Trapped in a circle

2

"I'm off to work! Books are in the living room with TV. You already know where fridge is, so eat when you get hungry. If something happens, call these numbers, they can help you. See you soon!"

Five was still sleepy, he had stayed up late writing math, but kid nodded. That gave Patch some relief. It had been quite while since she had last been so worried about someone. But it looked like he will be fine, so she left, not bothering him with questions anymore. There were others she needed answers from.

***

"Anything new?" her question was given the same answer she had heard for the last three moths.

"No." it was really bothersome.

"Are you finished with analyzing that rag?"

"Yes, but nothing. We can't make out where it was made, where it's been and whose blood was that. Not kids, we already checked that."

"I know that. Math what he's writing, does that have any meaning?"

Her partner gave a big sigh.

"I get a headache from just looking at those numbers. It's unbelievable that kid at his age is writing those. Anyways, I've tried to make some sense of them and as far ass I understand, it's all just nonsense. Something what could be if time travel was possible. That's what mathematicians who I've consulted think. But even they don't know for sure."

"That doesn't help us at all." she sat down in disappointment "I'm tired of hitting the wall. It would be nice to make some process."

"I have an idea Patch."

"I'm listening, tell me."

Her partner sat down and showed her a picture of a tatoo. It was a simple umbrella in a ring.

"I think this could help us."

"It's on Five, I've seen it. Why do you think this will be any help?"

"You can't get a tattoo without guardians permission at that age. Not this type. It's made by an professional."

"I feel like I've seen this symbol somewhere before. Can't remember where though."

"So lets start with digging that up." came her partner to an conclusion.

"I'm going to library." decided Patch and left the building.

***

She got a headache. Fives case just kept getting more complicated, There had been some important umbrellas through the history, but most of them looked nothing like that tattoo. 

She had looked at more than a thousand different tattoos and umbrellas, when her eyes finally caught sight of something familiar. She clicked on the picture quickly to learn more.

The image on question was logo and mark of the Umbrella Academy. Of course. She facepalmed herself for forgetting. One of her exes had one of those. Tattoo just like Five had. He had left without telling how to contact him and he didn't make it into the news anymore so there was no way she could ask him about Fives connection to the academy. But she had a lead now. Next search she made was about the Umbrella Academy.

Place was somewhat famous. Especially its founder who had adopted seven children years ago and then trained them to fight. One of them had died and one had been missing for fifteen years. Others had lived their lives without doing much after leaving the place.

Was Five another generation of children like that? Because there was no way he could be any of those seven. He was too young for that. Maybe it was wrong lead? Tattoo could have been with no connection to the academy.

"I found that the Umbrella academy had those type of tattoos, I'm going there to see what they can tell me. Call me when you find something or when there are problems." she left a voice message for her partner and fled the library what was too quiet for her liking.

***

At least the building was still there. That was a good start, so she knocked on the door and waited for an reply. No one came. Finally, after knocking even louder and there was still no movement, she went and talked with the neighbors.

"Haven't seen anyone coming out from there for months. I think they moved away in secret or something." she was told that by old doorkeeper. Possibly last at work. But he did have a remarkable memory. He even remembered that Patch used to date Diego.

"Why they should have"

"I don't know.  I didn't live there but it did seem like they were fighting. I mean, I'm sure there was a loud crash last year."

"Thank you for cooperating, I only have one final thing to ask from you. Have you ever seen this boy?" She showed the old man a picture of Five.

Old man frowned. "Only once. He was the last person I saw go in or out of the building."

"Which? Did he exit or no?"

"Nope. He walked in there and I never saw him coming out."

Patch nodded to the man like that information he gave her, helped her understand something, but that was only a simple lie.

Others told the same. They hadn't seen anybody moving in that house for a long time. That made her nervous. There was clearly something wrong with that. She requested backup to break the damn door down.

***

"You absolutely sure the kid came here?" her partner wasn't in awe with the place. He actually hated it, saying it looked too grim and makes him feel down. In some way, Patch understood him.

"Yeah. I have two witnesses, who can confirm that. The strange thing is that they don't remember ever seeing him come out."

"Maybe we're dealing with a ghost then. Please help us god with that. I don't want to die because some little ghost was feeling moody."

She gave him a pat to the shoulder "Don't worry. I'll be here when you need a shoulder to cry on."

"Jerk." he wasn't in the mood for her jokes.

They moved in as soon as the door fell.

There was nothing.

Everything was in pieces and no living soul in the whole building. They had disappeared as mysteriously as Five had appeared out from nowhere. Patch was horrified. She had been prepared for anything except for that.