Missing

Andy found it daunting that no one could find the bus. How could something as distinctive as a large bus with the name of his band printed across the side be overlooked? If it were on any major road, surely it would have been spotted by now. His phone continued to ring with calls and chime with texts non stop. He knew he shouldn't answer them while he was driving but he felt obligated to take each and every one of the calls, out of hope that it would be good news. It was mostly his band mates just calling to see if he found the bus yet.
He would have to snap at them to stop calling him unless they had good news because they were wasting his phone battery and he didn't have a car charger with him. He was a good ten miles away from the venue, when he noticed there were a lot of backstreets with no streetlights. He decided to steer clear of them. There was no way the tour bus could drive through those little dirt streets.

He didn't have any idea where he was going but he just kept driving. The further away from the little town he got the more sparse cars became. He had to think realistically. The bus couldn't have gotten that far unless it was speeding. Even then, a bus as big as that couldn't go very fast without tipping over. The thought made Andy grip the steering wheel tighter. He hoped something like that didn't happen. Not with his kids on the bus.

Andy was racking his brain as he drove, trying to figure out exactly what the hell had happened. Why was there no security by the bus? Regardless, the tour bus door was always locked. Especially since his babies were on it. How did someone manage to break in to it? Why didn't the bus driver call for security? Why would that murderer even steal the bus? Did the deranged killer know Andy's kids were on it? Andy assumed the person who killed his tour bus driver was a man. There was no way a woman could have been responsible for such a gruesome crime.

There was a queasy feeling spreading in Andy's stomach. He hadn't eaten anything all night but he was feeling nauseous. All he could think about were his kids. Where were they? Where they ok? Did the killer hurt them? He had to find them. They had to be alive. Andy's knuckles were turning white as he clutched the steering wheel tighter and tighter, digging his fingernails into the material. Please, let them be alive.

Andy hadn't seen another car for a few miles, when he realized he was about to run straight into some woods. He made a left turn, and found himself driving along a dark road with no lights. He didn't like this road, it was surrounded on both sides by thick, eerie woods. His headlights weren't enough to light up the road efficiently and Andy feared running into a wild animal in the road. He didn't want to wreck the car. He was about to turn around and go back the other way when he caught a glimpse of light shining through the woods, up ahead around a corner where the dark road turned.

Andy continued creeping down the road until he turned the corner and saw where the light was coming from. At first he thought it was a black mobile home stopped in the middle of the road with it's headlights shinning across to the woods. As he drove closer, he realized it was a large bus. He slammed on the breaks when he finally saw the familiar writing on the side of the bus. Black Veil Brides. He found it. He found his tour bus!

He threw the car in park and quickly jumped out, running toward the bus. It was quiet when he got to it. The engine was still running but he couldn't hear anybody inside. There was blood on the door. Heart pounding, Andy tried to open the door but it was locked. Without really thinking for his own safety, he began to bang on the door. "HELLO?! IS THERE ANYBODY IN THERE! OPEN THE DOOR!" There wasn't any response and Andy couldn't hear any movement within. "ARLO? ANDRA!? HELLO?!" He started calling for his kids.

Frustrated now, Andy sprinted around the bus looking for any open windows. They were all closed with the curtains drawn shut. He needed help. He was looking around the road for a rock or something to throw through the front windshield of the bus so he could climb inside, when his phone started making a dying chime sound. Fuck! He forgot his phone was dying. He pulled it out to look at. 3% battery. If he could make it into the bus he could charge his phone and call the police and his wife to let them know he found the bus...and hopefully his kids inside.

Andy was still looking for a rock when his phone started chiming faster. Scared of his phone going dead and him having no way to contact the outside world, he quickly called Juliet. She picked up, crying. As much as he wanted to console her, he knew his time was limited. He wanted to let her know that he found the bus and his phone was dying and he needed the police to come out and help him break open the bus door. Unfortunately, all he got out was, "- I found the bus." before his phone died. He cursed loudly, throwing his phone to the ground.

He found a rock near the clearing of the woods and he threw it as hard as he could against the windshield. It just cracked. He had to throw it two more times before the glass actually shattered and the windshield broke open. He climbed up on top of the bus, its hot engine scolding him, and accidentally cut his hands on the glass as he crawled into the bus. he didn't care, he just wanted to find his kids.

