 13-year old boy would have ever done. I ran and jumped out the window with my right side of my body taking most of the sharp pains. I quickly ran out and saw it snowed here already. I didn’t care. I ran as fast as I could and headed down an abandoned road.



The wind was blowing like a thousand of sharp needles. It made my whole vision blurry and my face felt like it was being washed with very cold water. Luckily, I had on a jacket, but it was very thin. It didn’t give me any warmth. I cussed at myself silently for not wearing something heavier and ran with all my might. As I ran, I saw nobody was chasing me. Well, I couldn’t actually see. There was a huge storm blizzard going on right now. The trees were piled with icicles and snow, I didn’t see a person in sight. They were probably at home, next to a fireplace and drinking hot chocolate. I wished my family would quickly find me. But a drive from New York to Albany was 4 hours. I’d have to suffer 4 hours in this city and try to survive.
I looked at the phone and estimated I had been running for 2 hours, nowhere in particular and I wouldn’t be helping my family find me easier. I found a cell phone tower a few miles later. It was covered in snow, and I might not get very good signal. But it was worth a shot and one phone call might go through. I dialed Hailey’s number again and placed it on my ear. The cell phone’s heat was warming up my ear, but I was still in the cold. I finally went through, but it was hard to here.
“Hello?” Said Hailey.
“Hailey!” I heard a few scratching noises.
“Finnie! Where are you?!” I looked around, everything was covered in snow and it was hard to see, but I could make out a sign. Chestnut Hills. I was in Pennsylvania, great.
“Chestnut Hills, Pennsylvania.” Hailey was about to say something but then another voice spoke.
“Finland, this is Detective Chester Thee Klutz speaking.” I managed to smile but not laugh. In a complete different situation, I would have been laughing at that. His name sounded like Chester, the klutz. Izabel and I would have cracked up, but my life was on the line right now. “I want you to listen to me very carefully. I don’t want the kidnappers chasing you again, so I want you to walk over to a hiking trail.”
“How do I find it?” I said.
“You’ll see a few mountains, hills, and a huge lake. It’s very close. The cops and we are very close. Just hold on, alright?” I nodded, then realized I was talking on a phone.
“I understand.”
“Good, we’ll be there in-” The cell phone died. I looked at it and it said, NO SIGNAL. Well, at least I had help. I started walking, which turned into jogging, which then became running. I wasn’t even shivering anymore, because my body thought shivering was too much to do. I could only shiver and try to heat myself up, or run. My body chose to run. My legs started hurting as I had to run in the snow. The cold, deep, heavy snow.
It was cold, I was hungry, and I was cold. I shivered my way to the hiking trail. My knees buckled down to the floor. I was so exhausted and sore. I could feel myself turning blue. I couldn’t shiver anymore and wanted to just go to sleep. I couldn’t feel the cold snow in my shoes anymore. My whole body had gone numb. The blizzard was slowly going away. But the wind wasn’t eager to go away. I looked down from the railing of the huge hill. The whole lake was frozen. A frozen lake was worse than falling to your death in water. You’ll be crushed my pressure, not rock-like snow. I tried to call Hailey on my phone, but there was no signal. I sighed and got up. I tried not to step on any slippery ice or I’d fall off the hill. It did have railings, but someone could easily step over it, because it was so low. I saw my breath visible as a fog in the atmosphere. Where are they? When are they coming? These were the only questions I could think of. My hands were trembling and I tried to keep them in my jacket pocket so I wouldn’t have frostbites, but I doubt they’d be helpful for a fight. I heard a trigger being pulled behind me and I turned around. Mason was grinning at me with a huge gun pointing directly at me. I thought he would be shivering, but I saw he was wearing a huge white coat and a scarf around his neck. He looked better than me.
“Finland Conner, you have caused me so much trouble. Prepare to die!”

