"Did we have to come so early? It's 6 in the morning!" Maya complained while rubbing her eyes.

The crew had gathered at the entrance of the Harlequin Restuarant (the bakery part). True enough, it was six in the morning and there was hardly any light outside.

"Yes!" Naomi snapped. "You don't have to come if you don't want to." She wore a brown leather jacket on top of a black blouse and black skinny jeans.

"Actually, I think I'll stay here," Maya said shyly.

Mary and Ted gasped. Maya felt like a traitor.. but she really needed that beauty sleep.

"Are you CRYING?" Naomi blurted out.

"No?" Maya's voice came out in a higher-than-normal pitch.

"Hey, no need to get snappy here," Britney turned to Naomi and said sternly. Similar to Naomi, she wore dark clothing. She sported black cargo pants, a black tank top, and a light grey sweater zipped halfway up.

"What about Lena? She doesn't even know what's going on!" Ted realized.

"Since I'm staying, I'll tell her," answered Maya. "We'll be running the restaurant while you guys look for Naomi's sister."

"Thanks, Maya," said Britney.

"No problem."

"Let's hit the road people!" Naomi announced happily.

***

"Wow, look at the scenery! It's beautiful!" Mary murmured as she looked out the car window.

They were slowly approaching the outskirts of town. Rows of buildings had been replaced by fields of bushes and mountains lining the horizon.

"Mary, Ted, are you guys ok in the back seat?" Britney asked.

"Yep!" answered Ted.

"I wish I could drive. I mean, I AM in the front," muttered Naomi.

"Haha too bad. I'm driving," teased Britney.

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

...

"OH MY GOSH!" shrieked Mary.

"WHAT!" Britney yelled.

"Stop the car!" Mary ordered.

Britney hit the breaks. Hard.

"You just about made me crash, so you better have a good explanation!"

"There's a little girl out on the road!" Mary pointed.

Naomi, Ted, and Britney turned to look out Mary's window.

Standing on the edge of the road was a little girl of about eight years with medium-length tangled chestnut-colored hair. She wore tattered black leggings, an orange skirt, and a brown hoodie.

"Somebody help!" she shouted. "Please." She began to weep.

Mary stepped out of the car and jogged to where she stood.

"Hey, are you ok?" she bent down to be at eye-level with the little girl.

"No, I'm lost. I don't know what's going on!" she sobbed.

"What are you doing out in the middle of the road?" Mary asked in a soft voice.

The little girl's eyes widened. "I actually don't know! I can't remember anything at all." She began to cry all over again.

"Oh no! Don't cry." Mary wrapped her arms around the small child. "Everything is gonna be alright."

"Thanks," the girl sniffled. "Please don't leave me!" She suddenly squeezed Mary.

"Oh no, of course not," Mary assured her. She released her and pointed to the car. "Here, come with me to the car. I'll take good care of you until we can figure something out.

"Thank you so much!" The girl smiled graciously.

"No problem. Follow me," Mary led her.

***

Mary opened the back door of the car to let the girl in. She hopped in and sat in the middle seat next to Ted. Mary came in and pulled the door shut.

"Everyone, meet Julia," Mary announced.

"Hello Julia, my name is Ted," Ted smiled.

"Hi, I'm Britney. I hope you feel welcome here."

"Hi, I'm Naomi. I hope you don't mind, but we're looking for my sister."

"Sister? Did she get lost too?" asked Julia innocently.

"Not exactly. There isn't that much time to explain... Britney, can you drive please?"

"Um, ok."

***

I wonder how much longer, thought Mary. Oh right. FIVE entire hours.

"Random question... but what are you guys afraid of?" Mary questioned.

"That is very random indeed," agreed Naomi. "Dark too."

"I'll go first," volunteered Mary. "My worst fear is spiders!"

Julia flinched and Ted laughed.

"Gosh, they're so creepy. Some are poisonous and even deadly," Mary said in a disgusted tone.

"But spiders were my first friends!" Britney countered.

...

"Haha just kidding..." Britney returned her focus to driving.

"Well..." started Julia, "my worst fear is being left alone. The world is dangerous... and you can't ever really trust anyone..."

"Wow, that's some pretty serious stuff right there," Ted was surprised by the little girl's statement. Julia nodded.

"I'm noy sure about my WORST fear, but one thing I hate is death," Ted admitted.

"Death?" Mary echoed.

"Yeah..." continued Ted, "I feel distressed when I think about it... that the people I love will leave. Also, clocks kind of terrified me back then. They sounded like they were mocking me, counting the time until I die."

