“Honey, just have a glass of milk and try to go back to sleep. No more sugar before bedtime, m’kay?”

That’s what Jackson imagined he’d hear from his mom if he woke her up to tell her about the phone call he’d just gotten. That’s why he didn’t. Instead, he dressed, snuck into her purse for the car keys, and as quietly as possible, pulled the Subaru away from the house, hoping not to wake anyone.

It was still dark, his headlights casting deep cutting shadows as he took the dirt road slowly, unable see beyond what was in front of him. The windows were up, keeping out the cool air, which might have been comfortable any other time.

Jackson felt like he couldn’t breathe, but he was wide awake, even while his mind was oddly numb of all the thoughts that should have been running through it.  The truth was, Jackson didn’t want to think. He didn’t want to think about the last moments of that phone call before the line went dead--the pleading in Luke’s voice, the suspicious sounds of a scuffle, and the rush to hang up on him. He didn’t want to think about what he was about to do because of that call, either, because Jackson knew that as soon as he started thinking about it, he’d realize how incredibly foolish charging out in the early hours of morning to launch a rescue with no backup really was. He just needed to get there. Through every wrong turn before he reached the Tuan house, Jackson just wanted to get there, and when he did, he found himself somewhat grateful that he didn’t lose confidence at the door.

He’d left the Subaru headlights on, aimed at the house. It was too dark, otherwise, and he wasn’t interested in any more surprises. This time, Jackson wanted to be the surprise, which is why he hardly hesitated before lifting his fist to relentlessly pound on the front door. No tapping this time. He wanted to be heard, and he wanted to be heard quickly. He wasn’t disappointed when he saw a light inside come on just before the door cracked open, and was further relieved when he found that it wasn’t Mark’s dad he was facing. Dorine Tuan wasn’t as nearly as intimidating, especially in a fluffy purple nightgown. She looked more frightened than surprised when she saw Jackson, which he immediately used to his advantage. He really wasn’t in the habit of intimidating women. His mother would have made a point to tear him a new if he ever had, but this time, he was willing to make an exception. “Where are Mark and Luke?” he demanded.

Mrs. Tuan was quite the actress, Jackson decided, when she appeared to be outraged through the thin crack in the door she was standing behind. “They’re sleeping, and you should be, too. Obviously your mother has no idea you’re out at all hours of the night or I’m sure...”

“I just got a phone call from Luke,” Jackson cut her off. “He’s not sleeping. Get him.”

Mrs. Tuan narrowed the one eye that Jackson could see on him. “Go home, or I’ll call the police.” She started to slam the door, but this time Jackson was quick to get a foot in.

“And I’m sure that’ll do you a whole lot of good,” he said sarcastically. “Where is Luke?”

When Mrs. Tuan didn’t answer and attempted to shove her door closed on Jackson’s foot instead, he’d finally had enough. With both hands on the door he pushed his way by it and Dorine Tuan, into the house.

“That’s it!” Dorine huffed, stepping back. “I’m calling the police!”

“Go ahead,” Jackson replied as he looked over the perfectly normal living room for anything not-so-normal. “I was going to get to that, anyway.” He glanced challengingly towards Mrs. Tuan, and as he’d suspected, she stopped short of picking up the phone. But what he hadn’t expected, was the swollen purple blemish marring her left eye. That definitely hadn’t happened from being clumsy, which is exactly the explanation Jackson thought he’d get if he asked. “Where’s your husband?” he asked, finally recalling that forcing his way into someone else’s house wasn’t the safest scenario in the world. Dorine must have seen that the idea of running into Mr. Tuan made Jackson nervous.

“He had to run out for a minute. You better not be here when he comes home. I’m warning you...”

“Ran out at three in the morning?” Jackson mumbled skeptically under his breath before he decided to focus on the task at hand. If Raymond Tuan was gone for the time being, then he thought it was best to hurry. “Luke?” he called, moving further into the house, cautiously making sure that the door stayed wide open behind him. “Luke!” He raised his voice as he neared the hallway and Dorine stepped into his path.

“I told you, he’s sleeping!”

Jackson ignored her and brushed by, opening the doors of two rooms, an office and a master bedroom before he found the one he was looking for. He paused in the doorway for a long moment, taking in the simple space. Tidy, but cluttered. And, there might as well have been a taped line down the middle of it.

There were two twin beds, one on each side of the room. One was neatly made, looking like it hadn’t been slept in tonight. There was an old car magazine at the foot of it, right next to a red lighter. On that side of the room there were photos tacked over the walls, mostly of objects that most might find meaningless. A wilted leaf, a fish on the end of a fishing line looking rather unhappy to be there, the shadow of a tree and a bird guarding over its fallen nest. The effect seemed dark to Jackson. Angry and sad all at the Rickye time. And all of it, the pictures, the bed, the worn black sweater on the floor--it wasn’t Mark’s. That was easy enough to see.

