Hidden Mysteries

A Father's Worries

AN: A Baseball chapter! Because who doesn't love a good father figure?
Warnings for mentions of kidnapping

"No! Don't, please!"

I'm running as fast as I can, tears pouring down my face as I hear my daughter's cries of fear and pain. Everything is dark and wet, and I can barely navigate the area as I search frantically, Suitcase's screams growing louder by the second. I finally find her, curled up in a ball near a deep, dark body of water, her hair tangled and matted, bruises all over her.

"Suitcase!" I scream, rushing over to her and hugging her tightly. "Oh my god, I'm glad you're okay!"

But before she can speak, a giant hand bursts out from the waves, snatching Suitcase out of my embrace and holding her over the tar-like water that loomed below her.

"Dad!" she screams, struggling in the hand's grasp. "Dad, help!"

"Ohhh, you see something you want, don't you?" The voice echoes in my ears, and it takes all my willpower to not kneel over and vomit. "Well, then you'll have to work for it, won't ya?"

I can only watch in horror as Suitcase is dropped into the water, her screams feeling like a twisted knife in my stomach.

"No-!" I gasp, panting heavily as I jolt up, eyes darting around the room as the all-too-familiar realization hits, before sighing deeply.

A dream. It was only a dream.

I take slow, steady breaths, wringing my hands together as I try to calm myself. I'm in my house, which is far away from any natural body of water, and Suitcase is in bed. Everything is fine.

It should be.

...right?

I sigh quietly, moving to get out of bed, Nickel stirring slightly as I put on my slippers.

"Baseball?" he mumbles, patting at my side of the bed.

"I'm here, just getting up for a minute. I'll be right back." I leave the room quickly, shutting the door behind me and staring at the pictures hanging up in the hallway. They were all some of my most prized possessions, each photo displaying memories of Suitcase growing up; her first day of preschool, pictures taken on family vacations, and other moments from when Suitcase was still really little. I smile fondly at them, picking up a family photo from a couple years ago, running my thumb along the frame.

"That's my little girl," I whisper softly, placing the picture down and heading over to Suitcase's door. Grasping the doorknob as quietly as I can, I push open the door carefully, not wanting to potentially wake her up.

My eyes immediately fall down onto her stuffed bunny, just laying there on the floor. My heart fills with dread; that stuffed bunny—or Snuffles, as my daughter affectionately referred to it—was one of Suitcase's most valued possessions. She's slept with it every single night since she was a baby, and refuses to go to sleep without it tucked into bed with her. So for it to just be lying on the floor like this...

I swing open the door, my eyes widening at the sight before me. Suitcase was gone, her bed a mess and the window wide open, the cold night breeze filling the room. There was a rope made of tied-together sheets tied to one of her bedposts, which was currently hanging out the window.

"Suitcase?! SUITCASE!" I grasp onto the doorframe to keep myself from falling over, my vision blurring from tears. Nickel and Knife come bursting out of their rooms in a panic, rushing over to me.

"What's going on?" Knife asks quickly. "What's wrong with Suitcase?!"

"S-She's gone," I say numbly, my body shaking uncontrollably. "I-I just thought I should check on her, and I saw her stuffed rabbit...I don't know how long she's been gone, but she was here when we all went to bed, I know she was!"