Little Fears RPG - Nightmare Edition - Among the Missing

“Sure, I remember him. Used to hang out with that kid with the crutches and that other one, that girl with the big glasses. “We weren’t friends or anything. We just lived on the same street. He was alright, I guess. His friends bugged me but he was okay. “I know what the cops said happened, what the parents said happened, but I dunno. I saw him playing outside the day before. He seemed happy enough. I heard he left some kinda note or something so I guess it’s possible. “He just didn’t seem like the kinda kid who’d run away.”

- Preston Langley, age 12

Book 2: AMONG THE MISSING a guide to the lost and forgotten for use with Little Fears Nightmare Edition Written & Conceived by Jason L Blair Top 3 System Designed by Jason L Blair & Caz Granberg Edited by Matt M. McElroy Published by FunSizedGames

Cover illustration by Veronica V. Jones Interior illustrations by George Cotronis Grumbleputty Veronica Jones Jeff Preston Layout & Graphics by Jason L Blair

Real lives are not a game. Amber Alert www.amberalert.gov National Center for Missing & Exploited Children www.missingkids.com

All text copyright 2011 Jason L Blair. All rights reserved. Interior illustrations are copyright their respective artists. Used with permission. Little Fears, Little Fears Nightmare Edition, Top 3 System, and “This Game Uses the Top 3 System” are trademarks of Jason L Blair dba FunSizedGames. www.littlefears.com

www.funsizedgames.com

among the missing

Table of Contents Introduction: Gone, Just Like That

9

Chapter One: Against Their Wills (The Abducted)

15

What This Supplement Is What You Will Find in this Book Final Note About this Book

10 11 13

Part One: How it Happens

16

Part Two: Why it Happens

18

Part Three: What Happens Next

19

Part Four: Sample Abducted

21

By Convincing By Using Other Kids By Force Without the Kid Knowing

Parental Justification Replacement Family Indoctrination More Nefarious Reasons

Swallowed by Shadows Escape into Nothing Agent of Monsters Change of Heart

16 17 17 17 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 20

Chapter Two: By Inhuman Hands (The Stolen)


26


27


29

Part Four: Sample Stolen

31

Being Overpowered Being Ambushed Falling for a Lie Falling into a Trap

To Feed For Sport For Labor For Companionship

The Child Escapes The Child Meets Another Monster The Child is Let Go

26 27 27 27 27 28 28 28 29 30 30

25

Chapter Three: On Their Own (The Runaways)


37


37


39


41

Into the Night Amongst the Crowd Takes Off

Jealousy Inadequacy Feelings of Guilt To Get Away from Abuse Get to an Other Family Independence

Lost on the Road No Destination in Mind Not All It’s Cracked up to Be Found a “Friend”

37 37 37 38 38 39 39 39 39 39 40 40 40

Chapter Four: No Longer Wanted (The Abandoned)


47


48


49


51

Left on a Doorstep Left on the Side of the Road Left with a Friend

Home Economics Fear of Abuse Mental Illness Addiction Behavioral Issues

New Family Become a Runaway Become Forgotten


Quick, Like a Bandage Fading Memory

45

47 47 47 48 48 48 49 49 50 50 50

Chapter Five: Through The Cracks (The Forgotten)

35

57 57 57

55

Vanishing Act Time Jump

Because There is no Love Chemical Eraser Side Effect of Grief It’s What Monsters Do Act of Mercy Cover up a Crime

Find a Friend Cling to the Fragments Go to the Authorities Start a New Life

58 58


58


60


62

58 58 59 60 60 60 60 60 61 61

“I came home and they wouldn’t let me in.” “I couldn’t remember how to get home.” “All of a sudden, I was in an empty parking lot.”

Chapter Six: One of the Missing

Missing Child as Character

66

Part One: Missing PCs

66

Part Two: Being the Missing

70

Part Three: Missing GMCs

71

Choose the Type of Missing This is Me Abilities and Traits Virtues Qualities Stuff Questionnaire for All for the Abducted and Stolen for the Runaway for the Abandoned and Forgotten

He’s a Survivor Trust Comes Hard He is Now “One of Those Kids” He is Hiding Something

Introducing a Missing GMC How They Help How They Hinder The Threats They Present

66 66 67 67 67 68 68 69 70 70 70 70 71 71 71 71 71 72

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What Can Be Done Save the Kid Protect the Kid Missing as Bad Guys Bad Seed Unwelcome Reminder

Part Four: Expanded GMCs

72 72 72 73 73 73

73

GMC Type Making an Expanded GMC Expanded GMC Rules

73 74 76

Community Centers Church A Friend’s House

Getting into the In-Between The Halfway House The Crack in the Grass Where Monsters Come Through Living in the In-Between Aging in the In-Between Other In-Between Kids Getting Out of the In-Between How Kids Get Stuck

The Big Domino The Ash Pile

85 85

The Nowhere Hopscotch Hallway The Old Wintergarden

87 88 89

Part One: People You Can Trust

92

Part Two: People in the Between

95

Chapter Seven: The World Around You

Part One: The Real World

78

Part Two: The World Between

79

77

78 78 78 79 80 81 82 83 83 83 84 85

Part Three: Hiding Places

85

Part Four: Places to Avoid

87

Chapter Eight: The People You Know

91

Karen Finney Edgar and Alexis Krohl Walter Highways

Helper Mabel Mae Belle

92 92 93 95 96

Part Three: Light Amidst Dark

98

The Dogmother Stephanie Nolastname

98 99

The Cat Madam Switchswatch

100 102

Smelly Belly Stranger Danger The Ghost Car Sewer Thing

102 104 104 105

Intro The Scenes Episode GMCs The Monsters

110 112 121 122

Part Four: Real Bad People

100

Part Five: Missing Monsters

102

Chapter Nine: The Long Way Home

109

He Left a Note Play Sheets

Expanded GMC Sheet Missing Character Sheet New Questionnaires

125 126 127

124 125

introduction: gone, just like that

introduction

n entire street full of cars. The sounds of late autumn fill the air. A Beyond, 5 o’clock traffic races down the interstate. First shifters coming home. The late retail crowd heading in. But here, there is no traffic, no rush of cars against the wind. Here, each

one parked outside a brick-faced residence, they are still. They are empty. Except for one. Down the street, at the basketball court, a group of kids play Horse in that manner children do. Each calls an impossible shot and fails to pull it off. Bobby’s on H. He sank a three pointer. He calls it skill but everyone knows it was a lucky shot. Anton’s been trying to dunk all day. At 4’8”, he’s a bit shy of the rim. In the not-empty car, a shadow turns the ignition. It’s a quiet car. The perfect kind. It’s non-descript: Four doors, bluish-grey. Or was it brown? It’s hard to say. Y’know, it might be a hatchback. Or a sedan. Mick tells Anton to stop messing around and take the shot already. Willie sits on the paintline, book in hand. He’s tired of sports. Anton tells everyone to chill. It’s happening. He can feel it. Bobby gloats about his H. Calls himself the King of Park Street. Mick tells him to stuff it. “Besides,” the boy says, “you live on Vine.” “ Yeah, but the court’s on Park and that’s what matters.” The car pulls out of its spot. It rolls slowly around the bend, toward the basketball court. Just past the court is a church. Small, white, wooden cross on top. Black sign in the front with the hours of Sunday’s service. Anton rushes, jumps, and lets loose the ball. It spins around the rim before teetering in. “Dunk!” Anton shakes his butt at the other kids. “Kiss it! Kiss it! Kiss the dunk master’s butt!” he says. “So not a dunk,” Mick says, chasing the ball. Anton says it was so. Says he’ll do it again. Mick scoops up the ball. No way Anton’s getting it again. Mick offers it to Willie but the boy says he’s not playing anymore. He passes to Bobby but the place the older boy once stood is now empty. All three look around, but no one can see him. No one knows where Bobby went. “He probably went home”, Anton says. Mick spins in place, scanning the area. “That’d be kinda fast. How’d he skip out without us seeing?” “Maybe he cut across the church.” “ Yeah, maybe.” Probably. Best way to Vine Street. Anton shrugs, tells Mick to throw it to him. They have three hours before the streetlights come on and today’s the day he’s gonna prove he’s the dunk champion.

What this Supplement Is

In Little Fears Nightmare Edition, we tell stories of children who are heroes. Children who fight back against the monsters, who conquer evil, and who saves lives—their own and others. Most of these children lead otherwise uneventful lives. They live in safe environments, with trustworthy people, have good friends, normal lives, homework every night, and an early bedtime every school night. But there are other children, other heroes. Ones who fight first against the situations of their lives and then, or sometimes at the same time, the world of monsters. These characters come from different backgrounds, have different families, and lead different

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gone, just like that lives than each other. But they all have one thing in common: They are all missing children. There are five ways that a child becomes missing. They are either abducted (meaning they are taken by another human), they are stolen by a monster, they run away (causing themselves to become missing), they are abandoned by their families, or they are forgotten by the real world. Each type has its own story, its own underlying cause, and its own resolution. But they are all children who became separated from how the real world is supposed to work, and who became susceptible to Closetland’s machinations because of it. In the real world, a lot of kids reported to be missing are eventually found. Some simply took a wrong turn and couldn’t find their way home. Others went to friend’s houses without telling their parents. There are those who were kidnapped but eventually returned thanks to the concerted efforts of communities, police, and federal agencies. Of course, not all real missing kids are found. And, if they are, sometimes years or decades pass before that happens. This supplement deals with those kids who have yet to be found. They are no longer captives but they are not free. Somewhere along the path, possibly at the start, possibly just yesterday, they found themselves in the realm of monsters and they couldn’t get out. Each child wishes for escape, even if he doesn’t wish to go back home. When a child goes missing, when he’s severed from the safety of family, he is left open to being absorbed by Closetland. It’s possible for a child to simply sink into a strange bed and disappear from the real world. Some monsters prey exclusively on the missing, those who have lost contact with the people whose presence would otherwise deter the beasts. These monsters swallow the children in their giant empty mouths like ravenous doorways to a twisted wonderland. Others lead them down dangerous paths, into a cool white light, promising salvation, promising home, but delivering something far darker. Some of these children are in Closetland proper, running through its grey hallways and twisted corridors. They pull on door handles, desperate to escape, but every door leads to a hundred more. Some children exist in our world but cannot be seen by adults. They are trapped in the in-between. These children didn’t just go missing, the world forgot them. There are numerous children who are missing—far, far too many—and in this book we’ll talk about them. How it happened, why it happened, and how your characters can save them.

What You Will Find in this Book

Book 2: Among the Missing is designed for both players and game moderators and is written to inspire heroic and horrifying tales about salvation, redemption, and reconnection. The theme of family, blood and otherwise, runs strong in these pages and is something we will explore in numerous points throughout.

The Chapters

This book is divided into eight chapters including this introduction. The first five chapters detail a specific type of missing child, including how it happens and what happens next. The next two chapters talk about the world around a missing child as well as the people, and the final one is a complete standalone episode that puts this book into practice at the gaming table. The chapters are:

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introduction Introduction: Gone, Just Like That

This is what you’re currently reading. It discusses the scope of this book and briefly covers its contents.

Chapter One: Against their Will (The Abducted)

This chapter covers the Abducted, those kids who were taken by people.

Chapter Two: By Inhuman Hands (The Stolen)

This chapter talks about the Stolen, kids who were snatched away by monsters.

Chapter Three: On Their Own (The Runaways)

This chapter details the Runaways, the kids who left of their own accord.

Chapter Four: No Longer Wanted (The Abandoned)

This chapter is all about the Abandoned, who are kids left by their families.

Chapter Five: Like They Never Existed (The Forgotten)

This chapter focuses on the Forgotten, those kids who slipped through the cracks between Closetland and the real world.

Chapter Six: One of the Missing

This chapter goes over rules particular to missing kids and includes new rules for making GMCs who are a bit more important than your standard minor characters.

Chapter Seven: The World Around You

This chapter talks about the places a missing child can be safe and those places that are especially hostile to him.

Is This Appropriate?

The subject of this supplement is not something to be taken lightly. In those areas where I have put the concept of missing children in a fantastic setting, it is to put these situations in a context appropriate to the game. This isn’t done to trivialize what happens in the real world but give players the tools to explore these issues and themes in hopes of better understanding them from the victim’s perspective. Dramatically, a child who is missing—whatever the cause—can be a fascinating player or non-player character. He would have experiences and exist under circumstances the other characters probably wouldn’t understand otherwise. And a group of missing kids who have built a network to help save themselves and others are heroes of the highest regard. Also, you’ll see that the more nefarious aspects of missing children, what every parent dreads to her very core, are not detailed in this book. They are referenced, for the sake of completeness, but I strongly discourage it from being part of a player character’s backstory and suggest it should only be used as the history of a non-player character with utmost regard and caution. My advice to players, with respect to characters who are missing children, is that it is scarier to not say and more dreadful to not know.

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gone, just like that Chapter Eight: The People You Know

This chapter is all about the people, both friendly and not, who can be important to missing kids. They might be someone to seek out in times of trouble, or a reason to avoid a particularly dark alley.

Chapter Nine: The Long Way Home

This is a complete episode for use in an existing series or as a one-off episode. In it, the player characters will help a missing kid find his way back to where he belongs.

Final Note About This Book

The world presented in this book is highly fictionalized. Even though some very real situations are referenced, detailed, or used as inspiration for some of the material within this book, everything in here is fiction. I have kit-bashed, altered, repurposed, and flatly made-up things in order to create a world where children fight back against the creatures of Closetland and one where missing kids play a particular role in that fight. For the player and game moderator: Creating and portraying a missing child can be a sensitive subject for some players and groups should use common sense when doing so. I urge groups to discuss the impact including such a character might have on the group and to treat these types with respect. While we may be talking about fictional characters here, there are real missing children in the world and their struggles and stories should not be trivialized. Now, without further ado or disclaimer, open the door and step into a new world. A frightening world of desperation and isolation. The world of the missing.

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no!

Chapter ONe: against their wills (the abducted)

chapter one n the far sidewalk, something shiny catches Bobby’s eye. Ignoring his friends, the boy skips O across to see what it is. He checks traffic before hoofing as fast as he can. Someone’s left some money on the sidewalk. A big stack of coins.

“Sweet,” Bobby says, shoving the change into the pockets of his shorts. He turns to head back and almost slams into a car that’s parked between him and the basketball court. Bobby squints his eyes, trying to see into the darkness of the car. It smells like pine. He hears someone clear his throat from inside the car. “Say,” the voice is kind, familiar. “Are you the Stinson boy?” Bobby leans forward a bit. He can make out a few sharp features but nothing much. “ Yeah,” he nods, unsure. “Name’s Adam. I’m a friend of your mom’s. She ever mention me?” Bobby thinks for a second. He shakes his head. “Oh, well, she talks about you all the time. Say, I’ve come to visit her. I know she lives here somewhere. Any chance you can show me?” Bobby starts to give directions but the voice inside stops him. “I appreciate that, but I’m horrible with directions. I get all turned around. Worst sense of direction in the world, my wife tells me. Say, if it’s close, why don’t you come in here and show me?” Bobby shuffles his feet, considering. “Tell ya what, I’ll give you five bucks for your trouble.” Bobby can’t stop from smiling. He touches the car handle. He pauses a second before opening. “Okay,” Bobby says, climbing inside. The door lock clicks shut next to him. The man puts the car in gear and gently steps on the gas. “I sure do appreciate it,” the man says, ruffling Bobby’s hair. “Sure do appreciate it.”

The Abducted

An abducted character is a child who has been taken by another person. It could be a family member, a family friend, a parent or relative of a kid the child knows, a neighbor, or a complete stranger. The key element here is that the child was taken by a human. While this is almost always an adult, it’s not unheard of for that adult to use another child as a lure. That child may be the offspring of the kidnapper or another of his victims.


There are many ways a child can be abducted. Some kidnappers use force, some use sob stories, some use the promise of treats or threats to lure their victims. All prey upon a children’s naiveté, natural inclination to help, or deep-rooted fears.

By Convincing

Convincing is a non-violent, non-physical means of abduction. This is where someone gets the child to come with them by posing as a friend of the family, someone who needs help, or through the offering of a treat or reward. This is a con job, playing on the child’s trust or fear to get him to come along. The person usually establishes himself as a kind person, someone the kid can trust, and then tells some concocted plea in order to exploit that trust. There are a million stories and the more the person knows the child, the easier it will be to convince him.

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against their wills (the abducted) The person may say his puppy ran away and he could use help finding it. He may claim he is new to the area and just needs help finding the library. He may say he’s a family friend, or a parent’s coworker, who was asked to pick up the child after school. He may say he’s going to hurt the kid’s mommy or daddy if she doesn’t get in the car right now. The person may be a neighbor or family member, someone the child knows, who is using that familiarity against the child to convince him to get in the car.

By Using Other Kids

This is a form of manipulation where the kidnapper uses another child to lure the victim. Children have a built-in empathy for other kids. While parents may warn their kids about creepy men in vans and to never take candy from strangers, they rarely discuss the dangers of following other kids. After all, learning to trust and engage with other children is a natural part of the socialization process. Kids connect with kids all the time—in the classroom, on the playground, at the kids gym, or the play area at the mall. It’s so natural and unassuming that parents rarely think to caution.

By Force

When a child is abducted by force, he is overpowered and physically moved to a car, a van, or wherever the kidnapper wants him. This is usually some mode of transport though if it’s in a mall or possibly a very large house, the kidnapper could try to disappear into the crowd or stow the child away in a cupboard, room, or attic until the place clears out. Children can be amazingly strong, able to kick, punch, and bite with the ferocity and abandon of a wild thing, but that’s often not enough to stop a healthy and determined kidnapper. There’s rarely any subtlety in abduction by force. One moment the kid is playing on the swings and the next he has a hand over his mouth and an arm around his waste. He squirms and claws but to no avail. He’s pushed, headfirst into a trunk or the backseat of a car. Maybe he’s bound, with handcuffs, silver tape, or coarse rope, and a bag’s put over his head. It’s not subtle, it’s not to be romanticized; it’s vicious and traumatic.

Without the Kid Knowing

There are a few ways a child can be abducted without knowing that’s what happening. He may have been drugged, sleeping, or going about his everyday routine when his life is suddenly, drastically changed. The first two are fairly self-explanatory but let’s talk about the latter. Sometimes kids are taken by those they trust implicitly. We’re talking a father, mother, or really close family friend. Maybe the father always picks the kid up from school. But this one time, the mother does. The kid rolls with it. It’s unusual but it’s his mom. But then they don’t go home. Instead, they just drive. Day turns to night, they eat a quick meal at a fast food joint on the interstate. When the kid asks where they’re going, she says they’re visiting her sister for the weekend. Or maybe a relative is sick. Or mommy has to see a man about a new job. But that’s not what’s happening. The kid may not understand it, but he’s just been abducted. Maybe the mom was about to lose parental rights due to a parole violation or because the child’s dad has filed a court order because she’s facing a pending drug charge. Maybe the lady from Social Services was performing a follow-up visitation that

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chapter one afternoon and the mom knew she’d fail the interview. Often in these situations, there is an underlying cause to which the child is oblivious. All they know is that they’re with a parent. And parents can always be trusted, right?


There are a lot of reasons people abduct children. Before anyone thinks the descriptions below excuse such behavior, let me state upfront that abduction is a horrible and inhuman act. For our purposes, we are exploring the reasons behind abduction as potential backstory for an abducted character. When portraying a character it is important to know the history that informs his behavior, the actions he’ll take, and reactions he’ll have to events in a story.

Parental Justification

A biological or adoptive parent who feels slighted by his spouse or the legal system will often take “his kid” because he feels justified in doing so. Maybe he feels a biased judge has unfairly taken away his visitation rights following a messy divorce. Or maybe he feels his spouse is going to leave him and try to prevent him from seeing his kid. There are a lot of situations that can make a parent desperate enough to do anything in order to protect his claim to a child. After all, it’s his kid and no judge or ex-wife is going to keep him from seeing his own flesh and blood. Sometimes the parent has lost visitation rights entirely. This is almost exclusively because the judge has been convinced the parent poses a physical or emotional threat to the child. Restricted visitation rights might be for those reasons or because the judge doesn’t feel the parent can provide a safe home environment for the child, which may stem from where the parent is currently living or the people with whom the parent associates. No matter what the parent convinces himself of, the flaw here is that there is often a good reason the supposedly slighted parent has lost or has restricted visitation rights. Now, whether the parent has been painted in an unfair light is a debate far beyond the scope of this supplement but the important thing to know is that the parent feels as though he is justified in his actions and that their taking the child rights an imbalance. Still, a parent who thinks the correct course of action is to abduct his child isn’t making a good argument for himself. For an abducted character, who has become separated from a parent by abduction, life is extremely complicated. He can lose the ability to discern his place in a family or even to define what “family” means. He will often get skewed details about the other parent, often with a demonizing retelling of events the child witnessed or that are being used to justify to the child what the abductor has done. A parent desperate enough to kidnap his own child often feels a compulsion to get the child on his side.

Replacement Family

Some folks abduct children to right a “greater wrong” they feel has befallen them. Some people, denied their own offspring by God or nature or accident, feel the world owes them a child. The root can be that the kidnappers are unable to conceive or they had a child who died or ran away. Or they feel that another child is being treated wrongly by

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against their wills (the abducted) his biological family and that they would provide a better home for the him. In that case, they are convinced they are serving the greater good. These people are seeking a replacement family. Either they are seeking a child for themselves or feel they are serving as better parents for the child. Folks who are seeking this try to provide as normal a home life as they can for their abducted child. After all, to them, they’re doing a good deed or correcting a cosmic injustice. They may become quick to anger if the child doesn’t take to the environment they provide or sees them as flawed or guilty of a crime. In their eyes, they are just and it is the child—and the world—that must see the light.

Indoctrination

Sometimes parents or relatives hold beliefs on the very fringe of accepted culture. They may revere a mortal man as a great spiritual leader who is building a flock for a greater purpose or believe beings from beyond the stars are coming to collect the chosen people of Earth in their great mothership. It may be that other members of the family disagree with those beliefs and feel any children involved may be at risk for potentially harmful actions or beliefs. This would cause the faithful parent to disappear within the sect, usually under the protection of the religious council or leader, effectively sealing the child off from the rest of the world. If not parents, strangers who are members of a cult may be tasked by their priest to “recruit” new members. Young kids are far more susceptible to the necessary cult programming than most adults and make for perfect subjects.

More Nefarious Reasons

People abduct children for all sorts of awful reasons beyond what I’ve already discussed. We all know this and I won’t and needn’t get into those details. What I urge you to do is to stick to the reasons above—as backstory only—and not delve into the most evil of man’s motivations.


But being abducted is not where the story ends. Abducted characters, especially player characters, have little playability if they are still captured. Rescuing an abducted friend who is an NPC can make for a tense and terrifying episode but it just doesn’t work for a player character. So, it’s important to ask: Then what happened? When a child is abducted, Closetland has an opportunity that doesn’t happen otherwise. There has been a severing in the child’s life as he has been ripped from his homestead, his safe place, and had his life thrown into chaos. Closetland will capitalize on this, using its monsters and influence to claim the child as its own during an especially troubling part of his life. In particular, the Bogeyman is always looking to add a few more birds to his collection. Though he’s far from the only one.

Swallowed by Shadows

Once he has realize what happened, a kid may have such a hard time coping with it that their soul suffers. The kid becomes so depressed that he goes dark so quickly that the shadows literally swallow him up. The child wakes up in Closetland with no idea how he got there and no idea how to get back home. When he comes to, he is nearly despondent, his Spirit wavering between 2 and 0, almost completely disconnected from the world.

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chapter one Escape into Nothing

Let’s say the child manages to escape capture, hit the road, head home. But he discovers that he can’t find the way home. Even in a familiar environment, there seems to be an invisible wall that he can’t step past or a fuzz that clouds his head whenever he tries to remember his address or which way the interstate lies. He knows he needs to get somewhere but he can’t remember where that place is or how to get there. He doesn’t even know to find the police or some other adult; he just wanders, hoping someone who knows him will help.

Agent of Monsters

It’s possible the human being who kidnapped the child was working for the monsters. People who live extremely sheltered lives, who suffer from certain psychological conditions such as dissociative identity or schizophrenia, or who have severely compromised mental faculties are susceptible to manipulation from certain monsters. The abductor may or may not be aware of it. The monster could be a voice in the person’s head, could appear as the spirit of a controlling mother, or even a maniacal dog who only the kidnapper can understand hasn’t caught the smell of a wandering cat but is barking orders for him to follow. In these instances, it’s probable that the agent brought the kid into an area where Closetland and the real world overlap if he didn’t deliver the child directly to a monster or a monster’s room.

Change of Heart

The kidnapper may have had a change of heart at the last minute and left the child somewhere. Certainly, he couldn’t take the kid home nor could drop the child off at the police station, for fear of being caught for his crime. Instead, he drops the kid off in the middle of nowhere or pushes him out while drifting through a quiet neighborhood. This act, this senseless and needless separation mixed with the kid’s own boiling fear, weakens the membrane between Closetland and the real world, allowing just enough corrupted influence into our world that the kid slips through the cracks and into the world of monsters, the second skin folding over him and pulling him from the real world.

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against their wills (the abducted)

“My dad took me.”

He and my mom were fighting all the time. He was always coming home late and my mom was sick of it. She said that he had to choose between his family and something called a floozy. I’m not sure what that is but dad said that my mom can’t make him choose and that he’s the man, he’ll do what he wants. After that, my dad wasn’t allowed in the house anymore. He’d still come over and they’d yell at each other outside or through the door and my dad would beat on the door with his fists and call my mom all sorts of names. Mom said I wasn’t allowed to talk to him anymore and that she didn’t want me turning out like him. Then one day, on my way home from school, he showed up with this woman called Darlene and he said he and mom had made up and that she said I was going to live with him from now on. Dad said he had this great big house and a puppy and that we were going to live there and I’d love it. There’s no house that I’ve seen, just this dumpy apartment. Dad said the puppy must have run off while he and Darlene were getting me. I don’t really believe him but I pretend I do. Dad and Darlene fight about as much as him and mom did only now it’s because of money and how come Darlene doesn’t have a job and my dad being lazy. Dad says I’ll get to go to school once the new year starts but I don’t understand why I can’t go now. School just started like a month before he came and got me. I miss my mom. Dad says part of the deal is that my mom wants a new life and that she loves me but just can’t talk to me right now. I miss my friends too, especially Riley. He’s so funny. Dad didn’t even let me get my old stuff. I miss that too. Last night, I went to sleep like usual. I had these really bad dreams about big black birds and a guy with a weird laugh. When I woke up this morning, I was here—in this field—and all I see are trees. So many trees. I’ve tried to find my way out but, no matter which way I go, I always end up here. In this field.

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chapter one

“He said he worked with my mom.”

