Middle Borough was oddly quiet when Michael walked into the building. Chloe, Brooke, Jake, Jenna, Christine... and Jeremy... they were all gone. It was so sudden, no one had expected it.

The teachers carried on class as normal, but it was evident that everyone was distracted. Michael was no exception. He tried to tune out his raging thoughts with music, but his shuffle was not being kind to him. His brain could take any of the songs and apply the lyrics to his own situation. This only served to incense the flames.

On his way home that day, Michael decided to visit Rich to see if he was okay. Never thought I'd be worrying about him one day, he thought to himself, smiling a bit awkwardly.

Upon entering Rich's room, he heard a loud, "STILL HURTS LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER!" He turned to see who else but Rich, his expression in-between a glare and a wide grin.

"You... good?" Michael chuckled, taking a seat in one of the chairs. "Cause yesterday you kinda..."

"Yeah, I was out COLD. I woke up three hours later with a headache and a new IV." He frowned at his arm.

"Ouch, sorry, man..."

"No, no!" Rich exclaimed. "God, no, I'm not mad at you. You got rid of that shitty computer for good. I don't know what you had to do to force me, but..."

"It's... gone?" Michael asked.

"Yeah... To be honest? It feels really, really weird. It was like the thing forced itself into some part of me that feels totally empty now..." Rich scratched his neck, faint traces of the etches Michael had seen before lined down almost to his chest.

"Hmm..." Michael hugged his knees to his chest, lost in thought.

"Hey, uh," Rich's voice brought Michael back to reality. "How are... the others? None of them have really... I dunno, come to visit? I tried contacting Jake, but I can't get a hold of him..." For the first time, Michael thought Rich looked genuinely sad.

Where did he even start...?

"I- do you know anything that happened after you got in here?" Michael started.

"Well, I got visitors every once in a while. Jake frequented a lot. But a couple days ago, it was like I lost all contact with everyone." Rich frowned again.

"Oh man... Rich, I think everyone got squipped..." Michael said quietly.

"Everyone WHAT?!" Rich yelled.

Michael gulped. "I don't have any hard proof," he rushed. "The day after the play, everyone in the halls seemed eerily cheery. It could've just been me... I was still recovering from... some shit."

"No... honestly I don't doubt that that happened. I just didn't think they - the squips - would actually manage to do it." Rich sighed deeply. "So Jake's gone, huh?" He smiled sadly. "I guess... it was gonna happen eventually, I mean... me planning to kill my Squip meant social suicide. If he has a Squip now... what chance do I have?"

Michael felt his stomach drop. He'd gone through a similar thought process like that. As of that moment, he was sitting in a room with a boy who felt as broken as him.

"... I don't wanna give up just yet," Michael said quietly. Rich looked up a bit, the shine slowly returning to his eyes.

"What are you gonna do?" he asked softly.

"Talk to the one person who's known Jeremy longer than I have," Michael answered. "Call me if you need anything." He slung his backpack over his shoulder as Rich nodded, a soft smirk returning to his face.

Michael ran out to his car, turning the ignition as fast as he could. The sooner he found everything out, the better the chance he had at bringing everyone back.

He drove as fast as he could while still being safe. When he had parked next to the Heere's household, he exhaled deeply before hurrying out of the car.

He rang the doorbell, praying to get some sort of clue. The door opened, and Mr Heere appeared in the doorway, his face going from suspicion to recognition.

"Michael? What are you doing here?"

"Mr Heere, I need to know where Jeremy went," Michael said seriously.

"Michael... I- I don't know. Jeremy packed all his stuff and left acting like I didn't even exist..."

"There has to be something we can work off of here," Michael insisted.

"Alright... we can try," Mr Heere responded, his lack of enthusiasm very evident. Michael's heart fell. Everyone this man had loved left him, of course he was at a loss for what to do.

Michael sat down on the couch across from Mr Heere. "Did Jeremy leave anything? Any paperwork? ...Anything?" Michael started.

