Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Nick and Richard exited Prostasia through the Station, appearing in an alley near their destination. The hyena scratched at his cheek. "Richard, something's bothering me."
"Mm?" The raccoon turned.
"What if this is a trap? If King really is behind this . . . what if he's trying to trick us?" Nick fretted. "Aren't you afraid of this timeline's King sending you back to a place like that?"
Richard leaned against the wall, looking at the ground. "Terrified. Absolutely terrified. But there's something I'm afraid of more."
"What's that?"
"I'm afraid that he's going to send you to a place like that."
"You'd save me from there, right?"
"No matter how they had you, I would fight fang and claw to get you out of there," Richard told him. "And then take you back to Prostasia and take care of you as long as I needed to so you don't become me."
Nick stood in front of him, sighing. "Even if all of that happened to you, Dick, I still like you. Look at what you're willing to do to save me and make sure I'm okay! Did you ever think you could have the will to do that for someone?"
"No, but I'm glad I do."
Nick, rubbed his own cheek. "M-me, too . . . If I could go back in time and prevent that from ever happening . . ."
"Unfortunately, we can't change this timeline," Richard explained.
"Oh . . . " Nick frowned. "Yeah." He looked toward the alley's exit at some movement of a piece of trash on the ground. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," Richard nodded.
"I'm sorry if this is rude or insensitive or anything, but why don't you just erase the memory of what happened? You said you would take it if you could, but you never said why."
"Timeline travel is complicated, Nicholas," Richard began. He held his hands up, gesturing as he spoke. "If we removed those days from my memory, all of my memories from birth to right before that point would be normal. Skip the time of trauma, where I'm settled in the Mortal Guard, and there is a space where my memories stop in an alternate timeline and start in the main timeline. That would create a rift between timelines, and my brain would basically collapse, and I would die."
The hyena's mouth fell open. "Holy fuck . . . "
"Yeah . . . "
Nick couldn't help but hug him again. "The universe is so damn cruel. Let's make sure we look out for each other while investigating this case, okay? So neither of us end up there."
Richard rubbed his back. "Yes. Come on. We should talk to the police so we can investigate."
"It's weird to think that the entire time before the Mortal Guard, the police knew about it all along." They began exiting out of the alley, walking around the building, and spotting the large campus in the distance. The entire campus was multiple long white buildings with light brown roofing and tons of windows. There were plenty of trees and greenery to create a comforting sense of peace there, but that peace was entirely interrupted by the yellow and black police tape and the blue and red lights of the police cars lining the road.
Seeing it made Nick freeze in place and stare as passersby stopped, watched, and took videos and pictures. A parked news van was nearby, and a beagle woman was reporting on the situation. Richard waved him along, and they walked over to one of the officers closest to them. He was a black and white husky.
The officer turned, recognizing their getup. "Ah, looks like more of the Guard is here."
"More?" Nick blinked.
"There are already two Guard members in there," the officer said. "My name is Officer Yeale, by the way."
Richard tilted his head. "Hm, that's strange. We were assigned the case of Sandy Mitchell."
"Oh, I guess they didn't tell you that there were two suicides at the same time," Yeale reported. "The theory right now is that the victims planned it between them all, but if Mortal Guard members are here, there must be something more going on. Thirty-plus suicides at once have the entire force astounded."
"Gods, I just can't imagine what each of the victim's families is going through. That's just horrible." Nick rubbed his arm.
"Breathe, Nick," Richard told him. "May we enter the scene, Officer Yeale? We especially need to investigate Ms. Mitchell's room."
"Go right ahead," Officer Yeale stepped aside. "Make sure not to tamper with the crime scene."
"Will do," Richard said, lifting the caution tape. "Come on, Nick."
The disturbed hyena nodded slowly, ducking down and walking under it as they got on campus, tromping up the steps. "There were two suicides at this one school."
"It's troubling," Richard told him. "But we have to stay focused to avenge Ms. Mitchell." They continued walking forward, looking toward a rectangular shape of caution tape, when Richard inserted himself between it and Nick's vision. "Don't look over there, Nicholas."
"Oh?"
"It's the scene. I don't want you to see that," Richard told him. "Please don't look."
Nick looked to the side. "What do you think is happening to Sandy's family right now? Do you think they know?"
"Disaster will be taking care of all of that," Richard explained. "You would be surprised just how many members it takes for one case. Especially something as massive as this?"
