Realizing that this mist wasn't going to go anywhere by itself, Rick closed the window. When the windows were closed, Rick walked through the basement to the staircase to go and talk with Tabitha. Anytime Rick had punished Brendon for something, Tabitha reamed him a new asshole. So, Rick wanted Tabitha to be there to back him up instead of the usual bullshit outcome that has happened in the past. As Rick walked through the room, filled with the pink fog, Rick felt new and invigorated. Not thinking too much of it, Rick pushed the feeling from his mind and climbed the wooden staircase.
When Rick opened the door from the basement lab which opened up into the kitchen, he saw the same thick fog everywhere in the house. Looking around the kitchen, where he was just under and heard the last movement from his wife who had been preparing lunch for him and Brendan, but found no one. The sliced food was there, the frying pan was on top of the still burning gas stove with the extra virgin olive oil bubbling and popping from sitting on the heat. Thinking this was all odd, Rick walks over to the stove and turns off the flame, examining the whole area for any sign of where Tabitha may have went. Rick knew that there wasn't much danger in leaving the flame on since nothing had happened yet, not to mention he knew that the two chemicals would not react to be flammable. He wondered why this thick fog developed in the first place when this should have even been happening. Looking around the kitchen, Rick saw no sign of where Tabitha could have went. The door to the backyard wasn't ajar, in fact the deadbolt was still turned, locking the door. Finding this was all weird, Rick moved slightly quicker through the house, up to Brendon's door.
Rick stopped short of Brendon's door and looked around the second level for his wife. The thing was, which Rick didn't notice until being up there, there was no noise from Brendon's room that had caused this pink fog in the first place. Rick quickly moves through the limited space of the second floor, looking in their bedroom, then the other bathroom that Brendon had to himself and then into the guest bedroom. No matter where he looked, Tabitha was no where to be found. Wondering if she was with her son and that was why everything went quiet, Rick approached Brendon's door. When he went to knock, the door opened and Brendon stood there in front of his step-father.
"Rick, do you know what this pink fog is?"
"Yeah, it is from two chemicals that I spilled together because of your loud and obnoxious music. Now it is my turn, do you know where your mother is?"
"Nope, the last time I knew where she was, she was in the kitchen making lunch for you and me. If she isn't down there, I haven't the clue."
"Alright, well then let me ask you something else. Why did you turn off your music?"
"Well... to be honest, it started to hurt my ears. When I started noticing the thick pink fog coming up from the vents and through the slit underneath my door, I felt new and invigorated which was like a huge tingling sensation. Then, the volume where I had been comfortably playing my music got to me and hurt my ears, so I just decided to turn it off completely."
"What do you mean, it hurt your ears?"
"Rick, you speak English don't you? The music hurt my ears and started to give me a headache."
"Well... I will be truthful to you Brendon. Ever since the fog developed, I have felt the same way you did and probably still do, like I feel right now."
"Yeah, I guess I still feel the same way! So, when do you think this fog will dissipate?"
"I don't really know, but I wish it would go away now!"
As soon as Rick finished the pink fog completely faded to nothing. Rick and Brendon looked at each other a bit confused, then Rick thought he would try something else.
"I wish for something to happen to either one of us right now!" To which they didn't move so much as a muscle, but nothing happened to either of them.
"Well... do you have any other bright ideas there Rick?"
"Nope, can't say that I do. At least the fog is gone! Before you ask, I think that the chemicals finally broke down to nothing again. Now, we just need to figure out what happened to your mother."
"Yeah, I think that would be a great idea Rick. Did you check the garage?"
"No, there wasn't any movement that I could hear above me when I was down in the basement before the fog incident. After that, no sound and your mother was gone."
While Rick and Brendon walked down the stairs, both Rick and Brendon scratched their heads in wonder of where Tabitha could have gone. When they got to the garage door, they noticed something very strange. The house had two car bays, each with their own doors, in the same garage. The thing was, only Rick's car was in the garage and there was only one bay along with one single door.
"Rick... what happened? Why is the garage different. We didn't come in the house from shopping more than a couple hours ago. How could the garage be completely different and how could mom just not exist?"
"I don't have an answer for you, but I think it has something to do with that fog."
Completely confused, Rick hit the garage door button and as the garage door opened, Rick ran outside with Brendon following closely behind. Once outside, the two scratched several randomly placed itches nonchalantly and marveled at what they saw.