The other side of the room was much more chaotic. But it seemed comfortable. The bed was a pile of tangled sheets, clothes were folded on a chair, waiting to be hung. There were a few aquariums full of caught crickets and frogs, and a wedding photo of the elder Tuans right next to a framed poster of a cartoon chicken that was smiling unnaturally. There were old action-figure toys arranged over a dresser and a World’s Greatest Son trophy, likely purchased in a dollar store. But none of that was what Jackson focused on as he moved to the unmade bed and lifted up a familiar picture of himself on a bicycle that had been partially tucked beneath the pillow. He stared at it for a long moment before placing it back where it had been, and when he looked up to face Mrs. Tuan, she looked like an animal who’d been suddenly caught in the sight of a predator.

Jackson simply felt stunned. It occurred to him that before walking into this bedroom, he’d actually expected to find at least Mark in it. At this hour, someone should have been sleeping in those beds. It was possible that since Mr. Tuan wasn’t there, he could have taken them somewhere; but if he had, Jackson doubted that it was your average father-son outing, otherwise, Dorine would have simply told him. Instead, she’d chosen to lie, and every warning bell Jackson had seemed to be going off in his ears.

“Where are they?” he asked again, but the question seemed rhetorical when he didn’t bother waiting for an answer. This time as he pushed past Dorine to get out of the room, he was calling more than Luke’s name, his voice sounding slightly panicked in his own ears. “Mark? Mark? Mark!”

“That’s enough!” Dorine shouted as she followed after him, making a grab for Jackson’s arm only to have him shake her off. “I want you out of my house! Now!”

Jackson wasn’t listening. He was too busy moving through the Tuan residence as if he owned the place, leaving no door unopened in his wake. Closets, bathrooms, even a three-foot-tall chest used to store blankets; he checked it all, calling for Mark in the process, and occasionally shouting out Luke’s name. But nothing. Nothing.  Surely, Jackson thought, if they were there, someone would have called out. Someone would have responded. He would have gotten something. Jackson rounded on Dorine as he backtracked to the kitchen and she followed him in, flipping on a light that momentarily assaulted his eyes. “Where are they?”

She crossed her arms, pursed her lips. Nothing. Jackson released an exasperated sigh and headed through the kitchen, towards the back door. He only had the garage left to check, or so he thought. He had his hand on the back door, knowing full well that Dorine Tuan planned to lock him out as soon as he went through it, when he spotted another door off to the side. It looked like another closet, but Jackson still reached for it, knowing he’d found something important when Dorine shouted out for him to stop, even as he yanked the door open and looked down a steep staircase in front of him that led down to a thick door. He was there in a moment, surprised by the bluntness of the surface as his fists began to meet it after he found it locked. “Mark! Mark? Answer me! Luke?”

No response. Jackson spun around, jumping slightly when he found Dorine Tuan behind him once again, this time appearing more upset than angry. She almost looked like she was going to cry, but Jackson found himself completely insensitive to it. “Unlock it!” he ordered, startling the woman with his tone. She shook her head at him, and in response he turned and aggressively began to move back up the stairs. He was surprised when two steps later, Dorine changed her mind and rushed down them to do what he’d told her to do. Jackson didn’t consider himself a very intimidating individual, especially one capable of intimidating adults, but when it worked this time, he wasn’t about to apologize for it and watched as Dorine Tuan removed a key hidden beneath a piece of worn carpet on the floor. With shaking hands she brought it to the lock, and when she appeared too upset to make it work on the first try, Jackson snatched the key out of her hands and did it himself. He heard the lock click, paused momentarily, and shoved the door open.

And then he stared. There. In the strip of light provided from the open doorway a boy he knew lay seemingly unconscious, knees curled into his chest, on the cold cement floor of a windowless basement.

“Please,” Dorine suddenly said. “You have to understand...”

Understand? Jackson took the time to flash the woman a disgusted look before he was in the room, kneeling down to the form dressed in a t-shirt and loose jeans. Jackson touched a cold arm, and then slid his hand around to the back until he was satisfied that the other boy was breathing. When he glared back at Dorine Tuan and saw that she was crying, he felt like doing a little crying himself. “How could you do this?” he demanded. “Why would you do this?”

Dorine Tuan choked back a sob. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Jackson was on his feet before she even started to close the door, but by the time he got there he was hearing the click of the lock, and suddenly Luke’s strange message made sense as the light went away.

***

Judith Coombs was an early riser. She always had been, a habit she believed she’d inherited from her mother, who’d always said that the sky looked its best just before the sunrise. Judith agreed. Most mornings she could be found out on the docks with her camera in the dark, waiting for those first few perfect moments of the sunrise.

This particular morning was a cool one, and as she sat on the edge of the docks it didn’t stop her from slipping her bare feet into the icy water until her toes nearly ached. Looking up at the sky, still cluttered with a few visible stars, she once again thought about how she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life right where she was. Their little town was a peaceful one, and she couldn’t think of any place better. I wish Jay could feel that way, she thought wishfully as she heard soft footsteps coming up behind her.

