The last time she felt so doomed, miserable and hopeless was years ago.
They had been sprinting and screaming with joy through the forest for hours, and eventually decided to play a round of hide and seek. Mikasa was chosen to be the seeker while Armin and Eren were the hiders. She found Armin fairy easily, hiding behind a raspberry bush and prickling her legs as she retrieved him. Eren, on the other hand, took hours to search for him. At first Mikasa thought that he was just excellent at hiding, but the innocent and amusing game soon transformed into a search.
She and Armin ran through the forest while shouting his name until their throats were dry and rough, but they didn't find a sign of him anywhere until they reached a ledge with a creak below. It was dark and there was nothing but the lights of fireflies and the sullen moon, but she could see the outline of his muddy sneakers floating in the murky water. Mikasa screamed until she felt like she could no longer breathe, and sobbed until her sleeves were soaked.
She returned home with Armin and told her parents everything about what happened and were about to call the police, but stopped that idea when they all heard a small and faint knock on the door. There, standing at the entrance with mud caked a over his clothes and body, was Eren. Mikasa thought she was going to lose her brother forever, only to have him return safely. He later claimed that he got lost and tripped into the stream a few times, and abandoned his sneakers when they slowed him down.
What Mikasa was experiencing now was similar to what had happened back then.
Excluding the fact that Eren returned.
The police were at their house, searching the rooms for any useful clues that could help find where he could be. Her parents were sitting in the living room hand in hand on the couch as a police interviewed them. Mikasa had never seen her mother look so sorrowful and angry. Her father, on the other hand, had a face that was rock hard. All she could hear was the sirens and crying.
She couldn't even cry. She just couldn't believe that he was gone. The fact that he was here just a few days ago and doing whatever and was now gone was what she couldn't believe. She knew that Eren was a good boy and just wanted to do his best, and couldn't understand why anyone would want to take him away. Of course they were rich, so she understood that much, but why did he have to be Eren? Why couldn't it be her instead? She should have trusted her instinct and stayed home with him.
Mikasa was getting a ton of texts from almost everyone she knew. It seemed that everyone was friends with Eren, but then again, who wasn't? They were all asking what was going on, or where Eren could possibly be, but she didn't have the answer to any of their questions. She shut off her phone. Having it buzz continuously was getting irritating. She didn't know what and how she was supposed to feel about everything that was happening.
"Where did you go while the kidnapping had supposedly happened?" she could hear a police officer ask.
"We were on vacation, and we insisted that Eren come along, too. Unfortunately, he refused and claimed he wanted to catch up on his studies," her father answered as he pushed up his glasses.
"Do you know if Eren had any connections with any individual who might despise him?"
"No," Mikasa cut in, thinking her thoughts aloud. "It's... it's way too difficult to hate him."
"I see, but due to the clues we have found so far, it seems that Eren was just an easy target. Excuse me if I offend anybody, but he grew up in a rich family. It's inevitable that he would be a victim of a ransom. It explains almost everything in the note, but there's a chance that this whole accident was planned."
Mikasa didn't want to listen anymore; she wanted to go deaf and blind. It was a lot better than living in a world where her brother was scared and having his life threatened just because he was a wealthy boy.
