> > >

By the time Larry and Sal arrived at Violet's apartment, she had begun pacing furiously through her living room while chewing her nails. It was clear by the tear stains on her cheeks that she'd been crying. Neither of the boys had ever seen her act like this. It was almost like she had completely dissociated.

"What the hell is going on, little dude?" Larry asked.

"She's gone," she mumbled, more to herself than to her friends. "Nobody cares."

"We care. We're here to help," Sal consoled. He reached out to grab her shoulder, causing her to jerk away from him and continue pacing. Her eyes wildly scanned the living room as if she were looking for something.

Larry let out a stressed sigh. "What can we do to help?"

"I don't know yet."

It was indeed true that Violet was searching her living room for something. She needed a plan. Her gaze skimmed over her furniture, the pictures on the walls, the TV, the carpet, and the coffee table. This was her normal method of developing plans. Usually, something would trigger an idea of some sort, which was more than enough to get things moving. But, with the massive flood of emotions invading her mind, this process was incredibly difficult.

Sal spoke up again. "Do you need us to take you somewhere?"

She stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes traveling over to her mother's purse. It sat atop the end table next to the couch, completely untouched. If she didn't take her purse or phone, it was unlikely that she took her car. Violet made no haste in digging through it and pulling out a ring of several keys.

"Vi, you can't dr—"

"You guys can. We need to go to the police station."

"Little dude, Sal's already on their bad side after the accident," Larry said. "This isn't a good idea."

"I'll go in alone. One of you either drive me, or I'll walk."

The boys gave each other weary glances. Letting Violet roam the streets of Nockfell on her own wasn't an option, but they knew they'd be putting a lot at risk if one of them were to drive after totalling Lisa's car. However, they silently agreed that having Larry behind the wheel this time was their best bet.

"Gimme the keys, then," he told her, outstretching his hand.

After dropping the keys into his palm, Violet rushed into her bedroom to change out of her pajamas. It was hard enough to be taken seriously by the police without having looked like she'd just come home from a long night of drinking. She threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater before hurriedly pulling a comb through her hair and smoothing it down. Although her eyes were still red and puffy from crying, she decided that this would have to be good enough. She had no time to spare

> > >

"Everyone buckle in," Larry instructed as the three settled into the car. It was a vast upgrade from Lisa's, given that it started on the first try and made 1/4 of the noise.

Violet could just barely pick up the scent of her mother lingering in the vehicle. It was nothing more than a light touch of sweetness, which was nearly overpowered by a mix of cinnamon and marijuana coming from the boys. She almost wanted to kick them out and figure out how to drive the car herself just to keep them from tainting it. While she was more determined than she'd ever been before, Violet knew better than to fully believe that she'd find her mother. Larry and Sal's support was wonderful to have, but their help was limited. If she couldn't sway the police, she feared that she stood no chance.

Once the car began moving, Sal reached forward from the back seat and gave Violet's shoulder a squeeze. "We'll find her," he soothed.

"They won't listen to me," she replied, her voice cracking.

"Nockfell cops are dickheads," Larry muttered. "It's not your fault."

"If they don't help, you'll always have us. The rest of the group will join in too, even Chug and Maple."

Violet clenched her fists. "Why don't they care? Why won't they listen to me?"

"People disappear in Nockfell all the time. There's at least 3 new missing posters every day. They're numb to it by now."

"Shouldn't they be looking who's behind this?"

"Of course they should but...they just aren't."

She didn't say anything for the rest of the ride, which didn't end up being very long. Larry eventually pulled into the parking lot of a small, brick building. Several police cars were parked on the side of it. A dingy sign hung over the entrance which read, "Nockfell Police Department."

The sight gave Violet an overwhelming sense of dread. Part of her knew that this encounter would go exactly the same as the one with the police from earlier. No one would listen, no one would take her seriously, and no one would even bother to look further into her case. But she had to try. That tiny sliver of hope remaining in her heart demanded it of her.

Larry parked a few spots away from the entrance so that he and Sal would remain out of sight from anyone inside. "Text us if you need us. We'll be right here," he assured the shaken girl.

She gave a small nod before unbuckling her seatbelt and climbing out of the car. As she approached the front door, she peered through a window and spotted someone at the front desk. It was an older woman, who wore the same hardened expression as the other Nockfell police officers. Her graying hair was tied into a tight bun on top of her head without a single strand out of place. Once Violet stepped through the doorway, she looked up.

