"Home at last, home at last!" Jenna burst through the front door of their home.
Meanwhile, Daniel and his mother struggled with boxes as they climbed the concrete stairs to their front porch. As the three entered the house, the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls danced through the air, inviting them into their home with a warm welcome.
"Oh," cried a woman out, her voice coming from the kitchen, "you guys are finally back!"
Luna, Daniel's oldest sister, stepped out of the kitchen, greeting them with a baking sheet of cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven.
Luna smiled, "just in time for a sna—"
"You could at least help us out, Jenna!" Daniel growled at his sister, cutting Luna off as he nearly dropped his boxes from his sweaty palms.
Jenna looked back at Daniel, rolled her eyes, and as she skipped away, sang, "not my problem!" Quickly plucking a piping hot cinnamon roll from the baking sheet before running upstairs, Jenna yelled to her older sister, "mind helping mom and Daniel with the boxes? Thanks, byeee!"
SLAM
Jenna slammed the door to her bedroom at the end of the hall.
"Ugh," Daniel grunted, "she’s such a pain. Hey, Luna, could you grab the top box for me?"
"Sure thing," Luna quickly went to the kitchen and set the cinnamon rolls down.
Daniel, Luna, and Mrs. Hall made their way up to the second floor and turned to the first door on the right, stumbling into Daniel's room with heavy boxes in tow. Daniel dropped his two boxes to his feet, nearly crushing his toes as they fell to the ground with a thud that echoed throughout the room. Daniel took a deep breath, taking in the sweet-smelling scent of daisies emitting a wall plug-in that sprayed every 5 hours. The bed was neatly made and the duvet was fresh and warm, straight out of the dryer. Every hard surface in the room shimmered in the sunlight that pierced the window. All the books on Daniel's bookshelf were polished and rearranged into alphabetical order. Daniel walked into the middle of the room and looked around – his room was cleaner than he'd ever seen. He walked over to the bed and flopped down onto his back, the duvet feeling like a warm hug.
"Wow, Daniel," Mrs. Hall placed her two boxes onto the ones Daniel dropped, "I had no idea your room looked this immaculate before you left."
"Ah, well," Luna spoke up, "sorry, Danny, I know you don't like it when people are in your room, but I took it upon myself to clean the place up for your homecoming."
Daniel sat up, "well, the place looks great! Thanks, Luna."
"No problem!" Luna placed her box down, "oh, and Danny, dad, and I have a surprise for you in the kitchen. When you're ready, come on down."
"Okay," Daniel flopped back down onto his back.
Luna and Mrs. Hall left the room, closing the door behind them. Daniel laid on his back and listened to the sound of his mom and Luna footsteps fade into the distance. After waiting for a while, Daniel believed the coast was clear.
"Finally, some alone time," Daniel stretched a bit before pushing himself off the bed and unzipping his pants. He dropped his pants to his ankles and looked down inside his underwear, "hello there, my lovely, little Eiko."
Daniel grabbed Eiko, clenching her tightly in his hand. He then dug inside the back of his underwear and retrieved Jane and Danielle from in between his cheeks.
"How are you guys liking your new home so far?" Daniel joked, "enjoy the peace while you have it because this summer will be the be— OUCH!"
Danielle took a giant chomp out of Daniel's hand, her teeth sinking into his skin so deep she drew blood. Shock and pain rushed through his hand, causing Daniel to drop the girls landing on the soft, freshly vacuumed carpet.
"Quick, this way!" Jane motioned over to the door, pointing to the space underneath the doorframe – there was just enough space for them to squeeze through and escape.
The girls scurried like rats for the door, unsure where to go once they escaped.
"Not so fast!" Daniel ran to the door first and stomped his foot down, causing the girls to crash into it and knocking them down.
"You really think I'd let you idiots escape that easily? Where would you even go?"
Eiko stood up, "all we need to do is get the attention of one of your family members, and you're done for," she took a step forward, exuding confidence, "once they realize you've kidnapped us, you'll be in hot water!"
Daniel stared Eiko down, the giant looming over the girls with a commanding presence. The girls all began backing away as Daniel stepped closer to them, backing them into a corner. He then bent down and recklessly swiped at the girls, not caring which one he grabbed.
"Quick, underneath the bed!" yelled Eiko; she and her friends dove between Daniel's legs, running opposite direction.
Before Daniel could catch them, they slid underneath the bed.
Danielle yelled out, "try reaching us now, asshole!"
"Danielle," Eiko elbowed Danielle, "we're already trapped here. Don't provoke him!"
Danielle crossed her arms, "as if I'm scared of that dork."
"Eiko's right," Jane chimed in, "we shouldn't make him angrier."
Danielle looked at Eiko and Jane; the terror on both their faces said it all.
She sighed, "okay, I'll bite my tongue, but not because I'm scared or anything. Only because you asked."
Just as the girls thought they were safe, Daniel's arm slithered underneath the bed like a snake, his giant hand reaching for the girls. His hand swiped at them, his angry fingers reaching for anything that felt like one of the girls. He grabbed a couple of dust bunnies, socks, and shoe strings, throwing everything around and causing an avalanche of items underneath the bed, almost crushing the girls. Suddenly—
"Ow!" Jane screamed in pain, her strawberry blonde hair tangled in Daniel's fingers.
"Ah-ha! Got one of you!"
"Quick, take my hand!" Eiko yelled out to Jane who reached for Eiko's hand.
"Don’t worry, we got you!" Danielle grabbed Jane's other hand.
Daniel slowly pulled Jane away from her friends, their strength outmatched as they tried pulling Jane away from Daniel. With one final tug, Daniel pulled Jane from her friends and out from underneath the bed, bringing her close to his face while holding her by her hair.
