The Forest (sequel to The Docks, a Once Upon A Time Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Mary Margret sat frozen in the sheriff's seat as the dot representing Corey moved on the computer screen for the last time before

NUMBER COULD NOT BE TRACED reappeared on the screen. Mary Margret sat speechless her eyes wide and almost brimming over with tears.

"...... And you have no idea what happened...." She asked quietly her voice shaking as she spoke.

"I have a hunch that someone the who did this was the, she, August was trying to warn us about." Emma said with a helpless sigh as she put her jacket back on. "I have to go search for more evidence. I'll see you guys later." Emma said as she headed towards the door but not before asking Ruby to keep an eye on Henry. Emma climbed into her bright yellow car. She tried to get her mind in a professional mindset because when you get your feelings involved in a case it often makes a case harder to solve, but unfortunately as a sheriff of a small town Emma didn't have that privilege. She thought about Corey .... Alone in an unknown place.

Alone, that was a feeling Emma knew all to well.

Emma thought about her days in the foster system, there she always felt alone, like she falling and knew that there would be no one to save her before she hit the ground. She didn't remember any of the homes but she remembered the lonely nights, after each family gave her up,crying herself to sleep. She always wondered how she forgot all her foster parents and siblings names but yet somehow she managed to vividly remembered every night she cried herself asleep.

She thought back to a game she always played, Mommy, a game she made up where she imagined what her parents looked like, their jobs, what it would be like when they found her. She would spend hours in closets, cabinets, or under a bed playing this game.

She laughed out loud. Of all the stories she constructed of her parents, Snow White and Prince Charming wasnt one of them. Emma tried to direct her mind back to the case but then she began to think about Corey.

At least Corey had Memories of her parents. She knew what had happened to her mother and wasn't left in the dark wondering what happened? And Where did she go? Corey had childhood memories she cherished with all her heart and for that Emma envied her. Sure Emma had her parents now but it could never make up for all those life moments they missed..... Her first steps, her first words, and the first time she would have said Mommy and Daddy. They had missed it all.

Emma pulled along side the yellow crime scene tape. As she sat in the car and got all the paperwork for evidence ready. She noticed something out of the front of her windshield she saw Hook standing in front if the yellow tape. He was frozen like a statue, staring blankly at the dip, surrounded by cracked cement, in the middle of the crime scene. He had his hands in his pockets. . . . .

His hands in his pockets?

Emma stared intently. It looked like Hook had both hands. Emma threw open the car door. Hook jumped at the noise.

"Hello love" he said with a faint smile. His eyes were watery and red like he had been crying. But he still tried to continue their classic banter and the witty comments they always seemed to make to eachother.

"Hey" Emma said as she tried to figure out how to ask an emotionally unstable pirate if he had gotten his hand back.

"Aye, I got me hand back." Emma's eyes grew wide as she realized he caught her staring at his wrist and jean pocket. . . Which was dangerously close to something else she could have been staring at "Corey wanted me to have the crocodile reattach it since he had it in his shop..... I thought maybe having it back would make me feel better but it only makes me miss her more"