Her Sweet Flavour

gone missing

POV: Adeline

I've been at work all day and it was just as bad as it always is, but I'm so excited to get home to Bambi.

I bought him a new toy that I think he'd like and it had been delivered last night so we played for a little bit with it, but not for long because he got really tired and it was definitely past his bed time. I want to play more with him tonight - it the only good part of my day.

Skipping up to my door, I unlock it, preparing myself to have him scurrying around my feet, but he doesn't. I close the door and wait a moment but he still doesn't come running.

He's probably fine. Just asleep somewhere and didn't hear me get home.

Taking deep breaths to keep myself calm, I look around every inch of my apartment, which there isn't much of, getting more panicked when I still don't find him.

He's not in any of his favourite spots. He's not sleeping in his bed. He's not even hovering around his food bowl. Where is he?

"Bambi?" I call out using the baby voice I always talk to him with. I keep calling for him just in case he hid somewhere I can't find or missed but he still doesn't come up to me.

Panic flooding me, I check around my apartment again, fearful that the worst happened to him. I've been trying my best to take care of him and the vets didn't find anything wrong with him so it would be sudden, but surely he couldn't've....

No, he has to be okay. He has to be.

When I still can't find him all I can bring myself to do is scrunch up on the floor and curl up, burying my face in my knees as I sob. I don't know what to do.

Surely he didn't escape. I made sure all the windows and the door was closed when I left this morning and he was definitely in my apartment then. He could possibly have left on his own, I don't think.

Another idea comes to mind but I don't like it either. The manager of the building could've heard Bambi or someone ratted on me for having him, and they took him away. If that were the case though I'd be in more trouble and he wouldn't just be mysteriously gone. Plus, Bambi is really quiet even when he yaps so surely no one heard him while I was at work.

"Bambi....where are you?" I whimper into my knees as I struggle to think of anything that could've happened to him.

He would always come and comfort me when I cried but he isn't here to do that now. I don't know where he is.

I want him back. I want to cuddle him and pet him and play with his little paws so that I can tap his toe pads while his tail wags.

I want my only form of comfort back.

After crying into my knees for a while, I finally calm down enough to lift my head and wipe away my tears with my arm so that I can see what time it is now.

I've been crying for half an hour?

It feels like less but time often goes differently when I'm depressed. It feels like it goes so much slower than I ever think it is making every minute feel horrible as I wallow in my misery.

I should go out and see if I can find him out there just in case he did somehow get out, even though that seems unlikely. If I lived somewhere that accepted pets I would ask around, but here I don't know who will rat me out so I can't. I need to find him on my own.

Hopefully if he did escape he hasn't gone too far - that's all I can hope.

[The Next Morning]

I still don't know where he is and I don't know what to do.

I was awake all night looking for him but there's no sign of him anywhere. He's just vanished and I don't know what else I can do.

As much as I wanted to keep looking, I don't see much point since I already searched everywhere and I needed to go to work. I messaged Evane to see if I could get today off but she denied my request so I have to go in or I'll lose a full day's pay.

There isn't much point in me being in work though since I'm too distracted. I'm trying not to lean on weed to calm me down but I can't find any other way to get my head to stop rushing with thoughts of what could've happened to him.

I rest my head on my desk as I feel a headache building. I always get headaches if I get too stressed and I know that if I don't relax for a few days it'll become an insufferable migraine. Until I find Bambi though, I'm just going to have to deal with it and keep trying to work.

No painkillers will even touch any headache I get. The only thing that kind of numbs it is weed, but I don't want to get back into smoking. It took me long enough to quit so I really don't want to start and go through that whole process again.

"Adeline? What's wrong? You're here a lot earlier than usual," Evane suddenly says from behind me.

Her footsteps are as quiet as ever, I didn't even notice that she was in her office yet. She wasn't in when I got to work an hour earlier than usual.

I just grumble, hiding my face in my arms. The thought of talking makes me want to cry and I've already been crying this morning so my eyes are probably noticeably red.

Her asking what's wrong just makes me want to cry and spill everything that's gone wrong, but I don't want to dump it all on her. It's not like she could even help if I did tell her so there's no point. It'll just make me feel worse talking about it so I stay silent, ignoring her question.

"Adeline, no one else is here if you want to talk about what's bothering you. I promise I won't tell another soul," Evane swears, leaning against my desk as I hide my face in my arms. "Do you want to get anything off your chest?"

I shake my head, struggling to hold back my tears and keep my breathing from hitching as I get overwhelmed again.

"Please...leave me alone," I mumble into my arms, scrunching into myself as I feel tears start trickling down my cheeks again, dripping into my lap.

"Okay," Evane cautiously mumbles and I can hear her footsteps as she walks away.

As the day goes on, I try my best to hold back tears all the time, just wanting to hide away. I don't have the energy to get on with my work so I end up doing it really slow and definitely getting some of it wrong but I don't care. Evane knows something's wrong so she'll probably go easy on me if she looks over my work and finds a problem.

It doesn't feel like there's any point in going back to my dingy flat that I hate. Bambi was the only reason I went home earlier but without him there, I don't see a point in it.

Even though I don't want to admit it, I've kind of given up on finding him already. He's a little puppy and the weather last night wasn't great, plus I don't even know how to find him. There were no clues of where he went so I'm lost. I'll try, but I have very little hope.

If I can't find him today or tomorrow then he'll probably never be found by me - at least not alive. I was lucky to have found him when I first met him, but I doubt I'll be as lucky this time.

Bambi, please be somewhere I can find you tonight.

○ ○ ○
This was a slightly shorter part but I hope you guys enjoyed!

What do you guys think happened to Bambi?

Thank you for reading and I hope you eagerly await the next update!