Part 9

As the sun started setting, Hannah awoke from her nap crying. VIA, the fish, realized he had been so focused on his painting that he had lost track of time. He realized Heatherperk and Rabadaba had been gone for hours and he had not heard from them. While Hannah fussed for her mother, VIA began to get worried. It didn't seem like Heatherperk to be gone that long without checking in to see how her cub was doing. 

He checked his phone to see if he had missed any messages from her but there was nothing. He tried calling but her phone the phone rang and rang with no answer. AMPerkins, Heatherperk's husband came home from work. Hannah went toddling towards him with a big grin on her face saying "mine dada!" Noticing the concerned look on VIA's face, he gave her a cookie and sat her down in the grass to play. 

While the baby bear munched on her cookie,  AMPerkins hunched down next to the pond bank to talk to VIA. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Where's Heatherperk? She usually lets me know if she is going to be gone when I get home." VIA quickly explained how Rabadaba, the rabbit, had stopped by earlier. He told AMPerkins how the two had set out in an attempt to discover where Q, the owl, lived. "That was hours ago." VIA continued. "I assumed I would have heard from them by now. I'm starting to get concerned. I tried calling but her phone just kept ringing." 

AMPerkins got really concerned. "We need to find them!" He rushed inside the den to call Heatherperk's friend Acrogodess. He explained what was going on and asked if she could come over to watch Hannah while he searched for Heatherperk and Rabadaba. The wolf apologized that she was headed to work but promised that Her daughter LIv would come over. The cub was nearly grown already and was perfectly capable of taking care of Hannah for a bit. 

While they waited for Liv to arrive, AMPerkins and VIA prepared to go searching. AMPerkins grabbed a flashlight as the night was creeping in on them and VIA jumped from the water into his travel bowl. Just as the finished preparing, Liv walked up the path and took Hannah inside to feed her some dinner. 

AMPerkins set off into the woods carrying VIA in his travel bowl in one paw while holding a flashlight up with his other paw. For hours, the pair combed through the woods calling out "Heatherperk! Rabadaba!" But their calls went unanswered except for the occasional echo in the distance. They search far and wide but couldn't find a single trace of the bear or the rabbit, no footprints, no tuft of hair left on a branch. It was as though they had disappeared into thin air. 

The woods seemed oddly quiet. The crisp night air stood still, no rustle of wind or chatter of animals to break the utter silence around them. It was as though the woods were silently mourning the absence of Heatherperk and Rabadaba. As they stood in the speckled moonlight shining through the leaves above them, AMPerkins and VIA felt lost. They had searched everywhere without finding a trace of the others and had no idea what to do next. 

.....

Meanwhile Rabadaba and Heatherperk awoke with throbbing heads. They had no clue where they were and it was pitch black around them. The last thing either of them could remember was being hit on the back of the head by something so hard and heavy that it had knocked them both out. They had no idea how long they had been out or where they were now.

 Heatherperk blinked over and over again hoping that her eyes would adjust to the dark, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see anything. It was darker than anything she had ever experienced before. Fumbling around in the dark she found Rabadaba's paw and clutched it in her own. "I'm scared." She whispered in a voice so shaky that Rabadaba Could barely hear her. "I know" he replied quietly "I am too"