Six hours after 'The Motel'

The morning came and with it, three beds were left to feel the coldness of the morning air.

Around 7:34 am Mr. Harrison August, Casandra Anthony, and Mrs. Trisha Crow went to check on Arlo, Cillian, and Taro in that respectful order and as their doors were pushed open, the eyes of their parents/guardians widened and their jaws met with the floor—who greeted them with open arms.

Mr. August stepped away from his daughters' empty room. Casandra walked forward into her younger brothers' vacant space with her hand to her chest. Taro's mother blinked away tears as she slid down the door frame of her baby girl's room. Each adult released a strangle sound only heard in horror movies, something that terrified them so much that words could not come to the surface and the only thing capable of expressing their fright and pain is the sound of surprise.

Mr. August stepped away from his daughters' empty room. His green eyes glassy as he stood before where he last knew his daughter to be. He thought back to yesterday, to the last time he saw her. His precious girl, she was a light that had always been so gentle and kind, so bold yet timid, so outspoken, yet brave. He remembered her face, remembered how she had looked, how her face distorted into anger, how angry she had been, in that moment and towards him withholding the truth from her, to how broken her voice had grown and how hard her once kind eyes had been when she told him not to touch her. When she rose her hands before him and stopped him from holding her, from comforting her like he always did, stopping him from helping her, from being a supportive shoulder he could lean on. His heart felt stabbed with a pang of guilt that he had not felt before, with a pain that he had never thought he would ever feel concerning her. The accusation that he saw embedded in those deep brown eyes that copied her mother's own so perfectly. The very eyes that always looked upon him for guidance and protection, for love, the eyes of his baby girl, the one who always needed him, the one who could never hate him. Sobs choked from his lungs as he fell to his knees, a hand gripping over his heart as tears ran from his eyes, his glasses foggy as he heaved and coughed. He feared the worst, feared he had lost her, feared... that he had helped push her away from him.

Cassandra walked forward into her younger brothers' vacant space with her hand to her chest, her eyes analyzing every inch of his bedroom, trying to find a hint of something off. She knew he had been upset from how he had gotten drunk the night before, and then just last night when he came home looking as if he had been drained of his soul. His bright eyes dull and his frame slouched as he dragged himself to his room. When asked he only replied that she was gone... he had lost the only person who didn't fear him, who didn't see him as a criminal, who didn't judge him or hate him or make him feel like shit for something he didn't do. He hadn't said anything more, instead, he shut himself in his room and refused to be bothered. That night she found a bottle of scotch and told herself that it was just to help her fall asleep... how she had managed not to do it, was still a mystery to her, but as she looked around her brother's room, spinning in a circle, seeing how neat his room still remained and how empty it felt burning a hole within her. She couldn't stop searching, searching for something, searching for anything, something, just one thing—just one hint! One hint that her brother had left her to at least grasp on, one hint, just one fucking hint to show her where he had gone to! She collapsed to the floor, her head twirling like her younger self in ballet class, her body feeling as though she had drunk that entire bottle. Her belly clenching as if it couldn't handle the contents anymore. She screamed; she had done so much to protect him, to ensure he was kept safe and sound, she had done so much to keep him alive and well, even against the wishes of others, she didn't know anymore. She didn't know what to do anymore, she kicked and screamed and she prayed, she fucking prayed that he was still alive.

Taro's mother blinked away tears as she slid down the door frame of her baby girl's room. Trisha Crow hadn't ever thought that this day would come, she never thought of when Taro would get tired of her, her absence, her late nights, her excuses, her profession... she had read her well. She hadn't been the best mother, seeing the open drawers in Taro's room, seeing her clothes scattered around her room and seeing how she had been frantically searching, trying to find a way out. She didn't think she had done so bad as a parent that she'd lose her baby girl. There were no signs, nothing to indicate her losing interest in being with her, it had just been a day since they last shared a moment, she buried her face in her hands, not being able to understand this sudden loss.

~ ~ ~

The call that Mrs. Alana Gage-August received that morning was something she thought she'd never heard. She dropped everything she was doing and began making calls for the police, coming to find Cassandra Anthony standing in her waiting room lobby along with Trisha Crow who both were into the same situation as she was. "Where are our children?" she asked Cassandra.

"I don't know, Cillian's gone too, and Taro, who I heard was the best friend of your daughter." She took a deep breath in then swallowed the lump in her throat. "Do you think they're together?"

"More than anything, they are together." The three parents turned to see Harrison August standing by the elevator, "Arlo wouldn't just leave to spite us, she loves that boy, and Taro, she would go to the ends of the world with Arlo. I think they left with intention... and I think it might be concerning Cillian's case, Alana."

Cassandra rose a hand, "Wait, why do you think it is?"

He stepped closer and adjusted his glasses. "She was checking out a site that had conspiracies over the Owen Klum case, suspicions of his murder not being murder but maybe a kidnapping."

"That... that might be possible, but—."

"Wait, let's resume this conversation in my office, there are too many prying ears out here." She turned on her heels and continued as Officer Anthony, Mrs. Crow, and her husband followed her.