The case of the fire inside (dsmp)

For the warning signs I've completely ignored

Summary:
A few people get some visitors

Come on Tommy, I know you're in there!" Techno called out, banging on the front door once again. "You can't ignore me forever."

It's been over a week and a half since anyone had seen Tommy and Techno's had enough. He's not an overly confrontational guy, if someone had a problem he let them deal with it. Sure it kind of sucked not having the kid around, but if Tommy wanted to stay away he could.

But he couldn't take his family's moping anymore. Wilbur had seemed to regress right back to his moody teenager phase. He barely even left his room anymore, and if he ever did it was to pick a fight or just stare out the window sadly. If Techno had to hear one more sad fucking song he was going to take Wilbur's guitar and chuck it into the ocean. Or maybe beat his twin over the head with it.

Phil had taken to sadly sitting around, throwing himself into various tasks. Techno had never seen Phil mope like this, all sad gazes outside and frowning faces. Techno can practically feel the guilt radiating off of him, and he's suddenly second-guessing his every move, unsure of how to deal with Wilbur's outbursts and avoiding Techno's company.

Dinners were quiet affairs, all of them very aware that the normal loud presence that pulled them together was gone. Nights were hard, when none of them had anything to do except sit around and think about the empty space on their couch. The pillows Tommy was using still lay there, no one having the heart to move them yet.

Techno didn't want to deal with it anymore, so he watched the house carefully, waiting until he saw that stupid green truck pull out of the driveway and head the other way. He waited a day to see if the man would come back, but Techno figures he's mostly in the clear.

He's getting that kid back at all costs. Even to just get Wilbur to stop eating all of his goddamn food in an almost pitiful attempt at starting a fight. Even to get Phil to take a break and stop letting his guilt eat him away. Even just so that Techno can stop preparing himself to read someone a bedtime story at night only for no one to be there.

So maybe Techno missed him a bit too. Maybe the scene he saw earlier that week hadn't really painted a good picture when it came to Tommy's home life. Maybe Techno was a bit worried and just wanted to make sure that he was okay.

It didn't really matter why Techno was doing it, because he was already here, banging on the front door and waiting for the kid to reply.

"Come on Tommy, don't make this complicated for me," Techno groaned, knocking a few more times. "I'm going to become a creep and look in the windows if you don't answer!"

Tommy did not answer, so Techno sighed, turning around and walking down the path a little to walk towards some of the little windows on the side of the house. The window that had shattered in the early storm had been completely boarded up with wooden planks, but there were a few others that Techno could look into and see if Tommy was dead on the floor or something.

The curtains were pulled across every window, completely blocking every view in. That was pretty inconvenient for Techno's wannabee stalker act. He briefly humours opening the window and slipping inside to harass Tommy, but that was too far, even for him. He shakes his head, looking down momentarily before he paused.

There was a lock on the window. On the outside of the window. Normally people locked things out of their house, so why would there be a lock that you could open from out here?

Techno looked closer, inspecting it further. It couldn't even unlock without the use of a key, and these looked like expensive locks. Techno tended to have strange interests, and he knew enough about locks and lockpicking to know that you didn't put these things on any flimsy house in the middle of nowhere.