Chapter 6.5: The Third Day

  On the third day Ace was gone, his father had already filed a missing person's report and everyone in town knew he had been missing.

  The local news showcased his disappearance and people who had never seen or met him swore they saw him at restaurants, or at their local bar, or just passing by on the street. These were all dead ends, leaving Tyreceus up at night, unable to sleep, worrying that his son was dead somewhere, or sold by perverts, or whatever worry his mind cooked up.

  Levi as well was losing sleep, but he didn't sleep often to begin with. He was wracked with guilt, and somehow he had convinced himself that he had something to do with his disappearance.

  Fenton was anxious all the time, making him feel nauseous. He was wracked with guilt, after knowing that he would disappear, but forgetting. He told himself that even if he tried, there was probably nothing he could do about it.

  He hoped that after searching through the directory, which took them quite a long time, they would get a lead. It was a complete waste of time, and they were now back at step one.

  Santos was preoccupied with his own moral dilemma.

  Maximilian asked him to give him updates on Levi's activities. He had no problem with this. Levi was possibly more boring than a glass of milk, never doing anything rebellious. Santos had nothing to report on, which just angered Maximillian, so he usually made things up, but didn't say anything too exciting so he would believe him. However, Santos knew that Maximillian was probably catching on to their plans.

  He also knew that Maximillian truly had no idea what they were doing, because if he did he would just taunt them in his usual grandiose fashion. Something different happened today.

  For the first time ever Santos had seen something absolutely bad that Levi did. Santos got a report of his browsing history daily in his email inbox, and every day it was the same boring websites. Today however, Santos himself blushed at the kinds of videos Levi had watched.

  Should I tell him the truth for once, Santos wondered. I mean, I guess I could distract him from learning about what we're actually doing.

  The moral dilemma was not long lasting as he threw Levi under the bus. Santos was curious what would happen, and hoped that for once Levi would stand up to his father. Levi wouldn't do anything like that any time soon, so Santos would soon be horribly disappointed.

  Levi got a very interesting phone call from his father who intruded into every part of his life. He answered the phone when he was standing in front of the school's entrance, next to the fountain donated by another person who had bought their child's way into the school.

   He listened to his father describe in great detail the things he watched, and then his father then suddenly wanted to cash in on his favor. Levi obliged without even asking what he wanted, knowing he was again at the mercy of Maximillian's every whim.

  "Tell me what you're doing," Maximilian snarled over the phone. Levi watched the large fountain bubble, trying to come up with a good lie. "I… am outside….," Levi mumbled.

  "That is not what I meant," Maximilian hissed. "Stop being willful." Levi let out a loud sigh and tried his hardest to dodge his father's questions.

  "Why did you need those papers," Maximilian shouted. "What did you do with them!?"

  "I've done nothing," Levi replied. It wasn't a lie, as he, Fenton, and Santos were horrible investigators.

  "You didn't answer the first question," Maximilian shouted. Levi made a strange noise in his throat.

  I should just tell him the truth, Levi thought. Maybe he won't mess it all up.

Levi told his father everything he knew about Candice.

  "I'm only telling you because we're all out of options," he barked. "Don't think this means I-"

  "I don't care how you feel about it, but quite frankly I think you're crazy." Levi gripped his phone and was trying to keep his sanity together. "Something must be wrong with you, especially with those videos you watched," he continued. "Degeneracy is a steep slope."

"I know what I saw," Levi screeched.

"Yes, and it was two men and a woman-"

"Shut up," Levi hissed. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."

  People walking by looked as they passed by him, wondering what he could be so angry about. "I think you're just under a lot of stress," Maximilian cooed. "You should take a break." Levi's body shook, his blood pressure shot up, and a loud ringing noise was in his ear. He was about to explode.

"Don't patronize me," Levi hissed.

"I just worry about your mental health, especially with those videos you've been watching," his father mumbled.

  Levi let out an animalistic scream and then promptly smashed his phone to the ground. People watched, but Levi didn't care. I hate him so much, Levi thought. He wants me to talk to him but when I tell him the truth he just ignores me. Levi stomped off, willing to do anything to get his mind off the past few days, but that wouldn't happen.

  The first thing he saw when he went to the community board was a large poster about Ace's disappearance. He was interviewed by a police officer who was going around asking everyone he knew after lunch. For his team's weekly meeting it was all anyone could talk about. No matter where Levi went he could not escape Ace.

  Team 57 all debated over where he went, but no one really had an idea, not even Candice. "I think he ran away," Mark said. "He was a weird guy. It makes sense." Amy nodded in agreement. Levi stood at the front, long giving up talking about anything important.

  "What if he was killed," Harmonia shrieked. "Don't say that," Candice moaned. Now the conversation had switched to, well people are presumed dead after some time. Once that was all agreed upon, they started debating the various ways he had died.

Fenton looked like he was about to have a heart attack and laid his head on the table, wishing he were dead as well.

  The entire meeting had nothing to do with meeting their goals by the end of the year. The moment Levi said the words "Even though Ace isn't here-" no one paid any more attention to the words he said after that. He simply waited for time to pass, and once their time slot was over he barked at everyone to leave.

The ordeal was draining, and the more time passed, the more he missed Ace.