He knew my name and everything. I didn’t know him but he seemed okay. He said my mom got sick at work and that she asked him to pick me up. She wanted him to take care of me while she got better. He said he’d take me to the hospital but that kids weren’t allowed in since she was so sick. His car kinda smelled funny but not really bad, just weird. Kinda like my grampa’s house, especially his couch. We drove a long time, just me and him. He told me about his wife and said he had a daughter named Jane who was about my age. His house was kinda small but it had a yard. I don’t know how long I have to stay here but he said that my mom should get better any day now. He said she’ll call when she’s better and she can come pick me up. His wife is alright even though she keeps asking me to call her “mom” but I think her name’s really Debbie because that’s what Jane calls her. One time the man saw me talking to a boy from down the block. He got really angry at me. He told the boy that I was his nephew. I don’t why he said that. One day, I saw this cat and he kept looking at me. He had funny eyes, almost like people eyes. All this time the people in the house have told me not to go past the back fence but I did this time, chasing after that cat. I didn’t really like it there but I suppose it’s better than where I am now. I can’t see anything and everything smells like mud. Way worse than that guy’s car. I hope my mom gets better soon and comes to get me. I really don’t like it here.

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against their wills (the abducted)

“I woke up in the back seat of a car.”

It was dark, and a woman was singing along with some song on the radio. I tried to sit up my legs felt too heavy to move. I could speak but just barely. I remember asking what was going on. She said just to relax and we would be there shortly. When I asked where, she just turned up the radio. Her phone rang and she started yelling at the person on the other end. Something about my last name and how I was the wrong one. She kept saying my name, then she was screaming it, and she slammed on the brakes. So hard I almost fell off the seat. She looked back and asked me who my dad was. When I said his name, she got really angry. She threw the phone so hard, I think it broke. She turned the car around and we went down this really long road. We must have been far out in the country because we went like ten minutes between houses. I saw a lot of horses and smelled a lot of animal poop. She pulled over to the side of the road and asked me if I could sit up. I did okay—I could finally feel my feet—so she opened the door and told me to get out. I didn’t see any houses anywhere, except for one light really far down, like a porch light or something. I guess I didn’t do it quick enough because she grabbed my arm and pulled me out. She threw me to the dirt, almost as hard as she threw her phone, got back inside and took off. And that’s it. No words, nothing. So I took a guess and started walking. I’ve been walking ever since.

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help!

Chapter Two: by inhuman Hands (the stolen)

chapter TWO n the far sidewalk, something shiny catches Bobby’s eye. Ignoring his friends, the boy bustles O across the street to see what it is. From where he was, it looked like it was on the sidewalk but it’s really in the storm drain. Bobby positions himself as close to the drain as possible. It’s down but not too far. The grate is loose. Bobby manages to slide it open and get his hand through the opening. He can’t quite make out what it is but he’s almost got it. Bobby pushes through, enough so his entire arm is through the hole. Something sharp brushes against his fingertips. “Ow,” the boy says, flinching. He bites down to stifle a louder cry. He glances over at the guys who are arguing about a shot, oblivious. “Son!” A voice says from behind him. “Back away, son!” Bobby can’t turn around to see who’s talking. He ignores it. Maybe the guy is talking to someone else. Bobby inhales and wedges his shoulder into the hole. Now he’s got as much arm as he possibly can down the storm drain. “Son,” the voice again, louder. There’s a hand on Bobby’s shoulder, tugging at him. “Son, get away from it!” Something else clutches Bobby’s hand, the one inside the drain. It’s cold, wet, furry. Something snarls from underneath the sidewalk. Bobby tries to jerk his hand back but the thing holding on is strong, too strong. The boy twists his head back to see some guy in a green jacket pulling on his shoulder. “Hold on, son,” the man says, tugging with all his might. The snarl turns into a growl, or rather a bunch of growls, like a dozen cats attacking each other. Something bites into Bobby’s hand. The boy is about to scream when there’s a sharp tug. Bobby feels the rush of wind on his face, the scrape of concrete against his cheek, and hears a brief popping sound before he is surrounded by darkness. The man stands on the corner, his hands empty, staring into the grate. Another one. Gone. Just like what happened to the man’s brother so many years ago.

The Stolen

The second most common means by which a child becomes missing is for that child to be stolen. Any child who has been captured directly by a monster is a stolen child. If a monster takes a child after the child has been abducted by a human, the child is still considered—for our purposes—to have been abducted as the monster wasn’t what separated the kid from his family.


It’s not always as simple as a monster grabs a kid and runs off. That does happen, yes, but not all monsters are stronger than children. Kids are not just dolls laying on the floor; they have minds and wills of their own. If a monster’s incapable of overpowering a child, it will use other tools and tricks it has to capture a child.

Being Overpowered

This is the obvious one. Monster grabs kid, kid tries to get free, kid can’t, monster drags kid away to Closetland. This typically happens at night, while the kid is sleeping (and, perhaps most importantly, the parents and siblings are sleeping too). Big monsters, such as a typical Closet Monster, can grab up two, three kids at a time. Some monsters have

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by inhuman hands (the stolen) whip-like tails they wrap around children, others have muscular arms with grips like a vice, and there are monsters whose mouths are like bird cages, slamming shut on some slumbering child in the quiet of night.

Being Ambushed

Monsters who aren’t big, bad beasts may gang up to overpower a kid who is going at it alone or has become separated from his friends. They will lay in wait for some unsuspecting child to stumble past them before springing into action, using their combined weight, sheer number, and the confusion of their attacks to take the child down.

Falling for a Lie

Some monsters prefer subtler techniques. Perhaps the monster sees muscle and strength in numbers as crude, maybe even garish. These monsters rely on their charm and (sometimes actually) silver tongues to sweet talk or fast talk a child into following them, maybe the monster appears as a trusted friend, to convince a child to come with them, into a rundown house or a carnival that’s shut down for the night. The monster seeks to isolate the child and let the natural course of Closetland’s magic capture them rather than aggressively attempting to get the child.

Falling into a Trap

We’re talking physical traps here, not emotional or mental (as those would fall under the above header). A monster may use a trap to catch a child. These range from camouflaged holes in the ground that give way to deep pits, to metal cages whose lures draw in children and then the door slams shut, to ropes laying in the dirt that string up children by their feet as they rush across. If a physical device is used to contain or restrain a child (usually until the monster that set the trap can come back to claim its prize), it falls under this.


Whether a monster snatches a child straight from his bed in the middle of the night, dons the face of a friend to convince the child to come into an old house, or snares a child running through the woods in a trap, the child has been stolen. But the reason is another matter.

To Feed

Just as a wolf will kill for food, monsters will too. Generally speaking, Monsters need to eat just like anything else. Some eat fear, some drink tears, some crunch bones, and others like ears. No part of a child goes to waste, by command of the Bogeyman. While monsters are often forced to make do with woodland creatures, stray animals, mashed up butterflies, or each other, each and every one would trade those scraps for a nice, fresh, juicy child. Not all monsters eat their catches right away. Some store the child in a box or bag, stow them away in a cellar, tie them to a tree, seal them in a glass box, or wrap them in leather and pack them in salt. Monsters almost always prefer live food. Of course, playing a digested child wouldn’t be much fun so let’s assume, if your character was stolen for the purposes of food, he managed to escape prior to being eaten.

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chapter TWO For Sport

Monsters exist that simply like to scare kids. It’s what gets their ichor pumping. Some monsters, such as ghosts, have little use for food, at least human flesh. They’ll grab the kid, drag him into Closetland, drop him in the middle of the abandoned school, and laugh their heads off as the tot runs around, desperately searching for a way out. Occasionally, the monsters will rattle chains, drop buckets of bile or slime, or pop up for a quick “boo” that about makes the kid pee himself. After they’ve had their fun, they’ll simply leave the kid wherever he is. They don’t care if the child ever makes it home. Some monsters prefer competitive sports. One will pick his champion out of a litter of freshly-arrived children or maybe field his reigning champion. Another will select his own fighter. The two children will be forced to fight each other—rarely to the death, more to submission. The victor wins his monster-controller bragging rights or a prize but, really, the main draw is the pain the children cause each other.

For Labor

Closetland is a world born from magic and populated by monsters so the idea actual grunt-level work needs to get done may seem ludicrous but someone needs to clean the floors and wash the windows of the land’s many buildings. While the bigger monsters could force the smaller ones into doing it (and sometimes do that just because), why not make the kids do it. In the laundry, children scrub grungy clothes and curtains against dirty washboards. They suffer a whip across their backs whenever the drapes don’t come out spotless. In the labor camps, children toil day and night for no greater gain than more work. Monsters keep their feral brethren, such as the mutant pigs and disfigured dogs, in pens. Nobody wants to feed these misshapen beasts so they send the kids out, heavy slop buckets in hand, to dole out rations into the troughs and feedbags.

As a Present

Goblyns in particular think of children as a food, yes, but also presents for their queen Titania. Innocent blood is an important part of the mixture they use to keep their queen eternally young. Some monsters, desperate to get on the Bogeyman’s good side, will try to capture a bunch of kids as a gift. They think it will allow them to get favors or preferential treatment from the King of Monsters. It won’t (the Bogeyman gives no monster preferential treatment over himself ), but still the monsters try.

For Companionship

Some monsters are crazed, feral beasts guided only by instinct. Others are conniving and cunning manipulators. Yet others are lumbering beasts following orders from their belly and the demands of the master. Now, this may be hard to believe, but some monsters are just lonely. Some monsters have the emotional maturity of a small child—some have the physical maturity of one; some are indistinguishable from a real child—and they just want someone to play with. There is a pecking order among the monsters as with any hostile group and some of the smaller, weaker monsters want someone who is a peer, can speak on their level, who respects them (even if that respect is really fear), and won’t abandon them because other, bigger monsters come along. So if these monsters can’t make friends, they’ll steal them.

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by inhuman hands (the stolen) Part Three: What Happens Next

The kid was stolen, ripped from our world by villainous creatures, and now faces a lifetime of grueling labor, emotional torment, bizarre tea parties, or being used as cruel sport. The child is now in the world of the monsters, with hundreds of places to hide, countless doors to open, and evil beasts at every turn. So what happens to the child next?

The Child Escapes

Monsters may be great at catching kids but they’re not always great at keeping kids. Monsters tend to recycle boxes and cages from the real world, and sometimes the metal is a bit rusty or the wood is rotten and the monster is oblivious as to what that means. A smart child will usually wait until the monster is out of sight to break free though anxious children may kick a door off its rusty hinges right away and try to make a break for it. For the curious, it’s usually better to wait, though potential escapees do risk the chance of the monster deciding it better eat its catch now before it has a chance to run away. Even if the kid is successful, he’s only escaped immediate capture. He’s still in Closetland (most likely) and away from his family and loved ones (most definitely).

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chapter TWO The Child Meets Another Monster

Some monsters don’t like being one-upped by their peers. If one monster sees another’s trap has a kid in it, the monster may set the child free simply to aggravate the other monster. Or an enterprising young monster may steal the child when the original captor has his back turned. In that case, the child either escapes or is let go after he serves his purpose for that second monster. In a case where a second monster frees the child or absconds with him in the night, the original monster may set out to find his prize and show that other monster what happens to those who infringe on his property. This could lead to the child being caught in a monster feud, possibly using the confusion of a monster-on-monster confrontation to make his escape. That, in turn, could lead to both monsters (or whoever is the victor once the dust settles) looking for the child. In both of the above cases, a monster exists who believes it has claim on the child. A claim wrongfully challenged by another monster or cut short by the sudden escape of the child. A player character on the lam from a monster who is actively pursuing him has the potential for a lot of action and danger.

The Child is Let Go

Sometimes monsters just let the kid go after they’re done, especially if the kid was captured for sport or short-term labor. The monster gets its amusement, or its laundry done, and that’s it. It doesn’t want to eat the kid; it doesn’t want to harm the kid any further. Who can say why. Monsters are mercurial and unpredictable at the best of times. Could be the monster is bored, or that the monster’s essentially throwing away its scraps and what the kid doesn’t realize is there’s another monster in the area who will eat the child after the first one is done. Could be any number of reasons, really. The smart thing is for the child to assume the worst: The monster’s coming back or a worse one is around the corner. Find a way out of Closetland or at least to a good hiding spot.

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by inhuman hands (the stolen)

“He said he was my friend.”

I had fallen asleep next to the big tree in the park. I woke up when I felt him breathing on me. He was so big and had eyes like my dog. He smiled at me and said he was going to take me to a magical place, where there were all these other kids to play with. I didn’t know; I thought it was a dream. I looked around all and the other people who were at the park were gone so I figured I was imagining this whole thing. He picked me up in his gigantic hands and hugged me. His skin was so hot I thought my face was going to melt off. And then he dumped me into a big wooden box, like a treasure chest, and shut the lid. It smelled like a fart and I could barely move. I was laying on something wet and soft, like a furry towel, and I think that’s what stunk so bad. I had to press my face against a hole in the wood to stop from choking. He must have been dragging the chest because it kept hitting bumps, like tree roots and potholes. I realized this maybe wasn’t a dream so I started screaming. When I did, he shook the box so hard that I hit my funny bone really hard on the lid. It hurt so bad that I didn’t say anything for the rest of the trip. When he opened the lid, we were in a room with these huge blocks, the kind babies play with, and a rocking horse twice as big as me. Cartoons were scribbled on the wall and frilly curtains and blankets and, ugh, just so much cutesy stuff. He told me to put on this dress, and I told him no way because only girls wear dresses, but this made him really mad so I just put it on over my clothes. It was frilly and had this big poofy hat. Everything was blue and yellow; I hated it. He made me play tea party like I was a little girl. Every day. At night, he would snuggle me like a teddy bear. Some nights, he wet the bed. One morning, I woke up before he did, and managed to slip out from under his arm. I made a break for it—running as fast as I could—and finally found a way out of this sick and twisted playroom. I don’t know where I am now but I’m not there. And you know what? That’s good enough for me.

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chapter TWO

“I was pulled through the floor.”

I was walking into the kitchen to get something to drink when the lights went all weird and this huge dark spot appeared right by the fridge. I jumped back because, well because, and then I leaned over to see what the heck it was. It was just black at first, like a really, really long rabbit hole, but then an arm reached up. I remember it was gross and slimy and green. It looked like it was covered with moss or something. But this arm grabbed my pant leg so hard that I fell. That’s when I started to slide across the tile. It dragged me into the hole but I kept fighting. I grabbed the edge of the floor as hard as I could but it was slippery, probably from that thing’s slimy arm, and I couldn’t hold on. Next thing I know, I was in a dark tunnel. It was wet—I could hear something dripping, like a leaky faucet or rain maybe—and the ground was as slimy and gross as this thing. And the smell. OH-EM-GEE. The smell was so bad I thought I was gonna hurl. I swear to God. It like my dad’s morning crap times a thousand. We came to this hole and it shoved me in. I fought though! I did. Hard as I could. I was punching it and kicking it but this thing was so strong I don’t think it felt it. It put me in the hole with this other girl who thought I wanted to eat her. What? No way. She said she had been there for a couple days at least and that the green monster kept trying to feed her bugs. I asked her what the thing wanted and she said she thought she heard the monster take another kid from some other hole and eat it. Eat it. The thing eats kids. The girl was taken before I was. I don’t know what happened to her. I hope I find her though. When the thing came for me, I was somehow able to slip out of it. It chased me for what must have been miles. I was so tired by the time it stopped chasing me. My ribs hurt so bad and I was so hungry. I found some apples in this weird forest. I’ve kinda been living on them since I escaped. I can’t find anywhere else to go though. I saw a well, and tried to open this door that was nailed to a tree stump but it wouldn’t budge. I guess I’ll just keep going though. What else is there to do?

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by inhuman hands (the stolen)

“What I remember most are big yellow eyes.” I said to my friend Julia that we had to get out of there. When she asked why, I pointed at the eyes but she said she didn’t see anything. I started to think I was crazy but no way. How did she miss them? She heard the growl though and that’s what made us run. I took off like a bat outta you-know-where but Julia got ahead of me. This is off Myers Rd, near the pond, where the big curve is. Julia took the turn and I couldn’t see her anymore. My legs were pumping so hard, my blood burned. And I’m not much of a runner but those eyes and that growl and I was a frickin’ Olympic track star. I made it to the curve, where there’s that big straightaway, and didn’t see Julia anywhere. I looked behind me and I saw those eyes in the darkness so I kept going. It had already got me by the time I heard the sound. There was a snap, like a tree branch breaking, but I swear I was already hanging upside-down by then. I looked over and saw Julia. She was looking at me, more scared than I was. I must have been, I dunno, in shock? I don’t know. But Julia was upside-down but the right way. Upside-down to me so rightside-up, really. She was on her feet, I mean. I had fallen into some trap. I remember begging Julia to get me down but she just stood there and then she took off. I hung there for a bit before the eyes put me in a bag and then, I think, in a cart or something. Something with wheels. I couldn’t see anything, the bag was really heavy and dark. It put me in a cage and left me there. It had taken the bag off and given me a plate of uncooked chicken parts. I remember it said, “Get ready to fight.” But, really, I don’t know what that means. I waited until it was gone and then I kicked the cage open. I guess it thought I was weak or something because the cage was thin and wooden. I got out but then I had to find my way home. I crawled through a small door in the room I was in and that led to a forest. Full of trees just like the one that trapped me. I’ve been avoiding trees lately. As you can probably guess.

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goodbye

Chapter Three: on their own (the runaways)

chapter three obby watched his friends having a good time. They laughed and gave each other crap about B their weak shots and lame insults without a care in the world. His own joy suddenly drained from him, as he recalled his parents’ conversation from last night, the fight they didn’t

think he could hear. But he sat at the head of the stairs and listened down the next step, at the two adults in the family room. Their voices were low at first, calm but stern, then they got angry. His father saying he was too tired to fight and his mom saying she didn’t want to fight, she wanted a solution. A solution. From the three-point line of the concrete court, Bobby looked toward his house and thought about the people within. The look on his mother’s face every time she received a yellow envelope with that red stamp. How tired his father was from working double shifts and again on the weekend. His baby sister’s cough and all the trips to the doctor, the overnights at the hospital when Bobby had to stay with his neighbor Mrs. Greaver. If he wasn’t there, if he was one less mouth to feed, one less person to worry about, they would have it so much better. His father wouldn’t have to work so many hours and could be home in the evening, to relax and watch some TV. He’d have weekends for fishing, which he loves, and maybe ball games. His mother might have the money to go back to school like she wants and she could pay all those stupid bills in the basket by the stove. They could afford to see that doctor they keep talking about, the one for his sister. The specialist who works up in Brookpark. Bobby was too young to work, even a stupid paper route which he wasn’t even sure they hired kids for anymore, or he could maybe do that. The boy heard a door slam. A man got out of his car and walked up one of the brick-fronts. Bobby looked at the car. He wished he could drive. “Kiss the dunk master’s butt!” Anton yells, laughing. Bobby picked up his backpack. It didn’t hold much: some books, some paper, his lunch box. He still had an apple from lunch and the juice box he didn’t like. It was fall, and there were places nearby he could scrounge food. He could make it a couple days at least. Maybe get a ride out of state. He loved his family. He’d miss them. He thought maybe he should say goodbye first. But then they’d know. They would probably try to stop him. It might tip them off and then they’d all freak out and probably fight again and he’d be in trouble. Probably better just to go. Like ripping off a bandage. The less you think about it, the quicker you do it, the better it is. The less it hurts. Bobby hoofs across the street, not bothering to check for traffic, and hits the sidewalk at a run. He goes, as fast as he can, his backpack bouncing loosely off his legs, past a red car then a grey one then a black one, a white van, the fire hydrant, the stop sign, and keeps on going. He wasn’t sure where he was going but it didn’t matter, as long as his family had a better life. That’s what mattered.

The Runaway

Not every kid who goes missing is forcibly removed from his home by person or a monster. Some children leave of their own accord for their own reasons. While escape may be what they’re after, what they find—in the case of our characters—is something far more. The ways are as varied as the whys and we’ll look at both those next.

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On their own (the runaways) Part One: How it Happens

When a child decides to run away from his family, he needs to find an opportunity. The calculating child plans his runaway, packing necessary but transportable goods such as food, water (or soda), and maybe a first aid kit, flashlight, etc. A kid with the thought and the means may buy a train ticket on his mom’s credit card or grab enough money to take the bus or subway out of town. The idea is to put distance between himself and his parents. Hitchhiking is foolish these days (not that running away isn’t foolish enough already) which makes public transportation a good option. But all that requires premeditation which kids, especially impassioned ones, don’t necessarily take the time to calculate. Some just (or must) seize the opportunity for escape when it comes.

Into the Night

This is the classic idea of the runaway child. The romanticized version of a kid, hobo sack over his shoulder, has him escaping in the middle of the night, while the family slumbers unknowingly in their beds. Well, romanticized or not, this is probably the most common. The long stretches of night give the kid time to consider his action and prepare for the journey ahead. He can fill his backpack up with enough food for a few days and some magazines, music, and books so he doesn’t get bored on the road. He may leave a note, he may not, it all depends on his situation. This gives him one last chance to say goodbye to his stuff and the pets before heading out on his own. Once whatever preparation is done, he is free to sneak out and let the door close behind him forever.

Amongst the Crowd

Just as monsters and people can use crowds to snatch children without being detected, a kid can use the confusion that comes from a mass of people to escape from his family unseen. He could lag behind his parents for a step or two, then a few more, until the parents turn back and he’s not there. They glance around but all they see is an ocean of people, taller heads that hide their young one’s sudden exit. The kid stays in the crowd as long as they need to, trying to find the best place to pull away from the group. Public entrances and exits are good as they usually attract a bunch of people but then allow the child to dissimilate on the other side of a gate or pair of doors to make a break for it.

Takes Off

Maybe the kid isn’t subtle about it at all. He could just run, with his parents unable to catch him. This could happen at home, in public, wherever. The goal here isn’t for the kid to escape without notice but to get away, far away, and as fast as possible. A kid who takes off may do so in familiar territory, such as his neighborhood, where he can utilize known short-cuts and pathways to evade his parents (and even authorities if they are around or later called). The kid may run away in a public place, using the maze of interconnected stores at the mall or winding walkways of the local amusement park to mask his exit.


Whether they sneak out the house under the cover of darkness, rush out amongst a throng of holiday shoppers, or never return from “having to pee” during the family

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chapter three camping trip, these are just the means. The reason is yet unknown and the root can be varied and complicated, if truly known at all. Here are some common reasons children become runaways.

Jealousy

The child could be having a hard time coping with the arrival of a new baby in the house, a cooing, drooling, pooping bundle of joy who leeches all the loves and hogs the spotlight with its constant crying and neediness. Or the kid could be the outsider who finds himself living with relatives or friends who already have their own busy lives and don’t have the time or energy to give him the attention he needs.

Inadequacy

Some children don’t think they deserve the love their family provides or think they are in the wrong family, possibly switched at birth, snatched from parents and siblings more like them. Maybe he stands in the shadow of his smarter, better-adjusted, sports god of a sibling. Maybe the family is a bunch of brainiacs and the kid is more interested in football or track than reading and talking about math (of all things). The feelings of inadequacy could be complete fabrication, a seed planted by the child’s own sense of failure, or it could come from the parents who tell the child how disappointed they are while never recognizing what the child is good at or helping with the struggles he faces. Children, like many adults, seek approval and if they feel they aren’t getting it at home, they will look for it elsewhere.

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On their own (the runaways) Feelings of Guilt

The child may have done something he is not proud of. He may have caused an accident that hurt a friend or family member. Maybe it even killed her. Maybe the child was playing with his dad’s old swing-top lighter out in the garage and caused a fire. Maybe the fire was big enough to do some real damage. Perhaps the child’s parents are divorcing and he blames himself for their separating.

To Get Away from Abuse

Some kids have good reason for getting out of whatever situation they are in. While running away may not be the smartest, maybe it’s the only way they will survive. The abuse may be mental, tearing down the child’s self-esteem and instincts, or verbal, obliterating their self-worth. It may be physical, literally putting the child’s life at risk. Or it may be another type of abuse altogether, which harms the child every way it can.

Get to an Other Family

In some cases, the kid lives with one parent while the other lives somewhere far away. It could be an old friend who moved away and the kid left behind thinks his friend’s parents would love him more and treat him better than his own family does. Or the child may prefer his aunt or uncle or grandparents or whomever—someone besides the immediate family he has. Usually, the kid imagines life would be better with that other parent or family member. Maybe it is to get away from abuse, as above, or inadequacy (“My dad’s into sports like I am, not like mom’s new boyfriend who only wants me to read the encyclopedia.”) but the focus isn’t just on escape but on getting to that other person, on building a life with that (generally idealized) new family.

Independence

Kids are kids, and don’t necessarily have a reason so much as an idea. The thought of running away crosses every kid’s mind, for some it’s because of the reasons listed above and for others it’s a way to exercise their want for freedom. Running away could be an expression of independence, a means to prove they don’t need their parents, they can handle things on their own. Voluntary separation from their family is a clean break, a way for them to say, “I’m grown-up and don’t need you to protect me anymore.”


When a child runs away, one assumes a journey of some sort follows. The child may continue on foot, hitch a ride from a stranger or friend, take the bus, get on the subway, buy a train ticket, or hop on his bike and go. The word “runaway” breaks into “run” and “away” so assuming both are involved is very reasonable. The question becomes about the destination: Where is the child going? And, what happens next?

Lost on the Road

Some kids set out with grand plans in mind. They’re going to go to the coast, live with their dad and his new wife, get away from crummy old mom and that idiot of a new husband she has, and start a new life. Then plans go awry. The kid doesn’t have enough cash to buy the bus ticket or he hitched a ride in the wrong direction and is now 150 miles farther away from where he wants to be. The kid is now just wandering, lost and without a plan to get back on track.

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chapter three Perhaps the kid didn’t get so much lost on the road but distracted toward another goal. Something new that caught his eye and now he’s on his way toward that.

No Destination in Mind

Could be the kid had no destination in mind. He set out to wander, to discover America (or whichever country he calls home), meet people, and live a nomad lifestyle. He’d rely on the kindness of strangers to fill in the lean times, take some odd jobs mowing lawns and shoveling sidewalks to earn some cash for food.

Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be

In his mind, this was going to be smooth-sailing. He would take a bus to Phoenix, hitch a ride to Mesa, show up on his Uncle Joe’s doorstep who would pull him in, arms wide open, sit him down for a nice big dinner to welcome him into his new family. But instead, Joe was worried. The kid’s mom had called him, after finding the note, and she was worried sick. Joe pulls the kid inside and, after a quick hug and prayer, calls the boy’s mom to let her know the man will bring her son back first thing in the morning. Or the kid had it all planned: He’d pack a bag full of canned food and jarred fruit, a can opener (can’t forget that!), some bottles of soda and water, and he’d go out into the woods to live. He always liked animals better than people anyway and, hey, his years in the Nature Boys prepared him for the rugged life. And so he did, even managed to set up a shelter and a fire. He’s working on the hunting part but he has enough rations to last him another week. Cold set in early though and now there’s snow on the ground. The animals he was going to hunt for food are nestled away. The trees are barren of anything resembling food and now the boy will have to go down to one meal a day if he’s going to make it until the thaw. Even then, he probably won’t have enough.

Found a “Friend”

Maybe the kid met someone else on the road and is now following their path. This isn’t an abduction per se, as it was voluntary, but it could be the person doesn’t have the kid’s best interest at heart (if they did, they probably would have contacted the authorities). Besides, an abduction assumes an adult (usually) while, in fact, the “friend” may be another missing kid. They could be commiserating about their lot in life, complementing each other’s skills (one’s a smooth talker who can scam cash while the other knows the ins and outs of makeshift shelters and scrounging for food). The runaway in this case settles into a coexistence where he finds happiness, or some approximation thereof, even if it’s not from a healthy source.

