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pink-writer-girl · 3 years

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Search For The Fae- chapter 1

The fog was thick and the night was crisp in the town of Yggdrasil Barrow, though the fog carried even more tension that particular night. A young woman with short, wavy strawberry locks took a deep drag of her cigarette. She exhaled slowly, the cloud of smoke disappearing in the fog. Her cigarette burned low but provided a small light in the fog. Though her eyes were partially hidden by her hair, her expression was grim. She watched as men dressed in police uniforms moved in and out of what appeared to be a normal suburban house. Bright yellow police tape blocked off any nosey but concerned civilians from stepping over the property line.

"Another one missing," one police officer muttered with a pitiful shake of his head.

"This happens every few years. You’d think we’d have some leads by now," said another, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

But they didn't. And after almost 100 years since the town’s founding no one had the slightest clue about what happened to all those missing children. The strawberry-haired woman put her free hand in her pocket to shield it from the cold as she took another long, deep drag of her cigarette. She put the butt in her empty smoke box and slid the box into her coat pocket as she solemnly made her way to greet the police officer stationed at the door as she made her way in.

Though she was inside the house the temperature didn't differ much from the outside. The cold within the house was something felt more in the soul rather than on the skin. It was something she was familiar with: the feeling of an invader’s presence, or a person’s lost warmth. The woman's solemn eyes scanned the walls of the plethora of pictures of the household’s family as she walked down the hall. A mother, a father, a sister, and brother. She kept her eyes on the brother, though. While the family appeared to grow more loving and happy as the years passed between these photos, the brother seemed to grow more physically distant from the others.

His happy smile started to get smaller and smaller and seemed to diminish to almost nothing as the years went by. As she peered closely at the brother, the young woman swore her eyes were playing tricks on her when she thought she saw a glimmer of an unnatural color in the boy’s eyes. “What—”

"Detective Nole!" A voice called out to the woman, making her blink and just shake her head. When she opened her eyes again, the brother’s eyes had returned to normal. Just a trick of the light, she thought. As she hurried into what appeared to be a white-walled living room, an older salt-and-pepper-haired man wearing a white button-down shirt turned to look at her. The wrinkles under this man’s eyes showed years of experience with cases like this, and they didn’t look like the cases were getting any easier.

"Chief Rowan," the woman said, looking toward the married couple standing nearby. The man looked to the two detectives while rubbing the back of his wife, who had not spoken or even looked up since they had been there.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brice, this is Detective Resistance Nole," Rowan said as Resistance made her way to stand next to the chair. Mr. Brice raised a brow at hearing her name, which didn't surprise her. She had been getting looks like this most of her life. Mrs. Brice, who previously hadn't shown any hints of interaction, finally looked up and gave a puzzled expression at the name she heard.

"Your name is Resistance?" Mr. Brice asked, wondering if they were pulling his leg.

Resistance let out a deep sigh and rolled her eyes before presenting her badge to the couple. "Do you believe me now?" Both of them looked puzzled, but when they saw the name inscribed on the badge, they nodded.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brice, I know you've probably been asked this question more than once already, but as you know the first 4 hours after a minor goes missing is the most critical. So I want you to tell me everything that happened today before your son Jeremy went missing and what led up to it,” The green-eyed woman asked as she sat in a chair opposite the Chief.

Mr. Brice removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Just like I told your Chief and the other officers: I came home and my wife was making dinner. Our son Jeremy was locked up in his room as usual." A bit of annoyance crept into his voice at that part; some obvious tension existed between father and son. “By 7, his mother called him down for dinner, but when he didn't respond we thought he was having one of his fits.” By now Mr. Brice was looking quite distressed. “I knocked on his door to the point of breaking it down..." He paused to wipe his face. "He was gone… No trace of him… He was just gone…"

Mrs. Brice started to tear up slightly. "He… He had been so distant lately, but we never thought he would run away…" she said softly.

Resistance looked at the other woman as she took notes. "When you say distant, what do you mean by it? Your son is 13, right? Was hanging out with the wrong type of kids, or maybe there’s something going on at home you haven’t told me about?" The detective looked into Mrs. Brice's eyes. There was something wrong with them. She looked quite out of it, but she didn't appear to be on any discernible substances. It was like there was a cloud of sorts blocking her thoughts, with the way her eyes were dazed and how she stared blankly in different directions.