"Can I help you?" She asked, her tone bored and clearly annoyed.

Violet approached the desk as confidently as she could, calmly placing her hands upon its wooden surface. "I'd like to report a missing person."

The woman scoffed. "Didn't we respond to a call from you this morning?"

"Yes, and my concerns were not taken seriously."

"Listen, kid, I assure you the officers are doing everything they can..."

Violet stopped listening. She could tell by this officer's increasinly bored tone that this statement was scripted. Nothing was being done. As expected, nobody cared. If she wanted to make progress, she needed to be more assertive. This woman seemed to hate her job enough. Surely, she'd do anything Violet asked as long as that meant she'd leave her alone sooner.

The front desk was equipped with a very old computer, which sat amonst a sea of paperwork. With a click of a few buttons, the officer would be able to access her mother's case from it. Well, if one had been filed, that is.

"Could you please pull up my mom's case? Her name is Josephine Sinclaire."

"I can't just access any case I please," she retorted. "Get lost, kid. I have work to do."

"Not until you prove to me that her case is active and being looked into."

That was when the man with the mustache from that morning emerged from a nearby hallway. His intimidating gaze immediately landed on Violet, causing him to move toward her. "This girl giving you trouble, Deb?" He called.

"Story of my life," she muttered in response, going back to typing on the computer.

"Is your partner out looking for my mom?" Violet inquired, turning to the man.

He spat out a laugh. "My partner is in the breakroom having a coffee. So was I, until I heard your squeaky little voice out here."

"When will you start to look for her?" She couldn't back down. She wasn't going to let some egotistical cop scare her out of fighting for her mother.

The man took several slow strides toward her, placing his hands on his hips. An amused expression played on his face. It was clear that he was holding back a number of snotty remarks and insults. "Let me sum this up for you, kid. We see it all the time. Mommy and Daddy don't love each other anymore, so when they're not pretending that the other doesn't exist, they're screaming at each other. One day, Mommy gets finds a new man who caters to her every desire and runs away to Vegas with him, never to be heard from by her family again. Get it?"

"My mom did not abandon us."

"Oh, yeah? Is that why she left everything behind so she couldn't be tracked, including the car? We ran your plates while your little boyfriend in the driver's seat wasn't looking."

Violet glowered at him as tears distorted her vision. She felt herself beginning to tremble with anger. The urge to lunge forward and tackle this officer to the ground polluted her mind, causing her to take several steps back to maintain control. If it weren't for the gun on his hip, she just may have gone for it.

"I'm not leaving until you help my mother," she seethed.

"Would you rather me escort you back to your boyfriend in handcuffs?"

"Help. Me. Find. My. Mother."

With one swift movement, the officer grabbed Violet by her upper arms and spun her to face away from him. His hands gripped her so tightly, she could feel the pressure in her bones. She winced in pain and struggled against him, crying out and kicking her feet. One of his hands moved down to pin her wrists together as he used the other to pull his handcuffs from his belt.

Violet let out a pained shriek and dug her heels into the floor, pushing away from him as hard as she could. She felt as though her wrists would break if he held onto them for much longer. After a few more moments of struggling, she was pushed to the ground, landing on her stomach so hard that all of the air in her body was knocked straight out.

"STOP IT!" She wailed, clawing at the floor as the officer pressed a knee into her back to hold her down. "YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

Her words fell onto deaf ears. It only took a few seconds for the officer to get the cuffs around her wrists, now that she was in too much pain to fight it. With 2 small clicks!, Violet was officially handcuffed.

"I got all day, kid. Either calm down or lay here until the end of my shift," he sneered.

Violet said nothing. The immense pressure in her spine was too much to bear. Her nose was throbbing from the impact with the floor, causing pain to rip through her entire skull. All she could do was lay there in submission as she wept.

Her tears were not out of pain, but instead out of devestation for her mother. It felt as though she was already gone for good. The morning's events had drained every last drop of hope from her soul, leaving her to grieve the loss of her beloved parent.

The officer kept Violet pinned down for another few minutes, basking in his own victory. He smirked down at the sobbing girl beneath his knee before letting out a dramatic sigh and rising to his feet. Using the back of her sweater, he pulled Violet into a standing position as well and kept hold of it as he pushed her toward the exit.

"Thanks, Brett," the woman, Deb, called to him from her place behind the front desk.

"Anytime."