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On their own (the runaways)

“She treats me like a child.”

I’m almost thirteen years old. I’m practically an adult, and they still treat me like I sleep in a crib. For my birthday last year? My mom got me a Serena Ballerina cake. SERIOUSLY. For my gifts, I got a Kidz Rock! CD and a pair of fairy pajamas. It’s like my parents live in this bubble where it’s always seven years ago. Nobody ever grows up, nobody ever gets older. I was sick of it. I couldn’t live like that anymore. I had to get away. My room still had the same pink walls from when I was five years old. It was ridiculous. My mom didn’t let me pick out my own clothes. Not just buying the clothes but she would set out an “outfit” for the next day. She wouldn’t let me wear make-up and still wanted my hair in those stupid pigtail braids. She was driving. Me. Crazy. Whatever. I tried talking to her about it and she was all, “I just don’t want my baby girl growing up too fast.” and “I don’t know what your hurry to be an adult is all about.” And my dad, ugh, he was all, “I leave this to your mother. You should talk to her about this.” Um, I have? And she’s as thick as a brick wall. Thanks, dad. Whatever. I’m almost at my Aunt Belinda’s house and she’ll understand. She’s mom’s baby sister and was probably treated just like I was. Just a few hundred more miles to go and I’ll be there. Then, finally, I’ll be treated like the adult I am.

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chapter three

“No one believes me.”

I said I didn’t start that fire. I didn’t. Besides, we didn’t think anybody lived in that old shack anyway. Who would live in that beat-up dump in the middle of the woods anyway. How was I supposed to know some homeless guy was sleeping inside it? I couldn’t have known that. I couldn’t have known he would die. And then the judge was going to send me to juvie and my mom freaked out. My dad about had a heart attack. My stupid sister was all “I told you he was hanging around the wrong kids.” God, I hate her. Listen, it wasn’t my fault. Joey’s the one who had the lighter. He’s the one who brought the gasoline. I just wanted to watch it burn. That’s all. And then that stupid bum had to be in there and die. No way I could have stuck around. No way I was going to spend the rest of my life in juvie because some bum couldn’t find a better place to sleep. So I hit the road. Why not? Nothing for me at home but a life behind bars. Out here, anything’s possible. I can be my own man.

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On their own (the runaways)

“My parents don’t like me anymore.”

My mom said it wasn’t true but I knew it was. I was always messing up and letting them down. They yelled at me all the time. My mom was too busy with the baby. My stepdad was always working and when he wasn’t working he was in the garage working on projects. They didn’t want anything to do with me. First, I started going over to Maggie’s house. Her parents are nice and they didn’t mind that I was always over there. I would spend the night whenever I could and her dad was super sweet to me. Her mom would do my hair, which my mom never had time for, and Maggie and I would try on her big sister’s clothes—she always had the best clothes. It was great. But then Maggie and I got into a fight about some stupid thing and she started hanging out with Katarina and they’re all BFFs now—which, God, Katarina? Really?—so I didn’t go over there anymore. I would just come home after school. Let’s see, I could stay in my room and do nothing. Or listen to my mom gaga over their precious baby. Or hang out in that nasty cold garage and listened to the bandsaw or whatever. I think my stepdad was building a birdhouse or something stupid like that. So, what’s it matter? What’s the difference? I packed my things and left one night. Some nice guy offered me a ride. He’s old. Like, 19 or 20. But he’s really sweet. I told him I’m 15 and he totally believes me. He says he thinks I’m really pretty and could totally make it out in LA. That’s where he’s headed: Los Angeles. So I’m heading there too. And when we get there, we’re going to have the best life ever. He’s starting a band and I’m going to be the singer. Until the acting or modeling or whatever takes off anyway. My parents probably haven’t even noticed I’m gone.

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why?

Chapter four: No longer wanted (the abandoned)

chapter FOUR he house is empty. T It has been for weeks, ever since his dad lost his job. With his mom sick, only his dad worked, and they barely had any money as it was before. They got behind on payments. Bobby

remembers seeing the notices. The yellow envelopes stood out in the stack. “We never could afford this house,” his dad would say. Except he threw in a lot more swear words when he said it. His mom would sigh and talk about how she was feeling better and that the doctors didn’t know what they were talking about. She told him she had the flu. But the flu doesn’t make you go to the doctor three times a week and the flu doesn’t make your hair fall out. People started calling on the phone so often, Bobby’s dad unplugged them. Then he canceled the phone. And the television. The internet had been canceled a long time ago. Since before his mom got sick, even. Bobby was sent to live with his cousins while his parents figured out what to do. The boy hated it though and sneaked out every night the first week he lived there. For a while, he would come back here. His parents were packing everything up. They didn’t want him to see. A lot of it was sold. That’s where the couch went, and the TV, and the CD player. Those were too big to hide and they were the first things Bobby didn’t see anymore. Rae and Uncle Bill would come get him and they would apologize and Bobby’s parents would say it was alright. And that they loved him. They always told him that. Bobby looks out the big bay window, at the lawn where he used to practice tee-ball, and the sidewalk he opened both knees on when he tanked on his first big-boy bike. His mom said he cried like a baby that day. “But you’re a big boy now,” she said. “So big.” One night, the boy sneaked out of Rae and Bill’s house and came here. But it was empty. A few days later, maybe it was just the next day, he got a letter in the mail. It was from his parents and it was an apology. “It’s easier this way,” it said. “We still love you. And we will come get you as soon as we can.” The boy walks through each room, still as a picture, and remembers all the photos and toys and stuff that used to be on the walls, on the mantel above the fireplace. In this corner, that’s where dad put up the Christmas tree every year. He’s been too embarrassed to tell his friends. When he saw his aunt’s brown car down the street while they were playing Horse, he didn’t bother to even come up with an excuse. His friends were distracted so he took off. A door slams shut outside. Aunt Rae knocks on the door, politely. She knows it’s been hard on the boy. Bobby opens the door slowly and they lock eyes for a moment. Quietly, Rae pulls her nephew close. His instinct is to fight it, but he doesn’t. Instead, Bobby falls into her, clutches her tightly. But he won’t cry. He refuses to cry.

The Abandoned

An abandoned child has been left by his biological family. This is a sharp sensation when a strong bond is severed, one that cuts to the bone and sends a signal throughout Closetland and can put the child in both mundane and supernatural peril.

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no longer wanted (the abandoned) Characters in Little Fears Nightmare Edition are between six and twelve so it’s safe to say we’re not talking about infants left on church steps—at least, not anymore. In most cases, when we talk about abandoned children here, we talk about those kids who have suffered a loss and feel that pain that can only come from sudden, possibly unexplained separation. There are those who never knew their biological family, or possibly any family unit, but who long for such a thing so strongly the feeling of separation is just as vibrant and aching as those who knew their family. Abandonment is possibly the hardest for a child to understand. We are taught family is safe, that family looks out for its members. Abandonment can feel like a betrayal of that foundation. And when a foundation that strong is shaken, other things can’t help but collapse.


The idea someone would move while the child is away at camp sounds like the premise to a family TV movie and, while that could happen, the following ways in which families abandon their children are a bit more common.

Left on a Doorstep

It may sound like a bit of a fairy tale but it happens. In fact, some states have nopenalty policies for mothers who wish to drop off children at hospitals and other designated centers. Folks usually think of babies but it happens to children of all ages as the situation surrounding a family changes. The facilities will then work to find temporary care and housing for the child. In some areas, that means the kid goes to an orphanage or other group care facility. Some enter the foster system. Others get adopted. For our purposes, we can assume the abandoned player characters and non-player characters do not have a permanent family. They may be in foster care or living in a place that takes good care of them but the hole left by not being raised in a family environment remains unfilled.

Left on the Side of the Road

Sadly, this happens as well. Usually a sign of severe mental illness or wrong-thinking, a parent who is at an extreme emotional edge may be driven to taking the child out somewhere and leaving him. Here, there is an urgency to the act. This may be premeditated but more likely it’s an act of passion, a reaction to a heightened sense of fear or depression.

Left with a Friend

The kid may be left with a family friend or family member. Some abandoned are given to folks the parents trust. That trusted person may think they’re only watching the kid for a short period of time or could know that the parent isn’t coming back for a long time if ever. The two parties may conspire to not tell the child in order to protect him or because they don’t want to get into the long backstory (maybe one of the whys listed below) that led them all to this point. We can assume the new home, the new “family” is a safe environment, and the main source of pain is the eventual realization that mommy and daddy are not coming back. Or we can assume the chosen caretakers are unfit and the child is on the road to a worse home life than before. For our purpose, we’ll take the former route over the latter. The

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chapter FOUR new family won’t intentionally harm the child but they may still not be fit for parenting (incompetence can be overcome, if that’s the case).

Told to Leave

Maybe it’s nothing dramatic. No swaddling bundle handed to a nun, no driving out beyond the city, no makeshift family to fill the gap. They’re only two words but they say everything the child needs to know: “Get out.” Some families struggle to find harmony. They don’t naturally click and need to work hard if everyone is going to have anything resembling peace. When equilibrium isn’t reached, when the family just can’t come together, sometimes elements need to be removed. In some cases, a parent leaves or an older child moves out. Other times, the solution the family comes to is for a younger child to go.


When you see the headline that someone has abandoned their child, either to someone else’s care or by shoving him out the door, a natural reaction is one of bewilderment mixed with disdain. But every act, no matter how despicable, has an underlying cause. There is a reason the parent abandon the child. I’m not saying it’s a good reason or that abandonment is justifiable—but that doesn’t mean it was a senseless act. Something had to bring it about, so what was it? Why was the child abandoned?

Home Economics

When parents have more kids than they can financially care for, they only have a handful of options: keep the kid and take on extra work to fill the fiscal gaps; keep the kid and apply for financial assistance; keep the kid and tighten the belts even further, or; give the kid up to someone else. This is not an option of want. This is an option of need. The family cannot take care of the child. A sudden downward shift in income could be to blame or the family could have spent years skirting the edge of abject poverty and maturation or the arrival of a new child could have altered their financial situation. Either way, the family hit a do-or-die moment and a hard decision was made.

Fear of Abuse

One parent may feel the other is a threat to the child. This notion may come from past experience with other children (their own or others) or vile promises made by the abuser the protecting parent won’t let happen. Not to her baby. Not to her child. Could be a parent abandoned her child because the other parent has abused him already. A third possible scenario is that the parent feels she will abuse the child herself, the product of mental illness or poor impulse control. No matter which of these scenarios is the case, the child is in danger, immediate or forthcoming. The only solution in the mind of the parent is to give up the child. Abuse is an ugly concept and even uglier act. I urge that, if this is used, it is only for backstory, a vague threat possibly, and never depicted or portrayed in a positive light.

Mental Illness

The parent may suffer from a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Their brain chemistry is unbalanced; their actions are

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no longer wanted (the abandoned) unpredictable and not always based on fact. The parent may think invisible monsters are after her and she needs to get the child somewhere safe. The parent may have a moment of clarity after a particularly harrowing bout and feel abandoning the child is a way to protect it (possibly a “fear of abuse” situation as described above). Abandonment due to mental illness is usually an act of desperation not malice, though the latter does happen. When it comes to mental illness in a parent, to the level where the adult may drive the child out to the country and leave him there, warning signs often present far in advance. These can be subtle but an observant child may sense them and prepare for a bad situation. The child may have a handful of provisions to see them through a short while; they may not. A child who suspects his parents may be up to something (though who could foresee something like this?) may stash things in a backpack, just in case. As said, there is usually little warning as this is an act of desperation more than malice but the parent may give off signals something’s not right.

Addiction

Addiction digs into your bones and makes the object of its desire more important than anything. Everything else gets put by the wayside: hobbies, jobs, responsibilities, family. Children of drug- or alcohol-addicted parents are marginalized, made secondary by the deep-borne need to satisfy the cravings. The children of addicts face a hard life and hard choices. Some endure, some run away, but others don’t get the chance to do either. When a parent abandons a child because of addiction, it could be because they don’t want the hassle of raising a child. Addicts can be remarkably like needy children in their disdain for responsibility. But an addicted parent, or the spouse of an addicted parent, could get rid of the child in order to protect him from the influences of the drug scene or the threats of an angry dealer. Or it could be the non-addicted parent is choosing the addicted parent’s desires over protecting the child. None of these situations is anything but ugly.

Behavioral Issues

Sometimes the parents just can’t handle the child anymore. Lying, stealing, being with boys/girls in adult ways, drug use, all manner of criminal activity can turn that sweet little child into a proto-adult whose ability to control his emotions hasn’t caught up with their complexity. Most families suffer through, or reach out to clinics or other professionals for assistance or to provide temporary housing as well as rehabilitation for the child, but some parents are in no financial shape to spend the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for that level of care. Some parents reach their breaking point and need to get as far away from the unruly child as possible. When this happens, sometimes the only option is dropping him off with a relative or no-fault facility.


The questions of “Why didn’t mommy love me?” and “What did I do to upset daddy?” gnaw the child, corroding his soul and galvanizing a feeling of hatred toward the world at large with the fear that everyone they love will leave them given the time and opportunity. This can come about over years or surge to the forefront like a wave, enveloping the

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chapter FOUR child’s hope for joy and dragging it to the bottom of the deep. For an abandoned child, there are only three options and we detail them below.

New Family

The child could find a new family, someone else to protect and care for them. A child who is abandoned by his family into another person care doesn’t necessarily take to that family. He may remain emotionally distant, separated from his caregivers even if they attempt to love him and bring him into the family fully. On the flip side, a kid who was dropped off on a street corner could fall into a new family, a group of people who will guide and protect him. You might think a child who went from one family to another would not be considered a missing child. Monsters exist who love to pick at the wound left by abandonment, no matter how minor or how deep the child has buried it. Some kids move past their sense of loss completely and the feeling almost completely heals. But no scab can fully cover the wound and there will always be a scar, no matter how small. Months may pass, maybe years, but having been abandoned never fully fades and some monsters can track that like hounds on the trail of a body.

Become a Runaway

In cases where the child is not put into someone else’s care, the child ends up as so many other missing: free under his own recognizance. For children the ages of the player characters, that almost always means the abandoned kid ran away from whatever situation he found himself in. Without the shackles of family, he can do what he wants, go where he pleases, and be his own man. Which, while maybe the dream of a precocious preteen, can be a horrible sentence for a fragile seven-year old.

Become Forgotten

Or the abandoned child could become a member of the rarest type of missing: a Forgotten child. We’ll talk all about that in the next chapter.

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no longer wanted (the abandoned)

“I stayed with my auntie while my mom was at work.”

Used to be three times a week at the most but then more shifts became available and my mom took every one she could. We needed the money and, with dad away on that trip of his, she had to earn it. That’s what she said. “I have to earn it.” Then, after a while, I was at Aunt Lucy’s every night. I’d come over there right after school. I’d walk with my cousin Charice who’s a little older than me. She’s alright but we don’t really talk. Lucy’s nice but she has a lot of boyfriends and when they’re over she doesn’t leave the bedroom. I don’t know if they’re sleeping or what but on those days Charice and I have to make our own food. That usually means cereal but they have one of those sandwich machines which is really cool. I like to put peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in there. They get all gushy and warm. I started staying the night, I dunno, last month or so? I’d go home every few days, on weekends. Then I started bringing more stuff over here—I think all my clothes are over here now—and I remember that’s when my mom started talking about a new job she wanted. One out of state. I don’t know which state just out of this one, I guess. I haven’t seen my mom in about a week or so. Lucy said she called once but when I ask when she’s coming back, she just says to not worry about it. She says I’m always welcome to stay here. And that’s okay, I guess. Still, I really miss my mom.

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chapter FOUR

“The sisters tell me my mom was a very nice woman.”

She was young and very pretty. Mary Agnes says she was like a movie star. When I close my eyes, I think of Natalie Portman. She’s probably too young to be my mom—I don’t even know if she’s ever had kids—but I liked her a lot in that movie where she was a space princess and that one about the crazy toy store. That was pretty funny. But I dunno. I guess it doesn’t matter who my mom is since I’ll probably never see her in real life. I guess she could be anybody. But, you know, I’m going to try to find her at least. Some day. I mean, that’s why I left but I don’t think I’ll try to do it immediately. The fosters were alright, one of the better ones, but I’m twelve years old now. It’s time to stop jumping from house to house and it’s time for me to be on my own. My mom must’ve thought I was able to, right? That’s why she gave me up?

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no longer wanted (the abandoned)

“He said I was trying to kill him and that I had to go.”

I tried to talk to him but he kept telling me to “Shut up!” and “Get out!” I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have anywhere to go. We didn’t have any money so I couldn’t afford to go anywhere except maybe Uncle Joey’s who maybe could help. But he lives three states over and has his own kids. Then my dad started throwing things. Books, pillows, stupid stuff. I don’t even think he was trying to hurt me. He’s thrown stuff before, said stuff before, but he was really mad this time. Like really red-in-the-face mad. And then he grabbed me by the shirt and started hitting me. I try to get away, tried to punch him. He was all “You work for them! I know you do!” and “I won’t let you take the rest of my family!” I was so scared; I had no idea what to do. And then he pushed me out the door. No shoes, not even socks. It was so cold. I went over to my friend Emily’s house and she let me borrow some stuff. She asked if I wanted to call the cops or something. But I didn’t. If I did, they’d take him away. Probably lock him up again in that hospital. I’ll just, I dunno, make it here on the streets for a while. I got friends. I know people. I’m a kid, and folks always give money to kids. It’s not the first time my dad’s needed to cool off for a while. But the first since mom died. I guess I’ll see how he is in a few days.

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hello?

Chapter five: through the cracks (the forgotten)

chapter five

go, guys!” Bobby says, waving as he runs. His friends, oblivious, keep playing ball. Iinggotta The game was dragging on anyways and the way Bobby sees it, his time is better spent doother things. He just got a new game for his GameStation 3 and is already almost done with it. He hopes he can play some more tonight before bed. Bobby picks up a stick from the back of the church. It’s big, almost as tall as he is, and weighs about as much as a baseball bat. He bounces it off the cold ground, once, twice. He beats out a rhythm as he walks. “Excuse me, young man,” someone says. Bobby turns around to see a man in a car. The driver has a map in his hand and a confused look on his face. “Can you tell me which way is Overland Street?” Bobby points down the road. “Two blocks that way.” The driver waves a polite thank-you and drives off. The entire subdivision is like a maze. Folks get lost in it all the time what with Park Street and Lark Street, Vine and Pine, Elm and Maple and Oak and Redwood. Why did people name streets after trees? Bobby turns a right down Vine, crosses two lawns and goes up five steps to the familiar red door. He sets the branch against the wrought iron banister and kicks the dirt of his shoes. The ground is getting hard now but it’s become habit for the boy after weeks of late summer mud. He opens the screen door and pinches the latch, pushing on it. The door doesn’t budge. Bobby reaches into his pocket for the key but comes up with a nickel and some lint. No way was he walking back to Park Street to hunt for some dumb old key. He knocks on the door. Two good thumps. Again. He hears his mom inside. He hopes she’s making dessert. He peers through the glass. She’s sitting at the table, book in hand. “Mom!” The boy yells, pounding harder on the door. The woman inside looks up. About time, the boy thinks. The woman sets the book on the table, open face down, and crosses the living room to the door. She pulls back the sheer white curtain and looks right at Bobby. She looks to the left and then the right. Bobby waves his hand. “Hello! Mom! Hello! Open the door!” The woman lets go of the curtain, careful to set it properly in its place. She walks back to the kitchen table, picking up where she left off. Bobby stands outside, dumbfounded. “Man, what is up with her?”

The Forgotten

Another way children become missing is to be forgotten. Not just by their parents, though that’s part of it, but by everybody and everything. A forgotten child has slipped out of their old lives (and sometimes our reality) and life becomes as though the child had no life prior to now. There’s no record of him being born, registering at a school or with the Nature Scouts, no medical history or record of him ever taking piano lessons. The only shred of memory is in the minds and hearts of the child’s friends. And even that may be sketchy, more along the line of “Hey, didn’t there used to be a kid in that house?” and “Was there a kid who played third base before Mitchell did?” A nagging

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through the cracks (the forgotten) question that could be picked at and expanded if there was reason to but, as it sits right now, it’s just a thought in the back of the friend’s mind that’s hard to put a finger on. Younger children have an easier time remembering, especially if they were close to the forgotten kid, say a neighbor, best friend, or even a sibling. Middle-aged kids, from 8 to 11, have a harder time, so much so that they may deny remembering even if they do have a small flickering memory. Older kids will likely dismiss the idea out of hand, claiming the kid who does remember is “full of it” or “talking nonsense” even if the forgotten kid is standing in front of them. “Never seen her before.” Obviously, adults have a really hard time remembering. The best chance is if the forgotten kid was their child, nephew, niece, or someone they taught or watched during the day, someone with whom the adult had regular contact. Some adults manage to catch glimpses of forgotten children. These brushes with the in-between can manifest as a shadow on the side of the road, the echo of a child laughing at the playground, a brief glimpse a familiar-or-is-it face at the supermarket or the park. No matter how the child appears, his presence is only temporary. A second glance will show nothing but a road sign, a merry-go-round spinning in the wind, a stack of discount laundry detergent, or the burnt stump of an old tree. To those within the real world, the forgotten children are whispers in the wind, passing ideas, a persistent maybe or maybe not that has yet to be answered. When a child is forgotten, he has two options. He can accept that he’s been forgotten (sometimes to great relief ) and live on either in the real world, the in-between as a sortaghost, or in Closetland, among other kids who live there. Or he can refuse it and fight to be remembered again. If he takes the second option, he’ll likely need some help from a few stalwart PCs.


The world doesn’t make a habit of forgetting the folks who live in it; it takes a significant event, a strong catalyst, in order for a child to slip bodily from the firm footing of reality into the in-between non-world that buffers our world from Closetland. We will get into the reasons behind disappearances next but first let’s look at how it happens.

Quick, Like a Bandage

One moment the kid’s there. The next he isn’t. Just like that, a living, breathing, honestto-goodness real-live human boy that saw six, maybe nine, maybe twelve years in this world is unplugged, yanked into the in-between as if he was never born. This type of forgotten child is the rarest and the strangest. No one knows what causes such a sudden (and sometimes violent-feeling) disappearance but the worst part is the kid still has a good memory of things. The world shut him out right-quick but he still has memories. And he’ll need to fight to keep them if he ever wants back into our world.

Fading Memory

It starts with the family forgetting his name or overlooking him at family functions. “Oh, I didn’t see you there” becomes a common phrase, as does “Hey, where did you come from?” Over time, it gets harder to remember the child’s name but the parents cover it up because he looks familiar. The face, the face is familiar. Maybe he’s a friend of one of their other kids? They keep this internalized, trying to never let on, until the blank stares start to linger and the name doesn’t come anymore.

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chapter five Vanishing Act

The child starts to physically fade away, becoming transparent so that other people can’t see him or can’t notice he’s there. He becomes like a ghost, fuzzing into view takes effort. The child feels this; he feels something is wrong. He starts to lose connections with people and places that are new and then the older and stronger ties break. He doesn’t remember his sister. And his sister doesn’t remember him. He disappears from photographs with no trace he was ever in them. Over time, could be days or could be weeks or more, traces of the child’s existence strip away one by one until the child is just a memory. Or worse, not a memory. The kid becomes nothing at all.

Time Jump

Some kids transition from one reality to another, a shift in space, if you will. But others shift in another way; they shift through time. This could be months or years or decades ahead—or behind. One moment, they’re celebrating the first day of summer vacation and the next they’re standing in a foot of snow. All the other effects happen as well: Folks don’t remember them, paperwork and trophies are suddenly missing, but they are not only no longer in our world, they jumped forward or backward in time. Usually, you can count the span that was jumped in weeks but sometimes years or decades pass. A kid who was bragging about his sweet new portable cassette player one moment finds himself standing in front of a kid with the latest generation mp3pod the next.


Whether the child slowly fades from view or seems to vanish in thin air, there is always a reason. Unlike some of the other ways kids go missing, there isn’t necessarily a motive. Kids aren’t forgotten as punishment or to protect them; whatever intention there may be, it isn’t usually that obvious. That doesn’t mean the reasons don’t hurt just as much if not more. Intentional or not, sudden or not, there is a why. Let’s look at some of those below.

Because There is no Love

Children who do not have enough love to keep them rooted here can simply slip away from the world, becoming absorbed into Closetland as a consequence. Not to be overly sentimental, we are talking about severe negligence on the part of the parent or guardian. Children who are left to their own devices for long stretches while daddy bounces between work and the bar, or the mom takes off for three weeks to join her boyfriend halfway round the world while her kids are locked away in an apartment with instruction to “be good” and “don’t answer the door for anybody but me.” These are the children at risk. Family, blood or bond, is what connects us to the world. When that doesn’t exist, there isn’t much to keep us here. Being forgotten isn’t the fate of every neglected child but it’s a risk some run, and others succumb to.

Chemical Eraser

As a corollary to the above, the neglect may not be physical but chemical. Meaning: it isn’t that the parent is away from the kid, working or partying or whatever, but is so insanely out of her head 24/7 that the child isn’t so much as an afterthought. We’ve talked about other side effects of addiction in previous chapters and we can chalk this up to yet another.

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through the cracks (the forgotten) Side Effect of Grief

Say there are these parents, a mom and dad or a mom and mom or a dad and dad, and they have two lovely, bright, healthy children. Then there’s an accident. Doesn’t have to be anyone’s fault. Could be the car hit an ice patch or no one saw the light change. And one of the children dies. The parents fall into depression, a sadness so deep and dark and exhausting, that they fail to recognize the child left behind and can only focus on the child that was taken from them. Or say there is another set of parents. They have a kid too, maybe more than one. But the parents are unhappy. One of them is cheating, thinking of leaving the other. The other knows this and feels paralyzed, completely helpless, and is consumed by despair and coming loss that the child who needs love and attention can’t be seen through the pain. Either of these situations, and others, can result in a withdrawal of love so intense, rooted in pain that runs so deep, the child fades like an old photograph in the background.

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chapter five It’s What Monsters Do

Monsters do all sort of things that mess with children and by pulling a proverbial sack over the child and performing some strange monster hoodoo, some monsters can cause children to be forgotten. Some slowly unravel the bonds that connect the child to his family or the real world like a finger lazily working the laces from a pair of shoes. It takes time but the separation is inevitable. Other monsters rip the child from reality with both claws, pulling the child into the in-between with a sudden jerk. The scab that forms over the cut is bulky, imperfect, and this is the cause for most kids remembering something about their former life but not exactly what.

Act of Mercy

Rumors persist of a monster that makes abusive parents forget they have children. In turn, the child forgets about the abuse. What follows is a clean separation but the child is in the same predicament as the other forgotten: He has no family to turn to, his old life is gone, and he may wander the in-between for eternity. Whether this is the intention of this monster is unknown. Then again, the entire existence of this monster is often doubted.

Cover up a Crime

Sometimes something has been done, an act so terrible and incomprehensible that reality has no choice but to take desperate measures to repair itself. In doing so, it sometimes needs to rearrange people and events as to make things right. If the child was involved in the crime, or was the victim of it, he will have little if any recollection of the event. It will be a black hole in his memory; the harder he focuses on it, the less he will be able to recall. The sense of bewilderment is generally higher when this is the root cause behind the change as the child is completely displaced and has a large (or at least significant) singular event missing from their memory. The lacuna can often cause confusion, dementia, or extreme emotional shifts in the child without explanation or apparent cause.


