Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

Vanished in the Air

“Robbie?”
Robbie snorted and woke up from his nap, looking blearily around. Was that the elf calling him? He yawned, slowly waking up. What did he want anyhow?…
“Robbie, open up!”
He woke up fully then and bolted out of his chair, ignoring the stiffness in his back when he did so. There was something wrong with the elf’s voice. He moved over to the pipe and was soon at the entrance, where a clearly agitated Sportacus was banging as hard as he could on the metal.
“Knock it off already!” Robbie yelled after the banging nearly deafened him.
“Robbie!” he heard through the pipe. “Robbie open up! Where’s Stephanie?!”
He swung the lid open.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he snapped. “Why would I have the little pixie? Weren’t you supposed to pick her up from school?”
“My crystal went off Robbie!” he was babbling, practically shaking in anxiety. “I can’t find her. Something’s wrong and I can’t find her and I thought she might have just gone to you and maybe something happened here, please tell me she’s here Robbie, I can’t find her and-”
Robbie had to hold the man back from shoving himself into the pipe looking for her, despite the fact that Robbie was only half out of it now.
“Calm down!” he bellowed, shaking Sportacus slightly. The elf shuddered and went still, but his hands were still shaking and he kept looking around, as if expecting her to jump out of nowhere.
“She didn’t get out of school?”
“N-no, I even went in, and I asked, just to make sure, they said didn’t come in after lunch and they thought I picked her up early or something, but I didn’t and I don’t know where she is Robbie!”
Robbie had to calm himself down. The elf’s frazzled nerves were starting to rub off on him, and it wouldn’t do any good for them both to break down over this.
“Okay,” Robbie breathed and climbed shakily out of the pipe, closing and locking it behind him. “Did you look for her by the sports park?”
“I already looked everywhere in Lazy Town. I can’t find her Robbie…” it trailed off into a whimper and Robbie stiffened, feeling suddenly terrified.
“Don’t cry!” he snapped. “Crying isn’t going to find her, is it?” Sportacus shuddered again and shook his head. He bit his lip to try and bring himself back to the present.
A goal. He always worked well with goals. Make Lazy Town happy. Get everyone healthy and moving. Get Robbie to eat healthy foods at least some of the time. Goals were good. His hands slowly stopped shaking as mental to-do list items shuffled around in his mind. In big bold letters, out sizing everything else and at the very top of the list:
Find Stephanie.
Keep Stephanie safe.
His crystal pulsed.


Stephanie was petrified. Beyond fear, beyond terror, a state where it feels as if every molecule in your body has frozen still. You heart doesn’t beat, you don’t need to breathe, and every single piece of your body has frozen in time.
She was in the back of car, slumped over the back seat. The drivers were there. They hadn’t seen her wake up, but she feigned sleep. She wanted desperately to look out the windows and see where they were. She wanted to bolt, and shove open the door and leave before they could grab her.
Again.
She shuddered, but kept her eyes closed. When they asked her to help them find their kitten, she had wondered why Sportacus didn’t help them. Sportacus helped everyone, didn’t he? But maybe, she thought, he was busy helping someone else. And she was the town’s backup superhero, wasn’t she? So she had agreed. And it was very likely for a kitten to hide somewhere, wasn’t it? So isolated places were more likely to house little lost kittens. It made sense, didn’t it?
She didn’t have time to even feel scared before the rag was up against her mouth and nose, and she fell asleep.
So now she was faking unconsciousness in the backseat of a moving vehicle with her kidnappers. She was understandably beyond terrified.
They eventually stopped. To get gas, she assumed by the sharp smell of fuel as the driver opened the door, slamming it behind him.
“Dose her again,” one of them said quietly. She heard the passenger shift in his seat, and held her breath as something was pressed against her mouth and nose for a moment. It was removed, and the passenger side door opened and shut.
“I’m fucking starving man.”
“You should stay and watch her,” his companion pointed out.
“Hell no. We don’t need to. Lock the doors so no one takes her. Did you get a look at that hair and baby-face? She’ll be good. Sell high.”
“Whatever man. You’re paying for your own damn food.”
“Yeah yeah.”
Stephanie shivered as they walked away. She immediately snapped open her eyes. She didn’t know where she was.
It didn’t matter.
She slowly inched her eyes above the window level. They were in the store, grabbing food and drinks and gas, she guessed. She didn’t have much time. Cold fear gripped her stomach and twisted cruelly. She suddenly hated her bright pink hair.
No time.
She unlocked the door on the opposite side of the car and crawled out, staying low. She stayed low until she got to the next building over.
Then, she ran as hard as she could.
She thought, randomly, that Sportacus would be proud of her for running so hard and fast. As she kept tears back by concentrating on her breathing and just how fast she could run and how many places there were to hide, she made a promise.
She would never, ever, make anyone worry about her again. Her friends. Robbie, a man she considered her little brother who happened to be older and taller than her.
Sportacus.
Big brother, best friend. Protector, supporter, the person who saved her, always, and took care of her, always. The promise was there; forever, I swear.
Daddy.
She ran harder.


Robbie hadn’t complained when Sportacus grabbed him and dragged him to the air ship, or when he threw him over one shoulder and climbed up by himself, not wanting to be slowed down by Robbie’s awkward climbing. That was understandable. But when he had to cling to the back of the pilot seat because Sportacus was driving the thing so recklessly and so damn fast, there was a problem.
“Slow down damnit! You’re gonna crash!”
“No, we’ll be fine,” Sportacus said distractedly, calmly. He had a vaguely glazed look that, frankly, made Robbie doubt that the elf knew just what the hell he was doing. But short of wresting the controls from him, which was physically impossible, there was nothing he could do. He clung tighter to the back of the seat as the air ship swerved dangerously. He swallowed, his thoughts drifting to Stephanie.
‘You better be alright, pixie,’ he thought. ‘If you’re not, it’ll destroy him. Don’t you dare be hurt. Who’s going to share their cake with me? Don’t be hurt. Just be lost. Please, please, just be lost little pixie. We can find you if you’re lost. Just don’t be hurt.’
He shuddered, and felt his stomach tighten and flip as Sportacus steered the air ship more recklessly, to some unknown location.
She couldn’t go through the same things he had. He was going to make sure of it.


She panted, holding her sides as they cramped painfully. Her stomach was cramping too, demanding water and rest, but she couldn’t stop. She had to get away. Had to get back to Lazy Town, back to Sportacus, and Robbie, and her friends.
She had no idea where she was, and it scared her.
The entire city was busy, but no one would stop to help her. And she didn’t want their help. What if they turned her back to the men who kidnapped her? It was too much of a risk.
She ducked into an alleyway to catch her breath. A lock of bright pink hair waved in front of her face, and she grabbed it and yanked, hard, furious that it made her so easy to spot, made her such a target. She didn’t think she could hate her own body more than she hated it at the moment.
“Girly?”
She whirled around, eyes wide at the rough disoriented voice from deeper in the alley.
“Whatsa purty little thing like ya doin runnin round like dat?”
“Stay away from me,” she warned shakily as the rough-looking man approached her, stumbling a little. He blinked blearily, as if just waking up.
“Uh? Oh, hey, ahm not gonna hurtcha, I swear,”
“I said stay away!” she shrieked. It didn’t matter if he had good intentions or not. She was nine years old, lost, and utterly terrified.
Her trust in strangers was shattered.
“You lost girly?”
A rough hand grabbed her arm. Her eyes dilated and every muscle in her body tightened.
She screamed.