April 17

[everyone_takes]

For the most part, Kate doesn't believe people when they say they just know that someone is gone. Every time someone has disappeared, she's noticed things that are strange, but she's never had this feeling, this intense knowledge that they're just gone, not like others have claimed. Sometimes she wonders if they're just telling themselves they knew to make themselves feel better when it takes them several days to notice.

That's sort of how she feels when she finds herself standing in the middle of the hut Harry used to live in, a box of jewellery in her hands. It's been two days since she last saw him, but sometimes that happens. Sometimes they both get busy and they miss each other instead of connecting, that's just life and she's taken it for granted. So a little part of her wants to tell herself that she's known all along, but the truth is that she's only just realized it now and she feels stupid. Lost. She feels like a child playing at being grown up and suddenly all the things she's been doing over the last few months don't matter.

Clutching the box against her stomach, she makes her way home and she sits in the front yard, letting Chang crawl into her lap even though he's far too big to do it. He crushes the box, but she doesn't bother moving it. She isn't even sure why she took it. Harry never gave any of it to her and now he never will.

So many people have disappeared and she hasn't cried. She isn't going to start now, but when Chang whines and licks her chin, she wraps both her arms around him and presses her face into his fur.

Comments

[haolehothead]

As part of the IPD, Danny's pretty up to the moment when it comes to people vanishing. It means that as soon as he saw the updated list, he's out of the chair and out the door, heading for Kate with the worry under his skin that something might have happened or she might have done something. After Esther, Danny's quicker to panic than he'd like to be, but he's hurrying, fast as he can.

He finds her in the yard and his heart breaks to see her with the dog. "Kate," he sighs and sits down beside her, wishing he knew words that were better for this. He's been a detective for years, but breaking the news has always been hard. "Hey," he murmurs.

[refusedtocall]

It doesn't take a genius to tell that something's wrong. It wouldn't even if she hadn't lived with Kate for months, but as it is, Carla Jean has a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she heads towards the hut, taking a seat beside Kate when she gets to her and reaching over to absently ruffle Chang's fur. Whatever it is, she sure as hell isn't going to just leave Kate here.

"Hey," she says quietly, glancing over. "What happened?"

[mantlethemagnificent]

Kate being in the middle of burying her face in her dog and Reggie being Reggie, it took him a few moments to clue in that something wasn't entirely right with that picture.

"Kate, you are never going to guess what I just discovered! Turns out when you mix hair gel with c- hey, woah," he said, already past her on his way to the door before he stopped in his tracks. "You okay?"

[not_so_smooth]

"Hey, Kate, check out this cool helmet I found in the clothing booooooo-"

Not even the cool viking helmet he found in the box could distract him from how upset she looked. No one hugged their dog like that when they were happy. At least he knew her dog hadn't died?

"Hey, what's wrong?"