I was so happy, so scared, and I wanted to laugh. I was happy because Finnie was alive and I was right. I was scared because Finnie was in the cold, and I wanted to laugh, because the Detectives name was Chester Thee Klutz. Before we all got the calls from Finnie, we were at home. Mommy told us all to eat, but we didn’t want to. Then Hailey’s phone rang. She sighed, as if this wasn’t the time. Of course it wasn’t, Finnie was in trouble. She opened the phone. When she heard the other person’s voice, her eyes were very red and wide.
“FINN, WHERE ARE YOU? WHO TOOK YOU?” Mom, Jerry and I looked at Hailey.
“WHAT?!” We all yelled. Hailey waved her and at us and held the phone with both hands. She looked terrified. “WHAT?!” She yelled a few minutes later. And then she reluctantly closed the phone. We all looked at her.
“What happened?” We all yelled at her. She looked up and her face was terrible. She slowly told us that Finnie was in Albany and Mason had her.

“I knew it!” Both Jerry and I said. We didn’t say it in excitement, but we said it with confident. We knew what we said was true, we knew that Finnie was taken by Mason. We were smarter than adults.










“Kids, we need to go to the police, now!” We all got into the car and drove to the idiot Detective who couldn’t even figure out who took my brother. When we got to the police station, Mom rushed in there and demanded we speak to Detective Klutz. I tried not to laugh. When the Detective came, Mom started yelling at him about the phone call Finnie had made and that Mason had captured him. His face lit up like fireworks. He was blushing, he was angry and relieved. He pushed us all outside.
“We are going to Albany, now!” So, we drove in the Detectives car. We were driving for at least a few hours. Everybody was worried and I was very uncomfortable sitting in a car for so long.
“Are we there yet?” I asked.

“Not yet.”












“Detective, would you mind driving faster? My child’s life is in danger!” He was going to say something but drove so fast, I couldn’t feel my face anymore. The radio was on and it was telling us the news in Albany.
“The weather today in Albany is terrible. All around the city, there is a severe blizzard and everybody is recommended to stay off the streets and in front of the fireplace indoors. Outdoors is not a place to be right now.” Detective saw mommy’s scared look and he drove so fast, cars moved out of the way. He placed on the sirens and we drove with speed.
I always thought adults were the ones to worry. They had to give money for everything, not children. But with Finnie in danger, even I was worried. I didn’t know what to do right now. Would Finnie be alright? Why would Mason kidnap him? Why is this happening to us again? I thought to myself. Daddy was gone and I was afraid Finnie would be too. I cried silently. I wanted my Finnie.










A few hours later, Hailey’s phone rang again. She quickly picked it up and saw the caller ID on her phone, Unknown. That’s the same one Finnie had called from.
“Put it on speaker.” Detective Klutz demanded. Hailey quickly opened the phone and placed it on speaker. I heard sounds like scratching.
“Hello?” Hailey asked.
“Hailey!” Said Finnie’s voice. He sounded very scared.
“Finnie! Where are you?!” We didn’t hear him for a while. Just scratching sounds.
“Chestnut Hills, Pennsylvania.” He said, trying to sound calm. Detective quickly took the phone from Hailey.
“Finland, this is Detective Chester Thee Klutz speaking.” Even though the situation was bad, everybody smiled, just a little. “I want you to listen to me very carefully. I don’t want the kidnappers chasing you again, so I want you to walk over to a hiking trail.”
“How do I find it?” Finnie asked. I heard the connection going very bad.
You’ll see a few mountains, hills, and a huge lake. It’s very close. The cops and we are very close. Just hold on, alright?”
“I understand.” He said very softly. Exactly the tone he would use if I would be crying.
“Good, we’ll be there in-” The phone died. Not literally. Hailey’s phone was still working, but the call and Finnie’s voice was gone. We all frowned.
“How long do you think he can survive in the snow?” Mommy asked. Detective Klutz didn’t answer, but drove so fast, nobody could see the trees anymore. They were just green smudges on the window. We all held on to anything we could so we wouldn’t fall forwards. As we drove, the traffic was blocked on the way. Detective Klutz groaned. He got out of the car and saw who the driver was, blocking our way. It was a big, black car. I gasped. It was the exact car Finnie was taken it.
“MOMMMY!” I yelled. “That’s the car!” She didn’t know what I meant.
“Mom, I think that’s the car Mason drove when he kidnapped Finn.” That’s when it hit her.
“This man is just twisted!” Jerry declared. We all got out of the car where we saw Detective Klutz holding his gun at the driver’s window.
“Get out of the vehicle!” He shouted. Nobody did. A bullet shot almost hit Detective in the chest.
“AAHHH!” We all yelled.
“GET BACK IN THE CAR!” Detective Klutz demanded. We did and watched. The Detective fired, then a man who had his window rolled down, just enough for a gun to go through shot a lot of bullets at Mr. Klutz. But the Detective was good. Like the ones that go on a car chase in the movies. We all ducked our heads down as bullets were also firing at the car. The windows looked like spider webs and would break if hit with one more bullet.





