AVERY BROWN AND FINNEY BLAKE were sleeping, once again. There wasn't much to do in that basement, so most of the time they were there, the two spent it sleeping. But they could never sleep for too long since nightmares and sounds made them wake up in cold sweat and fear, worrying that the Grabber might be watching and waiting to come in and just kill them when they least expect it.

Avery was finally sleeping peacefully when she slowly started to wake up. She looked forward and she saw the phone. The black, lifeless phone. Except, the harder she looked at it the more alive it became. The phone started to pulsate, as if it was breathing. Avery rubbed her eyes, making sure she was seeing straight. The phone still kept breathing. She thought she was going crazy, there was no way a phone could move on it's own, and there was even less of a chance that the phone could be breathing. Maybe she was just dreaming and she just wanted the phone to stop, stop messing with her brain.

"Stop it." She said. If she was in a dream, nobody would hear it. And if she wasn't, maybe it was The Grabber pulling a prank on them and he would stop on her command.

"Stop what?" Said a voice a few feet away from Avery. The girl jumped a bit, and snapped her entire body towards the voice, and there he was. The Grabber was sitting on the floor under the dimmed light, just kept looking at the girl. The man was wearing a different mask this time. This mask only covered the bottom half of his face, she could now see his eyes clearly. Not that she wanted to though. Avery felt chills run down her spine. Both of them just kept quiet, until Avery's stomach slightly grumbled.

"I'm hungry. I need food. You haven't given us any food since we got here." She said. She felt someone move beside her, and then she looked down and saw Finney who was, thankfully, sound asleep. He looked so peaceful and calm she almost smiled just by looking at him. But then she remembered there was someone she really hated infront of her. Her entire mood flipped when she thought of and turned to look back at The Grabber, waiting for his response, hoping she could have some food soon.

"How are your eyes?" The Grabber had completely ignored the girl's request for food, and he switched the subject in a matter of seconds.

"They hurt." She replied with no emotion on her face. But she was telling the truth. Her eyes hurt like hell. Even though they got a bit better from yesterday, she still felt a lot of stinging pain.

"Well, I can't bring you guys anything to eat. You'll have to wait." He said standing up and walking towards the door. Avery stared at him with a confused, angry look on her face. What was the reason he couldn't bring them food?

"Is there someone upstairs? Is that why you can't bring us any food?"

"Don't you worry about that."

"If you weren't going to bring us food then why did you come down here, huh?!" Avery was now angry. She didn't want to be here anymore, and she needed to eat, she was really hungry, it was starting to affect her mood. And The Grabber was being an asshole.

"Just to look at you. I just wanted to look at you." The man said with glossy eyes, as if he was holding in his tears. Avery's body stiffened as her heart dropped down to her stomach in fear. The Grabber had just come down to look at her. She felt like she was going to throw up. Actually throw up. She felt multiple feelings at once, and none of them were good. She felt chills run down her spine, once again. She wanted to cry, she wanted to throw up, but she also wanted to beat the living shit out of him. She just stared at him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but she wouldn't let them. No way. This piece of shit wasn't going to see her cry, not in a million years.

The Grabber muttered something under his breath, but Avery couldn't understand it, and she honestly didn't even bother to. When the man left she quickly backed away from the door, and her back touched the wall. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. She layed her chin on her knees. She hated what just happened, she never wanted to experience that ever again. The fact that The Grabber came down to the basement just to look at her made her feel miserable. It made her feel weak, and disgusting, and she hated feeling all those things. She wanted to forget that ever happened, but she couldn't. She couldn't get it out of her head. The moment kept replaying in her head, every single word exactly as he had said it. And each time she felt like crying twice as more. A single tear rolled down her cheek and she didn't bother wiping it. She didn't let anymore tears fall though, she wouldn't let them. She thought she was being stupid, and overreacting, but she wasn't, she had every right to feel this way, but Avery was a stubborn girl, she thinks everything is her fault when it obviously isn't. She turned her head and turned to look at Finney, he was still sleeping peacefully. Avery looked at how he was all curled up while he slept, and she noticed how his curls fell infront of his face. She started smiling slightly, noticing how just simply looking at him would lighten the mood and make her feel better, feel safe. But she quickly realised what she was doing and took her eyes off him and sniffled, looking infront of her. Was she really falling for this boy? In this moment and place?

