Chapter 5: Was

knock knock knock

The sound of knocking stirred me from my sleep. I roll over and switch on my phone to check the time. 5 15 am. 15 minutes earlier than I usually wake up to get ready for work. Whoever it is that's knocking better have a very good reason for doing so.

knock knock knock

"I'm coming." I yell as I slip on my inside shoes and make my way to the corridor. Couldn't whatever this person had to say at least wait until the sun had risen?

I open the door to find Haru standing there in his pajamas.

"Morning." He grins. Again with the grinning.

"It better be the end of the world or you're dying because why would you wake me up so early?!" I hissed.

"Oh it's nice to see you too Haru. Would you like to come in? I would love to." Before I could stop him, he slithers past me and makes himself comfortable on my couch.

"This is breaking and entering. I thought you would know this considering that you're a cop." I glared.

"Yeah I know. But I really wanted to talk to you about a couple of things and they couldn't wait until I pick you up from work." He said. I sighed in frustration but plopped down next to him signaling to him that I was all ears,

"First of all, thank you for babysitting Megs. I felt a little less stressed knowing that she was with you and now there's a chance I could get promoted at work."

"Oh my gosh congrats!" I grinned.

"Thanks. The second thing is… when I came to pick her up. I heard what she told you. What did she mean by "I hope you find who you're looking for?" He seemed nervous when he asked me this. But how couldn't he be? I mean if I had a kid (well in this case a niece) and they told that to some random before passing out I'd be concerned too. Regardless of this I didn't want to tell him. It felt weird letting him know. Not because he wouldn't understand but because it feels dumb even to myself. What would I even tell him? 'I'm looking for a person who disappeared without a trace over six years ago and the only lead I have is a bunch of letters that she sent me!' It sounds dumb in my head so it's definitely going to sound dumb out loud.

So why am I explaining everything to him from start to finish?

When I finish he just stares. Exactly what I expected.

The silence continued until my 5 30 alarm went off. Has it really been only 15 minutes?

The sound seemed to snap him out of whatever world that he was stuck in. "Listen. I want to help you look for your friend." He said finally.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, confused.

"I don't know honestly. But having a cop on your side would certainly make it easier don't you think?" He reasoned. He wasn't wrong.

"You're right. Ok then. We'll start later because I have work in a couple of hours and I need to get ready." I said.

He nods his head and gets up to go.

The rest of the day seemed to go slowly. Too slow in fact. I just wanted work to end so I could go home and get started. At one point someone thought I had a date and that's why I kept looking at my phone. I just let them go with that because I already explained my predicament to one person and that's all I'm ever going to do.

The day finally ended and, just as promised, Haru was waiting to pick me up to take me home.

We decided to meet up at my place at 20 30 to get started. At exactly 20 25 he was at my door with his laptop, a bunch of papers and a pen behind his ear. I had just finished setting up my laptop on the dining table as well as the box with the letters and some snacks. I had a feeling that he'd be here earlier than what we'd actually planned. He sat down on one end while I sat opposite facing him.

"So those are the letters?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said, "I actually had a small lead last night before you asked me to babysit so I'll deal with that while you read these."

I slid the box towards him and looked for the owner's number again on my laptop. I dialed the number and called it.

ring

"Circe." He called.

"Shhhh. It's ringing." I hiss at him.

ring

"Circe" he calls again.

"Bro come on! What part of 'its ringing' do you not understand?" I glare at him.

ring

He reaches over, grabs my phone from my ear and ends the call.

"WHAT THE HELL?! IT WAS RINGING!" I yell.

"You don't need to search anymore. I know what happened to her." He said. His face had gone pale and his eyes had a type of sadness that I'd only seen a couple of times in my life. It was the type of sadness that someone gets when they lose someone important to them. I'd seen it in mama's eyes when our grandma died and I see it in his eyes now.

"Haru…"

He got up and left. I was so stunned by the sudden movement that I didn't realize that he had left all his stuff. I just sat there like an idiot. He came back as quickly as he'd left. He handed me a folder with a bunch of papers. I recognized the scrawl immediately. These were my letters to her. Every single one in order.

"This was you right?" He asked.

I could only nod.

He ran his hands through his hair and looked at me with a look that I could describe as sad glee.

"Where did you get these?" that's all I could say.

"I told her we shouldn't throw them away. I was right." He muttered. He sounded like he had won something. He wasn't answering my question and I was getting more agitated.

The question of where my letters to her had plagued me almost as much as where Akira herself was. And now here they were. It made no sense and that only confused me even more. If you couldn't tell already, I don't like feeling confused.

"HARU WHERE DID YOU GET THESE LETTERS?! THESE WERE LETTERS BETWEEN ME AND MY FRIEND. HOW DID YOU GET YOUR HANDS ON THEM?!" I yelled. I didn't mean to but shit wasn't adding up.

"Circe…Akira. She's my sister. I mean she was anyways." He said.

Was?

"What do you mean WAS?" I ask.

I already knew the answer but I didn't want to think it was true.

"She's dead." He said