Being forgotten is a strange and bewildering occurrence, possibly more than any other way a child becomes missing.

Find a Friend

Perhaps he told his story to someone new who wants to help. Or an old friend remembers bits of what the kid said or is convinced by the things the kid wouldn’t know otherwise. Having someone in his corner does wonders for a child who has been forgotten. It validates his suspicion, adds fuel to his fire, and gives him a partner who will stand by him to keep his mind focused on the goal and away from the all-too-easy dips into insanity. Because being forgotten—believing that the world just, oops, doesn’t remember you—is insane. When somebody has your back, this is all a lot easier to face.

Cling to the Fragments

No matter how deep they are buried, every forgotten child has shards of old memory locked away. A child may hang onto those bits of his former life with everything he has. Reclaiming his old family and reinserting himself into his rightful place in reality

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through the cracks (the forgotten) becomes his driving passion. He hunts down every possibility. If there’s a monster that he hears can help him, he will chase that monster down. If there’s a door someone says can tear open reality and let him back through, he will try every knob and latch in Closetland. The child will stalk his old family, call them daily, try to convince them that what they know is wrong and that the child was and is a member of their family. The same goes for his friends who he will remind of all the good times they had, the secrets they shared. During the down moments though, the times when victory seems impossible when his fate seems predetermined, the child will visit old stomping grounds like the sandlot by the old bake shop, his school, and let the feelings of pain and loss wash over him. Maybe he’s tending to the wounds but maybe he’s washing himself of the will to keep fighting.

Go to the Authorities

Going to the authorities is a good option though they will have loads of questions. The kid could fabricate a story about a family that gave him up or about running away. Going this route, he would need to come up with a family name, address, and enough details to satisfy the interrogation and give the authorities enough to proceed with an investigation. Sticking with the truth opens up an entirely different can of worms. They wouldn’t believe the child—though who would?—and would likely treat him as an abuse or mental case. Depending on the child’s emotional state, they may treat him like a drug case though a basic blood test would clear him of that (provided the child isn’t on drugs; if he is, that’s a whole other set of problems). Either option would see the child in the care of professionals in a hospital or care facility. This isn’t a fitting next step for a player character (unless he plans to escape, I suppose) but can make a great back story for a game moderator character.

Start a New Life

Whether he remembers his old life or not, the child may opt to not push against the seemingly overwhelming tide and will surrender to his new life. If he doesn’t go to the authorities as detailed above, perhaps he strikes out on his own. The kid could make new friends, possibly stay with them a while, or live on the street. He could pick up part time work stocking shelves, walking dogs, or something to get some cash into his pocket. This road isn’t easy—and the child will have to become adept at skirting the many issues associated with that life—but it is the option that leads to the least amount of hassling about his past or dealing with monsters (the Closetland variety, anyway).

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chapter five

“I came home and they wouldn’t let me in.”

My mom looked at me like I was crazy. She kept saying, “Devon? Devon who?” My father threatened to call the cops if I didn’t get off the porch. I laughed, thinking it was some sort of weird joke but then I realized they were both serious. I told them who I was but that just made them angrier. “We don’t have a son,” they said. “Never did, never will. Now go!” The look in their eyes told me they believed what they said. I tried to remind them. I told them my entire name, the day I was born, about the house we first lived in, back in Fairfax. “How’d you know about that house?” My mother asked, looking at my father, worried. But the old man shoved me away, told me to go bother someone else. “But Harold, how did he know?” I started to cry, I remember that, once I realized this wasn’t some dumb joke. My father went back into the house. I thought maybe he was going to get his shotgun so I got out of there quick as I could. I thought about going to the police but who would they believe? Me? I don’t think so. I went to some of my old friends and they didn’t remember me either. Except Kara. She looked like maybe she remembered me but then her dad asked her if she knew me and she said no. So, I just started walking. I didn’t have anything on me but what I was wearing. I hid out in some kid’s treehouse, I needed a place to get out of the rain, and one day I ran into the kid by accident and we sorta hit it off. I have new friends now, as much as anyone here is a friend, and sometimes I walk by my house but I haven’t worked up the courage to stop by again. I see my parents sometimes, bringing in groceries. They seem happy. I think my mom noticed me one time—she got this sad look on her face—but that’s it. I don’t know what happened, but I wish it hadn’t.

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through the cracks (the forgotten)

“I couldn’t remember how to get home.”

Most things looked familiar—I remembered the street signs and the big black eagle on the Guevara’s garage door—but other things didn’t. I thought it was winter but it wasn’t. It was really hot, like middle-of-summer hot. How does that happen? How does half a year just disappear? I walked around the block for hours. I thought hard about my name, my last name, and I looked at every mailbox. The ones that didn’t have names on them, I looked inside to see what names were on the envelopes. But then my name went away. I had it. I really did. I had my name but then I didn’t. I stood there, looking at all those houses, knowing one of those roads went by my home but I couldn’t for the life of me remember which one. So I just walked. I walked down some other streets. I thought, “Hey, maybe I was wrong. Maybe that’s not my street.” But the problem is, no matter how much I walked, no matter how many houses I stared at, none of them felt like home. No place feels like home.

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chapter five

“All of a sudden, I was in an empty parking lot.”

Just before, my mom had been on my case about coming home late. She was furious. She was screaming her head off. My little sister came downstairs to see what the problem was and my mom smacked her butt and told her never to come downstairs again. She was really angry. And I don’t even know why. I told her I was going to be late but it didn’t matter. She was always on my case about where I went and who I hung out with. Like it mattered. Like she’d approve of any friends I had. Unless I was buddy-buddy with Brad McCourt and his whole stupid bunch of friends. They were perfect. “They’re a good influence.” Yeah, right. Angels to parents, sure, but not to us kids. Anyway, she was as red as ketchup and ready for round two of telling me how much of a future criminal I am when I started to yell at her and, then, BAM. She was gone. The house was gone. I was in this huge parking lot but there were no cars, nothing. Well, paint lines and those tall lights with cameras but I don’t think there were cameras on those. I mean, I have no idea where I was. Nothing looked familiar. Then I heard some growling come from somewhere, some kinda big dog. So I got outta there. Wandered forever until I found some other people. Same thing had happened to them. So weird. Three months later, I still have no idea how to get back home. At this point, I don’t even remember where home is.

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Chapter six: One of the Missing

chapter six The first five chapters explore the hows and whys of missing children but without the means and reason to use them in your game, as either player characters or GMCs, it’s just information. This next few chapters will make the characters described prior useful to your game by looking at how characters are made and then exploring the world those character inhabit.

Missing Child as Character

Choosing to play a missing child, no matter how he became missing, provides a great roleplaying and storytelling challenge as your character attempts to overcome the sudden turn his life took, learn to trust other characters, and eventually, maybe, find his way back home. If you feel you are up to the challenge, the rules for creating—and tips of playing— any of the five types of Missing, are detailed below, along with rules specific to each type and some tips on bringing the character to life at the table.

Part One: Missing PCs

Most player characters are your average kids; just a gang of well-meaning preadolescents trying to have a good time and take down some monsters. Some kids have heavier things weighing down their shoulders. This may be a shattered home life, an uncertain future, or, in this case, that the child is one of the Missing. Missing player characters are made essentially the same as any other PC, as you will see below.

Choose the Type of Missing

While generally made the same, there are a few specific differences between the five types so decide the type of Missing first. Let’s recap the five types. Abducted: Kidnapped by a friend, family member, or stranger. The key is that the person who took the kid is human. Stolen: Taken by a monster. This could have been in the middle of the night or by a monster masquerading as (but that wasn’t actually) a human being. Runaway: The kid took off, leaving his old life far behind him. He may have slipped out under cover of night or found a way to escape in a public place. Abandoned: For some reason, as a way to unburden themselves or maybe as protection, his family abandoned the child. Forgotten: The kid slipped through the seams between Closetland and our world and has been, at least for the most part, forgotten. If you’re using the Missing character sheet in the back of this book, there is a space for that information; mark it there. Otherwise, you can write in the margins of the regular sheet. But don’t stop there! Generate a little backstory for your character. No single word defines anybody, especially not major characters in the story you and your friends are about to tell. You don’t need to get everything down just yet—you’ll have opportunity to flesh this out when we get the Questionnaire—but knowing a bit about this character will help as we continue along the character creation process.

This is Me

Going along with the character creation rules from Chapter Two of the corebook, the above counts as your character’s Concept. Now write down the character’s name, age, whether the character is a boy or a girl, and his birthday.

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One of the missing Abilities and Traits

Continuing with the steps outlined in the main book, we hit Abilities (the Five Verbs) and Traits (Good and Bad). These are the same; no changes are made other than keeping in mind your character’s present situation when choosing Traits. We’ll get into this more when we get to Qualities.

Virtues

If you want, you can do Belief, Wits, and Spirit the same as regular characters. As an alternative though, you can trade up to three points of spirit for three points you can put into either Belief and/or Wits. This reflects your character’s strengthened resolve and connection to the strange magic of Belief but the backlash it has on his soul. Example: Alex is making a missing kid character. Her name is Tessa and she is a Runaway. Alex decides that Tessa’s had a hard life since leaving her family. She’s made some poor decisions, had to flee from shady characters, and been worn down by the hard life of the streets. She decides to drop her Spirit by 2, giving Tessa an 8 in that Virtue to reflect Tessa’s downward-trending attitude and slowly sinking outlook. She could add two points to Tessa’s Belief or two points to your Wits and give one of them a big bump. Alex decides to split the difference though and add one point to each. Normal rules apply here so a) you cannot go above ten points in Wits and b) if your character’s Spirit dips to four or below, you take the dice penalties to the affected Abilities.

Qualities

Missing kids get the same number of Qualities as other characters. The difference comes in balancing the Qualities the child had before he became missing and those he acquired afterwards. Qualities reflect immediate, useful skills and perhaps are more fluid than presented in the core rulebook. The majority of kids grow in straight lines; a kid who has a knack for sports gets better at sports (if he’s allowed to practice and play) just as a talent for math or science gets better and better as it is nurtured. But missing kids aren’t on a straight course anymore. Sure, your whiz kid character may have been on a path for advanced placement mathematics courses but that goes out the window when a monster nabs him or the boy takes off in the middle of the night. Missing kids rarely have the opportunity to practice those things they previously loved to do and were good at. That said, a kid with a natural athletic ability may be better suited for long travels on foot and fending off potential danger than a bookworm is so maybe he is flexing his native Qualities that way. Or that bookworm may discover previously untapped reserves of endurance and strength he didn’t know before. Such is the way of things. All this may seem tilted toward more physical Qualities as the above examples show. This is true: there isn’t much opportunity for study when you’re on your own. While you probably have the time, what you lack are tools. You can find substitutes for a ball and all you need to exercise is your body. Intellectual pursuits are harder to improvise. Those missing kids who try to stay sharp have well-worn library cards or knacks for finding their reading material in community dumpsters.

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chapter six Stuff

This brings us to Stuff. Missing kids aren’t rolling in cash and usually need things that are portable. If something meant a lot to them, they probably grabbed it if they could. If they didn’t have the time or advance notice, a precious object may have been left behind. The kid may be pursuing this lost object even now, possibly as a means to cope with his new life (or fight his way through it). Just keep in mind that small is best as are things that can be used for different purposes or in different ways. Uni-taskers can be wastes of precious backpack space.

Questionnaire

Finally, we have the Questionnaire which presents the biggest difference between a missing character and a regular one. If you like, you can fill out the original Questionnaire from the main rulebook along with this one or only fill out the questions below. There are some particular to certain types of missing so keep an eye out for those. As with the Questionnaire in the core rulebook, you should answer these questions as your character would, as honestly as you can.

Questions for All

First, we’ll tackle those questions every missing kid should answer.

“What was your life like before?”

Briefly describe your character’s home life and general state of being before he became a missing kid.

“Have you made contact with your old life? If so, how did it go? If not, why not?”

If your character has tried to get in touch with his old family or friends, talk about that here. If he hasn’t tried, what prevents him from doing so?

“Where are you now?”

Your character is no longer abducted but he is not yet home. So where is he? Did your character stumble into Closetland? Does he wander the backroads of some rural township he doesn’t know in hopes of finding a familiar route? Is he stuck in some strange inbetween and can’t tell where he is?

“What have you been doing?”

How does your character spend his time? Is he actively searching for a way back home? Is he living in a part of Closetland that pretends is his home? Has he surrendered to a life of homelessness? Is he living in a shelter?

“Do you want to go back home?”

This may seem like a dumb question but not all kids who were abducted want to necessarily go home. That isn’t to say they wish to stay abducted, just that maybe they want a third option. If your child’s life was hard at home, does he really want to return there? Maybe he’s found friends now, possibly other missing kids, and is doing alright for himself, at least from his perspective.

“If not, why not?”

Why doesn’t your character want to go back home? Was his home life rough before he went missing? Does he think he’s not wanted back home?

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One of the missing Questions for the Abducted and Stolen

The following questions are for abducted and stolen characters.

“Do you know the person/monster who took you? If so, who/what was it?”

A lot of kidnap victims know the person who took them. Was your character taken by a family member, friend, neighbor, complete stranger, someone else? If your character knew the person, say who it was. If you were stolen, had you ever seen the monster before? Do you know why it chose you?

“What happened to that person/monster?”

Does your character know where that person or monster is now? Even if he doesn’t care, knowing what happened to that person and where they are will help if the child is ever able to go to the police.

“How did you get away?”

Somehow, your character went from being abducted to being somewhere else. Did he walk into a shadow? Escape into a closet? Follow a strange creature into the woods? Wake up one day laying in a field surrounded by cat-toothed critters with weepy yellow eyes? Or did he escape while his abductor was sleeping?

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chapter six Questions for the Runaway

The following are for runaway characters only.

“Why did you run away?”

It’s the question on everyone’s mind. What made it so your kid felt he had to leave? You needn’t provide a lot of description, especially if the reason is painful, but a quick summary is good to write down. When other folks hear your character is a runaway, this will probably be the first thing they ask you. You can tell them the truth, sure, or just give some stock answer. Here though, tell the truth, as much as your character is comfortable doing so.

“How do you feel about your decision?”

Does your character regret leaving? Does it still seem like the right thing? A lot of runaways regret giving into their impulse but feel it’s too late to turn back. Is this in line with what your character feels?

Questions for the Abandoned and Forgotten

The following questions are for Abandoned and Forgotten characters only.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Both abandoned and forgotten kids were pushed out of their old lives. What’s the last solid memory of his old life he has? Why does that memory stick with him?

“Why do you think it happened?”

Does your character have any clue as to why his family abandoned him or the world forgot him? Think back: Were there any clues this was going to happen? This isn’t to say your character should have seen this coming or is somehow at fault but this kind of reflection could provide some insight into how to reclaim his former life (if he wants to).

Part Two: Being the Missing

Choosing to play a missing child, no matter how he became missing, provides a great roleplaying and storytelling challenge as your character attempts to overcome the sudden turn his life took, learn to trust other characters, and eventually, maybe, find his way back home. I won’t pretend I know anything about what is must be like for real life kids who have been abducted. But I know a bit about making characters, so I will offer the following:

He’s a Survivor

Your kid’s a survivor. He has to be or he never would have come out of this sane (or in any condition befitting a player character). Keep this in mind when you’re picking Qualities and Traits.

Trust Comes Hard

Abducted children have had the floor fall out from under them in the trust department. More often than not, they have a real difficult time believing people—even (maybe especially) other kids—and will view folks with heaps of distrust. Having been abducted is going to have psychological effects on your character for the rest of his life, certainly, but loss of trust is an acute effect he will need to deal with now. He may sleep with one eye open or not be able to have his back to the door. He may be uncomfortable in large crowds, where abductors hide.

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One of the missing He is Now “One of Those Kids”

Folks who know what happened to your child will now look upon him with pity and he will have to cope with being treated that way. Some kids may relish it while others just wish the whispers and stares would stop and life could just get back to, well, not normal but not this.

He is Hiding Something

You may not know what it is. He may never talk about it. He may claim nothing’s wrong but he’s lying. He’s hiding the truth at the very least. Every missing kid has some secret buried deep inside them: a feeling he keeps bottled up, the whole story as to why he ran away, the real reason he won’t go back home. Keep this in mind and figure out some area or topic of discussion your kid considers off limits. He may react violently if the subject is brought up or he may go stone quiet and stare coldly at the person asking until they change the topic.

Part Three: Missing GMCs

Missing characters make engaging characters for the game moderator as well. Now, this part of the chapter will look at Missing GMCs in general, using the Simplified GMC rules from the main rulebook. The next two parts, though, present Missing GMCs using two new sets of GMC rules (that you can use for any other type of GMC as well).

Introducing a Missing GMC

We’ve talked a fair bit about missing kids as player characters but missing kids make interesting game moderator characters as well. As the GM, placing a missing kid at the center of a mystery (as we will in the included episode “The Long Way Home”) can make for an intriguing, engaging scenario. But missing kids don’t have to be plot devices; they could simply be interesting people the player characters know. This gives them long-term use in your story, from a dramatic as well as practical standpoint.

How They Help

Missing kids have connections to both the people and groups in the next chapter but ties to Closetland as well. Some live there still, after all. Kids who are forgotten have no paper trail and are more likely to help out in those less-than-legal situations such as breaking into a locked house or picking a key from someone’s pocket. Not that they won’t get in trouble for it. Sure, there may be no one to ground them but breaking the law is breaking law, no matter how confusing the lack of any records may be. Even with that in mind, though, some forgotten kids have a brazen stage following the realization of their situation and become bigger risk-takers.

How They Hinder

Some missing kids are being hunted by monsters. Others have their parents and/or authorities actively looking for him. Lots of folks pass those “Missing” posters every day without a glance but the image sticks with some and if those folks see that kid wandering around in broad daylight, they’ll likely call the police (or at least call out for the kid, drawing more attention to him).

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chapter six The Threats They Present

As you’ll see in later chapters, a world of trouble awaits—and at times actively pursues—missing kids. Having one among your number opens you up to those dangers. To the monsters after missing kids, any associations the kids have are obstacles to be overcome in the best light and collateral damage in the worst. An inclination to help a missing kid is natural but it attracts a whole bunch of danger. If the kid was stolen, the monster who took him may be looking for him. If the monster finds him hanging out with a bunch of other kids, the monster may snatch up the whole lot. If the kid was abducted and runs across the person who did it, that person may decide the friends of that missing kid know too much and need to be silenced. Abandoned kids and runaways present threats from associations they have made during their time as a missing kid, the same as other types of missing. Forgotten kids pose a unique type of threat in that those who associate with them too closely or for too long run the risk of becoming forgotten themselves.

What Can Be Done

Most folks hear about a missing kid and want to fix it. Whatever happened, you want to set things right. Adults with decades of life experience under your belt struggle to help those in need, even if they have connections with folks like cops and social workers. When you’re a kid with less than thirteen years on earth and very little, if any, credibility with authority figures, the idea of helping a fellow kid seems easy and impossible all at the same time. So, what can your characters do to help missing kids?

Save the Kid

Saving a kid isn’t always easy. For some, you only need to reunite the kid with his family. This holds true for the abducted, stolen, and runaways especially. Healing the wounds that caused the latter is another story and likely one the cast will only be able to assist with, not do entirely on their own. For the most part, abducted and stolen kids want to be reunited. Something interrupted their normal life and caused a huge disruption. Reconnection goes a long way toward fixing that. Runaways may have had good reason for leaving, and maybe that can be repaired or the situation explained to someone who can affect change, but sometimes kids runaway for poor reasons and only need to be talked to in order to bridge the emotional gap that led to their running away. Abandoned kids are another story. We’re talking forceful rejection or removal from a family unit. How do you heal that? How does a kid learn to trust again? Solve that first or any second step won’t last. Once that’s done, it’s not as easy as placing the kid back in his original family but maybe they can find another family, either legally or just by accepting other people into their lives again. Sometimes saving a kid means getting them back to their old life. Sometimes it’s a matter of helping them find peace with their new life (a luxury fictional characters have over real life missing children). No one true path exists but all resolutions begin with trust and understanding. Once those are established, the rest will grow from there.

Protect the Kid

If the kid is in immediate danger, you can use your strength in numbers to protect the kid. Missing kids often form loose-knit networks but having a group of friends who have

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One of the missing your back is invaluable. The threats coming after the kid can be monstrous or mundane, from creatures who want to drag him back to their awaiting cages to helping the kid get a hot meal. Kids new to their missing life need even more help as they haven’t learned the hard lessons those who have spent longer on their own have and could use a leg up.

Missing as Bad Guys

Not every missing kid is here to be saved or wants to pal around with the player characters.

Bad Seed

The missing kid may pretend to be friends with the group in order to get something, such as information or protection, but will turn his back as soon as he can, or he could be recruiting for the person or monster that took him, possibly in exchange for his own freedom.

Unwelcome Reminder

It could be the player characters remind the missing kid of his life before and the association is not a good one. Maybe one of the PCs looks like a runaway’s brother, the cast is from the stolen kid’s hometown (which he blames for what happened), or it’s just a matter of the missing not wanting to be reminded about his life before or the other world.

Part Four: Expanded GMCs

The original GMC rules came in two flavors: fully-fleshed out characters made the same as the cast members and quick-and-dirty GMCs that acted as a set of obstacles rather than characters. While the simplified rules worked well for characters such as teacher, cops, and babysitters that the cast needed to outsmart or otherwise best in order to reach their goal, the rules didn’t allow for game moderator characters with some more meat, those such as older brothers and sisters who were obstacles sometimes but assets other times. These new rules, detailed below, give you the tools to create Friendly GMCs as well as Hostile GMCs and straddle the fence between the simplified rules and the full characters. Note: These rules apply only to people and animals. Monsters should always be built using the monster rules in the main rulebook.

GMC Type

There are two types of expanded GMCs: Friendly and Hostile. Let’s look at each.

Friendly GMCs

Friendly GMCs are what you expect: men and women, boys and girls, teens and tweens who, when push comes to shove, are on the player characters’ side. This alliance may be reluctant, as in the case of the exasperated older sister who really doesn’t want to spend her Saturday escorting her little brother around the mall—especially when her friends are there—or the neighbor who is a grump, sure, but doesn’t want to see any children hurt (just off his lawn and not peddling their “devil cookies” on his doorstep). It may be against what the cast wants but is in their “best interest,” such as the security guard who prevents the kids from entering the museum even if, yes, the statues are going to come to life and eat the guard whole or the teacher who keeps a child after class to clean the blackboard in order to instill some sense of discipline into him. No matter the expression of their

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chapter six alliance, Friendly GMCs look out for the characters, possibly in a flawed or incompetent manner at times.

Hostile GMCs

Now, “hostile” in this sense doesn’t necessarily mean the character is actively attempting to harm a player character, just that this GMC does not have the character’s best interest at heart. This GMC may act like an enemy, taunting and threatening the cast, or be a wolf in sheep’s clothing and pretend he’s on the cast’s side, possibly not reveal his ultimate deceit until many episodes (or seasons!) into the series. As with Friendly GMCs detailed above, this new method of devising GMCs hits the halfway point between the simplified rules presented in the core book and the full-fledged character generation. Hostile GMCs are also made with the express purpose they are working against the player characters, again even if not overtly.

Making an Expanded GMC

Let’s look at how you create an expanded GMC. An example follows along with these instructions to show how these rules and guidelines are put into use. Afterwards, we’ll go over how these pieces work in play.

Brief Description

Who is this character? Give the character a name—if he warrants a higher level of system function, he probably deserves a name beyond his job description. Also mark whether he’s Friendly or Hostile. Mark what they really are, not necessarily how they will present themselves to the group.

GMC Abilities

Expanded GMCs have three Abilities, rated from 1 to 6. These Abilities are Think, Do, and Feel. Think: Any time an GMC needs to outwit someone, remember some obscure fact, or work through a puzzle, use this Ability. Do: Any action, from climbing to fighting to skipping rocks is handled by this Ability. Feel: Anything to do with emotion, intuition, or tugging at heartstrings is covered under this Ability. These are more general than the Abilities full characters have and that’s by design. While this may make them better overall, it’s also harder for them to be as good at stuff as full characters. Also, this allows for much less handling time which is key when coming up with GMCs on the fly. These Abilities are rated 1 to 6 just like regular Abilities. As with the Abilities of standard characters, each Ability starts with one point already in it. You have a number of points you can use to increase each of these Abilities. The number of points you have to spend on them depends on how important the GMC is intended to be. As a general rule, an expanded GMC gets 9 points to divide amongst those three. If you want a bit stronger, bump that to 12. A little weaker, drop it to 6. 12 is good for adults, especially ones intended to be tough or imposing. Little kids may only warrant 6. But age isn’t the big deciding factor. What’s important here is how long you want the GMC to stay in play and how much of an influence she should have on the other characters.

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One of the missing Example: Let’s make a big sister. Now, she isn’t your usual just-wants-to-rat-out-heryounger-brother-and-hang-at-the-mall big sister character. She likes her brother—who is one of the player characters—and may even accompany him on some of his adventures. She’s 16, just got her license, and doesn’t mind carting her brother and his friends around too much. I’ll name her Marilyn. Marilyn is your average teen so I’ll give her 9 points. Her Think, Do, and Feel already have one point in them. She’s smart but not brainy, so I’ll add 2 points to her Think which gives her a total of 3. She’s physical, runs track on the school team, so I’ll drop 4 points into Do. That gives her a total of 5. I have 3 points left and put them into Feel, giving her a total of 4 in that Ability. That probably explains her soft spot for her brother. Think: ØØØOOO Do: ØØØØØO Feel: ØØØØOO

Qualities

Each expanded GMC gets three points’ worth of Qualities. You can choose one of the following ways of splitting up those points: one 3-point Quality; one 2-point Quality and one 1-point Quality, or; three 1-point Qualities. Use the rules for Qualities as you do with player characters though one of the Qualities must be: I am [blank]. Fill in the blank with a brief one- to three-word description of the character. “I am a cop” or “I am a librarian” or “I am the neighborhood bully” are good examples. Example: For Marilyn, I choose one 2-point Quality and one 1-point Quality. I’ll start with the required Quality, and I’ll drop in my initial concept for her. For the second, I already know she’s an athlete so I’ll use that. I put down: I am Mike’s teenage sister ØØ I run track Ø The first Quality allows her to put some authority behind any attempts to direct her brother or get someone to help. It also covers the fact she’s older and is a bit more respected by folks like mall security. Well, at the very least they won’t dismiss her as easily as they would her younger brother. The second reflects her athletic nature and will definitely come in handy if she needs to go somewhere (or get away from someone) in a hurry.