...

Avery and Finney were now both asleep. But, not for long. Soon the phone started ringing. Again. Finney woke up due to the loud ringing sound. He sat up, and then looked at the girl beside him, she was still sleeping. Finney looked back at the phone. He debated if he should wake the girl up, but he ended up waking her up anyway. Something in his heart just told him that something was gonna happen, maybe it was something good, maybe it wasn't. But that was for them to find out, together.

"Aves. Aves. Avery." Whispered the boy, gently shaking her a bit, trying to wake her up. Avery woke up slowly, and then looked at the boy infront of her. She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"What?" She asked, still tired. Finney simply gestured to the phone with his head. Avery turned her head to look at the phone and noticed that it was ringing. Avery looked back at Finney and gulped. Avery was sure that it wasn't normal for a phone to ring when it supposedly not working.

They both stood up at the same time and walked towards the phone. Before the phone could ring once again, Finn picked it up and put it in between their ears. You couldn't hear anything, except for a noise that sounded like a static of a TV or something, once again.

"Hello?" Asked Finney into the phone. "We need help." He stopped, waiting for a reply.

"Hello?" Avery slightly whispered, still with a sleepy voice. It was all quiet, and Avery had honestly lost all hope in that phone, she was about to turn around and head back to the bed when she heard something come from the phone.

"Avery." Suddenly a voice spoke from the other line in a slight whisper saying the girl's name as the person on the other line dragged the letter "y".

Avery's eyes widened and she quickly stepped away from the phone, and Finney quickly put the phone away and grabbed Avery's hand and started walking away from the phone, panting heavily as he did so. Avery was pulled along with Finn, and they ended up sitting on the floor. Avery's heart had never beaten so fast. She could feel her heart in her throat, and her eyes were still open wide as she began to shake slightly, she was scared. Finney was still breathing heavily, his chest rising up and down as if he had just ran a marathon. Avery's and Finney's hands were still connected, and they were holding each other's hands tightly, they were not intending to letting go of each other any time soon. Finn's breathing slowed down a bit, and he turned to look at the frightened girl next to him. Avery was still staring at the phone a few feet away from them, and suddenly it started to ring again. Finney quickly snapped his head towards the phone. Avery's heart began beating fast again as she closes her eyes shut and quickly opened them again, making sure this wasn't a dream. She looked at Finney and Finney looked at her, and the phone just kept on ringing. Avery suddenly stood up, when the phone started to ring once more she walked towards the phone quickly. She picked up the phone, but then without putting the phone to her ear she hung the phone up. The ringing stopped. She took a few steps back and looked at the phone, and then turned to look at Finney, who had now stood up and was walking towards her. The phone started ringing non stop, the noise not stopping even once. The ringing filled Avery's ears, she turned to Finney and he quickly grabbed the phone and put it in between their ears.

"Don't hang up." Said an unkown voice. Avery's eyes opened wider than they were before, she was freaking out, she had no idea how a phone that it's wires were cut off was working. Her heart was only beating faster by the second and it wasn't going to slow down any time soon.

"I won't. Who is this?" Asked Finney into the phone.

"I don't remember my name."

"Why not?"

"It's the first thing you lose, Finney."

"The first thing you lose when?"

"You know when." Avery felt her heart stop. She knew when and so did Finn. It was when someone died. Things weren't making any sense, how could a dead person be speaking to them? And how was the broken phone even working?

"How do you know Avery's name? How do you know my name?" Avery was interested in knowing the answer to the question, last time she checked, she definetly did not have any ghost friends. She got closer to the phone, paying close attention to what the person would say next.