"Yeah . . . jeez . . . I just--I'm trying not to let my feelings control me, but it's hard," Nick sighed.
"I understand." Richard took out his phone and pulled up the Cases app, looking up info about Sandy, such as her dorm number and friends. "Her room number was 146. Come on. Let's see if we can find anything there." The raccoon used his taller stature to block Nick's vision of any type of mess on the other side until they reached the double doors of the university, pulling them open and walking inside.
Nick turned his head, glancing down each hall, which was understandably void of any students or staff. "So is school, like, canceled? I never made it to college."
Richard led him toward the elevator in the hall in front of them. "No, it's not. Classes are resuming as normal, but they are most likely going to open up grief counseling for the students. With how connected animals are these days, I'm sure the suicides are already spreading online, which means the Mortal Guard and Doubles need to get rid of all of it completely."
Nick pressed the button on the elevator, staring blankly. "That's a lot of work . . . ."
"That's why we have so many members," Richard told him. "Honestly, they might have put some other missions on hold until this mess is sorted out." The elevator doors opened, and they stepped inside, Richard pressing the button for the 2nd floor.
"That's insane. And we're investigating the victims because they think it might be King, so it's part of the King case."
"That's right."
"And if it's not?"
"You can't be too sure," stated Richard, straightening his tie.
"So, are there going to be police officers investigating her dorm?" Nick asked as the elevator stopped and the chrome doors slid open.
"Chances are that when they found out there were thirty suicides, they told them that the Mortal Guard would be involved, and they are leaving the investigating up to us. So, now we're investigating."
"I already have an idea of what we should look for," Nick announced. "Her diary or a journal."
"I agree," Richard nodded as they walked down the hallway to the door of the room they were looking for.
"Ah, shit, we didn't get the keycard," Nick complained, flopping his hands on his thighs.
"We won't need it," Richard stated, pointing a claw at the locking device and speaking an extraordinary language. The lock clicked, and he pushed it open.
"Wait, you have a spell to unlock doors?" Nick gasped.
"I do, but I'm not allowed to use magic outside of missions," Richard said. "I learned this back in my Timeline Travel days."
Nick wanted to respond that Richard said he only knew the memory shift spell, but he stared forward at what was waiting across the room for them. ". . . The window's still open . . . ."
Richard looked over, swallowing. ". . . Yes. Let's start looking to see if she even had a diary."
"Or journal." The hyena went over, closing his eyes as he shut the window to avoid seeing anything below that would send him over the edge. He turned around and began looking around the room, starting with the desk nestled in the corner of the room. "It's so weird being in someone else's space after they aren't there. Like, how many times has Sandy come in here and ate and stuff? Or cried in here? It's like their ghost lingers even when it isn't there."
Richard pulled back the colorful striped sheets on the bed. "I understand what you mean. This entire thing was very sudden and very sad."
The hyena flipped through the papers on the desk. "What if she doesn't even have a diary? Not every girl has a diary. Nora didn't even have a diary, and she definitely was the diary-having type."
"Well, the room is small," answered Richard as they continued looking around. "It won't take long to find something."
"Or nothing." Nick slapped his hands on the black desk. "Nothing here. Have you found anything? She kept this room damn clean."
"Nothing . . . " Richard went over to the closet and opened it, looking at the shelves inside and searching the clothes. Nick walked to a dark brown dresser and pulled it open, digging around for something, anything, to tell them why this could have happened.
"I have an idea," Nick said as he closed that drawer and opened another. "We should talk to the other Guard members here to find out who they're investigating. Maybe they found something."
Richard came out of the closet and got on his knees next to the bed, bending down and peeking under it. "Spotless under here, too." He got up and lifted the mattress.
"You didn't find a phone or anything like that?" Nick closed the last drawer, putting his hand on his hip.
"No. Looks like it's dry here. Let's go back down and see if the officers picked up her phone." Richard moved over to the door, putting his big hand on the handle. Nick joined him as his partner pulled it ajar, and the hyena flinched.
A mouse and a large wolf stood, wearing gray jackets, brown pants, and pink armbands, "Woah! Hey, Nick!" Adrian wiggled his fingers in a wave. "Looks like we got assigned to the same location. What are the odds?"
Nick blinked, trying to figure out what to say. "Uh, yeah. Can't say I saw that coming."