The firing stopped from both sides. The cars window rolled up and it drove away again. Detective Klutz fired a lot of bullets at the car, but it had already driven away. He banged his fist on the car. He stormed back in the car and slammed the door closed. “Everybody okay?”
“Okay?! We were just in the middle of a shooting!” Jerry bellowed.
“They were stopping us from finding Finn!” Hailey shouted.
“Okay, let’s all calm down.” Mom said. She was shaking, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the cold. The car stared up and we drove with real speed now. We tried to ignore the glasses everywhere and focused on what we were doing.
“Just give me 10 minutes, and we’ll be there in no time!” Detective said, grinding his teeth. I wanted to see Finn. I wanted to see that he was alright. I wanted him to be here, right by my side.

We all quickly got out of the car at some sort of hiking trail. What I saw, made me want to sob on the ground. I saw Finn. He was on his feet, but he couldn’t stay up forever with his legs shaking so badly. His face looked colorless and his lips were blue. His blonde hair was all messed up and his blue eyes were widened as he stared at something. His hands were up in the air, a sign for surrendering. Mason was smiling while pointing a gun at him. Detective Klutz quickly took out his gun and walked up to Mason.
“Put your gun down!” The Detective yelled. He just smiled.
“Now why would I do that? This is just too much fun!” We all stared at Finn, whose eyes were staring at us, sending us a mental message that was, HELP ME! I wanted to do something, I really did. But what?” Mason looked back and looked at our mother. “Eloise, this is what I wanted to tell you.” He said softly. “We don’t need him to complete our family. I can get rid of him and we can be happy together.” My Mom’s face turned red. I could see all that anger rising inside of her, but she just exhaled.
“Mason, please put the gun down.” She said soothingly. “Killing Finland will not solve any problem.” Just saying, killing, almost made Finn’s knee’s buckle. Izabel was waving her hands up in the air to get Finn’s attention. Nobody else noticed. Finn looked at her. I looked at Izabel as she jumped up and down and pointed at the railing. Finn looked back. His face turned pale. He looked at Izabel like, ARE YOU CRAZY?! Izabel nodded and showed him to do it. I shook my head hard and waved my hands in the air, telling Finn, DON’T DO IT! Jerry caught Finn’s attention and he shook his head too.
He looked back and forth at us, unsure what to do. I could just imagine his brain having a war, deciding what to do.
“Anyway, Eloise, I know you will thank me later.” He looked at Finn again and stared at him with anger. “Say good-bye, Finn!”
“NO!” Detective Klutz and Mom yelled. But before the bullet could even hit Finn, he tossed himself over the railing. Everybody looked shocked. Finn had just jumped over the railing. Jerry’s whole face had tuned pale. I couldn’t blame him. But the most surprising part was that this was unexpected for Mason. He just tiled his head and looked at the railing.

Detective Klutz was the first to snap out of his shock and fired at Mason’s ankle, so he wouldn’t run away. He fell down to the ground and I saw the snow being dyed with blood. Right on cue, the cops came straight towards us. A few ambulances, about 20 police cars and the SWAT Patrol. They all charged at Mason and cuffed him; dragging him away.