"You and I, we met once. Your arm is mint, you almost had me. Me and Avery were pretty close. We went on a date once, we both had a lot of fun but we knew it was better to stay as friends. Isn't that right, Aves?" Answered the voice. Suddenly, everything for Avery clicked and she instantly knew who it was. Her hand went to cover her mouth in shock as she held in tears. Finney stood still, not believing he was talking to a dead boy through a broken phone. Avery couldn't believe she was listening to one of the boy's she was closest with talk, she couldn't believe she was listening to the boy she had the most fun with talk once again after she thought she would never hear his voice again. She couldn't believe she was listening to one of The Grabber's victims. A dead victim.

"Bruce? Oh my God, Bruce!" Avery was now the one to talk. She had a small smile on her face, glad she was talking to Bruce, but she had glossy eyes, tears almost falling due to the fact she was talking to Bruce one last time.

"Yeah, Bruce. I-I'm Bruce." Avery's mood changed slightly as she tried to hold her smile for him, for the special boy on the phone. The fact that Bruce had forgotten his own name made her heart break. She wanted to hug the boy, and tell him everything was going to be okay. She wanted to tell him that she would always remember his name, she would always remember him.

"It's you Aves. It's really you. And you Finney. Your arm is mint, you almost had me." You could basically hear Bruce smiling through the phone, happy that he had finally remembered his name, and that he was talking to his two friends.

"Did the phone ring for you?"Finney asked, curiousness in his tone.

"It rang. But none of us heard it. Just you two. The Grabber hears it too, but he doesn't want to believe it."

"Why're you calling us?"

"Your arm is mint, you almost had me." Bruce repeated that sentence once again. Avery couldn't understand why he kept repeating that sentence, maybe it was the only thing he remembered before he died.

"Avery and Finney, I'm glad it's you."

"Yeah, Bruce. We are too. I've missed you." Avery spoke up, tears threatening to fall once again. That small smile struggling to stay.

"Avery."

"Yeah?"

"There's a dirt section on the floor of the hallway, where the tile is loose."

"Okay,"

"Dig down underneath the foundation. I tried. But there wasn't enough time for me to go up and get out to the other side." Finney looked at Avery and Avery looked at Finn, Avery nodded to him, telling him to head to where Bruce was talking about. Finney gave the phone to Avery, and hurriedly headed to the loose tile, while Avery kept talking to Bruce.

"Will we have enough time Bruce?" It was quiet. No sound came from the other end after Avery asked that. Bruce had hung up the phone. He would rather end his conversation with Avery without saying a goodbye than tell her he had no idea if she would make it out alive.

"Hello? Bruce? Bruce!" Avery spoke into the phone, but there was still no answer. Avery slowly put the phone away and thought about what Bruce had said. Maybe there was a way they could get out, but maybe, they wouldn't have enough time, and maybe they would end up just like Bruce.

Avery walked over to where Bruce had instructed the loose tile was, when she got there she noticed Finney on his knees digging through something. He had already gotten rid of the tile, and was now digging the dirt that was beneath the floor. Avery knelt down next to him, making him look at her, and she just gave him a soft smile, hoping to make this situation slightly better. They soon started digging through the dirt together.

...

They had been digging for hours. Throwing the dirt into the toilet so The Grabber wouldn't see it. The hole, that started tiny, was now huge, up to the size where a human being could almost fully fit inside. Avery's and Finney's hands were now covered in dirt, but they didn't mind. Avery was exhausted, she had never dug so much in her life, but she kept going.

It got to a point where Avery couldn't dig anymore, she was too tired. So she just sat on her knees, not doing anything, just staring down at the hole. Finney looked at her, and noticed how tired she was. Finn was also really tired, and he knew they should stop digging. He also realised it would be extremly hard to get out of that place by digging because that would take hours, it's safe to say he was slowly losing hope. Finney went to the bathroom and went to get one of the carpet's he had seen before, Avery eyeing him every step he took. When he came back with the carpet he layed it on top of the hole and Avery finally had realised what he was doing, she looked at Finney with a grateful look on her face and he simply smiled back at her. Avery stood up and cleaned her hands on her clothes, without hesitation, the girl went and threw herself onto the bed. A few moments later, Finn did the same. They both fell asleep in a matter of seconds, they were both exhausted.