Mr Heere frowned. "Not that I've seen. Of course, I haven't tried upstairs. I didn't really want to see..."

"I understand," Michael responded, nodding. "I can go check if you'd like?"

"If you think it'll help my son, please, try anything you can." Mr Heere's expression was sadder than Michael had ever seen. Michael hadn't noticed before, but Mr Heere was wearing pants. He couldn't help but smile sadly. "I haven't been there for him..." Mr Heere sighed sadly. "Having his mom gone... He was going through the same things as me. But he was stronger than I was... he kept... living. I should've been a better dad..."

Michael got up, walking over to the stairs. He turned back. "Mr Heere, I promise I'll bring Jeremy back," he vowed. "Don't give up on being a dad just yet."

Jeremy's father smiled, and Michael felt the hope underneath it. He had to do this.

Michael creaked up the stairs to the room he had visited so many times. But when he opened the door, his heart slowed. The room was completely vacant. He took a shaky breath.

I can do this, he thought. Remember who it's all for.

Michael stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the walls and floor slowly. His gaze focused on a piece of paper, slightly swaying in the wind coming in through the open window. He walked over to it, picking it up to find it was a document.

Michael gripped the paper, poring over its contents before finding what he was looking for.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, holding up the paper in triumph. It was the receipt for the move, on which was the location the truck had stopped at. "Wait..." Michael recognized the name of the city.

He pulled out his phone, bringing up a contact he hadn't needed in a while.

Michael: NICA!

Nicky: Hey Micah
Nicky: haven't heard from you in a while what's up?

Michael: Do you still live in Elizabeth??

Nicky: Suuuuure do

Michael: Did a big mover truck get there just recently?

Nicky: Micah I haven't been outside in days

Michael: ....

Nicky: Sorryyy lemme ask a friend

Michael held a hand to his face, smiling to himself. Nicola hadn't changed at all. Despite his limited contact with her in the past year, it was still easy to talk to her.

Nicky: Okay so apparently ALL my friends sent me Snapchats about this

Michael: Nicky having friends? Hmm

Nicky: Shut up dummy
Nicky: There's a huge truck!
Nicky: Is it someone you know?

Michael: My dear Nica
Michael: it is
Michael: in fact
Michael: NONE OTHER THAN!

Nicky: Michael Elizabeth Mell

Michael: ELIZABETH???

Nicky: IT WAS THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT OF NOW TELL ME WHO IT IS BTCH!!

Michael: It's Jeremyyyy

Nicky: HEERE?!

Michael: Yep he is in fact there.

Nicky: Stale joke blehhhh

Michael: WHATEVER!
Michael: I need your help!!

Nicky: Sure hun what do you need?

Michael: It's hard to explain??

Nicky: Try me btch

Michael: Jeremy took this supercomputer thing that's like taking over his mind
Michael: I think some other people at my school took them too

Nicky: Wtf?

Michael: Yeah it's dumb
Michael: But I don't think Jeremy really wanted to go
Michael: I know this is a lot to ask but...
Michael: Can you watch out for him? I'm really worried.

Nicky: Aw my little kapatid

Michael: Yeah yeah tease me all you want I'm serious

Nicky: I know
Nicky: That's why I love you ;)

Michael: Oh hush
Michael: ... Thanks though...

Nicky: Of course hun ♡

Michael slid down the wall he was leaning on, exhaling deeply. He had done all he could do.

MICHAEL'S PARTS LONGER THAN JEREMY'S? SORRY I DON'T MAKE THE RULES.

So! I forgot to post yesterday!! And then I didn't have it on my phone so I was like crap I needed to UPLOAD. Well guess what, loves, because I forgot, y'all get TWO UPDATES TODAY. TWO.

When I had posted this on tumblr, this chapter was already split in two so IN ALL TECHNICALITY YOU GET THREE UPDATES TODAY FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. I'm so tired I'm about to start school, but I wanted to post this. HAVE A GREAT DAY/NIGHT ILY ALL AND THANKS AGAIN FOR 100k!!!! ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
-May