Weaknesses

As with simplified GMCs from the main rulebook, expanded GMCs have Weaknesses. This can be social, mental, or physical drawbacks that hold the character back in some way. These needn’t be that broad, but should be something that could come into play and not have a lot of qualifications or special circumstances. You can choose either one 2-point Weakness, which would be severe, or two 1-point Weaknesses, which is a pair of mild ones. Example: I’ve already established Marilyn has a soft spot for her brother and I don’t mind making that a Weakness but I feel putting two points into it is a bit much. I’ll take it as a 1-point Weakness instead and give her along with “Doesn’t like attention” at 1. The girl gets uncomfortable when folks pay her too much attention, even when running track. It looks like: Soft spot for her brother -1 Doesn’t like attention -1

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chapter six Health

Expanded GMCs have Health, same as player characters and monsters. Double the GMC’s highest Quality and add that to 8. That number is the character’s Health. Example: Marilyn’s highest Ability is Do, which is rated at 5. I double that and get 10. 10 plus 8 is 18 so I write 18 next to her Health.

Goals

If you foresee the expanded GMC sticking around or being a big part of the story (or they become one whether planned or not), give the GMC some Goals, same as you would player characters. Rate it at 1 (if a minor goal or relatively easy to accomplish in a session or two) or 2 (if it’s a big deal to the character or really hard to do). Example: For Marilyn, I put down a single 1-point Goal. “Prove to her father she’s a good driver.” I like that: It speaks to a family connection and is attainable under the right circumstances. If Marilyn keeps coming up in the story, does some amazing things during a session, or becomes a character I really like, I may give her more. The more Goals you give, the more the character can get better, earning them more time with the player characters. And that’s it. Marilyn is done and ready to take her brother out for ice cream.

Expanded GMC Rules

Not a lot is different. Expanded GMCs use the same rules as regular character, just in abbreviated form. When an expanded GMC tries something, roll a number of dice equal to the relevant Ability and add the Quality if it makes sense. If a Weakness applies, drop the total number of a dice rolled by 1 or 2 points (whichever number the Weakness is rated at). An expanded GMC takes damage per usual, except the damage comes out of a general pool, instead of health levels as it does with player characters. Expanded GMCs gain Playaround Points by completing Goals, and upgrade their Abilities and such the same as player characters. There ya go. That’s how you make and use an expanded GMC.

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Chapter seven: the world around you

chapter seven The life of a missing kid is hard, no two ways about it. Aside from the uncertainty of his future and questions about his past, he has his present to face. In order to help your missing kid character make sense of things, let’s take a look at the part of the world that applies directly to him. We’ll look at places in the real world (good and bad), places in Closetland (ditto), as well as the world known as the in-between.

Part One: The Real World

For those kids not trapped in the world of monsters or stuck in the twilight zone that is the in-between, the real world is one that children, missing or not, need to contend with on a daily basis. Regular kids have their routine: wake up, go to school, do homework, play with friends, eat supper, watch television, go to bed, repeat. But missing kids, who spend an inordinate amount of time without predictable routines, shelter, and people to watch over them, have to take care of themselves. Knowing the right people is key to survival as is knowing the right places. Here are some places kids can find shelter and protection in the real world. While these are written with the missing in mind, regular kids can use these as well, for the most part anyway.

Community Centers

Kids in trouble, or who need to hide out for a while, can find safety in community centers, boys and girls clubs, and youth outreach centers. With the corporatization some of the larger community associations have undergone in recent decades, their doors are now closed to non-members, but local, smaller centers are still welcoming. Community centers have a wealth of programs, focused on social growth and harmony, and many of them have religious affiliation (though are rarely exclusive). Youth clubs are mostly open afterschool hours and weekends, giving latchkey kids and others a safe place to play some sports, surf the internet, do homework, and hang out with friends. Youth outreach centers focus on at-risk children, those in economically-depressed areas, who live in areas with high levels of crime, drug addiction, and teen pregnancy. These centers strive to provide positive role models and instill a heavy dose of self-esteem in its charges.

Church

Depending on where the game takes place, the local churches may keep their doors open all day and night, providing a spiritual rest stop to any lost and weary souls in need of solace or shelter. Beyond the obvious religious guidance they offer, local church officials can also give references for food banks, the names of people who may be able to provide a meal, a shower, and a warm bed, or an open ear for any child who needs to unburden his soul (or talk frankly about his current situation).

A Friend’s House

A friend’s house can be a safe place, particularly for runaways who want to lay low for a few days or reconnect with a familiar face after being away for a while. While these places are safe, from the perspective that your friend will feed you and keep any secrets you tell, everything else about this can get messy quickly. If his parents don’t like you, they may call the authorities, or your parents, without waiting to hear your story. They don’t care if you have a good reason; they only know

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the world around you something’s wrong and they don’t want you dragging their child into your mess. If the parents do like you, they may still call the authorities—to make sure you get home safe, are taken care of—though they will probably listen to what you have to say first and may be persuaded to hold off making that phone call.

Part Two: The World Between

The in-between is a fabled place. Most kids think Closetland butts up right next to the real world, clean and close, but the seam isn’t perfect and gaps exist. These gaps form the in-between, a place that exists in both while neither at the same time. Kids in the in-between can glimpse both worlds, the real and the one for monsters, and interact in limited ways though the longer they spend in neither world, the harder it is to do so—and the harder it is to escape.

Getting Into the In-Between

There are three ways a child can enter the in-between: intentionally, by accident, and by being forgotten. Forgotten children make up most of the population. Though, really, population is perhaps too leading of a term. Kids live in the forgotten but it’s not like they have houses and friends and do stuff on the weekends. You know that feeling of waking up in the middle of a dream, and your head’s foggy and reality shifts in and out of focus for a bit before your brain kicks into gear. That feeling between sleeping and starting to wake is what it’s like in the in-between. You glimpse the neighboring realities of the real world and Closetland but do not exist in either. Intentional cross-overs are often in pursuit of a friend who has gone missing, to save a forgotten child, or retrieve an artifact. Usually this is a matter of finding a weak spot, of “sensing” an area where the real world is a bit thinner than normal, and forcing your will into it. To find the weak spot, meet or beat a difficulty of 12 with a Care check. Failing bumps the difficulty up one level to a maximum of 18. Once the weak spot is found, you need to push your way through it. To do so, make a cross-over check: meet or beat a difficulty of 12 with a Spirit check. Once a weak spot is found by one kid, other kids can enter through the same spot just by succeeding in a cross-over check. If more than three kids are attempting at the same time, drop the difficulty from 12 to 9. The collective will gives them an advantage. Kids learn about this trick through folklore, the stories they tell each other from friends of friends of friends—and, remember, Belief has power. When enough kids think something is done one way, that thing can then be done that way. The difficulty numbers are game-knowledge, of course; what the kids know is: “You need to concentrate in order to find it. Once you feel like you’re in the right spot, you imagine yourself entering a magical place.” That’s how it usually plays out in the fiction, anyway. There are a couple well-documented (or at least well-rumored) weak spots that are often also the site of a number of bizarre happenings. As a weak spot is used again and again, it becomes so thin that kids can walk into the in-between without trying. These weak spots also allow some of the spirits stuck in the in-between to menace the real world, which can be the case behind such instances as poltergeists and cold spots.

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chapter seven Kids who cross over by accident, tend to do so by being too close to someone who is crossing over intentionally, someone who is forgotten, or they happen to stumble through a weak spot that has been used too much and has grown frayed. Some children can enter the in-between whenever and wherever they wish, such as Mabel Mae Belle, who you will meet soon.

The Halfway House

The Halfway House, so called because it exists halfway between the real world and Closetland, has sat abandoned since who knows when. It’s not a bad looking place. Whoever lived there last took good care of it but with no one to oil its wooden pillars and door frames or dust its many cabinets and built-in cupboards or tend to its lawn, it can’t help but look aged. How this house became abandoned is unknown by most kids but the truth is rather mundane. Built in the late 1880s, the house passed through four generations of the Muldoon family, before Harold Muldoon the last owner, passed away. Harold’s grandparents, Henrietta and Ford Muldoon, expanded the back of the house during their time while Harold’s parents, Harold, Sr. and Margarita Muldoon, put on the second level back in the 1950s. Harold’s parents passed away in 1969 and 73, respectively. Harold took over the house soon after his papa died and, a reclusive gent who never married or fathered children, had no one to inherit the house when he succumbed to lung cancer in the summer of 1993. Of course, that’s the story the paper trail tells. The one passed around the campfire is a bit more supernatural in its telling of events. The Muldoon part sticks—that’s the faded name on the mailbox anyway—but kids swear up and down that the house was built as a prison for some angry spirits who burst through the ground back during the Civil War and killed hundreds of people. The WayBack-When Muldoons, it is said, used strange magic and maybe even a pact with the devil to lock the ghosts in the house and contain them there forever. The ghosts haunted the Muldoon family every day after that, turning every one of them mad eventually, until Harold Muldoon (sometimes called Jeb, Epidiah, Raymond, Joshua, and a million other names) summoned a ghost powerful enough to take them all on. The big bad ghost took over Harold’s body and blasted the angry spirits to smithereens. But the ghost’s power was too much for Harold and, when the battle was over, the man exploded in a huge fireball of ghostly energy. It was like a mushroom cloud, so strong that it ripped a whole in our world. And that’s how it happened, according to the stories. Whichever beginnings you believe, the current-day truth remains the same: When you are within its walls, you are in the in-between. But more than that, there is a visible line that separates the front of the house (the real world) from the back (Closetland). There is a distinct difference between the two halves. The interior looks normal enough but appearances deceive in this case. When you look out the windows in the front of the house, you see the real world. The people in the real world, though, don’t see you. All they see is an empty house—unless you will otherwise (using the same rules discussed above). When you look out the windows in the back, you see Closetland. The real world is always the same real world (and it’s up to the game moderator and/or the players to determine the specifics of this). The area of Closetland

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the world around you Thing About Houses

Houses tend to crop up in monster lore, from haunted houses to Mother’s house to Baba Yaga’s chicken-legged shack to the Halfway House. What is it about structures intended for the living that attract so much strangeness? It’s hard to say. It may be that they’re enclosed structures and spirits, bad energy, or whatever force is at work finds it hard to escape. Could also be that houses, especially flat-fronted bi-levels, cut imposing images, especially when seated at the end of a dimly-lit cul-de-sac. Who can say how much fear and Belief has been pumped into houses over the ages. No matter, houses are classic horror images and I hope you enjoy the one described above. you see tends to change. Opening and closing the front door triggers this change. That action serves as a reset switch. Anyone staring out the back window when someone else sets off the change will see a flash to black and suddenly a new view of the world of monsters. Here’s the thing though: Kids who step through the back door into Closetland can be left behind by this. If someone opens and closes the front door while a child is outside the back of the dwelling, the Halfway House will vanish, magically transported to some other location in Closetland. So be careful, kids. For whatever reason, the magic is contained to the house. When you’re outside, you’re either in the real world (if you didn’t cross over) or Closetland (if you did). Only the house is in the in-between.

The Crack in the Grass

No, you read that right. The crack in the grass is found within a massive field that is as long and green as far as the eye can see. Somewhere in it though, between one perfect line of blades and another, is a crack in the earth. It runs about three feet long and only an inch or so across at its widest point but its physical dimensions aren’t what matter. What’s important are its psychical dimensions. You’ll know you’re close when you enter a grassy field in the real world and suddenly everything around you disappears. Any green plain works, provided it’s about an acre or so of land. This can be a lawn, an unturned stretch of farmland, a sports field (or collection of sports fields such as a community park might offer). When the hustle and bustle up and leaves though, you’ll know you’re close to the crack. This magic fissure does not transport you physically into the in-between which makes it unique amongst the other ways kids cross over. To cross, you have to will your way through it, same as most ways. Meet or beat a Spirit check against 15 if you’re anywhere in the field or 9 if you’re standing on the line. You can only find the line by searching for it, which is time-consuming but not impossible. If successful, your body drops like a stone and your consciousness enters the in-between. When you do, you drop out of the illusion of the neverending field back into the inbetween version of wherever you started (the lawn, farmland, whatever). You are free to move around from there.

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chapter seven

What’s the benefit of crossing over here instead of another place? Since your spiritual energy is not contained within a mortal shell, you’re more powerful. This means you can drop attempts to do stuff, such as speak or interact with folks in either neighboring world, you lower the difficulty by one level. The downside is that your body is vulnerable to any people, monsters, or animals that wander by. It’s a smart idea to have someone with you to protect your body.

Where Monsters Come Through

When monsters step into our world from Closetland, they open a temporary tear in both realities. When a monster continually goes in and out of the same spot, that area can become weak the same as anywhere else. Also, though, if a kid tries to follow a monster from the real world to Closetland (or vice versa) but the rip mends itself at just the right moment, the kid can become stuck in between the worlds. And by “in between” I mean “the in-between.” Be wary following monsters.

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the world around you Living in the In-Between

As stated, the in-between feels more like a state of mind than a physical location, which may as well be true. Kids stuck in the in-between can see into both worlds, like looking through the curtains at the outside world. In the in-between, you can speak to those on the other sides, either the real world or Closetland, but your voice is weak, a faint echo, unless you put your will behind it by meeting or beating a difficulty of 9 with a Spirit check. If you really try, you can make your voice as clear as if you were standing next to the person you’re speaking to (a difficulty of 12). If you get a Passing Grade, you can manifest physically as well, usually just your face and upper torso. With two Passing Grades, you can interact with physical objects, much like a poltergeist. You can move pennies across a table or knock a lamp over. (You can also do it with one Passing Grade if you choose not to appear physically.) If you entered spiritually, such as through the crack in the grass, lower each of those difficulties by one level (which is three points). In the in-between, you’re free to move around. You’re not stuck in a single spot. When you walk, you see the real world out of one eye and Closetland out of another. The image is hazy, fuzzy, but will become crisper if you turn both eyes toward it (or walk around with one eye closed). In that way, moving through the in-between is like being in a video game with a really poor camera system, or walking with clumsy, robotic legs. It’s disorienting but you can get used to it. Otherwise, the topologies are the same. The real world is the real, Closetland is the world of monsters. And, you, you are like a ghost, living inside both worlds at once.

Aging in the In-Between

Strange thing about the in-between: some kids age and others don’t. Why do some kids age and others don’t? Don’t know. The in-between has laws but only sometimes feels like obeying them. You don’t get hungry in the in-between. You don’t have to use the bathroom either. Your teeth don’t rot and fall out because you’re not brushing them. These are three of the many strange side effects of being stuck between worlds.

Other In-Between Kids

Folks in the in-between will sometimes run into other stuck kids. They can interact just as they would if both were in the real world or both were in Closetland. They are, after all, in the same world. When a kid in the in-between meets someone who crossed over spiritually, not physically, the other kid looks like a ghost. The kid has the outline of a body but he isn’t solid. The two kids can talk to each other just fine though.

In-Between Adults

Kids aren’t the only ones who slip into the in-between; some adults do as well. Plus, some kids continue to age in the in-between, meaning they crossed over young but may now be grown-ups. Those who stay a long time have a harder time getting out, and some are driven a bit mad by the experience, but there seem to be no longterm effects outside those.

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chapter seven Getting Out of the In-Between

You can get in, you can look around, you can do whatever you like. Getting out is the issue. Escaping is problematic because the gaps are not static. The space between the real world and Closetland undulates, creating little ripples that form the gaps. This means you have to find one of those gaps again and try to break through. You can get out, but you have to anchor yourself to someone (or something) that exists fully in one of those worlds while standing in the gap. This means you have to physically take hold of the person or thing in the other world and latch onto it, using their physical force and your will to break free. Here’s how it works, with game terms included: First, you have to find the gaps and make that initial breakthrough. Punching a hole into the webbing around the in-between falls on you. You find gaps not through physical touch but by gut feeling. If you close your eyes, clear your thoughts, and focus real hard, you can sense the areas that are weakest. (Care check versus 12. Bump up a difficulty level if there are a lot of distractions.) You can also sense slight separations which make it possible to find small openings and follow them to where they are widest. (Two care checks versus 9. Both must be successful or the first one must get a Passing Grade.) Once there, you have to get yourself physically ready to leave. While a physical move, it’s really a matter of will. Meet or beat a difficulty of 12 to punch through. Then grab onto a person or thing in whichever world you wish to enter (usually the real world but it could well be Closetland, depending on your goal here) and will yourself into that other world. In game terms, this requires a Spirit check against a base difficulty of 12 if the kid has been there less than a day (24 hours, not a calendar day). If between a day and a week, bump it to 15. If the kid’s been in the in-between for over a week, it will take meeting or beating a difficulty of 18 in order to escape. This would be a good time to have a bunch of friends putting their Belief in the kid who is trying to escape. Each places his hands on the kid’s wrists, all pulling in unison, hoping in themselves and the kid. If the kids succeed in their rescue, it looks a lot like pulling something through a wall of gelatin. Except the gelatin isn’t some tasty, jiggly treat but the weakened fabric of reality. The longer you have been in there, the thicker and stickier the threads will be, wrapping themselves around your wrists and legs as the in-between tries to pull you back in. As said before, a kid stuck in the in-between can grab onto a thing such as a passing bicycle or a table leg but that thing can’t help you. Even a moving object, such as that bike, can’t help you. This isn’t a matter of physical law but of willpower. You can take hold of a monster, who may try to drag you out for its own purposes but, again, it can’t help you. (In fact, a monster may resist by trying to push you back into the gap.) It all falls on your kid to break free from the in-between, with maybe some Belief to aid him.

Is The In-Between a Good Place?

The in-between doesn’t have a side in the world of people versus the world of monsters. It’s more of a side effect of those two not getting along. It just is, and it accepts that. Some see the In-Between as a place bad people go, some see it is a safe haven they can slip into when the need arises. While not expressly a good place, it’s not necessarily a bad one either.

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the world around you How Kids Get Stuck

So, if it’s as easy as grabbing onto a thing and putting all your willpower into wanting out, how is it possible that kids get stuck? First, most kids who slip into the in-between spend a good amount of time bewildered by what has happened. A lot of them don’t even realize anything weird has occurred for a good couple hours. If the kid slipped while sleeping, he may already have been stuck for eight hours before he even starts to realize anything has happened. Second, once realized, it’s not like there’s a manual telling them what I just told you above. How are they supposed to know they only just really need to want out? Or that they have to anchor themselves? Usually, kids who get stuck need to hear from someone else how to get out. Some may intuit the action, or they may just hope against hope that wanting out is enough, but most have to hear from someone else. And those who don’t wander confused, desperate to connect with people on the other sides.

Part Three: Hiding Places

Very few places inside Closetland are safe. Every kid knows this. But what fewer kids know is that there are havens, places empowered by what good exists in the world or by something a child is willing to give up, that can protect a child in need. Most of these have fixed locations, or what passes as fixed in the world of monsters, while some appear in times of need.

The Big Domino

Found within one of Closetland’s more suburban-looking areas, the Big Domino sits across two uneven stones, not unlike a piece from Stonehenge, though quite a bit shorter. The flat slab is about a foot thick, seven feet long, and four feet wide. While the slab was obviously cut or otherwise formed by a stoneworker, the rocks it sits across are natural formations, still mostly round with only their peaks flattened. One is about three feet tall with the other easily cresting four. This gives the Big Domino a severe slant but the structure shows no sign of slipping anytime soon. If anyone tries to move it, he will find the slab is rooted in its spot. Obviously not actually a playing piece from the classic game, this giant brick gets its name from the deep pocks along its surface. Four round divots mark the stone’s flat, upward-pointing face, two on each side. When these craters fill with water, whether rain, tears, or poured from a bottle, the stone generates an invisible field around itself. Anyone standing next to or under the slab cannot be found by anyone, monsters or man. The formation becomes invisible as well, but neither the stone nor the people around it become insubstantial, meaning monsters or people can still bump into it. If it’s snowing, piles may collect on it, giving away its form. As mentioned above, precipitation can trigger the Big Domino’s power even if no one is around to take advantage of it.

The Ash Pile

The Ash Pile or, simply, “The Ashes” is legendary. And like most legends, it’s hard to find. Seeking it out doesn’t seem to help; kids will find it when they need to.. The Ash Pile is literally a pile of burned remains. Most of it came directly from wood, some indirectly (paper), and some of it is old clothing, blankets, and whatnot.

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chapter seven The mound is impressive. It stands seven feet, easily, and as much in diameter. Some of the ash is still smouldering, with areas flaring into flames sporadically, and while it’s not too hot to touch, it’s definitely warm. The Ash Pile is tightly packed. You have to dig your hands into it really hard in order to scoop some out—even the strongest wind lifts only scant sediment from its bulk—but its density is the least of its magical abilities. When a child is covered in its ash, they are invisible to monsters, as is anything they put the ash on. You need to use a bit of ash—a smudge won’t cut it. But a faint dusting makes you completely invisible. Marking your face with symbols or patterns confuses monsters. The monster may ignore you, thinking it doesn’t want to mess with anything it doesn’t understand, or the monster may become enraged, angered that something dares challenge its intelligence. Kids on the run from monsters, particularly a former-stolen escapee, may dive into the ash pile. It’s an understandable impulse. Take this important note, though, that using too much, or using the ashes too often, may cause you to become invisible to your friends, possibly turning you into one of the forgotten.

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the world around you Part Four: Places to Avoid

Lots of places exist where children would do well to cross the street before passing but the places talked about here are particularly nasty and have direct ties to missing children. The missing would do well to stay away from these places. Legends persist, which means at least someone has survived the wickedness of these places but that doesn’t mean a lot of them have.

The Nowhere

Any intersection in the real world will do. Anywhere two roads cross can become the Nowhere. You’ll know it when the sound dampens, like water filling your ears, and everything in front of you goes swimmy. The people around you, even those you know, will morph into terrible beasts. Giants with slavering jaws, feral creatures with glowing eyes and acid spit, mean-faced girls and misshapen boys who want to harm you with sticks, stones, and words. And you start to feel weak, sick as the world comes crushing down around you. You know only one thing: Fear. You want only one thing: Escape. The fewer connections you have to the real world—the fewer family members, the fewer close friends—the more severe this sensation is. For the abandoned and the runaways especially, the sensation brings sharp physical pain, body aches and shivers, and causes even the most stoic kid to curl up into the fetal position and sob. As this first wave passes, the feeling of paranoia and accusations toward the others comes. You still feel the pain but it becomes secondary to survival. You have to get away from the monsters—or get them before they get you. You run, and if they grab you, you fight, bite, kick, punch, anything to get away. What’s happening isn’t real but you don’t know that at the time. You can’t think straight, can’t parse out that anything weird is happening. All you know is the immediate. Somehow monsters descended upon you. This usually only affects one person at a time. Those who witness someone succumbing to the Nowhere often feel helpless, unsure, as their friend collapses suddenly, starts crying and accusing others of being monsters. You reach out to them and they resist, get violent, and the look in their eyes goes dark as hatred fills their every glance, every word. The Nowhere will latch onto its victims like a parasite. Wherever the victim moves, the Nowhere follows. The only way to save the person is through Belief. Three people must Believe in the victim (give a Belief token to the character) in order to establish the realworld ties required to repel the Nowhere. This clues the victim into the fact something strange is happening (though not exactly what). The victim feels as though his body has been hijacked and he is viewing himself from the third-person. If three people each chipped in one Belief, the victim gets two chances to break the connection. Meeting or beating a 12 with a Think or Fight check (victim’s choice) snaps the ties and the person slowly comes around. For every extra Belief token, whether from an additional person putting in a token, somebody putting in two or more tokens, or a mix of those, the victim rolls an extra die. Missing kids need to meet or beat a 15 as their connection to the real world is already strained. Telling that someone has stepped into the Nowhere is hard. The person shows symptoms, sure, but he can’t communicate what has happened to him. Stories of the

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chapter seven Nowhere creep up here and there—most attribute it to bad fairy magic—but the only way to be one hundred percent certain it’s the Nowhere and not something else is to step into the in-between. By stepping into the in-between you can see the thin, web-like thread that connects the victim to the physical location they came into contact with the Nowhere. Each end of the thread, both at the place the person stepped into it and on the person himself, looks like a nerve cluster, a bundle of knotty threads and jumbled webbing. You usually see this attached to the person’s back, between the shoulder blades.

Hopscotch Hallway

While mostly appearing in the abandoned schools of Closetland, this deceptive challenge can show up inside any enclosed building. While listed as a location in this chapter, you might consider this more of an event, a happening without apparent provocation or root, not entirely dissimilar from the Nowhere described above. But instead of focusing on a single person, the Hopscotch Hallway affects all those who see it and delivers a silent threat to them all: Play the game or pay the price. First, a point of light appears. It scrawls along the ground, forming a series of squares— some singular, some paired up, until an uneven series is formed. Then the numbers appear, all at once, all written by shaky, unsure hands like a team of children working in unison. Some of the numbers are upside-down, backwards, or are a mix of variations such as the lightning bolt 4 and slashed zero. From start to finish, the entire area takes form in under ten seconds, flaring to life with a flash once completed. Laughter follows, as does the shadowy visage of a wild-haired girl. This girl, who varies from 8 to 10 years of age, is its caretaker and possibly the power behind it. If she has a name, it isn’t known, and she doesn’t speak. She just laughs, taunting and dangerous. She has a tendency to single out a child, by pointing her long finger, staring intently, or tossing a small pebble at the kid (she seems to have an endless stash of these stones). Everyone knows immediately what she wants; the girl wants to play. But why? If the kids accept, reluctantly or not, the shadow-girl will initiate the game. She starts by tossing a small stone along the hopscotch path. She will then hop the length of the court, skipping the square upon which the stone landed. The other kids must follow (she will produce a small pile of stones for them to use if they don’t have anything). Normal hopscotch rules apply: Jump on every square (except the one with the stone), don’t touch any lines, don’t lose your balance. You can play this as a series of Move Tests, wherein the girl would roll six dice against her opponents. Every time the girl wins though, she adds a die to her next roll (never going above ten). She grows stronger whenever she wins. She will want to play every child, best two out of three. If the kids play the game, win or lose, the shadow-girl is satisfied and will leave them alone for now. If the kids refuse her challenge, she and her court will seem to disappear. But make no mistake: Those who don’t play have made an enemy. She will return, each time more aggressive than before. She will throw multiple stones, stomp her feet, get into a kid’s face and sneer, anything to get them to play. If they keep refusing, she will make them play. She will draw a square around herself and the kids and no one will be able to escape

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the world around you (unless someone’s willing to put some Belief behind it). Rumors persist that the girl is one of the forgotten. She somehow slipped into Closetland, perhaps while playing this game, and that she is a hollow shell of a girl who can still be redeemed, if anyone has the mind to. Some say the hopscotch board is a monster—or the product of many monsters—and she is a stolen child, forced to play this game until the proper replacement can be found. As with so many things, the truth is unknown but perhaps the player characters can find out the truth someday.

The Old Wintergarden

You know that image on Christmas postcards of a snow-covered field, filled with an array of trees alight with the colors of the season, sprawling around a large frozen pond? That is the Old Wintergarden. Except the ice is thin and the colors of this season are muted and old. The etching above the main gate gives the place its name, and the appellation couldn’t be more fitting. From a distance, it looks so inviting and wondrous that few children, especially those aching for respite, can resist at least a quick look around its inviting evergreens and mirror-like body of water. Fences circle the main garden, seven feet high with sharp finials atop the vertical spikes that dot every six inches. A chill greets you as you enter and the gates close suddenly, as soon as no one is looking. It becomes very hard to escape the place, not that you will want to once you come to enjoy its splendor. Snow is always falling inside the Old Wintergarden. Snow so soft, so fresh, so crisp on the tongue that no one suspects how malicious it actually is. As the flakes fall, collecting on hair and clothes, the folks it lands on start to forget. Where were we going? What is this place? Who are you? Who am I? When enough snow has collected, the child vanishes with a flicker. In this way, children become forgotten. The snow erases who they were and almost imperceptibly the kid fades into the in-between, and no one suspects anything until it is already too late. It feels like sleeping, like slowly falling into a warm and perfect slumber. Once inside the in-between, as the snow melts away and the haze lifts, children become all too aware of what happened. Those with compromised Spirits go first, followed by those with the lowest Care. It is possible for those within the in-between to warn their friends who have yet to slip (using the rules for communicating across the veil detailed earlier).

