G^Me_SYNC_L1Fe ~ Ghost Bird Fanfiction

6• S34RCH1NG

I didn't have to look back to know he was staring just as hard at the big picture as we were. Nathan adds in with a huff," Can't blame them. They lost their only kid. I wouldn't be able to move on either."

Kota sighs, a sad look in his eyes as he sits back in his seat," Vic?"

The way he says it has an air of familiarity, like it's been said so many times before that they've just shortened it and both know what it means within the context of the situation.

Not skipping a beat," Marnie White went missing at age sixteen, three years ago on October the fifteenth on her way home from her mathlete meeting after school. An only child. Her mom is a firefighter and her dad is an accountant. David and Amylee, respectively. She was a straight A student, with a knack for mathematics. Rumor has it, just before she went missing she'd been working on a mathematical paper with a college professor in New York. There was some speculation after she disappeared that that was the motive, but it never stuck."

Kota furrows his brow in thought and looks over his seat right at Victor," What was her paper on?"

Victor leafs through the file until he finds what he's looking for," Apparently a mathematical unity between quantum physics and general relativity."

Kota's brow shoots up," Impressive."

Victor shrugs," Not really. It fell through according to that professor. That's why it lost weight as a motive."

Nathan sighs heavily," If we didn't have Kota, Sean, Owen, and you we'd be screwed on this mission. This looks like it's going to involve a lot of nerds and their nerdy hobbies that I can't make a bit of sense out of."

Kota and Victor laugh as they all open their doors and get out of the car. I ghost through the door and stand off to the side. I'm still not really certain of my place here and I honestly would hate to get attached if I'm just going to disappear forever.

Kota looks at me and frowns. He pushes up on his glasses with his pointer finger and eases over to stand beside me. He doesn't touch me. All of them have decided to avoid that as much as possible.

"I'm going to need you to snoop while you're in there. We'll get what we can out of them while you do that. Okay?"
I nod once, hands twisting each other behind my back.

This really isn't anything new I'm doing. I've been snooping in other people's homes for a while now. This felt more invasive though. This was a girl who went missing around the same time Pix.3.lated disappeared.

In a way, I'm linked to them. It feels more personal than anything I've ever done.

I follow the three to the front door, noticing how distant they're being with me. I have the inkling that they're thinking the same thing I am. It'll hurt more when I disappear if we get attached. Or maybe it's because they think I'm a computer program and don't think I'm a person at all.

Either way, it kinda stings.

My hand rubs at the quiet place where my heart should lay. A dull ache throbs there.

Nathan knocks at the white door and looks around everywhere while we wait. "It's not noticeable unless you look for it, but there's some neglect going on here. Don't be surprised if it's a disaster inside." He murmurs to us, or just them. Probably just them.