...

The school was currently having an assembly in the auditorium talking about the two, recent missing kids, who just happen to be students from the school. The audience of the auditorium contained of many sad kids, including Gwen Blake, and Donna Miller. There were a bunch of teachers, one woman who was speaking and many police officers standing next to the woman. The assembly was mostly about if anyone had seen the two kids, and also about the teachers paying their condolences to the two kids.

In the middle of the crowd, there sat Donna and Gwen. They were the closest to the two students that had gone missing. Avery didn't have any siblings, but she had Donna, who to her, was even better than any sister she could ever have. Donna was Avery's best friend, and she felt as if her World was falling apart. She couldn't keep a few days without crying, everything she did reminded her of her missing best friend. Donna still had hope that they would find her friend alive, and that they would find her soon, and she held that string of hope until the day where Avery would come back home arrived. Gwen, Finney's sister, was taking it equally as bad. At nights she would have nightmares about him and The Grabber, and the girl would wake up covered in cold sweat, feeling afraid for her brother. She prayed to God to save her missing brother, and she prayed for him to give her dreams.

Donna's eyes were red and had dark circles under them from the many sleepless nights that she had spent crying over her friend. Donna couldn't count how many times she wished it was anybody else that had been taken. She felt guilt come upon her everytime she wished that, which ended up in her crying even more. But she couldn't help it. Avery was her best friend, they did everything together, they completed each other, and now it felt as if half of her was missing, and she needed that half back. There were even some times where Donna wished it was her instead of her best friend. Donna didn't really know Finn. They had talked a bit in classes, but that was it. She obviously felt horrible, and wished he would get saved too. But he wasn't her best friend.

Gwen was sat a few chairs away from Donna, and she had absolutely no expression on her face, which was currently representing what she felt, she was numb. After crying for many days and hours, she just couldn't anymore. The tears wouldn't come out, and soon enough, that feeling of sadness was won over by the feeling of numbness. But right now, she was honestly not even paying attention to what the teachers had to say about her missing brother. She didn't need to hear another talk about how her brother had gone missing, she knew already. Gwen sometimes thought that Finney could make it alive, she had hope and she had faith in him. But sometimes, on the hardest days, she thougth that Finney wouldn't make it, because, to be honest, he was still the boy who was bullied everyday and Gwen sometimes had doubts if he would be able to survive The Grabber, after many other kids had failed to. But Gwen continued hoping, and trying to be optimistic. She would sometimes think about the new friend she had made, Avery Brown. Gwen wished she would help his brother, she wished they would help each other. Gwen didn't fully know if the two had been kidnapped together, but she kind of guessed they did. Gwen liked Avery, she was sweet, funny, and she never cared about what other people said about her. She also liked her because she was good to Finney, and not to forget, she was her brother's crush.

To be honest, nobody really knew Finney Blake. Most of the students in that auditorium never talked to him. If you asked most of the students in the room who Finney Blake was, they would probably just shrug as an answer. Some had probably seen him around school getting bullied by a bunch of kids. Or they had seen him in class, playing with his spaceship toy or arriving early at lessons and just sitting alone in a classroom waiting for the lesson to start. But nobody ever had a real conversation with him, except his sister and the girl that had currently gone missing with him. However, everybody knew Avery. Some of them maybe never really talked to her, but everyone saw her. Everytime she walked into a room, everyone turned their heads, admiring her in every way possible. Everybody knew her name, and it was no surprise that all the students felt pitty for her when they found out she was missing. Every single person hoped to find her alive, she didn't deserve this, Finney also didn't, but nobody really knew him, so they would never know how important he was, and how much he also didn't deserve this.

Of course, many felt bad or