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be careful

Chapter eight: the people you know

chapter eight We’ve looked at the types of the missing, talked about some of the places pertinent to them, so now let’s meet some people who can be important to the missing. Most people aren’t out to get missing kids, though it can sometimes feel that way, but not a lot of people bother to help them either. Folks are skeptical, don’t want to fall for some scam, and aren’t willing to take the leaps of faith necessary to make a difference sometimes. You can’t really fault them but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Still, there are good people in the real world, and other places too, and it pays to know them. Of course, it pays to know who the bad ones are as well.

Part One: People You Can Trust

While knowing the right places is good, knowing the right people is even better. The following folks are clued into the struggles of missing kids and some even have an inkling as to Closetland and the existence of monsters. While not all can actively back up a missing child in a fight, they can provide food, shelter, advice, and a shoulder when the weight of a kid’s fate becomes too much to hold inside. The people can be in or from any city or town you like, wherever you need them to be.

Karen Finney

Karen Finney spent three decades as an elementary school teacher, primarily Grade 2 but she’s done her time at almost every level. She retired a few years ago and spent some time idling but the sit-down life was not for her and, about six months ago, she decided to volunteer at a hotline for kids in trouble. The job isn’t easy. Some kids are in a world of trouble and there isn’t much anyone can do for them except listen. If it sounds like the cops need to get involved, the volunteers have a direct line to local agencies. Karen’s enjoyed her time there. She likes doing the good work and has a natural, easy rapport with children that gets them to unburden themselves. She has turned more than one kid back from the brink. When a call comes in, she can tell almost immediately if the kid is down in the dumps or if the kid is in real danger. The cops do a decent job of following up with leads from the call center, but history shows only a fifth of the flagged calls are legit. When the cops give low priority to something she feels is urgent, Karen won’t hesitate to do her own legwork. If she can, she’ll try to find the child and she’ll help however she can. Her funds are limited but her heart is not.

Meeting Karen Finney

Missing kids may encounter Karen after calling the hotline and getting in touch with her. The woman’s instincts could lead her to an area where missing kids congregate, or one missing kid could give her a lead on where another is, one who is in even more danger.

Edgar and Alexis Krohl

Hand-me-downs are strange things. Sometimes they’re made on purpose, others by fluke, sometimes they go missing just as you need them, and sometimes they appear in the nick of time, giving kids that exact boost they need in order to best a monster, escape a tricky trap, or shine a light in the darkness. It’s almost like they have a mind of their own. So many hand-me-downs have been made and lost and moved throughout the years, it’s impossible to know how many there have been or where you might find any one particular hand-me-down at any given time.

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the people you know That won’t stop Edgar and Alexis Krohl from trying though. The couple are social workers by trade. Edgar worked in patient advocacy at a local large hospital while Alexis still works in the metropolitan school system. They catalog and collect hand-me-downs, as best they can anyway, acting as a directory and museum of the enchanted objects. The two stumbled upon the existence of hand-me-downs about a decade back, when Al overhead a couple of her kids talking about a porcelain doll they swore up and down would say your deepest darkest secret into your ear. Per her request, the kids presented Alexis with the doll a few days later. From all evidence, it was an ordinary Wendy Whispers doll, a bit rough (it was fifty years old at that point) but otherwise nothing extraordinary. That was until Gretchen, their niece, stayed over one weekend. Gretchen fell in love with the doll and wanted it to be her special night-night toy. Alexis told the young girl to be extra-special careful with it since she needed to return the doll. The first night, after tucking her niece into bed, Alexis heard the girl chatting in her room. The woman thought nothing of it until she heard a second voice answer back. Still, she figured, that was probably just Gretchen affecting a tone, as children often do. Throughout the next day, Alexis kept hearing that same soft voice from Gretchen’s room. Every time she got close, the voice stopped, as if it knew she was a grown-up and the doll shouldn’t act that way around her. But later that evening, as Gretchen was getting ready for bed, Alexis heard the doll whisper a name from the woman’s past, “Michael Sayers.” Alexis hadn’t heard that name in twenty years and she wouldn’t have cared if thirty more went without her hearing it again. She told her husband Edgar, who was skeptical at first, but as she came across more and more of these strange artifacts, and was able to piece together the mythology shared by the children and her own faint memories, the world of hand-me-downs pulled them in. Edgar works full time now, searching and researching hand-me-downs, while Alexis uses her position within the school system as an ear to the ground, always on the lookout for leads to potential additions to their collection.

Meeting Edgar and Alexis Krohl

Missing kids may meet Edgar and Alexis as the pair is hunting down a new object. Hand-me-downs have a particular affinity for missing kids and tend to appear in some fashion to aid a child who has been stolen or who ran away. Alexis’s job puts her in contact with a large percentage of the area’s homeless family population, and missing kids may run into her that way.

Walter Highways

Admittedly, Walter doesn’t give the best first impression. He’s grumpy, has kinda crazy-looking eyes, and smells a bit musty. He isn’t the type of guy your parents would normally let you pal around with. Appearances aside, Walter Highways is one of the best connections a missing kid can make because Walter knows how to get anywhere— anywhere—even places that don’t want anyone visiting them. Even places that don’t necessarily exist. Walter has been homeless for the past thirty years. In that time, he has survived by panhandling and doing the occasional odd job though he’s not as healthy or strong as he used to be. Times are leaner now than they’ve been in a long time, and Walter struggles

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chapter eight especially. Still, he has a very quick, very dry sense of humor that sustains him through hardship. That, and the good he does helping kids in need. Walter’s talent, finding places, has served him well. He shares the talent with those who can prove their need of it. He has a knack for sensing when folks are lost, and he often bewilders passersby by giving them directions to places they’re headed and can’t find before they even ask anyone for assistance. This earns him the occasional hand-out but more than a few folks have been scared by it. Kids who are missing, or just plain lost, can reach out to him for help. All you need to do is tell Walter where you’d like to go and he’ll tell you the most direct route to get there. The key being “the most direct route.” That may lead you somewhere you’d rather not go but if you’re desperate enough you will get there. Walter won’t send you through rivers or buildings—his power’s not that cruel—but it won’t shy away from haunted woods or shadowy car parks. Walter’s good for more than just directions, though. He tells great stories, from kneeslappers to spine-tinglers, and he plays a variety of musical instruments (and occasionally has access to them). Mostly, he toots this little trumpet he can regularly be seen fiddling with.

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the people you know Not only is Walter a member of the Army of St. Nicholas, his bag of belongings and bushy white beard make him look strikingly similar to the group’s namesake. He doesn’t associate much with the group, and doesn’t take part of their online world, but he has his ear to the group’s rumblings and helps out where he can. Walter doesn’t talk about his life before, has no interest in reminiscing or wondering why, but that doesn’t stop folks from speculating. Story goes, when Walter was a young man, he saved a boy from some dog-toothed monsters set upon making the child their next meal. He fought them off, saved the boy, but the monsters swore vengeance upon him. The odd thing here is that Walter saw the monsters, an ability he never outgrew for whatever reason. To this day, he glimpses the beasts that shamble out of Closetland and he hates every single one of them. The images aren’t fully detailed, some are just outlines with rough, smoky edges, but some—like the ones who grabbed that boy—come across clear enough. Walter doesn’t talk about the monsters among other grown-ups as he knows what the oh-so-smart so-and-sos think about old homeless men and he figures they’ll call the paddywagon to cart him off to the looney bin. And he can’t afford that, not when there are still children in danger. While not happy with his current situation, he’s resigned to it and doesn’t see the point in stargazing. He doesn’t want to see other kids end up as he did though and will go out of his way to help kids in trouble as best as he can.

Meeting Walter Highways

Walter aids runaways primarily. He has a soft spot for those who can’t hack their old lives anymore, but he would never turn away any child in need. Walter wanders, it’s in his blood, but he sticks to urban areas. The rural sector is not the place for his kind, he says, and he’s not much a fan of fresh air.

Part Two: People in the Between

Others exist in the in-between. A whole world exists, in fact. The in-between lives in the middle of two worlds but is a world unto itself. For those who are within, you may be fortunate enough to cross paths with the following folks.

Helper

This sweet-looking pixie can really help in a bind, picking locks and scurrying under doors and into cracks, and she can carry an impressive amount for a creature her size, but don’t turn your back on this scamp. She may be called “Helper” but a name is just a name, especially in this case. No bigger than a standard dress-up doll, and weighing about half as much, it’s easy to pass by Helper without giving her much notice. The fact she can blend into surroundings doesn’t help that. But Helper goes out her way to get attention, either calling out in a booming voice or by thudding against a child’s back. She projects a very sweet and timid disposition, talking in a cutesy voice and often very soft and slowly to younger kids. She will help however she can. Her slight frame makes it easy for her to sneak into places. She can carry remarkably heavy objects, up to the size and weight of a bowling ball even. Helper looks like a typical fairy She has a slender build and she’s tall, almost too tall, giving her a bit of a stretched appearance. The loudness of her voice always surprises

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chapter eight people though she usually keeps it in check and uses room and situation-appropriate volume and tone. And Helper knows all the languages; a fact she prides herself on. Not knowing modesty, she doesn’t wear any clothing—which usually brings out a bit of snickering from older kids. The fairy doesn’t mind though; she doesn’t know shame or embarrassment either. But she does know tit-for-tat and one-hand-washes-the-other. If she helps you, which she will sometimes do without even being asked, she demands payment. Sweets work well, as do shiny objects. Those who fail to pay will find their shoe laces stolen or their pockets picked. Or perhaps even their shoe laces around their throat as they are jarred out of sleep by lack of oxygen and the warm sensation of blood filling their cheeks and eyeballs. Helper knows how to put her size and strength to all kinds of uses. Now, why are you reading about Helper in a book about missing kids? Couple reasons. First, this fairy is aces at helping stolen kids escape from monster cages. Not only is she good at it, she’s good at finding kids who have been stolen. She can smell new fish, to use a phrase. Also, Helper hates—hates like only fairies can hate—parents who are mean to kids. If there’s a bad parent at the core of why a kid went missing, Helper will cross into the real world and exact some sort of revenge. She can’t harm adults directly, but she’ll set traps or cause mischief wherever she can. Lacking a firm grasp in the whole “punishment fits the crime” thing, her actions can be quite severe.

Meeting Helper

You can run into Helper just about anywhere. If she doesn’t make her presence known by her voice, she may play a small and usually harmless practical joke to get your attention. Most kids run into her in wooded areas but she’s often known to hang out in and near the school. She doesn’t much like Principal Higgins. She doesn’t like anyone with a voice more boomier than hers.

Mabel Mae Belle

Kids have been passing stories of Mabel Mae Belle around campfires for decades, if not centuries. She isn’t always called by her birth name, and the other specifics almost never stay the same, but the gist carries through every telling: Mabel Mae Belle, the In-Between Girl. One of the more popular tellings, and my personal favorite, goes like this: Mabel Mae Belle was only six-years old the day she climbed into the attic of her family’s new house. Her father had left the pull-down dangling into the hallway and Mabel, agile adventurer that she was, couldn’t resist the chance to explore a new area. Her family had bought the house at auction after the previous owner, Maddy Rolf, passed away at the age of 103. The passing of the oldest woman in Cornette County was big news and everyone wanted a peek at the legacy stashed inside her house, but her will was very specific about what was to be taken out and left behind when it came to her belongings. Not everything was cleared out. Some furniture was left behind, a small church organ, and everything in the attic was not to be touched—no exceptions. The house was put up for auction and the bidding was fierce. Mabel’s father was persistent though and was the last man standing when the gavel struck down. Her family moved in a few weeks later. They had been living in the house for less than a week when Mabel made her fateful ascent. Her father was outside, helping unload the truck that had just arrived. Her mother was at work

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the people you know at her new job and her older sister, who was supposed to keep an eye on Mabel, was upstairs, fawning over her new room. Mabel was a quiet child. Observant, yes. Precocious, yes. But not one for attention. Sometimes she’d slip into a room and it would be a half hour before anyone noticed. Sometimes she’d slip out, and even more time than that would pass before folks took note. Her father was in and out of that room a half-dozen times without noticing his girl was in there, rummaging around the boxes Maddy left behind. He didn’t notice she was knelt down behind a stack of fresh boxes and didn’t notice she was playing with some of the dolls she had found. One doll in particular, with a perfect porcelain face and lively glass eyes, caught Mabel’s attention. Something shined inside that cherubic creature but something dark burst from it, like a snake made of smoke, and smacked right into Mabel’s face like a frying pan in an old cartoon. That knocked Mabel straight on her butt. She flew back, hit the ground hard, and knocked her head against the attic’s hard wooden floor. When Mabel came to, she saw her father standing over her but he didn’t seem to notice her. He was walking around, moving boxes, straightening stacks, and mumbling about there being too much stuff in such a small space. Mabel said “hello” to him but there was no response. Given how quiet she could be, that was not out of the ordinary. Mabel stood in front of her father and greeted him again but he still didn’t respond. She was quiet, sure, but she wasn’t invisible. The girl waved her arms, nothing. Stomped her feet, nothing. She went downstairs and found her sister snacking in the kitchen. The adolescent walked right by without saying a word. Mabel knew something was up. Then she passed a mirror. And she saw her face. Smooth porcelain skin. Clear, dark eyes. Like marble. Mabel screamed. She clawed at her face, trying to get the mask off but it wouldn’t budge. She dug so hard into her flesh, she drew blood but it wouldn’t move, not even a little. The girl rushed back into the attic and found the doll. Sure enough, it had her face. Impulsively, she ripped the head off the doll. As soon as she did, she heard her father ask, “Mabel, what are you doing up here?” He scolded her for messing with the stuff in the attic and sent her back downstairs. Mabel looked at the doll head in her hands and it didn’t look like her anymore. Gladly, and only a little freaked out, she went downstairs and vowed to stay away from that attic forever. Over the next couple days, Mabel noticed strange things out of the corner of her eye. She glimpsed tears in the air, like peeling wallpaper, and she could pick at them, exposing some other world beneath. What Mabel was glimpsing was the in-between and, on the other side, Closetland. She didn’t dare tell anybody about this. Instead, she practiced it so she could find these little rips whenever she wanted. And she found them all over the place. One day she tightened up her courage and tore a hole big enough to step through. Instead of the world she saw on the other side though, she found herself in a strange haze. Her eyes slowly adjusted and she realized she could now see two worlds. Her old world and one full of strange creatures. She had never heard of Closetland before, and certainly not of the in-between, but now that she had experienced it, she visited whenever she wanted. She rarely stepped into the other world, the one full of monsters, but she liked visiting the in-between. Ever since Mabel has had the ability to fade in and out of the in-between as she likes. If she chooses, she can take one other person with her—whether they wish to go or not. Now, Mabel

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chapter eight doesn’t know this but as anyone who has accompanied her can attest, when she travels to the inbetween, her face looks just like that doll’s head. Outside of this ability, she’s actually a pretty normal girl. She likes school, getting into messes, seeing new places, and meeting new people. Only thing is, Mabel can’t stand dolls. Any time she sees one, she tears its head right off. Now, how much of that is true? Does it matter? As you well know, true and want-tobe-true overlap quite a bit in the world of Little Fears, where Belief is as powerful as fact.

Meeting Mabel Mae Belle

If Mabel is real, and she actually has these powers, you can probably meet her anywhere. Her name may not even be Mabel Mae Belle—and you may have heard this story but with a girl of another name. You may live near her. Or go to school with her. She may even be a friend of yours.

Part Three: Light Amidst Dark

When you think of Closetland, you probably think of a world brimming with wild beasts, crazed monsters, and mask-wearing freaks who are way too into birds. You’d be right for the most part. But there are other people in Closetland, and other things that aren’t people, that kids can rely on in a pinch.

The Dogmother

Rumor has the Dogmother wasn’t a dog in the real world, just a regular woman who was very protective of her children. A persistent variant of this rumor has it she, like many of the adult and quasi-adults in Closetland, lost someone, probably one of her children, and she followed her grief into the world of monsters. She’s a dog now, though, a big one. She looks like one, she acts like one, and she most definitely fights like one. On all fours, she stands about two-and-a-half feet at the shoulder, and she can jump high enough to clear tall fences, such as the ones outside the Old Wintergarden. She’s well-muscled and has been seen carrying four large children on her back while running at full speed. She has a thick black coat and weepy brown eyes. Her jaws are strong enough to drag even the largest Closet Monster and her teeth can rip muscle from bone. The Dogmother is smart, in both dog-ways and people-ways, and has a soft spot for kids. She can nuzzle and play as well, if not better, than she can protect and fight. The Dogmother is especially protective of kids without proper parents, which sees her crossing paths with a fair bit of missing children, though she’ll throw herself in front of any danger, man or monster, that threatens a child. The Dogmother is not a friend of any beast, but she especially hates the Cat. She has a series of small homes for her “pups” set up throughout Closetland and is usually no more than a quick journey from any of them. Kids who are taken to these homes will find a small stash of food—keep in mind a dog’s definition of “food”—and blankets. They’re not great places to live but if you need a place to stow away for the night, they’ll certainly do.

Meeting the Dogmother

You can run into the Dogmother anywhere in Closetland. She roams around, hunting monsters and seeking out the lost and wounded children. She is especially friendly with

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the people you know the Butterfly Knights. Some say Kendra may be the Dogmother’s true master but the boy denies that. He says he and the Dogmother just understand each other.

Stephanie Nolastname

“Stephanie Bephanie, Little and Big, Voice of a Monkey, Face of a Pig.” That’s what the other kids at Childhaven would sing at her. Back when, Childhaven was an orphanage/ school in upstate New York with heavy religious affiliation and a reputation for turning around “troubled kids.” At the time, the public opinion of orphans wasn’t positive with the popular portrayal being something more Oliver Twist than Annie. In a lot of ways, the residents of Childhaven deserved that reputation, though Stephanie was a definite exception. Left on the doorstep of a local church in the winter of 1921, the baby was wrapped in nothing but a homemade afghan bearing a trio of brown ponies in the middle. The bundle, which the sisters named after the patron saint of horses, was a sickly thing. The fever sapped her strength and the infection that crept in took part of her hearing before she was able to beat it back. Despite her initially poor health, Stephanie recovered and grew into a tall, scrawny thing with a pleasant disposition and all-too-forgiving spirit. So forgiving in fact that she never held the harsh words against those who made her daily life so grueling. Even when the threats became physical, Stephanie forgave them. Doing so was in her nature, though the day 13-year old Meredith pushed Stephanie down a flight of steps, breaking the girl’s right arm in the process, was a test of her limits. Father Fitzpatrick was the head of Childhaven but it was Sister Mary Augustus with whom the kids interacted daily. She was old and gruff but not without kindness, and she took Stephanie under her wing when it seemed everyone else at that place had abandoned the child. Stephanie’s almost saint-like disposition attracted the nun’s attention first. Her exceptional reading and writing ability cemented that attention. As time went on, Sister Mary Augustus watched out for Stephanie, severely punishing those who made cracks or took whacks at the poor girl. In 1929, a girl who had stolen Stephanie’s lunch disappeared. In 1931, another girl was sent to “the reflection room” and came back unable to speak. As years went by, the girls of Childhaven stopped being so harsh to Stephanie. Until Meredith, who was two years older, broke Stephanie’s arm. What happened to Meredith is unknown but the stories ranged from tales of her sudden adoption to rumors of her remains being served to the kids as porridge. So was Stephanie’s life, under the stewardship and gentle arm of Sister Mary Augustus. But when Sister Mary died in the summer of 1933, no one stepped up to take her place as the girl’s guardian. This left Stephanie defenseless and with a long list of enemies just waiting for their chance at revenge. After all, it was the girl’s fault what happened to those other kids. It wasn’t until fall of 1934 that Stephanie’s body was found at the bottom of Lake Llewellyn, one mile west of Childhaven. It wasn’t until spring of 1935 that the stories of Stephanie’s return took root. When Childhaven was shut down in 1941, the demolition was fraught with accidents and strange sightings. A dozen crewmen walked off that job, three were injured by falling bricks, one dropped into a sinkhole, and two men admitted themselves into a nearby sanitarium. In the real world, nothing but a field occupies the space where Childhaven once stood. No animals cross over or through it. No people visit it. In Closetland, though, Childhaven

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chapter eight still exists. Trapped in time, looking the same as it did the year Stephanie disappeared, its door remain open to the missing, the abused, and those without families. And Stephanie walks its halls. No longer the reserved and patient girl she was in life, she is vengeful, angry, unforgiving. She will strike against those who harm the missing and dispossessed without reservation or mercy.

Meeting Stephanie

Though tied to the orphanage’s grounds, she is capable of calling to children, a voice in their head, and of compelling bad people into her world. She is able to reach through the veil between the real world and Closetland and plant small suggestions into the minds of bad parents and people who don’t know how to treat helpless children. Stephanie teaches those who need to learn their lessons.

Part Four: Real Bad PEOPLE

It might be nice to think all the bad people are secreted away in the world of monsters but that’s just not true. While plenty of bad folks made the headlines for all sorts of reasons, we’ll avoid those folks and talk about others. The people here aren’t the ones you’ll find mention of in the newspaper. If you’re lucky, you’ll never find mention of them anywhere. Still, better to know of them than for them to know of you.

The Cat

When one missing kid says “the cat,” every other missing kid knows exactly what he’s talking about. The Cat looks like an average tabby, the kind you see walking through suburban neighborhoods all the time. It’s fairly big, a bit stocky, kinda ugly, and something in its eyes is real unsettling. They don’t look like normal cat eyes. They look, and are, human eyes. There are a lot of stories about where this feline came from. Some say it’s a mutant, like a centaur or mermaid except it only has human eyes instead of a whole head. Some say it’s the devil’s cat and, if you’re not careful, it will eat your eyes if you get too close to it. Others say it’s a child who was turned into a cat by a wicked witch out in the woods but the hag’s magic ran out before she finished. Those might explain the eyes but none of those explain anything else about the cat, like its misshapen body, mismatched ears, and oversized feet. To understand those, you need to understand where the cat came from. See, the cat didn’t begin life as a cat. It began life as a drawing. The girl who drew this cat had drawn many cats during her eight years on earth. She drew all sorts of cats—they were her favorite subject—but there was one cat, one particular tabby, that held her heart. She loved her creation very much. She didn’t just draw this cat once. She drew it numerous times: On notebooks, in her diary, in the margins of tests, on the back of her hand during recess. And while the girl became very good at drawing the cat over and over, she never gave the cat proper eyes. Each and every time she drew its eyes, she put a dot instead of an up-and-down line. The girl loved her cat and the Cat loved her right back. Then, one day, the girl didn’t come home from school. The girl’s family became very worried. Men and women in black suits and blue uniforms asked a lot of questions. The family didn’t know very much and neither did the people in uniforms. This made the

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the people you know

Cat very sad. But then the Cat got a brilliant idea: It would go looking for the girl itself! So that’s exactly what it did. It took a very long time, and a lot of looking, but the Cat eventually found her. She was being held in a cage by a very mean shrew who wanted to crunch the little girl’s bones. The cat begged and pleaded for the little girl’s life and the old woman finally relented. But with a condition. The cat had to bring not one, not two, but twenty-three little children in exchange for her one. If it did that, the hag promised, she would set the little girl free. It is that bargain the cat is looking to fulfill. It is targeting missing children, as they are more susceptible to its charms and are easier to lead astray, and so far it has given seven hapless victims to the hag. It still needs 16 to fulfill the bargain, but it’s finding more and more every week. By the time you read this, it may only need 12 or 8 or maybe just one. Can the stolen children still be saved? Where is the hag and where has she hidden the children? Will the Cat let them help it save its girl? Good questions. Good questions.

Meeting the Cat

The Cat is almost always on the prowl so if you’re going to interact with the Cat, the meeting will likely be on its terms. Its goal isn’t inherently evil; it just wants to rescue its girl. It’s open to alternate plans but they better be good and you better speak quickly.

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chapter eight Madam Switchswatch

Crazy. In a word, that’s what she is. And not wacky, cartoony crazy but deeply-rooted, disturbing, subtle, angry crazy. The kind of crazy you don’t really understand until you’re older, which is unfortunate because Madam Switchswatch likes kids. Specifically, she likes to steal children and hide them away in a series of cages somewhere in a major city sewer system. Madam Switchswatch is not a monster in the Closetland sense. Yes, she’s a very disturbed human being who does monstrous acts but she’s human, of earthly origin. She’s just among the worst kind of human. Kids say she gets her name from her clothes, which are a mash of fabrics and threads. But that’s not true. She gets her name from what she mutters around her kidnapped children. Most of her words are unintelligible, whispered gibberish, but she will occasionally punctuate her ramblings with loud shouts of “Madam Switchswatch! Madam Switchswatch! MADAM! SWITCH! SWATCH!” Who Madam Switchswatch is, if not her, is unknown. The reason people know that name is because of Jaime and Yvonne. Jaime and Yvonne were kidnapped by Madam Switchswatch but managed to escape. At the time, four decades ago, everybody knew the case of the two missing girls, grabbed from outside a major outlet at a local mall. These friends, 10 and 11 respectively, were missing a total of 21 days before they were found walking down a major highway, in the same clothes they were wearing the day they went missing. Both girls were filthy, emaciated, and delirious. They rambled on and on about Madam Switchswatch, the cages, the smell, something called “the soup.” But no leads ever came, no suspects ever charged, and the case sits unsolved in the files. Jaime and Yvonne are in their early fifties now. They’ve grown up, had families, have successful careers, and have put their shared traumatic experience behind them. They don’t talk anymore, haven’t for almost thirty years, and live a thousand miles apart. The story of Madam Switchswatch spread like wildfire, and occasionally, when groups of kids go missing, the tales begin anew. But little is known of Madam Switchswatch outside the well-documented testimony given by Jaime and Yvonne and the greatlyconflicted hearsay from supposed almost-victims and escapees.

Meeting Madam Switchswatch

Are you sure you really want to? If the answer’s yes, may the powers that be protect you. Madam Switchswatch lives in the sewers under the city. Find the echoing of painful cries and go from there.

Part Five: Missing monsters

Plenty of monsters skulk in the real world and stomp around Closetland. And most aren’t that picky; they’ll take whatever succulent scamps happen to cross their paths. Other monsters though are a bit more discerning and try to focus on missing children, those without strong ties to the real world. Here are a few such monsters.

