Kevin and his mom did the same to stretch out their legs. As soon as Kevin swung open the door and stepped out of the car he was overcome with lightheadedness. The distinct almond smell from before had swiftly come back, but this time much stronger. It filled his nostrils and made him dizzy. He leaned on the car for support. He felt himself losing control of his limbs. His vision doubled, blurring to one gray mass. Kevin closed his eyes and told himself to focus, in an attempt to regain his bearings, but it didn’t help.

Joanna saw that her son was having trouble standing up and hurried over. “What’s wrong honey?” she asked worriedly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Kevin tried to answer but his voice wouldn’t come. He put his hand to his throat. It felt like his neck was constricting and his breaths were coming short. He was suffocating.

He looked to his mom in a panic. For a second, Joanna’s countenance matched the panic Kevin felt before her face suddenly went blank. Her brows no longer furrowed in concern, she was gazing off into the distance, looking past Kevin. Her eyes were almost glossed over.

“M-Mom?” Kevin managed to rasp out painfully, still clutching his throat. Seconds after he spoke the ground seemed to open up underneath him and he fell. Joanna’s gaze was undisturbed by his sudden collapse and she stayed frozen, not bending down to help her son. Shakily, Kevin steadied himself up, turning away from his paralyzed mother in search of Robert.

Robert, however, was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t by the pump, and looking around Kevin saw he wasn’t anywhere else in the gas station. All Kevin could see was the gray sky with the barren charcoal horizon. He looked back to his mother to see her still frozen, her eyes still fixed on a distant point behind Kevin’s head.

Kevin, still struggling to breath, leaned forward and grabbed his mother’s shoulders. “Mom? Mom! What’s wrong? What are you looking at?” His voice rose in panic when she didn’t respond. He shook her fiercely but she still didn’t stir, nor did she even look at him.

At that moment a menacing laugh suddenly pierced Kevin’s ears and he started. He looked behind him frantically but saw no one. He turned back around to his mother and still saw no one.

The laughter continued, high-pitched and screeching. Where was it coming from? There was nobody else at the gas station besides Kevin and his mother, yet the sound seemed to be coming from all around them. It echoed in the distance and soon enough Kevin could also hear rapid shuffling and distant chatter.

Kevin sweated profusely and licked his dry lips anxiously. He could feel the blood pound in his ears and a pit of anxiety form in the bottom of his stomach. He was scared out of his mind; the laughter was growing more intense, his stepdad was missing, and his mom was frozen like a statue. All the while the acrid almond scent traveled up his sinuses, planting painful, throbbing roots deep within his brain. What in the world was happening?

Out of the corner of his eye Kevin saw a flutter of movement. He was about to turn to look when he felt himself being lifted off his feet and torn away from his mother. He quickly realized an unknown person was holding him up and he shouted in protest.

“Let go of me!” he screamed, kicking at the air. He fruitlessly struggled to get out of his assailant's grasp. Kevin couldn’t see the attacker’s face, but he could see the hand that was fast approaching his face to obscure his vision.