TAKEN AWAY

Cut to COLE DOLAN, 35, sitting on the edge of a bare mattress, staring into a forest of towering hardwoods.

Cole is soft-spoken, methodical, and deeply devoted to his mother MEG, late 50s, who is being released today after fifteen years in a women’s prison. Wheelchair-bound and dying, Meg has only one wish: to go home. Cole drives her through the gates and takes her to a modest house hidden deep in the mountains.

Sixteen-year-old ARIN HESTER feels nothing — or so she tells her therapist. She self-harms to feel something, this time carving the word “morte” into her arm. Her relationship with her mother JOY is brittle and volatile, ending with Joy’s bitter suggestion that “some kids just run away.” One state away is LUKE ATWOOD, 16 — handsome, disciplined, devout. A golfer with a bright future and a strong faith, Luke’s life appears untouched by darkness.

Settled into the mountain house, Cole goes to collect his paycheck at Belhaven Assisted Living Facility, quietly stealing drugs on the way out. Using a syringe and a practiced lie, he abducts Luke outside a driving range and locks him in the trunk. He delivers Luke to the forest hideaway, then drives on to find Arin, snatching her from a park after a minor drug deal with a girl named KATE.

Arin wakes in captivity with Luke and immediately lashes out — until she realizes he’s a prisoner too. Where Arin rages, Luke adapts. After three days he has surrendered himself to faith, believing God will deliver him. His calm infuriates Arin, who forces him to believe in escape. Together, they plan. Meanwhile, COLE’S estranged uncle NED has been tracking Meg since her release. He appears at the house, claiming concern — but his real intent is clear: to make sure Meg dies. Cole drives him off, shaken.

Arin and Luke attempt their escape, but Luke falls, injuring his leg. Forced into hiding overnight, they share an intimate, vulnerable night in the woods. Luke opens up about his fears and doubts. Arin, for the first time, allows herself to care. Something fragile — and necessary — forms between them. At dawn, Cole finds them. At gunpoint, he marches them back, warning them never to mention the escape to Meg. Arin bolts. Cole stays with Luke as Arin flees into the forest, hands bound, until she reaches a raging river and a lone tent. Ned appears, offering help — then tries to exploit her. Cole arrives just in time, killing Ned in a brutal confrontation.

Detective SWOPE meets with Luke’s parents. Their son is officially missing.

Back at the house, Meg finally meets the captives — and reveals the truth: Arin and Luke are her twins, taken from her when she was sent to prison. She waited fifteen years to see them again. Their abduction was Cole’s desperate, misguided gift — his attempt to reunite a family no one else would help him reclaim.

Arin is shattered. She has finally found meaning, connection — and it’s built on kidnapping and lies.

Temporarily revived by being reunited with her children, Meg insists on one thing: a family outing. Against his instincts, Cole agrees. At a roadside Waffle House, a Highway Patrolman questions Cole about his car. Arin has a chance to speak — and chooses silence.

Swope closes in.

That night, Arin and Luke wake to a struggle. Cole drags KATE into the house, bound and gagged. He admits the truth: Kate was the original target. When Cole saw her ride away from the park, he panicked, took Arin instead, and destroyed the files so Meg wouldn’t discover the mistake. Now he intends to “fix” everything.

As Arin and Luke embrace Cole, relieved, Kate frees herself. In a frantic, awkward struggle, she grabs Cole’s gun and shoots him. Arin and Luke carry Cole onto the porch as Swope and local police arrive. Cole is barely alive. While officers secure the house, Swope identifies Kate — and informs her that Cole was her brother.

Amid the chaos, Meg meets Kate, then, after a brief conversation, she dies quietly — having finally reunited with her children.