Born To Die | Vanessa Afton

21

The neighbourhood was unusually quiet tonight and you hadn't gotten a single report from anyone. It felt like you were just doing massive loops around the town and not actually doing anything important. With Vanessa, it was better, at least you had someone to talk to if it ever got boring. Speaking of her, you hadn't seen her at the police station for a few days now, it obviously posed lots of questions throughout your head, like if she had moved to another shift time.

On your third loop around the neighbourhood, you drove past Freddy's pizzeria. The only car parked there was Mike's and you considered visiting him, mainly to make sure he was alive and well. You knocked on the door, seeing that it was locked. As expected, a very tired looking mike approached and unlocked the door, he managed to force a smile while looking at you, you returned it. 

"Have I done anything?" Mike asked, looking behind you as if he was looking for Vanessa since she was normally with you. You were sort of sick of everyone doing that, it kind of felt like you were in her shadow. To be honest, most people knew Vanessa longer than you and it wasn't like you talked very often around others when with her. However, with Mike, you had talked to him multiple times without Vanessa. You shook it off, to be honest, it was even unusual to you to be alone.

"No, of course not, I decided to come for a chat if you're up to it. Is Abby here?" You asked as silence surrounded the both of you. Mike looked to the ground for a minute at the mention of Abby. You wondered if he blamed himself for what happened that night when she had collapsed. To be honest, it partially was for letting Abby come here in the first place when he knew about the kids. It also made you wonder if he had done it before to the poor girl. She didn't deserve to be involved. You just hoped that she hadn't seen what was hidden away int eh cupboard in the back.

Then, a sudden thought hit you. Shouldn't this be an active crime scene, should Mike even be here if there was police investigating the dead bodies in the back, they very clearly were not some kind of accident, you thought it was murder. Had Vanessa even reported the bodies? You stayed at her house that night and not once did she even write what happened down, nor has anyone asked you about it, which they really should since you were the one wh found them dead. The memories flooded back and your throat felt like it was going to fill with vomit if you carried on that train of thought.

"Of course, has the police freed you from Vanessa? Abby's at home with our aunt." Mike almost chuckled. Almost - it had got caught in his throat as if he had a cold or something. He looked like he had just woken up, he had probably fallen asleep on the job again. You couldn't be one to talk since you had done the same thing a few weeks back. He let you in from the cold and locked the door behind you. As you walked through Freddy's nothing had changed, you don't know why you thought it would be any different from before, it was still the same abandoned place with the same disgusting smell and the same rotting wallpaper and paint, you get the idea, it was the same. You hated it. You knew you had to report the people in the back room. You decided you'd ask Vanessa if she had and see if she decided to lie.

"I guess you could say that. I do miss her though." You commented, trying to keep the very cheerful expression on your face as you entered the security office and looked around. It seemed more homely and it didn't smell like rotting corpses any more. "Did you have a clean of the place?" You asked, looking around at the sorted out and neat room.

"Well, I don't think I'm leaving any time soon, I though I might as well make it comfortable." He said. You felt bad for Mike, he clearly couldn't find a better job than this. It made you wonder why. He seemed like such a nice brother and overall person and he still had custody of Abby so it wasn't like anything illegal was keeping him from a job. You also assumed that Abby went to school. Maybe you shouldn't query about someone's personal life too much, but as always, your curiosity took over you.

"Why wasn't your aunt babysitting Abby the last time I was here?" You asked, leaning against the wall as Mike sat in his chair next to the cameras, some had been broken since the last time you had been here. He suddenly sighed, almost as if he was embarrassed to admit it.

"Jane... Well, she was my last resort, she wants full custody of Abby, but only for the extra monthly money from the government or something like that." His voice slowed to a mutter as he looked at the cameras. You failed to say anything, is she the only other family he has? Abby told you about their parents, well partially, you decided to try to change the subject but nothing came to mind. "How about you? Any crazy family members."

"Well my parents left the state and they're all I knew. I guess my job is like my family." You said, a smile appearing on your face. You didn't know what else to say. If you could, you would reconnect with your family but you didn't know how or even if you had family left. You and Mike were similar in so many ways and you hadn't noticed until today.

You talked for what seemed like hours from his life to your life before going back onto your shift.

(Filler chapter)