It's Hard to Find The Northern Star

Rambone shut the door behind them, leaving them in the empty hallway.

"So, to her room?" He guessed.

She nodded to him. Cara's room was only 3 floors down from them as they had previously visited a few times before in the two weeks leading up to Luca's match versus Auden.

As they rushed over to and down the flights of stairs, Rambone took the time to quick air a complaint he had.

"Oh wait, I just realized I haven't worked out today." He said. "Fuck."

"It's just a day off, chill out. No biggie."

"I mean, what will happen if I miss a day?"

"I don't know, you're gonna have to ask her that."

"Does it look like I can ask her that right now?"

"No?" Luca gave a quick 'what the fuck are you on?' type of look to him. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"You know what they say," he jokingly retorted. "girls aim for Jupiter to get more stupider."

Luca then aimed for a hard slap to his face. It made Rambone stumble and fall back, opening a door to someone else's room in the process.

"Huh?!" He was caught off guard by it opening, as doors are always locked. Her, too.

She went over and lent a hand to help him get help.

"Jesus, this room got trashed." She commented as Rambone got up, turning to face the room.

"Yeah it di- Oh yeah, it really got fucked up." He added on as he took a few steps to get a clearer view of the room. He then saw a giant hole in the wall connecting this room to Cara's.

"How fucked up are we talking here?" She walked over to see it. "Oh."

They went over into Cara's room, immediately finding her room damaged, messy, and dirty. Light was absent in both rooms, which had made them turn them on. The bedsheets and pillows were not made and ruffled about on the bed. The lamp on the nightstand had been broken on the floor with the landline shifted over, the phone dangling off the nightstand by the cord.

One of the two pillows on the bed had a big lined hole in it and a very small dry bloodstain.

And still, there were more of those types of things persisting throughout the whole room. One by the curtain which had major shredded holes in them. A handful of small holes were strewn over the walls. And two other small bloodstains. The desk chair was absent.

Luca stepped into the bathroom, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "Bathroom's fine. Have you checked for anything under the bed?"

"Nope," he answered, and then put his head to the ground to look under. "Nothing under here."

"Really?" She walked over to him. He got back up and they met eyes once again.

"I think what happened here is the person in the other room broke into here and kidnapped her." He said.

She gave him a puzzled look. "Then why would the door be open?"

"Probably 'cuz they forgot their keycard."

"Just doesn't make sense. Didn't she say she was only going to the bathroom?"

Rambone took a moment to recall. "Yeah."

More theories began buzzing through her head, as she rubbed her forehead. "Then why'd she come back to the room?"

"Something from her closet, maybe?" He figured. "We haven't checked there yet."

She snapped her figures. "Good point." They then went and opened the closet.

She had bunches of shirts, pants, uniforms, jackets, and other stuff you'd normally find in a closet. Just like the bathroom, nothing was out of the ordinary. No holes. Nothing ruffled up. No stains. Nada.

"Nothing there, too. Hmm." She said to herself.

"About how we move on to the next step, then?"

"Guess so."

They turned off the light before opening the door to leave, heading up the stairs and into the food court, a commonplace for interacting with fellow members. Rambone started by asking around the very few members that had attended her match.

"Nope. Haven't seen her."

"I don't keep faces to memory, sorry bro."

"No. Hope you find her, though."

"I saw her go into the bathroom. No idea how long she was in there because I only went to the bathroom to take a quick piss." The fourth one said.

"Did you hear anything from there as you were going back?"

"I heard a little bang. Not sure what it meant and neither did I really pay any mind to it at the time."

"A little bang, huh? Weird."

The others that were there had no clue about the incident and shook their heads. Only one other person offered a possible link to the case.

"I saw some dudes in black hair and black clothes running and carrying out some furniture. Like, I saw a chair, a little table, and some other stuff I'm forgetting."

Both of them were still clinging to their leads and the hope that she was still alive as they went out onto the town for any chance at more answers. However, the people on the street still offered nothing.

They checked the nearby salon, a popular place for gossip. People there only shook their heads before putting faces back into reading their magazines and newspapers. The deli. The only people there at the moment were employees who looked at them like they were insane. The other handful of places they popped their heads into gave them nothing.

They both collectively sighed and lowered their heads.

"Shall we try searching the alleys?" Rambone asked, growing tired.

"If it's our only hope." She answered quickly.

The two turned the corner and into the closest alley. They swerved around many corners until they found anything or someone. It wasn't a good bit later before someone opened the back door to their house, stepping out to smoke. It was an older-looking man, with stubble and dry and wrinkled face. He was hiding his balding head with a cap.

"What the hell are you two kids doing back here?"

"We're looking for someone." She said.

He lit his cigarette and took a quick hit before speaking again. "Only damn person you're looking for here is Ms. Trouble."

"We can protect ourselves just fine, gramps. Relax." Rambone cut in.

The man was too tired to get angry at him. "You got no idea. I've dealt with it multiple times first hand, trust me, kid."

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"I've lost some friends to some vicious thugs here." He said, saddened.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's why I'll always say to the people comin' by here to be careful and go back."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm being pretty clear with what I'm saying. This place can crush your heart."

"Well, we'll make sure that it won't!" Luca made a fist and said with brimming confidence.

The man laughed. "With that attitude, you'll be set to go."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small fake yellow flower, tossing it into Rambone's hands.

"Huh? Why're you giving me this?"

"It's a good luck charm for you."

He put it in his pocket.

"Charms suck ass." He thought to himself. Luca was thinking much the same of the cheesy gift.

They both ran off and out of his sight. They stopped by a nearby dumpster and threw the charm in there.

"There." He said. "That should be the real good luck charm we need."

She nodded. "Now let's continue searching. And no more stupid conversations."