Jerry, Izabel and I ran to where Finn had jumped from. We all looked down but saw no sign of Finn. I started to sob and buckled down to the ground. He was gone, just like my father. I couldn’t believe it. This mad man made Finn kill himself. Jerry and Izabel just stood over the railing, unaware what to do. Then, they both gasped loudly. I looked up and saw a pale, boney hand. I thought I was hallucinating. But then I saw another hand grabbing on the corner of the hill.

It was Finn, trying to pull himself up, but he couldn’t. All of us stared at each other in shock. Then one of Finn’s hand slipped. We all quickly grabbed him up and hugged him. He was even weaker then when I had seen him a few days ago. His whole body was shivering and his clothes didn’t look at all comfortable for the old weather. He didn’t look so scared. His expression was just filled with relief.
“It’s good to have you back, man.” Jerry managed to say without cracking up.
“It’s good to be back.” He said with a smile. Izabel touched his face and he looked pretty confused. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing that you are Finnie and not a clone.” We all laughed. It was wonderful to hear Finn’s laugh. We helped him up and walked him over to Mom who literally crushed the poor boy.
“Mom, you’re crushing him!” I told her. She let Finn go and looked him over.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine Mom, really.” He said very calmly, which made Mom want to cry even more. Detective Klutz walked over to Finn and shook his hand.
“Finland Conner, it’s nice to have you back.” Finn smile brought out the sun from behind the clouds.
“Thank you, sir.” The winds stopped, the snow didn’t rain down on us. The whole world needed Finn to keep everything in balance.


We were at the hospital while Finn got fixed up, but even though he was bruised, I thought most of the damage was done mentally. They both sat on the hospital bed, laughing as Jerry told Finn corny jokes. He didn’t even look like a real target, and I hoped Mason Harrison would rot in prison with molting lava. If only that was legal, it would make me the happiest girl in the world.

We got home a few hours later. Of course Finn’s cold was even worse. He slept in about 20 blankets, but I thought it seemed reasonable for what he had been through. Izabel was also asleep. Mom and I sat on the kitchen table, very relieved that Finland was alright.
“I just can’t believe Mason would do something like this.” Mom said softly. I shrugged.
“I don’t know. But I think we should show him off at court. Torture him.”
“I tried to ask Finn anything, but he wouldn’t tell me. Not even the police.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it?”
“It’s something that’s troubling him.” I nodded.
“He’ll feel better tomorrow. Hopefully.” Mom looked pretty uneasy.
“It’s just…”
“You knew Mason for such a long time and he just changed?” I asked. Mom nodded slowly. She looked down, telling me she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I sighed. “Alright, let’s go to bed. We’ve had a rough few days.” Mom nodded and the bot of us went to our bed. I laid down on my bed in the dark. Everything was now perfect. I had my brother back. But just to be sure, I went to Finland’s room. Under the 20 blankets, I could see my brother, fast asleep. I walked up to him and just placed my finger under his nose to see if he was breathing. He was.

Maybe I was being stupid, but losing Finn had been terrifying to me. I could see his pale skin and blonde hair being showered by the full moon’s light. I decided to lay on the floor next to his bed, just in case another person tried to steal Finn. I must have been up forever, because I don’t even remember falling asleep.
“Hailey? Hailey?” Said a boy’s voice. I opened my eyes and saw Finland leaning over me. He looked at me with confusion. “Why are you in my room?” He asked me.
“Um…uh...I was just testing your carpet.” I stocked the carpet with my fingers. “Yup, it’s soft.” He smiled and helped me up.
“Okay then, let’s go.”
“Where?” I asked him. He looked at me like I was the stupidest girl in the world.
“Today’s school, right?”

