Who Writes This?!

Chapter 3 - Sleepless

 Fifteen minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off, Judy turned it off. She didn't want to hear it. She went to the public showers of her apartment building and took a nice cold one to break her from her melancholy exhaustion.

She got out, shivering. At least she was completely lucid about her misery. She had taken turns through the night being angry at Nick for telling her about fanfics, and herself for being exactly what Nick thought. An emotional bunny.

She had finally chased the darker thoughts away about four in the morning, but was fearful of falling asleep for the kind of dreams that awaited her. She had a couple nightmares after the Nighthowler case and did not want to revisit those unpleasant nights. She also felt that if she went to sleep at 4, the alarm would not stand a chance waking her, even with her sensitive ears. She got dressed in her uniform, since that impressed the smaller kits and cubs, rather than intimidated them. Judy felt a little better being in uniform because it always made her feel a little stronger.

She hopped on a bus to the terminal and checked her phone once she got there. Still no call from Nick. No message. She couldn't lie to herself; she was actually pretty unnerved - worried even - by that. He might have forgotten to charge his phone but surely he'd have charged it before he left for the school.

Still, he knew his way around the city well enough he hardly ever needed to use his phone's navigation app.  Judy tried to put her anxiety down. 

If he wasn't there waiting for her, the already slightly rattled bunny wasn't sure what she would do. She could talk to the kids on her own, but she really needed to see her partner to get out from under the awful funk. She got onto the next bus and took that to the elementary school.

The classes were already full upon her arrival, and she stopped outside the school. A few of the faculty greeted her very warmly, including the bear vice-principle who made a playful show of flinching when Judy reached out to shake his paw. She nervously laughed at that and continued to wait. Fifteen minutes passed. Twenty. There was no fox. Her phone buzzed in its belt-pouch. Judy sighed with frustration.  Finally.  His phone died and he overslept.  That had to be it.

"Yeeeees?" she growled expectantly, having not even looked to check the caller. Chief Bogo's voice was the one who greeted her, making her breath skip.

"Yes, Officer Hopps. We need to talk." His tone was dark and serious. It was always dark and serious, but Judy's entire body went into disaster mode. Her breathing shortened and her chest tightened and her paws felt pins and needles.  Her feet felt cold and wet and she felt immediately like she was going to be sick.

"I... I'm h-here." Judy whimpered softly into the phone.

"Yes, I can hear." Bogo grunted. "Look, I am sorry I did not contact you sooner concerning this but I was unaware of how serious it was until I checked this morning, and now it might actually be too late.  I am deeply sorry, officer Hopps." His voice seemed full of regret. Judy dropped back onto her tail on a brick-lined planter in front of the school. It was a dream. It had to be a dream. It couldn't really happen. Not now. Not like this.  She started breathing faster. Her chest hurt. She felt like her uniform's custom body armor was crushing her.

"It's alright, I understand." Judy stated in a calm, low tone, even if she did not understand at all.  She would never understand.

"You have eleven days of unused vacation, Hopps, and you are nearing your reinstatement date and those days do not carry over." Bogo stated flatly. Judy's ears shot up, her body loosening again, her eyes becoming wet.

"What?" she asked, as if he'd mumbled or spoken another language entirely. She thought she knew what his next words were going to be and those were so far from them that they were barely recognizable at all. Having not slept at all the previous night was not helping.