Smelly Belly

This disgusting creature looks like a fleshy bowling ball ambling around on two elephant legs. Completely blind from its lack of eyes, the beast navigates the halls of

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the people you know Closetland by tasting the air with its worm-like tongue. Its thick arms each end in a triad of stubby claws that are strong enough to break a tree in two with just a half-hearted swipe. Smelly Belly’s feet make a wet sucking sound as it walks, its massive body wobbling from side to side like a disturbed plate of a gelatin slowly coming to a rest. Its head is separated from its body by an incredibly wide mouth that opens almost to the full height of its body and is capable of inhaling with such force it can suck up old jelly beans from across the room. A wrinkled flap of skin covers a giant belly that sits just under its enormous maw and takes up almost its entire body. When empty, it looks a deflated bag covered in veins but when its belly is full, the true terror of this creature becomes evident. Its stomach is filled with a goopy green digestive fluid that will slowly eat away whatever contents Smelly Belly can stuff inside it. Children are preferred, though it’s more often small animals, old shoes, thrown-away toothbrushes, and discarded fast food containers. The exterior lining of its stomach is semi-transparent though, allowing you to see what it is digesting, no matter the content’s state of consumption. Smelly Belly gets its name from its massive see-through stomach but also its vomitinducing stench. Hyperbole alone hints as the smell this creature gives off, but letting you know that its aroma acts as an attack might give you a better idea of how offensive this beast’s hygiene is.

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chapter eight Stranger Danger

A case of life imitating art here. Children have been taught about “stranger danger” for decades. Initially, this meant bad men in cars offering candy, “friends of the family” who are there to pick you up, and weird people in darkened houses. All of the bogeymen that become punchlines after the child grows into an adult. But the term has rooted in so many pre-adolescent minds, been feed by the collective fear of so many impressionable children, that the warning turned into a living, breathing monster. Stranger Danger is a living representation of those fears parents have, all those reasons they refuse to let their children out of their sight, or go around the corner alone, or go to the neighborhood park without an adult. In this day and age, in the protective parent culture, Stranger Danger is stronger than it’s ever been. Its natural form varies. It is a shadowy man, an outline in the shadows, or an image on the wall. It hunts this way, lying in wait, until it chooses the form best suited to the task. It can look as it needs to look and act as it needs to act, in accordance with both real life crimes and those imagined by fretting mothers and fathers.

The Ghost Car

Kids get into the ghost car and are never seen again. Often associated with real-life predators and monsters such as Stranger Danger, this ghastly sedan is a creature all its own. It has no driver and no passenger, though it can create an illusion as to such by projecting a figure in any of its seats. The image isn’t perfect but the flaws are obscured by the heavy shadow inside the car. Now, most kids these days, their parents fed horrifying images of children being snatched up by weirdos in sedans, are smart enough not to jump into the car of someone they don’t know. Part of what makes the ghost car so devious is that it can appear as any car, including the family sedan. A kid who’s overburdened with science project materials or a too-heavy backpack, or one who is too distracted to notice, may see his father’s trusty old Buick and hop inside before looking to see if dear old dad is actually behind the wheel. The ghost car doesn’t need to rely on distraction or deception, though those tools are available. No, the ghost car can send out an energy, almost like a child magnet, that plants the notion inside a kid’s head that he should check out the car. The kid can’t explain it, and can be shaken out of it by someone intercepting or snapping their finger in the child’s face, but if not stopped, the kid will climb into the car, as if in a daze. To employ this trick, the ghost car will sometimes appear as rusty old truck or abandoned car with a back door ajar. The kid gets curious, climbs inside to check out the old wreck or see if anyone left anything fun inside the car, and then the doors slam shut and the driverless car takes off. While not entirely dark, a heavy shadow fills a lot of the car, dimming even the brightest afternoon sun. The seats smell like old cigarette smoke. The windows are tinted from the inside even if they don’t appear that way from the outside. Folks who glance in won’t see the child, just the vague shape of a driver in the front seat, which the victim doesn’t see from inside. Thing about the ghost car, beyond all the other stuff we’ve talked about, is that the memory of it doesn’t seem to stick in folks’ heads. They may remember a car, vaguely, but

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the people you know no details. And it seems a lot of the kids who fall prey to it become forgotten. It could be the interior of the car is a way into the in-between, I suppose, or maybe there’s some other explanation.

Sewer Thing

Sewer Thing is disgusting but, despite its name, it doesn’t live in the sewer. It kinda smells like it does but that’s not its home. It lives in the storm drains you see along suburban streets (and other streets, too, but Sewer Thing operates out of the suburbs). Kids commonly refer to these grate-covered openings as sewer drains, thus the creature got its name. And it doesn’t speak anything beyond burbles and burps so it’s never corrected anybody. (Unless its name is Buh-hur-buburp?) Its body is made up mainly of sickly black muscle, like really old rotten meat, and is covered in a slick grey-green ooze. This fungal component is what gives the creature its odious aroma. Roughly the shape of a human, maybe a little shorter than normal, that the creature fits into storm drains is pretty amazing. And it doesn’t hog its ability to squeeze into tight places; when it grabs kids, their bodies become like gelatin for a brief moment. This allows Sewer Thing to pull children right through the storm drain, even the thin slats in the grate! This monster has the longest arms you’ve ever seen and they wobble and flex like those sticky toys you’re supposed to throw against the wall (they feel like it too). It uses the shiny objects it finds, or that stick to its mucus-like coating, as a lure for children. Coins are the most common but large silver barrettes, eyeglasses, and even pocket knives work also. Kids easily distracted by shiny objects are Sewer Thing’s stock in trade. To startle children, it will unleash one of its foul-sounding laughs—a cross between sucking mud, a loud digestive expulsion, and a cat that got its tail caught under a chair. The smell of its breath smells almost as bad as the laugh sounds. (Come to think of it, maybe that’s how it got its name.) The creature’s adhesive coating, long arms, ample supply of lures, and strange ability to temporarily turn its victims into putty make it a formidable creature, and the cause behind many a missing child.

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chapter eight THE CAT is a Regular Monster.

The Cat began life as a drawing that was loved very much. When its girl went missing, it decided to venture out to find her. Seeing the girl was the captive of a hag, the feline made a deal to provide the witch with twenty-three children in exchange for its girl. It has brought the old woman seven. It needs sixteen more. It is scary when it arches its back and bares its fangs. It wants to save its girl by any means necessary.

Abilities

Fight: ØØOOOO Chase: ØØØOOO Grab: ØØØOOO Scare: ØØOOOO

Virtues

Terror: 5 Health: 30

Stuff

Nasty Teeth ØØ Bite Through Clothing (Damage +2) Big Misshapen Claws ØØ Almost Like Hands (Grab +2) Human Eyes Ø Freaky-Looking (Scare +1)

Qualities

It is a nasty and determined cat. It can chase you forever. It cannot enter brown houses.

Jesse M. SWITCHSW Albright ATCH is a 9 year is a Scary old girl. Monster.

Don’t call Madam Switchswatch her Jessica. That is a psychotic-but-all-too-real is way too girly for this dirt woman bike-riding who kidnaps karate girls master. as a means Her of teaching mom keepsthem trying righttofrom shove wrong. dollsSomething into her hands she failed buttoJesse do with has her no own interest daughters, in playing who house. died from Notdrug when overdoses there are decades mudpits ago.toHer jump. “teaching She also methods” has a are wicked so traumatizing, head for figuring those out how few who escape thingspush work. them down as deep as they’ll go and pray they never surface. She feeds children a drug-laden concoction she calls “the soup” in order to keep them docile. Abilities Qualities ItMove: is scary when it starts screaming its name and at nothing ØØØØOO I ambatting a Thrillseeker +2 in the air. It wants all the little girls to behave themselves. Fight: ØØOOOO I love riding bikes +1

Abilities Think: ØØØØOO

Fight: ØØOOOO ØØØOOO Speak: Chase: ØØOOOO Care: ØØOOOO Grab: ØØØØOO Virtues Scare:4ØØØØØØ Belief:

Virtues Wits: 8

Terror:1010 Spirit: Health: 40 Health

Qualities fine: ØØØØØØOOOO

It is ØØØØØØOOOO a seriously deranged woman. sore: It can hide its victim well. hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO It cannot get into Closetland. cold: ØØØØØØOOOO

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StuffI’m not scared +1

The SoupatØØØ I’m good fixing stuff +1 I takeMakes Dizzy karateYou lessons +1(Move -1) I don’t Makes Tired (Fight knowYou when to shut up-1) -1 I forget Makes You Forget (Think to do homework -1 -1) Manic Gestures/Screams ØØØ Traits Haunting/Crazy (Scare +3) I can Speak well when I’m talking Heavy Chains ØØ about bikes or bike riding. Weigh You Down (Move -2) It’s hard for me to Think when I’m Wooden Club ØØ taking a school test. Hurts Like Heck (Damage +2)

the people you know SMELLY BELLY is a Scary Monster.

A massive creature that is constantly on the prowl for food. Its see-through stomach lets you peep what it’s digesting whether it’s an old shoe or a goop-covered child and the beast doesn’t even charge you for the show. Like a snake, it swallows its food whole so you can still save your friend if you make it in time. But run quick because it can suck stuff up from twenty feet away. Oh, and hold your nose. It is scary when you see kids trapped in its stomach. It wants to eat; it is always so hungry.

Abilities

Fight: ØØØØOO Chase: ØØOOOO Grab: ØØØØØO Scare: ØØØØOO

Virtues


Qualities

It is a big-mouthed omnivore. It can suck up stuff from far away. It cannot go hungry for long.

Stuff

See-Through Belly ØØØ Full of Goop (Damage +1) There’s stuff in there! (Scare +2) Smells Bad ØØØ Really bad (Damage +1) I’mgunnabesick (Fight -2) BIIIG Mouth ØØ Like a vacuum (Grab +2) Clawed Hands ØØ Stabby-stabby (Damage +2)

Jesse STRANGER Albright DANGER is a 9 year is aold Regular girl. Monster.

Don’t A personification call her Jessica. of theThat stories is your way too parents girlywere for this tolddirt growing bike-riding up, Stranger karateDanger master.now Her enacts keeps mom all those trying snatches to shove and tricks. dollsItinto can look her like hands whatever but Jesse it needs has no to but interest alwaysindoes playing its house. Notfirst, homework when watching there are its next mudpits victim tofrom jump. theShe shadows also has andawaiting wicked for head the for perfect figuring time outstrike. to how It things doesn’twork. project much reason to be afraid and that makes it even more of a threat. It is scary when it sends a cold shiver down your spine with its voice. It wants you Abilities Qualities to trust it, that’s all. Move: ØØØØOO I am a Thrillseeker +2 Fight: ØØOOOO Abilities

Think: Fight: ØØØØOO ØOOOOO Speak: Chase:ØØOOOO ØØØØOO Care: Grab:ØØOOOO ØØØØOO Scare: ØOOOOO Virtues Belief: Virtues 4 Wits: 8 5 Terror: Spirit: 1030 Health:

Health Qualities

fine: It isØØØØØØOOOO your parent’s fears come to life. sore: ØØØØØØOOOO It can look as it needs to look. hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO It cannot approach you if you are cold:friends ØØØØØØOOOO with or family.

I love riding bikes +1 I’m not scared +1 An Honest Face ØØ I’m good at fixing stuff +1 Looks Familiar (Think -2) I take karate lessons +1 A Trusting Smile ØØ I don’t know when to shut up -1 You Fall into It (Move -2) I forget to do homework -1 A Calm Voice Ø Traits But Something’s Wrong I can Speak well when (Scare +1) I’m talking about bikes or bike riding. It’s hard for me to Think when I’m taking a school test.

Stuff

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chapter eight THE GHOST CAR is a Regular Monster.

The ghost car is unoccupied automobile that lures children into it. It has the abiility to cloak itself as any land-based vehicle it has seen and can copy the exteriors of these vehicles perfectly, including bumper stickers, scratches, and dings. Its unnaturally dark interior is disorienting to those it traps inside. The ghost car may work for other monsters, hunting and trapping children to take back to its temporary master. What the car gets in routine is unknown. It is scary when it closes its doors suddenly. It wants to take you for a ride.

Abilities

Fight: ØOOOOO Chase: ØØØØØØ Grab: ØOOOOO Scare: ØØOOOO

Virtues


Qualities

It is a fiendish automobile. It can lure children into it. It cannot pull into driveways.

Stuff

Strange Allure ØØØ Draws Kids Near (Grab +3) Altered Appearance ØØ Looks Familiar (Grab +2) Heavy Doors ØØ Only Open from the Outside Hard to Damage (-1 Damage) Dark Interior Ø Can’t See (Think -1)

Jesse SEWER Albright THINGisisaa9Big year Bad oldMonster. girl.

Don’t This deformed call her mass Jessica. of meat Thatand is way mold toodoesn’t girly actually for this dirt live bike-riding in the sewer;karate it livesmaster. in the storm Her drains keeps mom you find trying alongtosuburban shove dolls streets. intoIther hashands incredibly but long Jessearms has no andinterest eyes that inshimmer playing house. even in Not the dimmest when there light.are It lures mudpits children to jump. with coins She and alsoother has ashiny wicked objects, head getting for figuring them to outclose get howtothings the grate work. before pulling them in. It is scary when it lets out its awful laugh. Qualities It wants kids. Yum, yum, yum. Abilities Move: ØØØØOO Fight: ØØOOOO Abilities Think: ØØØØOO Fight: ØØØØØO Speak: ØØOOOO Chase: ØØØOOO Care: ØØOOOO Grab: ØØØØØØ Virtues Scare: ØØØØØØ Belief: 4 Virtues Wits: 8 Terror: 12 Spirit: 10 Health: 50

Health Qualities fine: ØØØØØØOOOO

It is a stinky drain dweller. sore: ØØØØØØOOOO It can getcha getcha getcha. hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO It cannot go outside the grate. cold: ØØØØØØOOOO

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I am a Thrillseeker +2 I love riding bikes +1 Stuff I’m not scared +1 Long Arms ØØØ I’m good at fixing stuff +1 Latch On (Grab +2) I take karate lessons +1 Turn You to Jelly I don’t know when to shut up -1 Foul Stench ØØØ I forget to do homework -1 Turn Your Stomach (Think -2) Traits Make You Cough (Move -1) I can Speak when I’m talking Shiny Objectswell ØØØ about or bike bikes Distract You riding. (Think -3) It’s hard for meØØØ to Think when I’m Sticky Coating taking a school test. Like a Fly Strip (Move -3)

Chapter NINE: the long way home

chapter NINE Lost has many different meanings.

the long way home

Kieran Crosby went missing twelve years ago. His sudden disappearance from the elementary school playground made headlines nationwide. His father quickly became the prime suspect though the evidence was flimsy. Still, the accusations and the heartbreak were too much for his family. His father’s life spiraled into a whirl of alcoholism. His mother left her family to live with her sister and has been under the care of psychiatric professionals since. His brother, Jacob, remained with his father and the boy grew up too fast as a result. This morning, Kieran Crosby was spotted crossing the street by your characters’ houses. This was the first time anyone has seen the boy since that fateful moment a dozen years ago. But that’s not the strange thing. No, what’s odd isn’t that Kieran is back—it’s that he hasn’t aged a single day.

What’s in Here

This episode, “The Long Way Home,” is written as a standalone collection of ten scenes, ready for use in an existing season of play or to set off a new group of young monster hunters. It can be used to introduce the concept of the missing to your existing players and, though it deals with some personal drama, is also about finding—and optimally destroying—a creature who is responsible for far too many missing children. Each scene covers one major action and usually includes a revelation that advances the plot and bridges to the next scene. As the GM, you may need to drop or add scenes based on the characters’ actions but as long as you can stick the big reveals and keep things relatively on track, you’ll do fine.

Who the Characters Are

Whether they all witness the inciting incident or if a single member of the group sees it and calls the others to check it out, the characters just need to know each other. Alternately, kids who don’t know each other can all witness Kieran’s arrival and that could be what draws them together. Or it could be a mix of the two.

Inciting Incident

Kieran’s appearance kicks off the episode and things run forward from there. This is a fast scenario, hits the ground running, but just because most adults and older teens remember Kieran’s disappearance, that doesn’t mean his appearance will have much significance to the player characters. Even the oldest characters were only two years old at the time he went missing. Chances are the cast members have no idea what that famous missing kid looks like—but they will almost certainly know the name, even if they don’t know why they know it at first.

Hey There, Players

The following episode is written specifically for the game moderator and are not intended to be read by potential players. So if you want to retain any level of surprise, don’t read any further.

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the long way home If the characters coming into this episode are experienced and have already had some adventures together, you can probably concoct a good reason for them all to be together in the same place. If you’re bold, you could even have Kieran’s first appearance pop up while the kids are on the trail of a monster or hiding out from some wicked creature. The specifics of the Kieran’s appearance don’t really matter; it can be anywhere at any time of day or year. The rest of the episode spins out from there regardless of setting (though some minor details may need to be altered to reflect snow on the ground or the lateness of the hour).

GMCs

The following GMCs are important to the story and expanded GMC sheets for them have been included at the end of this episode. As your group explores the story, you may improvise other characters. Feel free to stat them up as appropriate, using the simplified GMC rules, expanded rules, or by making them fully-statted characters, same as the player characters.

Kieran Crosby, 10

The catalyst of the story. Kieran is a ten-year old boy disappeared from Carter Elementary during recess twelve years ago. Everyone knows the story, remembers the name, and while many theories exist, only Kieran knows what really happened. As the story unfolds, the players may learn also. While Kieran knows the truth, he doesn’t know everything as you will soon find out. Kieran has been through a great ordeal but if the characters are strong, savvy, and caring enough, he may finally know peace.

Jacob Crosby, 26

Jacob was fourteen at the time of his brother’s disappearance. Jake and Kiki got along famously. They were as thick as thieves and best of friends, against all odds. When Kiki vanished, the Crosby family fell apart, with Jake left unattended in the center. With his mom gone and his father as good as, Jake learned to take care of himself (and his father) and had to learn far too quickly about responsibilities and consequences. Now grown up, Jacob is a broken man, who works his third-shift job at night only to come home and drink. He lives in a daze, having no connections to family or friends. Kieran’s sudden arrival will come as quite a shock to him.

More Than One Missing Kid

If you have missing PCs in the group, they may know more about Kieran than the others. The non-missing kids have all heard about Kieran Crosby before—probably as a warning for why they can’t leave their parents’ sight—but they may not know his face. Missing kid characters though, especially those who have been missing for a while or who were stolen or forgotten, may have heard rumblings that Kieran is “tainted.” He was ripped out of the real world by a creature called Vanish. The monster is legendary as it is responsible for hundreds (some kids claim thousands) of missing children over the years. Details about Vanish are vague as only two children have ever escaped his clutches—and the group has just met one of them.

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chapter NINE The Scenes

The following scenes form the basic story of The Long Way Home. This is just a framework though, a backbone, and a good group will go off-script numerous times. The best advice is to roll with it, react to their decisions, and try to aid them back on the path if they lose the thread or hit a dramatic dead end.

Scene #1

Before we get into this scene proper, you need to do a little bit of set-up. Think of something a cast member really likes. This doesn’t need to be something extra-special to them (though that would work great) but, ideally, it’s something the character has established a fondness for or connection with previously. If nothing comes to you, make it food from a character’s kitchen (perhaps it’s in distinctive plasticware or the character’s lunchbox). Once you have something in mind, proceed. The characters are going about their business, having a normal day, playing outside or maybe duking it out on Rabble Rouser IV (Pugilist Edition!) for the GameStation 3. Average day, nothing out of the ordinary, until one of them spots a boy. He could be outside the window, in the kitchen (having sneaked in through the back door), or if the kids are outside he could be standing across the field, driveway, parking lot, or whatever. He’s not that tall but it’s hard to gauge his age because his face and clothes are covered in dirt. His shirt is so thin you can see his skin underneath. His pants are frayed and both legs have blown-out knees. His once-white high-tops are barely holding together, as much leather as they are duct tape. To top it all off, he’s got something that belongs to one of the characters (whatever you thought of ). Once spotted, his big eyes go wide and he takes off—precious object in hand. Hey player, some kid just stole your stuff! The natural response is to chase after him so let’s stick with that as the most-likely outcome. This is a Spotlight scene. The boy is trying to get away from the group so all efforts are focused on chasing him down. The boy is agile—and quick—so make it a challenge. I don’t know where you’re going to set this initial scene but I guarantee there are plenty of obstacles you can throw in the players’ way. Open rural areas have wire fencing, mud puddles, slick grass, large animal droppings, tall fields (corn and otherwise) and more among the options. Suburban areas have picket fences, parked cars, hydrants, clusters of thick shrubs, rushing through strange houses (to the occupant’s chagrin) and such. Wooden environments have fallen trees, bramble, stumps, and low-hanging branches. Urban centers have lots of traffic, walls of pedestrians, sudden turns down blind alleyways. Don’t make it easy. Get the adrenaline up and call for Move and Think checks as the characters dodge whatever potential hindrances pop up. Use those accidents rules from the main rulebook (page 34) to bang up the characters—not a lot, just a bit. Drive home that the kid they’re chasing is no stranger to having to get away quickly. But be careful not to reach the point where the cast is discouraged and stop chasing him. If the team does give up, have the kid tumble (if they can see him) or cry out from nearby (if they can’t). This should motivate them to finish the pursuit.

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the long way home This scene ends when they catch up with the boy, whether they tackled him, cornered him, or he fell down and twisted his ankle.

Scene #2

Alright, the boy’s been caught. Now it’s up to the player characters as to what they say or do. The kid’s tough for his size but he’s scrawny (and possibly injured, depending on how things played out in the first scene). He won’t instigate a tussle but he will respond to the best of his abilities if one of the cast members gets physical. Otherwise, he’s a cornered animal: twitchy, unsure, never taking his eyes off the cast members, jumping at any sudden movements, waiting for whatever the group is going to do. If a spot opens up that he can escape through, he may act as if he’s going to take it but he won’t. If the player characters talk to him (and I hope at least one of the cast members has a cool head about this), he’s not feral or anything, but he barks out his answers with guttural heft, quick and short. Something is obviously wrong with him, not mentally but emotionally. Plus he’s upset, that’s evident to anyone who bothers to really look at him. And it won’t be long until he breaks down crying. If the kids give him some breathing room and don’t come in swinging, this will happen sooner rather than later. This is a Dramatic scene. The focus is on the cast members assessing and engaging the boy they caught stealing. Below are some questions the player characters will likely have as well as some other information you may need to handle any other questions.

Who are you?

His name’s Kieran. Kieran Crosby.

Why did you steal (this thing)?

If food, he stole to eat. He’s really hungry. If it was a toy or some other object, he thought it was his. He’s a bit disoriented and may claim it actually is his until he takes a moment to really look at it where he’ll realize, somewhat shame-faced, that he was mistaken. He immediately apologizes, asks for their forgiveness, and gives back whatever he took.

Where do you live?

It takes him a moment to remember. He’ll close his eyes, shake his head slowly, as he mumbles: yellow, big tree, the dog across the street. The street name will come, as will solid details about the house. If you want, put the house on the same street as one of the kids but I’d avoid making it a place they are too familiar with. If your game takes place in a densely-packed city or anywhere apartments and condos make up the bulk of the real estate, don’t sweat making the house a bit out of the way. If you’d rather it was close, you can switch the house to an apartment, just change the other details to match.

Why are you so dirty?

As I said, the boy is filthy. He doesn’t have a good answer. He crawled through a lot of junk and dirt, he says. Though some of the filth is ash. ( Just a slight dusting though, not enough to be invisible to monsters, at least anymore.)

Other Details

Kieran is ten-years old. He knows the name of the town or city they are in, but he gets some information wrong. He may mention a store that shut down five years ago or say

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chapter NINE he’d really like some food from a store or restaurant that’s no longer there. The player characters may not have even heard of some of these places and think they are from another town over or that the boy is more out of it than he seems.

About Kieran

Kieran doesn’t remember a lot about the real world; everything’s kinda fuzzy. He doesn’t have amnesia; he’s just severely out of place and doesn’t know it. His slang and references are out-of-date as well, which is something the cast might pick up on. As you know, this is Kieran’s first day back in the real world so he’s a bit disoriented and on edge.

After the Talk

Once the cast members have exhausted whatever questions they had, Kieran will ask them if they know how to get to his house. If they do, he’ll ask for directions but it’s obvious his brains are a bit scrambled and nothing’s sticking. If they don’t, he’ll thank them (giving the player characters the opportunity to offer to help him regardless) but, if no one steps up, he’ll ask outright. Now it’s fully within the realm of expected responses for the group to confront the kid, get their stuff back, and leave it at that. In case of emergency, Kieran will double over in pain—severe hunger pangs, maybe, or a stomach virus; it’s hard to tell. It’s okay to play a little dirty here. As the main rulebook says, these kids are supposed to be heroes. This kid is obviously in need and every good protagonist knows you help those in need. That’s what usually gets them into the best trouble. The scene ends when the cast agrees to help Kieran home.

Scene #3

Now we walk! Or ride bikes. If the kids want to do something before setting off, Kieran’s amenable to it. He feels a calling to get home but not an urgency—not yet. He will though if things get too sidetracked. He won’t make a huge pest of himself but he will mutter about “getting home” and “it’s late” (no matter what time of day it is) with a strange distance in his voice. On the way, he’ll make more mention of how things look so much different. Hardly nostalgic, he’s more confused by changes, especially any obvious ones (the aforementioned closed stores, redone murals, and so on). As the kids near Kieran’s house, they’ll see that, while the boy got most of the details right, some things are definitely off—and the house is in severe disrepair. Kieran is hesitant to approach the house but if anyone asks him if something is wrong, he’ll say no. “I just don’t feel well.” Eventually, the boy will screw up his courage and take a few steps toward the house. He’ll ask the cast to stick around, if they don’t mind. After trying the buzzer (which isn’t working), he’ll knock on the door weakly before getting enough strength and/or gumption to make it heard. Alternately, Kieran may ask one of the player characters to knock on the door for him. Almost every group has a leader and he’ll single out whoever that is. After a few seconds, and a couple more knocks, a twenty-something man answers the door. He’s slightly tipsy, unshaven, wreaks of cheap beer, and is smoking an unfiltered cigarette. He’s not happy about a bunch of punk kids banging on his door and makes that known first-thing. He wants to know why they’re bothering him and what they want.

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the long way home Kieran won’t speak. He’s transfixed by the man, staring at him strangely, until he finally takes a step forward and says, “Jake?” The man’s face goes sour at this. Okay, real quick: This exchange is necessary to set up the player character-focused part of this scene but, admittedly, it suffers from talking head syndrome. Whenever two game moderator characters are interacting, for purposes of drama or plot, this leaves the players on the sideline. Despite the role Kieran plays here, this is ultimately the player characters’ story so let’s not kill the mood by spending a half-hour talking to ourselves. So, I’m going to give you the information that needs to be conveyed from the exchange and let you decide how to present it. I trust you. The last time Jacob Crosby saw his brother was twelve years ago. Not only did he give up hope of ever seeing his brother, he eventually came to terms with the fact his brother was most likely dead. While this kid on his step looks a bit like Kieran, there’s no way he is and no way the man’s going to believe it—after all, Kieran would be 22 years old now. Kieran’s in no position to make his case either. He stammers, unsure even himself if what’s happening can be trusted or not. The player characters don’t know this kid well enough to really help. They may back his assertion but they don’t have any hard evidence. If he feels these kids are having fun at his expense, he’ll get angry and threaten to call the cops. Should the cast remain undeterred, he’ll threaten physical violence (though won’t act on it). In the end, Jacob’s going to slam the door in their faces. If they push him, he will call the cops. The kids would do well to scatter before things get heated. When the door slams, the truth about the situation settles on Kieran. He backs away from the house, slowly at first then running. He won’t go far though before collapsing onto the ground and sobbing. Kieran is beginning to remember some things and will tell the group this fact, though he can’t give words to exactly what they are. This is a Dramatic scene. Kieran is scared, confused, and is in desperate need of comfort and affirmation. Next, they’ll need a plan. What are they going to do with this kid? Lots of doors they could walk through on this one. Kieran needs a bath—he’s smelling pretty ripe—and won’t refuse one. Unless he got food before, he’s really hungry and could use a meal. He’ll agree to any options that involve these. Going to the cops is not something he’s eager to do. Getting Kieran somewhere safe, wherever that is, is a good idea. Let’s run with that. This scene ends when the kids are on their way to wherever they are going. In the next scene, we’ll see if they make it there.

