The woods were quiet except for the drizzling rain. Emma pulled her jacket tighter as she and her brother Manny huddled under the tree canopy.
"We shouldn't have played hide and seek without telling Mom and Dad," she said. "What if they aren't even going to look for us?"
Manny tried to sound confident. "It's okay. They'll find us."
By early morning, they started walking again. In the distance, they spotted a vacant facility with a road nearby.
"Maybe there's someone there with a phone," Manny said, pointing toward the buildings.
As they approached, they looked around and saw it was just one boy about their age dragging a large wooden plank near the facility. That was why they decided to approach him.
"Hey!" Emma called out. "Can you help us?"
The boy looked up, his expression calm.
"I'm Emma, this is my brother Manny," she said as they got closer. "We got lost trying to get to the Boy Scout and Girl Scout camp. What's your name?"
"Jason Anderson," he replied.
Manny stepped forward. "Jason, we haven't had any luck finding food out here. It's kind of embarrassing since we're supposed to be in the scouts program, you know? Do you think we could borrow your phone? We need to call our parents."
Jason studied them for a moment, then nodded toward the shed. "Phone's in there."
"Really? Thank you so much!" Emma said, relief flooding her voice.
"Yeah, thanks man," Manny added gratefully.
They followed Jason toward the shed, not knowing what he was about to do. As they stepped inside, Jason moved behind them.
The door closed.
And Jason Anderson was about to lock it.