For almost a year now, there had been a person called The Grabber who had been kidnapping kids, who were then never seen again.

The Grabber’s victims so far were Vance Hopper, the toughest kid in North Denver, Bruce Yamada, a baseball player, Griffin Stagg, the kid no one apparently knew, Billy Showalter, a newspaper-boy and finally, Robin Arellano, the second toughest kid after Vance. Recently, a kid called Finney Blake had gone missing and had been suspected of being kidnapped by the Grabber.

You were at school, talking to your friend Donna, who had been Finney’s chemistry partner. “I mean, everyone has been saying that the Grabber always has black balloons at every kidnapping scene.”

“Wait..black balloons?” You repeat for confirmation.

“Yeah..” Donna replies.

And suddenly, it all made sense. Why your dad always had black balloons in his room, the mysterious mask on your dad’s bedside table and of course, why your dad wanted you nowhere near the basement…