“You want to go to school after what happened yesterday?” He grabbed his bag from the floor and smiled.
“Duh!” He ran downstairs and I followed. Then I saw something that was surprising. Mom was making breakfast! She hasn’t done that for years.
“Mom?” Finn and I asked. She turned around and smiled.
“Good morning.”
“You’re making breakfast?” Finn asked in shock. She rolled her eyes.
“What? You don’t think I can’t make breakfast?”
“Well, no!” I said. Izabel was on the table, eating waffles in enjoyment.
“These are amazing, Mommy!” She looked at us. “Come on, eat!” Finn and I both looked at each other, but sat down to eat the breakfast Mom made us. It was very good, actually.

Finn and Izabel were already ready for school. They started heading out the door but I called out,
“Wait!” They turned around. “I’ll drive.”
“You sure?” Finn asked me.
“Sure.” I got up and quickly got us to school in 5 minutes. I wasn’t so sure about leaving Finn and Izabel again, but I had to. I dropped them off at my school and tossed Finn his phone. “Call me when your out of school, I’ll drive you both home.” They stared at me with concern.
“You okay?” They both asked me. I nodded and left.

At the end of the day, I drove to Finn and Izabel’s school to find 2 polices in front of their school. I quickly got out.
“Um, hello?” I said. They smiled.
“Hello.”
“Are you looking for someone?”
“Finland Conner, you know him?”
“He’s my brother. Why do you need him?”
“We need to ask him some questions about yesterday’s incident.” I did the most stupid thing I could think of. But it was for Finland.
“Oh, Finland Conner, he just left. He’s…at the police station! Yeah.” They knitted their eyebrows.
“Really? We just got here now.” I saw Finn and Izabel coming out.
“And now you’re going back to the police station, bye!” They just shrugged and drove away in their police car.
“Why were they here?” I didn’t realize Finn was right next to me.
“Um…no reason, let’s go home.” I said pushing them both in the car. I didn’t want Finn to worry about this right now. He needed a normal life. He needed to forget about this whole incident and live life again.

It had been 6 months since my little Finnie got kidnapped. We were at Mason’s trial and he got sentence to 68 years in prison. I think he should just be sentenced on death penalty. Finn has grown so tall now! He’s almost his father’s height now. He doesn’t have any more fevers. I think it was because he wasn’t happy all the time. Now he’s healthier than ever. It was so depressing to see him away from me; that I don’t ever let any of my children out of my sight anymore. My new job now let’s me have much more money than we ever had and more time with my children.
I stopped assigning jobs to Finn and starting doing them myself. We were now starting a new beginning. We were starting a new chapter in our life and it was like living in a fairytale life. It was everything I could wish for. I made dinner while I saw Finland and Jerry playing football in the front yard. Jerry had grown too, exactly the same height as Finn. I saw the girls in the living room, applying on make-up and dressing up like real ladies. Hailey was teaching and taking care of Izabel more often. Life was wonderful, it was everything I could ever have.
“Kids, dinner is ready.” All 4 of them rushed to the dinner table. They were still talking amongst themselves. I laced dinner in front of them and sat down. “So, how was everybody’s day?”
“Hailey’s teaching me how to tie my own hair!” The boys pointed a finger in their mouth. I chuckled.
“Alright, how’s basketball try-outs?” Jerry looked at Finn.
“You tell her, she’s your mother.” Finn smiled.
“We got in.” He said proudly.
“Really? But they didn’t allow you last semester?” Hailey asked.
“He was half the team’s size last time.” Izabel pointed out. We all laughed.
“Anyway, congratulations to the both of you.” Jerry wasn’t listening. He was too busy devouring his food.
“Mrs. Conner, this Lasagna is amazing!” I smiled.
“Thank you. Someone who complemented my cooking.” The other’s rolled their eyes. We all had a wonderful time together. Finland was safe, my children were happy and had a mother again. Not a 13-year old taking care of them. I now knew how life was torn for all of them. It was terrible and I felt so bad for everything that happened. They weren’t my children before, just people I visited and met for 2 hours. My family was wonderful and happy. Money could never buy that. I felt like the luckiest mother in the world. I knew my husband was in a better place, but was still watching over us.


THE END