"Well, hello, Jane," Daniel bellowed, still holding her by her hair. "If you ladies don't want to come out, I suppose desperate time calls for desperate measures."
Daniel's footsteps faded until—
SLAM
The slam from Daniel's door caused the ground to shake under Eiko and Danielle's feet. The two looked at each other, then back to the end of the bed – Daniel’s feet were no longer visible. They slowly crept from under the bed and looked around the impeccably clean room.
"What do you think he's going to do to Jane?" Danielle worryingly asked.
"I don't know, but right now is our chance to—"
Suddenly, the door flung open, and in walked Daniel, Jane in one hand and a vacuum cleaner in the other. Eiko and Danielle scurried back under the bed as Daniel plugged up the vacuum and turned it on. The mighty roar from the vacuum cleaner shook the ground; the angry-sounding machine made its way to the edge of the bed. The winds were so intense they nearly sucked Danielle and Eiko into the mouth of the roaring machine. The girls scurried deeper under the bed, running through a maze of dust bunnies, dirt, and grime. Eventually, the girls were too far under the bed to be reached by the vacuum cleaner, giving them hopes of Daniel giving up. Unfortunately for them, the vacuum had a long and elephant-like nozzle that could go further underneath the bed. Daniel unhooked the nozzle from the vacuum and bent down; he used the light from the vacuum cleaner as a flashlight to fill the darkness underneath the bed with light. He spotted Eiko and Danielle and began chasing them with the end of the nozzle. Daniel aimed the nozzle at Danielle first. She grabbed onto a shoestring from a white tennis shoe, but the suction power of the nozzle was too strong.
FWOOP!
Just like that, Danielle was sucked into the vacuum cleaner.
"Danielle! Ah, shit—!"
Daniel aimed the nozzle at Eiko the power of the suction grew stronger. Eiko grabbed a handful of carpet in each hand as her feet lifted off the ground. Daniel got closer and closer with the nozzle, the sweat from Eiko's palms caused her grip on the carpet to loosen.
FWOOP!
"Ah!" Eiko screamed, one of her shoes were sucked into the vacuum.
FWOOP!
Her second shoe was sucked into the vacuum; just as Eiko thought she'd be sucked into the vacuum—
BANG, BANG, BANG
"Daniel, sweetheart!" Mrs. Hall yelled from the other side of the door before opening it. She cocked her head to the side, "Daniel?"
Daniel didn't respond.
"Daniel!"
Still no response. To get his attention, Mrs. Hall clicked the power button, shutting off the vacuum. Surprised, Daniel jumped to his feet and hid Jane behind his back. Eiko fell to the ground, flat onto her face – the roaring winds subsided.
"um, Daniel," Mrs. Hall crossed her arms, "why are you vacuuming? Luna and your father have a surprise for you in the kitchen, remember?"
"Oh, uh, yeah, I was just chasing a couple of dust bunnies. I'll be down in a sec. I just need to get up a little more dirt."
Eiko realized this was her chance to get noticed by someone other than Daniel. If she could grab Mrs. Hall's attention, she could finally get someone to help her and her friends. She began to book it to the edge of the bed.
"Well, hurry up, don't want to keep Luna and your father waiting, okay?" Mrs. Hall turned away and got ready to close the door as Daniel plugged the vacuum cleaner back up.
"Mrs. Hall! Mrs. Hall!"
"Huh?"
"Mrs. Hall, down here!"
Just as Mrs. Hall got ready to leave, she heard a tiny voice yell her name. She opened the door back up.
"Did you hear that?"
"Huh, heard what?" Daniel played dumb.
Eiko ran from under the bed and was waving her arms frantically. All she needed was for Daniel’s mom to turn around and spot her. Daniel looked down at Eiko and kicked the vacuum nozzle in her direction.
"I could have swore I heard—"
Just then, Daniel turned the vacuum cleaner back up.
FWOOP!
Without realizing how close the nozzle was to her, Eiko was sucked right into the vacuum cleaner. With a smirk on his face, Daniel turned the vacuum cleaner off.
"Well, look at that, I got that stubborn little dust bunny. Now, what were you saying, mom?"
"Oh, nothing. I just thought someone was calling me. Did you hear it too?"
"Nope, didn't hear a thing."
Mrs. Hall looked around the room, "hmm…well anyway, let's head downstairs."
"Sure thing, mom!"
"Here, let me empty the vacuum bag for y—"
"No!" Daniel panicked, "uh, I mean, I got it. I'll empty it after I see the surprise. I accidentally vacuumed up something important. Anyway, you go ahead and head to the kitchen, I'll be right behind you."
Daniel basically pushed his mother out of the room. He then opened the vacuum bag and dropped Jane inside of it.
"You three enjoy your time in there," Daniel cackled, closing the bag and leaving his room.
In the kitchen, Luna, Mr. and Mrs. Hall waited for Daniel to arrive. Over a table full of Daniel's favorite food was a banner that read out, "Welcome Home, Danny!"
"There he is," Mr. Hall announced as Daniel walked into the kitchen, "the man of the hour. Had us waiting for a long time there, champ," Mr. Hall stood up, "thought we were gonna have to start eating without you, food is getting cold."
"Hey, dad, good to see you," Daniel hugged his dad.
"What were you doing up there, slowpoke?" asked Jenna.
"None of your business, four eyes," Daniel rolled his eyes, "anyway, let's eat!"
The Hall family gathered around the table to eat, unaware that the three missing girls from Silverlake Academy were upstairs in Daniel's room.