Mrs. Brice shook her head "No, no, nothing like that... Jeremy has always been a good boy. Yes, he could be a bit shy at times, but he was so talented." She smiled brokenly. "He had the voice of an angel. He was in the school choir you know. So beautiful…" Her voice trailed off and her eyes became distant again.

"Nothing I never heard before, yet so familiar somehow." Resistance frowned slightly and looked towards her chief, who shared her look of confusion.

Mr. Brice wrapped an arm around his wife. "I'm sorry,” he said to Resistance. “She hasn't really taken Jeremy's..." He paused, evidently trying to search for the right word. "...situation very well."

The detective just looked at him, her eyes full of sympathy. "No parent can rest when their child is missing.” She paused. “I would know," she told them.

" You… You… have children?" Mrs Brice asked in a quiet voice, not really looking at Resistance, though.

Resistance turned to her. "I do. A daughter around 6," she told her gently.

"A little girl…" A ghost of a smile flickered on Mrs. Brice’s face. "Just like Holly, dear…" She looked at her husband, her expression almost dreamlike. Mr. Brice just looked at her with a somber expression.

"Mrs.Brice, could you possibly tell your version of events before you husband got home?" Resistance asked the dark-haired woman, believing there was more to this story then it seemed.

Mrs. Brice blinked a little, looking at her. "It was a normal day… I got Holly and Jeremy ready for school... Though it took longer to get Jeremy about the house."

The Chief spoke up. "Why? Did he sleep in?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

Mrs. Brice shook her head again. "No… He was just so distant. He barely responded to me. He just stared out the window humming a song... A beautiful song… I’ve never heard it before." She smiled dreamily again. "I ran errands, then brought the children home from school... Jeremy barely spoke at all. He only hugged me and told me he loved me before going back into his room."

This piqued Resistance’s interest. “Did he do this often? The staring off into space while singing?" she asked both his parents.

"Jeremy was in choir, so it was common for him to practice," said Mr. Brice.

“But this was different altogether…" his wife finished for him.

Resistance leaned back in her seat, processing all of this. "Mrs. Brice, what time was it when you last saw your son?"

"Oh, it was…" Mrs. Brice’s voice trailed off as she tried to remember. "I… I don't… recall," she said. Her eyes became very distant and unfocused, and her husband furrowed his brow in worry.

"It's alright,Mrs. Brice. We can stop for now," the Chief said as he held up a hand. He was concerned that the distressed mother was going to have an emotional collapse.

The female detective didn't fail to notice the small head of a child with curly black hair and Tinkerbell dress pajamas peeking around a doorway at the adults conversing down the hall.

"Would your daughter Holly know?" Resistance asked, making Mr. Brice look up at her. "She was in the house today. What did she tell you?"

Mr. Brice adopted a defensive posture. "Alright, I think we’re done with questions for now. As you can see, my wife is in no condition to answer more. Just please find my son,” he said shortly. He turned to his wife and said in a much softer tone, “Let's take a rest, alright?" He began leading Mrs. Brice out of the room, and she followed him like a zombie.

"We understand, sir. We will do the best we can," the Chief said before shooting Resistance a look.

Resistance got up up go out the door with her senior officer, though she didn't take her eyes off the little girl lurking at the end of the hallway until the moment she walked out the door.

“Ressy, what was the point of asking those questions about the daughter?" the older man said rubbing his eyes. Mr. Brice already has a lot on his plate with his almost catonic wife and his missing son." He watched her stare into the house.

“The little girl knows something, Rowan. Children always know more than what they first appear to," she told him seriously.

“How do you know, Ressy?"

“I could see in her eyes…" she told him simply. Oh, yes… She could see the same loss and dread she had seen in herself back then.

The Chief sighed deeply at this. ”Ressy, you know this isn't Lu—“

"I know sir." She cut him off. “I’m not deluding myself by seeing my missing little sister in a missing 23-year-old-boy," she told him firmly as she looked back at her notes. “Besides, didn't you notice how the mother was acting?” she pointed out to the Chief as they walked off the property.

The older man sighed deeply then hummed in thought. "Yeah, she appeared to be a little… Out of it," he put simply. "I thought maybe her husband gave her something to calm her down.” He rubbed the back of his head and looked back at the house as it receded into the fog behind them.