Scene #4

I’m assuming the cast members are headed toward one of their houses but adjust this if the players took the scene in a different direction. Most important thing is that the kids are in transit; if events play out well, they won’t make it to where they’re headed anyway. On the way to wherever they’re going, the kids become aware something is trailing them. It will make itself known slowly and a general sense of impending danger precedes it. The shadows get darker, one of the kids gets a chill down his back, hair stands on end, goosebumps up the arm. Then it passes. Let the group walk on a bit more and have it happen again. More intense. Someone sees something move out of the corner of his eye. Just as the group starts to doubt,

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chapter NINE another sees it. A shadow, darker than the others. Kieran gets scared; he saw it too. He cries out, “No! No!” as a flood of memories wash over him. He falls to his knees, pleading. “I don’t want to go back! I don’t! No!” The shadow stretches out from a tree (or mailbox or snowdrift or whatever you have; if nothing, it just comes out of the ground) and creeps toward Kieran. The boy swats at it weakly; he’s in no shape to fight. But the group is. This is an Combat scene. Whatever this shadow is, it’s not getting anybody today. The shadow is in its weak form—the more light in the area they are fighting, the quicker it will flee. Give the fight a good couple rounds to give the kids a workout but no more than three or four before it goes. They are facing Vanish’s Shadow. You’ll find the stats for this creature at the end of the chapter. The scene ends when the Shadow has fled. Kieran, sobbing, now remembers everything.

Scene #5

Kieran remembers who he is and immediately starts freaking out. He was the victim of a horrendous act and the torrent of emotion pouring forth now is almost enough to break him. The group needs to calm him down (a series of Care check, first at 15, then 12, then 9 work). Once he’s down a couple steps, he’s able to talk about what he’s feeling and remembering. The details are below, for you to dole out as you see fit or as the questions come up in natural conversation. Here’s what you need to know: Kieran used to be a normal kid. His dad worked at the local plastics factory, secondshift. His mom worked retail—returns and checkout—at the local Star*Mart. His older brother Jacob was a freshman in high school, and Kieran was a fifth grader at Carter Elementary. Carter Elementary is smack dab in the middle of a residential area, and while the main entrance faces a street and west side butts up against some woods, half of the back shares land with houses. Metal fencing separates one from the other, but balls, frisbees, and such find their way on the other side. It’s always a challenge to retrieve them without the playground ladies catching you. A challenge Kieran accepted one day twelve years ago. He was tossing a football with his friends Davey Moller and Greg Lynn one spring day during second recess. Davey botched a pass and it bounced off Greg’s hand into a neighboring house’s yard. One round of rock-paper-scissors later, Kieran is being hoisted over the fence. The ball bounced farther than Kieran had realized, into a thick uncut patch of fescue on the far side of the house. Given the position of the sun and angle of the adjacent shed, the patch was covered in shadow. Kieran walked into shadow and when he turned around, his friends were gone from the other side of the fence. Then he felt something cold over his face and he couldn’t breathe. His entire world went dark and the next thing he saw was the blackened room with a single light dangling from the middle. “Without light,” he’ll say, “you can’t have shadow.” And that, he came to learn, is what took him: a shadow. But not any shadow—one of the same kinds that just attacked them. They’re not the real problem though; the real monster is Vanish. He makes the shadows. They’re a part of him. “I did stuff for him. I helped him hurt other kids.”

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the long way home The details are spotty—whether the boy doesn’t remember or refuses to relive the events is unknown—but Kieran was the monster’s lure. Vanish used him to gain the trust of other kids so they would follow him into dark corners “where Vanish lives.” Vanish is weaker in light and can’t take any children if they are in direct light, natural or otherwise. Kieran isn’t sure how long he did this but it seems like it was a real long time. (The truth, which Kieran doesn’t know and perhaps shouldn’t, is that Kieran has been working for the monster since he was kidnapped. The boy has helped Vanish steal dozens of children. The captives were then traded to other monsters. He doesn’t remember escaping; he’s not sure he really has. The last thing he remembers is grabbing the arm of some girl, some little girl, and pulling her towards him. Her skin so warm and his so cold. “Then I was here,” he’ll say. “And I was so hungry. And confused. I don’t know what happened, I swear.” He doesn’t know why he hasn’t aged. He doesn’t know anything else. As much of a relief as it is for him, it does nothing to unburden the guilt he feels. Once the relevant information is laid out, he doesn’t want to talk anymore. He’s far too torn up to keep talking. He wants to go back home. He wants to talk to his brother one more time. He needs to. This is a Dramatic scene. This revelation needs to motivate the team to see them through the rest of the scenario. Lay it all out, put lots of emotion into it, and get those players hooked! The scene ends with the team agreeing to take Kieran back to his house one more time.

Scene #6

The trip back to the Crosby homestead is uneventful. The shadows seem a little longer than usual and the occasional movement in the periphery gives a start now and then but they make it back without running into trouble. When they arrive at the steps of Jacob Crosby’s modest suburban home, Kieran approaches the door hesitantly. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he knocks on the door (unless a cast member volunteers). Jacob’s in no better mood now than before and throws open the door, already swearing. He immediately lets into the kids, tells them to get off his property or else he’ll get his gun (he doesn’t have one, but the cast doesn’t know that). He’s addressing everyone but his eyes keep darting back to Kieran. Something inside him knows, against all reason. If he called the cops before, he’ll inform the group that the authorities know all about their stupid stunt. (Police don’t prioritize minor nuisances such as this so the chances of the cops returning or busting the kids for it—beyond a talking-to anyway—are incredibly slim.) Kieran tries to talk to him but hearing anything from the boy just makes Jacob angrier. Calming the man down falls on the players. They can approach it with Think or Care, maybe even Fight if one’s inclined to give Jacob’s shin a quick kick. When Jacob is snapped out of tirade mode, he can’t help but embrace Kieran. His brother’s face has been burned in his mind for the past twelve years and this kid is his brother. Kiki made his way home. This is a Dramatic scene. Tears, relief, joy, and sadness are all mixed up in a swirl of emotion.

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chapter NINE Jacob has a lot of questions, but direct them to the players. Kieran’s too emotional to talk and this helps avoid the talking-head syndrome of GMC interaction. The scene ends when Jacob is willing to accept the outlandish notion that this is his brother and invites the group into his house.

Scene #7

The house is like a shrine to Kieran. A long-neglected shrine decorated with cheap beer cans and old magazines, but a shrine. Pictures of Kieran line the wall and mantel, covered in dust. Newspaper clippings cling to the wall, stuck with old packing tape and staple. The boy’s fifth grade school portrait sits center on the dining room table adjacent to the main living area. Almost ashamed of the state his house is in, Jacob clears seats and does a quick clean-up before offering everyone a seat. Still, he can’t take his eyes of Kieran. He questions his sanity, wonders if he’s dreaming, and says he’d offer the kids something to drink but all he has is beer. “I don’t get much company. Especially kids.” In his heart, Jacob’s a good guy, but the years of wear and worry are evident. Show this, get the kids on Jacob’s side—or at least glad the two brothers are reunited before dropping the hammer that’s about to happen, now. The lights in the house flicker for a moment. Then all but one goes out. Kieran gasps. “You can’t have shadow without light.” Jacob has no idea what’s going on. He’ll make a lame excuse about “old wiring” but even he knows something’s up. “You mustn’t leave before the job is done, child,” a voice says. Vanish. Kieran screams and falls behind the cast for cover. The lights come back on—and there’s nothing. Then they hear the cackling. But where’s it coming from? Vanish can live in any shadow but he has to jump from one to another. The players don’t know this but Kieran does. If they can isolate the general area, they just need to remove as many shadows as they can—or trap Vanish in one with nowhere else to go. This is an Investigation scene. Find where the cackling is coming from, eliminate the shadows, and bring Vanish out of hiding. Make this a challenge. Houses have hundreds of shadows beyond the obvious ones and Vanish is no fool; he’ll move around as the group pushes him into a corner. One of the kids may get the idea to completely blacken the house (Again, “you can’t have shadow without light”) but Vanish is already inside the house. At this point, darkening the house extends the shadow. This scene ends when Vanish is either found or reveals himself. Grab the dice, things are coming to a head.

Scene #8

Drawn out of hiding, the monster has no choice but to make his full appearance. Vanish looks like a person made of solid shadow. This isn’t a form he takes often but he needs to in order to physically interact with people. In this form, he can briefly appear in lighted areas but will not stay there long. He can break up into shadowy shapes briefly, usually when rushing from one shadowy area to another. Because he is both made of shadow and fights from the shadows, he can be hard to spot. He can make his face appear as people familiar to the kids, like seeing your parent’s face in shadow. It’s almost right,

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the long way home but not quite. While he usually employs that trick to lure unsuspecting kids, he may do it in order to evoke sympathy from the kids or throw particularly sensitive kids off their guard. Vanish doesn’t want to fight though. He’s not here on business. He’s here to get what he thinks is rightfully his: Kieran. Vanish has brought up Kieran in monster tradition for twelve years—two more than he was ever a member of the real world. If he can avoid fighting, he will do so. The group needs to make sure Vanish can’t avoid fighting. This is a Combat scene. Time to take on a monster, kids. You can find the stats for Vanish at the end of this chapter. After he’s endured a bit of physical damage, Vanish will explode into a hundred shadowy bits that flitter around the room like crazed birds. They whip through the air seemingly without destination until finally settling on Jacob. The bits swirl around his skin, mixing his pink flesh with black streaks. The man screams, claws at his flesh, but it’s too no avail. Jacob stumbles back, grabs his head, and almost bangs into a wall. The swirl absorbs into his skin and Jacob seems okay at first. Until he opens his eyes and the kids see the hatred evident within them. In two strides, Jacob clears the room, grabs Kieran by the collar, and rushes out the door. The scene ends when Jacob (possessed) takes off with Kieran in his clutches.

Scene #9

Go go go! Vanish has taken over Jacob’s body, used it to nab Kieran, and run off. The cast members have to hunt him down and save Kieran. Good luck, kids. Jacob is on the move. (Use Jacob Crosby’s monster stats at the back of this chapter for this scene.) He’ll take whatever path is the most likely to trip up the characters. As we did with Scene #1, throw some obstacles in the kids’ paths. Jacob’s clearing trash bins, Kieran firmly in his grasp, without breaking stride but the characters have to work to hurdle the now-toppled cans. The cast members will catch up with Vanish/Jacob but make them work for it. Problem is, Vanish can’t carry Kieran outside of Jacob’s body—pull, push, silence, yes, but not carry. He needs Jacob’s body, but Vanish doesn’t know this neighborhood, or maybe Jacob’s spirit is fighting back, either way the monster will eventually work himself into a corner. That’s when this turns into a fight. This is a Combat scene. Round two, this time against the possessed Jacob Crosby. Unless! Unless you need to want to end things here then you could. The way this is written, the kids will beat Jacob and then Vanish disappears, just in time for Kieran to—well, I won’t spoil it. But the kids fight Jacob, Vanish goes away, story ends. But here’s another way this could play out. When the kids corner Vanish/Jacob, the man will scream and black shadowy bits come foaming out of his mouth. He collapses on the floor, unconscious. The shadowy bits fly off, eventually disappearing into some nearby pool of darkness. If you opt for this, I recommend stretching out the chase. Turn this into a Spotlight scene and throw more obstacles, more challenges, toss in some accidents and minor damage to bulk up the scene. In this case, the scene ends when Vanish lives up to his name and goes away.

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chapter NINE Otherwise, the kids have another fight on their hands. But before we get into that, let’s talk a bit about possession. When a GMC is possessed, he becomes, at least for the moment, a monster. So you stat him up as a monster. System-wise, he acts the same as any other monster. What’s unique is what happens after the possession is over. Here’s the important part: Not all the damage the possessed person takes in his monster form counts against their actual health as a regular GMC. For every three points of damage their monster version suffers, their human form only takes one point. So if the kids take out possessed Jacob, doing all 30 points of damage, only ten transfer to Jacob the human GMC. Jacob the human GMC has 16 to begin with. Minus the ten points of damage that could transfer, the most beat up he will be is down to six points of health. He’ll be beat up, but he won’t be dead. But the kids won’t need to do 30. Vanish will vamoose after 15. He’ll make his exit as describe earlier. Jacob will collapse, Kieran will rush over to him. This scene ends when Vanish leaves.

Scene #10

Vanish is gone, for now. Jacob is down, unconscious. Kieran is kneeling next to him. His hand on his brother’s chest. Everything is quiet. Kieran turns to the player characters and says he has to go. He says he’s nothing but trouble, that Vanish will never stop looking for him, and that the kids cannot protect him forever. “And I can’t even protect myself.” He hopes Jacob will wake up, think this was all some strange dream, and forget all about it. Kieran sniffles back tears as he says this. It’s probably the right thing to do but he doesn’t really want to do it. So he’ll go, back to Vanish, and do what the monster says. Kieran hates this idea but tells the other kids that so many other children will get hurt as Vanish tries to get him back. Though he knows he will be used as the monster’s bait. “What—what do you think I should do?” This is a Dramatic scene. Which way will the cast members swing this?

Convince Kieran to Stay

Go back? Are you nuts? Do they feed you crazy pills where you come from, Kieran? No way you’re going back to that monster to help him steal children! Kieran is free now, however it was that happened, and he needs to stay free. If Vanish comes back, they’ll take him on again. Every time. A hundred times if they have to. An honorable vow. If Kieran stays, he’ll spend his life walking around with a missing kid’s face. I mean, sure, he’ll age and grow (probably) but right now he looks like that kid that went missing twelve years ago. That’s going to be weird. But it should settle, and as impossible and insane as Kieran’s story will seem to his older brother, they might be able to heal some wounds and go on with their lives. Finally.

Agree that Kieran Should Go

It’s not a choice a child should have to make but Kieran may be right. Vanish is no joke. He’s one tough monster and could hurt a lot of kids on his hunt to find and keep Kieran. Still, they could send him back armed—maybe with a hand-me-down—that can help Kieran fight back against Vanish. Maybe. But still, what an awful choice to have to make.

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the long way home Hunt Down Vanish

Vanish used Kieran to lure children. Now it’s time for children to use Kieran to lure Vanish. The group could put forth that Vanish needs to be stopped. What’s this talk of giving up? Of going back? Forget that noise. Vanish is a monster and we can’t let him keep attacking kids.

Offer Another Option

If your group is anything like the ones I’ve had the fortune to play with, they will probably concoct a scheme far greater, grander, and inventive that what you and I came up with. And that’s great. That’s part of what makes these games so much fun.

Whatever They Choose

Things are far from over for Kieran and the group. If Kieran stays, Vanish will come back—and the monster may try to take out the player characters one by one before making a grand attack. If they send Kieran back, they may cross paths with him again. If they hunt down Vanish, they have their work cut out for them, but it’s definitely not impossible and you could get a whole other episode out of it. No matter the direction, the players take this, have fun and be safe. There are monsters out there.

The Long Way Home GMCs and Monsters

The following GMCs are for use with The Long Way Home or any episode of Little Fears Nightmare Edition. These have been built with the expanded GMC rules found in this book. Stats for the monsters follow.

KIERAN CROSBY This is Me!

My name is Kieran Crosby. Character description: 10-year old stolen boy who hasn’t aged a day in 12 years.

Abilities

Qualities

Health

Weaknesses

Think: ØØØØOO Do: ØØØOOO Feel: ØØOOOO ØØØØØ ØØØØØ ØØØØØ ØOOOO

Goals

I am a missing child I have had to steal things to survive

Hunted by a monster called Vanish Spotty memory

____________________________ __________________________OO ____________________________ __________________________OO

ØØO ØOO

ØO ØO

Playaround Points OOOOO OOOOO

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chapter NINE JACOB CROSBY This is Me!

My name is Jacob Crosby. Character description: 26-year old, thin, depressed, slow to speak.

Abilities

Qualities

Health

Weaknesses

Think: ØØOOOO Do: ØØØOOO Feel: ØØØØOO ØØØØØ ØØØØØ ØØØØØ ØOOOO

I am Kieran’s older brother I’ve been hardened by life

Misses his brother

ØØO ØOO

ØØ

Goals

____________________________ __________________________OO ____________________________ __________________________OO


Jesse VANISH’S Albright SHADOW is a 9 year is a Regular old girl. Monster.

Don’tshadow-form This call her Jessica. of the That monster is waycalled too girly Vanish foristhis a separate dirt bike-riding entity entirely. karate While master. some Her monsters mom keeps havetrying multiple to forms, shove Vanish dolls into is capable her hands of creating but Jesse independent, has no interest though temporary, in playing house. Not versions of himself. when there This isare usedmudpits primarily to tojump. scare She kids,also get them has aoffwicked their guard, head or fordistract figuring out how them. Likethings a shadow work. puppet, it can alter its appearance to ape what terrifies children. Vanish is a very powerful monster and this isQualities only a shadow (heh) of its true self. Abilities ItMove: is scary when it darkens the area around its victims. It wants+2to make Vanish ØØØØOO I am a Thrillseeker happy. Fight: ØØOOOO I love riding bikes +1 Think: ØØØØOO Abilities

Speak: Fight: ØØOOOO ØØØOOO Care: ØØOOOO Chase: ØØOOOO Grab: ØØOOOO Virtues Scare:4ØØØOOO Belief: Wits: Virtues 8 Spirit: Terror:106 Health: 30 Health fine: ØØØØØØOOOO Qualities sore: It is ØØØØØØOOOO an angry shadow. hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO It can creep anywhere. cold: ØØØØØØOOOO It cannot stray far from darkness.

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StuffI’m not scared +1

I’m good at fixing Loose Form ØØØstuff +1 karate “Puppets” lessons +1 (Scare +2) I takeCreate know whenit to shut up -1 I don’t Any Shape Wants I forget to do homework -1 Shadow Travel ØØ Appear Suddenly (Scare +2) Traits I canCatch Off-Guard (Think -1) Speak well when I’m talking

about bikes or bike riding. It’s hard for me to Think when I’m taking a school test.

the long way home JACOB CROSBY is a Regular Monster.

Once Kieran’s older brother, Jacob Crosby’s broken heart and shattered family opened his soul to the being known as Vanish. Fourteen years of age at the time of his brother’s disappearance, Jacob is now 26 though he looks and acts much older. As Vanish’s puppet, he will try to reclaim Kieran by using the connection the brothers used to have and Kieran’s desperate need to reconnect with family. It is scary when it shows its eyes in the dark. It wants to capture Kieran.

Abilities

Fight: ØØØOOO Chase: ØØOOOO Grab: ØØØOOO Scare: ØØOOOO

Virtues


Stuff

Low Voice ØØØ Bone-Chilling (Scare +2) Trance-Like (Think -1) Strong Legs ØØ Run like lighning! (Chase +2)

Qualities

It is, or was, Kieran’s brother. It can hold you tight. It cannot see in the dark.

Jesse VANISH Albright is a Big is a Bad 9 year Monster. old girl.

Don’t call Vanish has her stolen Jessica. hundreds Thatofischildren way tooover girlythe forcenturies this dirtfrom bike-riding all partskarate of the master. world. AHer creature mom keeps comprised tryingofto darkness, shove dolls Vanishinto is capable her hands of making but Jesse you think has no it’sinterest someonein familiar, playing house. Not however temporary when there even though are mudpits it’s taken to jump. no physical She also form.has In addition, a wickedithead has the forability figuring to out how take over things the bodywork. of people consumed by sadness from personal loss. It is scary when it shows its true face. It wants more and more victims. Abilities Qualities Move: ØØØØOO Fight: ØØOOOO Think: ØØØØOO Abilities Speak: Fight: ØØOOOO ØØØØOO Care: ØØOOOO Chase: ØØØØØØ Grab: ØØØØØØ Virtues Scare:4ØØØØOO Belief: Wits: Virtues 8 Spirit: Terror:1010 Health: 50 Health fine: ØØØØØØOOOO Qualities sore: It is ØØØØØØOOOO the #1 kidnapper. hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO It can snatch you from shadows. cold: ØØØØØØOOOO It cannot enter well-lit rooms.

I am a Thrillseeker +2 I love riding bikes +1 StuffI’m not scared +1 I’m good fixing stuff +1 Low VoiceatØØØ karate lessons +1 I takeBone-Chilling (Scare +2) know when (Think to shut up I don’t Trance-Like -1)-1 I forget to doØØØ homework -1 Old as Time Knows Every Hiding Spot Traits (Grabwhen +2) I’m talking I can Speak well Knows You Well (Scare +1) about bikes or bike riding. A Familiar Face ØØ It’s hard for me to Think when I’m You Trusttest. It (Think -2) taking a school Migrant Spirit ØØ Can Possess the Heartbroken

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he left a note Well, this took longer than I expected. When I released Little Fears Nightmare Edition in October 2009, I had grand plans for the line. I had a list of episodes to write, a book on Closetland, a fiction collection, and all sorts of stuff. Slated for 2010, they were. On the spine of the main rulebook, there’s a band that says “Book 1.” Book 1. That was a promise I made to myself. A promise I wasn’t sure I would fulfill. While I did get three standalone episode PDFs out, the other books didn’t materialize. Of the books I had planned, this book you’re reading now wasn’t even on the list. I was sure I was going to do the Closetland book first. Then, after I started getting Campfire Tales material out, I thought the next book would be a collection of those. But no. The next book is a setting expansion/character option/episode/I don’t know what mashup all about missing kids. At this point, I don’t even remember where the idea came from, though I remember it came to me driving home from Noble Knight Games. I had the thought to do these small PDF releases about different kinds of special kids. It was going to be the “One of ” series of supplements. “One of the Stolen.” “One of the Forgotten.” I had a neat little stack of these ideas. Six of them, if I remember right. Then I wondered if they wouldn’t be better as a collected volume. A whole book of character options. I brainstormed the idea early last year during a lull in my work schedule. After drafting a quick outline, I wrote about 12,000 words before putting the idea away in favor of some freelance gigs. The idea was like an itch though, and I couldn’t help but scratch it. I’d read over what I’d written, make notes, write a few hundred more words, put it away. On a lark, I commissioned a cover from Veronica V. Jones, the same amazing artist who did the cover to the main rulebook. We hashed out the idea and what Veronica came up with was just stunning. I love it. So I had 12,000 words, an outline, and a cover. I’d get to it eventually, I reckoned. And eventually I did. I thought at first this would be a 25,000 word supplement, something small. I thought, hey, I already have it half-written. I went about my other writing work, always with this book in the back of my mind. It’s half-written, I said, I only need a couple weeks to finish it. So I scheduled myself a couple open weeks and set about to write it. As the pages filled up I realized I had a lot more to say than I thought. There was more meat to this idea than I initially considered. Turns out this wasn’t a 25,000 word project but a 50,000 word one. Those two weeks grew to a month. I started talking about it on littlefears.com and folks seemed to respond. I commissioned some art and drafted the layout and Ikept writing. I switched chapters around, moved huge chunks of text, as the book solidified. A flurry of art direction, writing, editing, playtesting, and, next thing I know, I have a Book 2. And now you do too. The spine of the main rulebook says “Book 1.” The spine on this one says “Book 2.” This book fulfills the promise I made in 2009. So let me make another one. If you like this book, I promise you’ll really like Book 3. Sleep tight, Jason L Blair

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EXPANDED GMC SHEET This is Me!

My name is ____________________. Character description:_____________________ _______________________________________.

Abilities

Qualities

Health

Weaknesses

Think: ØOOOOO Do: ØOOOOO Feel: ØOOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO

Goals

I am ______________________________ OOO __________________________________ OOO __________________________________ OOO ____________________________________OO ____________________________________OO

____________________________ __________________________OO ____________________________ __________________________OO


EXPANDED GMC SHEET This is Me!

My name is ____________________. Character description:_____________________ _______________________________________.

Abilities

Qualities

Health

Weaknesses

Think: ØOOOOO Do: ØOOOOO Feel: ØOOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO

Goals

I am ______________________________ OOO __________________________________ OOO __________________________________ OOO ____________________________________OO ____________________________________OO

____________________________ __________________________OO ____________________________ __________________________OO


Download a full-sized copy of this Character Sheet at www.littlefears.com

MISSING CHILD

Child’s Name: ____________________________________________ Age: ____ Sex: ____ DOB: ___/___/___ Player: ________________ MISSING SINCE: _____________Type of Missing:______________ Last Seen With:____________________________________________

Abilities o o o o o

Move: ØOOOOO Fight: ØOOOOO Think: ØOOOOO Speak: ØOOOOO Care: ØOOOOO

TRAITS

VIRTUES

Good: I can ______________ well when _________________________________ _________________________________. Bad: It’s hard for me to ____________ when _____________________________ _________________________________.

Belief ____ Wits scared OOOOO|OOOOO calm Spirit dark OOOOO|OOOOO whole

MY STUFF

______________________OOO __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ ______________________OOO __________________________ __________________________ QUALITIES __________________________ I am ______________________________ +2 ______________________OOO ______________________________ +3 __________________________ ______________________________ +3 __________________________ __________________________________ +__ __________________________ __________________________________ +__ ______________________OOO __________________________________ -__ __________________________ __________________________________ -__ __________________________ __________________________ I FEELl ______________________OOO fine OOOOOOOOOO __________________________ sore OOOOOOOOOO (-2) __________________________ bad OOOOOOOOOO (-4) __________________________ cold OOOOOOOOOO (-6) ______________________OOO GOALS __________________________ ____________________________ __________________________ ____________________________ __________________________ __________________________OO ____________________________ Playaround Points ____________________________ OOOOO OOOOO __________________________OO Download a full-sized copy of this Character Sheet at www.littlefears.com

QUESTIONNAIRE

Questions for All Missing

“What was your life like before?” _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ “Have you made contact with your old life? If so, how did it go? If not, why not?” _________________________________________________________________ “Where are you now?” _________________________________________________________________ “What have you been doing?” _________________________________________________________________ “Do you want to go back home?” _________________________________________________________________ “If not, why not?” _________________________________________________________________

Questions for the Abducted and Stolen

“Do you know the person/monster who took you? If so, who/what was it?” _________________________________________________________________ “What happened to that person/monster?” _________________________________________________________________ “How did you get away?” _________________________________________________________________

Questions for the Runaway

“Why did you run away?” _________________________________________________________________ “How do you feel about your decision?” _________________________________________________________________ Questions for the Abandoned and Forgotten “What’s the last thing you remember?” _________________________________________________________________ “Why do you think it happened?” _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Download a full-sized copy of this Character Sheet at www.littlefears.com

Little Fears RPG - Nightmare Edition - Among the Missing

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