"That's terrifying," sympathized Mary.

"I felt like that after my mother died. I was six years old at the time," Ted blinked away the tears forming in his brown eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" gasped Mary.

"It's ok. Naomi, your turn," Ted passed it on.

Here I am feeling sorry for myself, thought Naomi guiltily. Immediately, anger replaced that guilt. She refused to think that way, there was no way that would happen to Ashley. I WILL find her, she affirmed.

"My worst fear?" Naomi murmured. "Failure. That's it. For me, failure is not an option. I won't give up until I reach my expectations, and until I reach my goal."

"Wow Naomi, that's very inspiring," Britney raised her eyebrows and gave a small smile. Then, the smile faded. "As for me, my fear is turning back."

And facing my past, she didn't say. For some reason, it always came back to haunt her. No matter what she did.

"I'd rather move forward than turn back and get tangled in the same mess all over again," she finished.

Naomi nodded in agreement. Mary, however, thought differently.

"But if you go back, can't you resolve whatever the mess was?" she said.

"To be honest, I never thought about it that way," Britney replied after a short pause. "I'm not sure if I could possibly fix it. Anyway.. it was nice chatting with you guys but it appears that we've arrived."

Mary's eyes widened. "We've talked for five hours?!"

***

The back door opened, causing Mary and Julia to look up.

"Hey," Mary greeted Naomi while raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said you'd go with the others to investigate while Julia and I stayed in the car."

"Yeah. I just came to drop off this."

Julia gasped. Mary tried not to act too surprised.

"Is that a..?"

"It's exactly what you think it is," Naomi confirmed. "Here. Take it."

Handing the object to Mary, Naomi spoke softly, "I want you to be safe. Use it in case anything happens. It's already loaded."

Mary gulped and nodded. Naomi closed the door and left.

Julia turned to face Mary. "She gave you a..."

Mary put her fingers to her lips, but Julia had already yelled out: "GUN?!?!"

***

"Woah, there are so many abandoned buildings out here," Naomi observed.

Around them was an abandoned city, devoid of life. The pavement was chipped, cracks ran across buildings, and windows were shattered. Unkept vegetation sprung out of the ground where it shouldn't have.

"I doubt anyone actually lives or works here," Ted said dumbly.

"I think this place is awesome," Naomi grinned. Ted gave her a wild look. "What? I love places like this! Mostly because I like to paint graffiti." She chuckled. Ted laughed.

"Damn kid, I like you more and more already," Britney said. Naomi laughed again. "Anyways, let's continue looking for that building."

They walked and walked. The location from Ashley's phone marked that they should keep going forward.

"We're getting closer, aren't we?" Ted gulped.

"Yes we are," Britney said in a monotone voice.

After about three minutes of more walking, they'd arrived.

"Is that the building we're going to investigate?" Naomi asked.

In front of them was a large complex, grungy and already full of graffiti. It appeared to be a rundown mall.

Britney nodded.

Ted sucked in his breath and sighed. "Well, let's get this over with."

In they went. Naomi led the way with Britney while Ted watched their backs. The interior of the building was pitch dark except for the narrow strip of sunlight that reached a few feet through broken window panes at the entrance.

"See anything?" he asked, covering his nose.

"See ANYONE?" Britney wanted to know.

Naomi turned around and shushed them. "No, not yet. Let's keep moving."

"Ugh, this place reeks. I think I actually smell urine," Britney grumbled.

"Fine. You guys can stay near the entrance to get fresh air. I'm going to go further," Naomi retorted.

Britney crossed her arms and walked closer to the entrance. She tried her hardest not to puke.

Ted stepped up closer to Naomi. "I can go with you if you want," he offered politely.

Naomi stared a little too long at his too-innocent brown doe eyes and the zip-up black-and-white checkered hoodie he wore. At last, she shook her head and looked away.

"Actually, you should stay behind and take care of Britney," she replied, not bothering to meet his eyes again.

"Hey! I can take care of my own self, thank you very much," Britney called from the entrance.

Naomi sighed. "Fine. Come with me, Ted."

Together, they walked deeper into the menacing darkness.

"I see something!" Naomi proclaimed excitedly. She bent down to pick up the strange object. She stood up and swung it in front of Ted with a smirk on her face.

"A briefcase?" he frowned in confusion.

"Let's open it!"

Ted didn't see the big deal with finding a briefcase, but he reluctantly gave in. Naomi set the briefcase on the ground between them and the two knelt down. Ted unlatched the straps and opened it.

Naomi froze.