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Part Twenty One

   Drizzle and Jack, still hand in hand, scampered further down the kitchen until they reached a hotspot for crumbs. Usually abundant with tiny pieces of bread or noodles, the area below the human child's chair was bare and hardly contained a nibble. It was odd, but the two borrowers brushed it off to find a better area. What they didn't realize was the fact that an overly clean house meant something important would happen later on, such as a family moving from one home to another. Clearing out every possible mess was a necessity for moving; something Drizzle was familiar with, but hadn't thought too hard on the matter when her borrowing trip was already in full effect. Jack's sole focus was making sure Drizzle kept safe, though he knew she could take care of herself if the situation called for it.
  
They were too preoccupied to notice the footsteps stomping in, carried by a human boy in search of his missing microscope.

   Things happened all at once, and far too quick for the two parents to figure a way out. The boy caught them with his eyes, too far up to take notice of their sentience, and his lack of glasses proved inefficient in determining the difference between a borrower and a bug. Without a second thought, he grabbed a can of bug spray off the counter, and went to town with the anticipation of praise from his own parents for keeping the house clean before they were off to their new home.

   Sam watched everything from the safety of the outlet, and had to bite down on his hand until he tasted blood to keep the screams as silent as he could.

   Drizzle and Jack, still holding on to each other with everything they had, looked back into the outlet in the wall and felt their son's eyes watching them. With labored breaths and a deep focus on keeping conscious, Drizzle gave her only child a smile, and mouthed a single "love you" before falling victim to the spray in her husband's arms. He fell not too long after.

   Except, instead of killing them on the spot, the borrowers woke up.

   It was dark and the first thought that came to Drizzle's mind was that she was ready to meet her deceased family members, but a sharp grip on her hand proved otherwise. The deep void that molded her vision eventually stripped away minute by minute, until her eyes adjusted and she could just barely
Make out a silhouette in the pitch black beside her. By the outline of the hair, she could make out her husband, clinging to her side and not letting go for the life of him.

   "Jack?" She whispered, and heard him whimper in response.

   "You're up, baby?"

   "I am now. Where are we?"

     "I'm not sure." Jack squeezed her body closer than before, allowing his arms to wrap around her body and force her against him in pain. His breathing was still nothing short of a wheeze, and his head ached an inconceivable amount, but he was alive. And now, so was Drizzle. "I think I heard voices from outside not too long ago, but it stopped."

   "Did you see what happened to Sam?! Is he okay?" Drizzle whipped her head around despite knowing it was fruitless in an attempt to find her son.

   "I don't know, baby, I'm sorry."

   "We have to get back to him, Jack!"

   "I know that! But right now, we need to calm down and figure out where we are. There's no use in getting five steps around when we're already ten steps behind." Jack reasoned, rubbing his hands down the length of Drizzle's fragile arms.

   She pulled away from him without a moment's hesitation, standing to her feet. "Then we figure it out. And we get back to Sam as soon as we can," She announced, putting on a brave face to cover up the heart that beat at an irregular rate.