Judith didn’t bother turning to see who else would be out that early on a Sunday morning. Instead she just waited as she felt a warm body kneel down behind her, and leaned back onto a comfortably firm chest as loose arms wrapped around her body from behind.

“You’re late,” she grumbled, leaning her head back on a shoulder to look at the pale face and chocolate eyes watching her.

Jay shook his long blond bangs out of his face and smiled. “Next week, you let me sleep in,” he informed her.

Judith rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You know you don’t sleep in.”

Jay let out a breath and turned his attention to the shining dark water while Judith continued to watch him.

“What’re you thinking?” she finally asked.

It took a moment for him to respond. “He knows it was us.”

Judith frowned. It felt like they’d been having this conversation repeatedly since the day before. “Don’t you think he would’ve said?”

Jay shook his head. “Yesterday wasn’t a coincidence. He wanted you to invite him into the group today. Bet the guy’s never taken a picture in his life.”

Sophia fell silent for a long moment. “Isn’t this what you wanted? If he shows today, you can ask him...”

“I can’t just ask,” Jay stated. “Don’t know if I can trust him.”

Judith sighed and leaned closer to him, causing him to tighten his grip on her. “I wish you could let this whole thing go,” she whispered.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” she asked, annoyed. “It’s getting to be too much for you, Jay. Let it go.”

He shook his head again, and then rested his chin on the top of her head. Judith sighed. She wouldn’t get anywhere with him. He was too determined.

“He has to know something, Judith,” Jay insisted. “He’s spending time with the Tuans.”

“That doesn’t mean...”

“It has to.”

***

Jackson rubbed at his eyes with his swollen fists, becoming frustrated as he began to realize that it didn’t matter how much time passed, his eyes would never adjust to the darkness. No light. It was suffocating. To make matters worse, he had no idea where the door was. He’d quickly realized that there was no handle on this side of the wall, and everything felt the Rickye beneath his fingers. For all he knew, he’d been screaming at walls for at least a half hour.

Sliding down against the wall until he was seated on the cool floor, Jackson tried to remain calm. He was most definitely in trouble, but he was confident that he could still get out of it. He guessed that Mrs. Tuan was waiting for her husband to get home. Jackson didn’t even want to think about what might happen then. He chose to think about his own mother, instead. She’d be waking up in a few hours, and as soon as she realized that both he and the car were gone, he had no doubt that she’d be sending up smoke signals. She’d find him. She had to.

A soft groan reaching his ears pulled Jackson away from his own troubles as he remembered that he wasn’t alone; and feeling guilty and foolish, he felt his way across the floor on his hands and knees until he felt a sock-covered foot and inched his way closer to the body, realizing that he still didn’t know who his company was.

“Head hurts,” a voice mumbled, and Jackson immediately felt his way to the boy’s hair, remembering that there was one simple way to figure out who the voice belonged to.

“Mark,” he whispered as soon as he felt the familiar stretch of scar tissue. And with that out of the way, he quickly began to search for the cause of the pain Mark was experiencing. Only, a lump on the head proved difficult to feel against the already uneven skin. “Don’t move,” Jackson insisted when Mark attempted to sit up. Gently, Jackson shifted and lifted Mark’s head onto his knee, hating that he couldn’t see him.

“Jackson?” Mark asked, sounding surprised. “Jackson?”

“Shhh. Yeah. It’s me.”

Mark was silent for a long moment, and Jackson jumped a little when he felt the other boy’s finger’s touch his cheek. Jackson took the hand and held it over Mark’s chest, where he could feel the other boy’s steady heartbeat. “I don’t like it in here, Jackson. It’s too dark.”

“Yeah,” Jackson agreed. “Listen, Mark. We’re in trouble, okay? I need you to tell me what happened. Please, it’s important.”

“What happened?” Mark repeated, sounding dazed.

“How did you get down here?” Jackson asked.

“I don’t know, Jackson.”

“Mark,” Jackson started, quickly becoming frustrated. But, he managed to check himself when he felt Mark become tense over his tone. “Mark, do you know where your brother is?”

It seemed like an important question to Jackson. He felt relieved that one brother was accounted for, especially since it was Mark, but Luke was still missing, and despite the danger of his own situation, Jackson couldn’t help being worried for the other twin.

“He was here,” Mark said groggily. “I thought he was here with me... it was dark, but...I don’t know, Jackson. I don’t remember.”

Jackson paused for a moment, wondering if it was possible. “Luke?” he called out. When there was no response, he carefully eased Mark into a sitting position. “Stay right where you are, okay?” he said, but as soon as Jackson began to move away from Mark, Mark reached out and clutched his arm.

“Don’t go, Jackson!”

“It’s okay,” Jackson promised, reaching