The first thing Andy noticed was the blood all over the bus driver's seat and the floor leading to the door. Terrified now, he rushed through the bus to the back room where he knew his daughter's bassinet was. His heart sank when he saw that it was empty. "No, no, no, please no.." Andy cried as he checked under the bassinet and began desperately looking around the room for his daughter.

All he found was a discarded bra and a woman's Black Veil Brides t-shirt that he didn't recognize. It took him a minute to realize they must belong to the killer. A woman. The one who murdered his tour bus driver and stole his bus was a female. Andy began to sweat. She must have been wearing the Black Veil Bride's t-shirt and decided to change her clothes. Was she an angry, disgruntled fan of his band? Had they done something to upset her, so she took her anger out on the bus driver?

Maybe she didn't realize his kids were on the bus. Then again, maybe she knew and she decided to kidnap them on purpose. A sincere 'fuck you' to him and his band. If she really wanted to abduct his kids, why would she leave her clothes here? Maybe she wanted him to find them. Andy stumbled out of the back room, still calling for his kids, as he checked each of the tour bunks. He was in tears by the time he finally decided to check the bathroom and realized the bus truly was empty. All this time he had been looking for the bus and it was just a dead end. His kids weren't on the bus.

Andy unlocked the tour bus door and was searching the ground for his phone, when a new set of headlights blinded him. He heard the new car slam on its breaks and the sight of his bandmates, Jake and Jinxx , jumping out didn't do much to lift his spirits. "Holy shit, Andy! You found the bus!" Jinxx said. Andy wondered how they knew where he was. They looked relieved until they saw the tears on Andy's face. "Are they ok?" Jake asked referring to Andy's kids. Jinxx started to climb onto the bus but Andy just growled, angrily wiping away his tears. "They're not here! They're not on the fucking bus!" He snapped. "What do you mean?" Jake asked in disbelief.

Neither one of them quite believed him, as they both climbed on the bus to do their own investigation as if Andy could have simply overlooked his own kids. Jinxx came out first talking on his phone to what sounded like the police. He was giving a general description of what road they were standing on. When Jake came out, he grabbed Andy's shoulder, "I know where they went." He said seriously. "What? Where?" Andy asked quickly thinking maybe he had overlooked something on the bus. Jake pointed toward the woods in front of them. "Where the light is pointing. They must have gone that way." He concluded. "..Why?" Andy was confused.

"I don't know. Maybe the guy figured everyone would be looking for the bus by now. He left it here, but must have taken the kids as ransom or something." Jake guessed. "She." Andy said staring off into the woods. "Huh?" Jake asked. "She." Andy repeated again. "The girl who killed the driver. It's a girl." Andy said. "Bullshit. There's no way a girl could have dumped the guy's body like that." " A disgruntled fan." Andy replied. "How do you know this?" Jake wondered. "In the room, there was a girl's merch shirt and a bra." Andy responded.

Jinxx joined them, "The cops are on their way out here." He told them. He noticed them staring out into the woods. "What? Do you think the kids are out there?" he asked Andy and Jake. They both nodded. "Should we...should we wait for the cops or -" Andy brushed Jinxx's suggestion of procrastination aside, "You wait here for the cops. Tell them they need to look for a female killer." Andy said.

"A female? Are you crazy? there's no way a girl could have -" A thought clicked in Andy's head. He turned to Jinxx inpatient, 'Well maybe there's more than one of them! Maybe the girl played get a way driver and her fucked up partner killed the driver! Either way I know there was a girl on that bus! The cops were only looking for lone guys on the security footage from inside the venue! There weren't any lone guys that left the venue between the time Juliet came in through the back door and the time she left. Nobody was looking for a girl, though!"

"- Or partners." Jake added. "Well we don't really know that considering the outside cameras don't even work." Jinxx reminded them. It was true. A very inconvenient truth that only the inside venue cameras worked. Between that and the strange twitter threats just before it happened, Andy was convinced it had to be some sort of inside job. He didn't want to come off as a nut though, and he had more important things to worry about than whether or not everything had been an elaborate set up. All he wanted to do now was find his kids, he could worry about the set up later.

"Let's go." Andy said to Jake. "Into the woods?" Jake asked. "Into the woods." Andy repeated.

Notes