Mailee's room was an absolute mess, a far cry from her Type-A personality. An incriminating officer sat on his haunches, rooting through her closet, and Detective Ballew sat on her bed, her creamy coloured fur still lining the linens.

Then he saw the box.

Ballew followed his sightline to the small Amazon box perched delicately on top of her bookshelf, looking simple enough to the rest of the people in the room but looking to Gad like a life preserver tossed into the churning depths of his dangerously depressed thoughts.

"I see you've found the stuff she left you?" The bear murmured softly, patting Gad on the shoulder. "We haven't touched it out of respect. Go ahead, take it home. Regardless of who you were to her, you can't stay here. You know, legally."

"Y-yes sir."

~

Gadley sprinted like crazy back to his house, locking himself in his room before the onslaught of tears could escape his Amber eyes. He'd been trying so hard to hide what he felt, and now, alone, he could let everything out again. It was too much, too soon.

He didn't want the fucking box, he wanted Mailee!

It took all his willpower to open it. It had been what Mailee wanted, and regardless of how pissed he was at her decision to leave, he wanted desperately to understand why she did what she did. Maybe what was in this box would give him the reasons he was looking for; the resolve to pick himself up, brush himself off, and continue pressing on with life as she had intended.

He cut the packing tape in one swift motion with his claw, shivering in anticipation as the cardboard flaps were opened one by one. 

A pile of goddamn clothes, everything he'd lent her.

Gad tore through the box's contents frantically, tossing his old clothes across the room. She couldn't have just left him with this. That wasn't her. There had to be at least something there to give him an inkling of hope-

A black leather handheld journal fell out of its carefully selected hiding place inside one of his old hoodie's pockets, fluttering through the air to land face-down in the bottom of the box. Gad picked it up with shaking paws and sat on his bed with it, stroking the leather lovingly as he read the first page.

To whoever is reading this:

Do not continue unless your name is Gadley Pine McAdden. This journal was intended for him and him only to read.

The tears came once again, and Gad lifted the journal out of reach of the salty downpour.

She'd left him something.

The rest of the pages were left blank, and at the end, in typed lettering, it simply read "8023164592."

A phone number?

Before he knew it he found himself subconsciously punching the number into his phone, lifting it up to his ear as it began to ring.

"Hello?"

Oh shit, someone picked up!

"Umm, yes. Hi, I'm Gadley. I- I don't know how to explain this, but I found your number in a book-"

"Yes! You're Mailee's boyfriend, then. She told me you were going to Arcadia too?" There was a muffled car horn in the background, and the person on the other end of the line muttered some not-so-nice words under their breath.

"Umm... yes, I- Look, Mailee is-"

"Dead. I know. She wrote my number down for you so we could connect at school. I'm Catori, but feel free to call me Kitty."

"O-oh. Hey, I guess."

"Dude, lighten up! She's not really-" She whispered the next part- "-Dead. She just ran away."

What the hell? 

*Author's note: 

The plot thickens.

Didn't even know you had a plot.

Okay.

...

Erm, hope you enjoyed I guess :P*