“She wasn't on something, at least she didn't appear to be,” Ressy commented, putting a hand on her chin. She had seen people under the influence before during her time as police cadet, and even more so living with her mother growing up… Her sister's disappearance didn't exactly make that part better. “But it seemed like she didn't understand where she was or what was happening clearly, like she was in some sort of bliss."

The Chief just sighed as he patted her back lightly. “Just go home for tonight, Resistance. Go hug Lorelei. I'm going to hug my girls for sure," he said, turning in the opposite direction which led to his old grey Honda. He got in the driver side while Resistance got in on the passenger side. The young woman just stared at the small town as they drove by. It was very gloomy that day, considering the circumstances. It seemed like fog followed whenever they had an unfortunate event. A town named after the fabled tree of life didn't seem so lively. One of the disturbing reminders of it was all the missing posters of children literally covered all the walls, posts, and shops. Children that went missing over the years… It was like a sick attraction: the town of children spirited away. It also served as a “boogeyman” to scare the surrounding towns’ children into behaving, or else they would be sent to Yggdrasil Burrow.

Ressy dragged her feet to her apartment door when the Chief dropped her off at home. Her keys jingled in her hands as she unlocked the door. Inside, she greeted the babysitter, Rachel, a college student with blonde hair, brown eyes, and sun-kissed freckled skin. “Was she any trouble?” Ressy asked as she paid Rachel for watching her daughter for the day.

Rachel shook her head as she took her bag and the money offered to her. “Nope! We had a lot of fun! We made grilled cheese, and got really imgative with drawing,” she said as she stepped out the door. "Oh, she has an imaginary friend by the way.”

Ressy blinked at this. “Wait, what—“

But by this time the younger was gone, and Ressy shook her head, sighing. Sometimes the blonde was so immature. Considering her age, that wasn’t surprising, and it didn't make her a bad babysitter. Lorelei had a hard time with keeping one due to her "strange" behavior…

Ressy picked up a lot of the artwork that was scattered around the room. “Looks like you guys didn't pick things up again." She shook her head, sighing deeply. Lorelei, though young, had great talent. It made Ressy smile looking over the colorful pictures of pastels and many fantasy creatures. Her daughter had always had a fascination with them. One drawing caught her eye; it appeared to be a shadowy humanoid coming up the stairs.

"Hi Mommy!"

The older woman nearly jumped to turn around to face her daughter. "Oh! Lorelei, sweetheart, don't do that,” she said, sighing in relief but holding her chest.

The little girl had eyes of hazel and dark brown hair which had a hint of dark purple in it. She also wore a white t-shirt and purple pajama bottoms. "I'm sorry, Mommy" she said guiltily.

Ressy kissed her daughter’s head "It's okay, sweetheart," she said before going back to pick up the pictures. "Looks like you had fun today," Ressy said, looking over the pictures.

The little girl nodded as she helped her mother. "I'm sorry, Mommy, I forgot about them," she said monotonously. Resistance’s daughter didn't really express emotions like other children. Of course she loved and felt empathy but she seemed much more mature than other children her age.

"They’re very pretty, sweetheart," Ressy said, picking her daughter up and then sitting on the couch with Lorelei in her lap. "Did you make these with Rachel?"

Lorelei nodded as she yawned. “I saw them in my dreams." She pointed to each of the pictures as she rubbed her eyes.

“What about this one?" her mother asked, showing the picture of the dark humanoid.

"That’s my new friend. He tells me many stories," she said, drifting off to sleep on her mother.

Resistance became a little concerned at this. "Friend? Lorelei, what do you—?” She cut herself off, seeing her daughter asleep sighing deeply in sleep. "It's been a long day for both of us, huh…" she muttered, getting up with her daughter with a groan before dragging them, both to bed. "Better clean up tomorrow…" she said, too tired to bother with the mess.

Little did she know, outside in the fog, a dark figure stood in the middle of the street looking into their window... watching them.

Art by: BrinBrin(Ghost)

Story by: Pinkroseutena

Editing by: @poorly-drawn-skeks

Art by: BrinBrin(Ghost)

#short story #fae #mystery #fantasy #missing person #faery folk #changeling #detective #strong female lead #original story #interspecies #secret #past plays a big role

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