( DRAFT ) When These Walls Come Tumbling Down - A TADC Story

Book 2 Chapter 2: Annabelle

Annabelle was chatting with her other best friend, Delilah. They were here to collect their children up from school. Annabelle being their for her best friend's children, also. Bailey would collect his half brother from his classroom and would walk him to whoever was picking them up, whilst fighting with him about the most pathetic things. It was a routine they had adapted whenever Mike and Annabelle would sleep round at their house. The adult that was their to collect them would wait for the younger two, Tatum and Jamie. 

When the bell rang, Tatum, Garret and Jamie all ran outside, giving their mothers a hug. Jamie did look a tiny bit perplexed as he cocked his head to the side, looking up at his mother. "Uncle Christian said he was picking us up." Jamie told Annabelle.
 "Change of plan." she replied, as Bailey and Thomas approached the group. They said their farewells to Delilah and Garret as they made their way to Annabelle's car. 

Now, you are probably saying to yourself, "Where is Ayesha?", but worry not. The one-year-old was safely at the C&M office building with Christian. The reason Annabelle was here to collect the children was because Christian had got caught up in some work, or that's what she told them anyway. 

Annabelle started the engine and set of at a normal speed. The car went down the road happily, spinning its tires round and round. Bailey sat up from his slumped position in panic as he realised that Annabelle wasn't going the correct way home. "Er, Aunt Anna, where are we going?" he asked wearily.
 "That's not my name."
 "Wha- WHO ARE YOU?! WHERE IS MY FATHER AND AYESHA?!" he shouted. The younger ones were able to tell that something wasn't right, and they started to cry. Tatum, specifically, burying her head in Bailey's shoulder, to which he wrapped an arm around her. 
 "My name isn't important." the woman said, menacingly, smirking at Bailey through the rear view mirror. She locked the doors so no one could leave. The only things the children could do were screaming and crying. Bailey, being the eldest child there, knew he needed to find a way to escape from the car. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. 

Delilah put her treasured son in his car seat. She noticed that Annabelle was pulling away from the school in her car, so she waved at her. The poor woman let the fact that the car went in the wrong direction fly over her head for a second, before she shot her head up in alarm. "Oh shit." 

The car pulled up at a run down office building and Bailey recognised it immediately. It was the same office building that his grandmother was killed in. It was pitch black outside, not a single star was shining, not a single ounce of hope. It was then that the woman opened the car door at Bailey's side. She grabbed his arm, shutting and locking the door once she had pulled him out of the car. Bailey started to claw at her hand, trying to get her off of him; he tried to run away; he tried to punch her, but it was no use. She was surprisingly strong. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?!" Bailey shouted.
 "I don't want anything from you! You're children, you wouldn't have anything valuable," she began, still dragging Bailey A long with her. They were now located inside the ancient building. "But your father does~"
 "Oh yeah? What?"
 "Annabelle."

 "What do you mean?" Bailey asked. She let go of Bailey's arm once they were in the same room that him and his friends had been in once they escaped the circus. She pushed Bailey onto the floor and against a wall, where she put his hands in shackles. Whilst she was doing this, he noticed she had the number thirteen tattooed onto her wrist.
 "She made a deal with me a very long time ago, but she broke it. She broke my trust, and what better way to get back at her than to put her family and friends in danger?" the woman answered. Bailey looked around, only to discover that his father and Ayesha were in the same situation that he was, but they each had a headset wedged on their heads. 

Bailey gulped as the woman was handed a small child, of around four years. He was sleeping in her arms and she brought him over next to Bailey, putting the child in the same situation. The child just happened to be Garret. 

The woman brought over two headsets, putting the first one one on Garret's head rather aggressively. The woman then turned to Bailey, the other headset in hand and started to stuff it on to his head.
 "Safe travels~"

A few hours had passed. Skylar and Delilah had gone to Martha and Christian's house so Delilah could tell them what she saw. Obviously, they had brought their son with them. Annabelle was crying in Mike's arms, completely panic ridden, as he tried to comfort her by rubbing and patting her back, but it wasn't much help. Martha was worried. Martha was very worried. Where was her son? Where was her husband? Where was her step-son? Where were her best friend's children? It had been a very, very long time. School finished for them at three PM, so why were they not home? It was eight PM currently! Her mind flooded with some not so colourful thoughts. It was as if a nightmare she had never had had come true. Before Martha's thoughts could get any worse, the house phone began to ring.

Everyone turned to look at it, except Annabelle, who was still crying into her husband's chest. Martha reluctantly went and answered it. "Hello?" she asked politely.
 "Hello, Pomni." the voice on the other end of the phone said, making Martha gulp. "My name is Ciara, and I have your husband, and your children. Not just your children, Ragatha and Gangle's too! By the way, tell Ragatha that I called for me! It's been a while since I've seen her!"
 "Delilah, go get Garret. NOW!" Martha demanded in alarm, to which Delilah complied, but once she reached where her son should be sleeping peacefully, she let out a very loud scream as she stared at the empty space. Skylar ran up the stairs after their wife. 
 "Oh, there's no need for that. As I said, he's with me! You have two options. You can either bring Annabelle to me so we can talk like adults and you can have your family back, or you can save your children and your husband from the circus. The headsets are at your office~"
 "What do you mean...?" Martha babbled. 
 "I think you know what I mean. You've got forty-eight hours. B-Bye~"

Martha slammed down the telephone and turned to Annabelle, glaring daggers at her. "Who is Ciara, and what do they want with the children?"