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Sunday 12th November ~ 3:44pm

Mark's POV:

I paced into the police station, heart in my throat and lungs out of breath. Jack was the only thing on my mind.

"Excuse me?"

I leaned against the wall, winded and panting with the blonde officer watching. The two people in the waiting room were also staring. Great.

"Can I... Help you?" The officer asked.

I nodded, approaching her counter. "Y-Yes, I-"

I took a deep inhale. "-sorry-"

She smiled. "No problem sir, take your time."

This lady's demeanour failed to calm my nerves, even if her intentions were good. Yet I couldn't help but like her. "I have some - some information. On the Ja- Sean McLoughlin case?"

Her eyes lit up, almost as though she had been waiting for this all day. "Right! Just wait there, I'll go get the - the lead detective - wait right there!"

The officer rushed off, more eager than I'd thought she'd be. From what little I'd heard there hadn't been any leads thus far, so mine must've been the first.

I held onto the reception desk, my teeth gritted at a sudden splitting headache.

That lack of sleep was really catching up to me.

I bit my lip, breathing through the pain. After a few seconds the hurting began the gradual process of dying down, leaving me with a new thought:

What was I going to say?

'Jack called me at 1am and he seemed like antisepticeye, y'know, that alter ego he made up for his channel?'

These police officers would think I'm insane. Maybe even arrest me for 'wasting their time'. I craned my neck to attempt to see if the woman was coming back, yet failed to see anyone.

I couldn't do anything if I was arrested.

I spun on my heel, the two strangers in the waiting room watching as I paced back out of the station - the mantra of positivity I repeated to myself seeming so naïve.

Jack had to be okay.

Didn't he?

I was going to find him, even if I was the only one who could.

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The alleyway from the news was ten minutes away from Jack's apartment, and I found it on accident as I was walking to his place. I searched around for an unknown amount of time.

There had to be something somewhere.

I scanned over the walls either side of the alley. I repeatedly opened the trash cans to check something hadn't been disposed there. Maybe he'd been jumped. Knocked out, even.

Murdered.

I shook my head, eyes on the concrete as I checked the floor for the umpteenth time.

Jack's assailant could've dropped something.

My face scrunched up. This was torture.

Anything could've happened to him. My best friend could've been anywhere in the world and I couldn't find a single trace of him.

I pressed on through the alley, away from the source of my discontent, my hands shoved in my pockets. Getting drunk would've been a distraction I'd have welcomed, had I been able to drink anymore. I marched past the local bar.

Up through more streets. It was the early evening, the time when people were starting to finish up work, and the city was illuminated in neon signs. I'd have worried about making videos had it seemed important.

Everything else had lost meaning.

When I got to Jack's apartment building two police cars caught my eye, yet I still entered and raced up the steps. Nothing was about to stop me. I had to get something.

"I think we've got all the evidence we can, sir."

I froze.

"I think you're right. Pack up - tell Reyes and Hale to meet us downstairs."

They were leaving.

I leapt up the last few steps just in time for a man in a police uniform to pass me, while another went into Jack's apartment. I snuck behind him, silent as I slipped into an open closet next to the front door. I closed it without a sound.

It was on an instinct. My mind hadn't comprehended what I'd done until there was talking on the other side of the door.

"We'll come back for the rest, just lock up the place behind us."

I leaned back against the coats behind me, waiting in the dark with only a crack of light coming through under the door. The footsteps faded away, and even after I heard the front door lock with a click, I waited.

I was in Jack's apartment.

The place was a crime scene.

And I did not want to get caught.

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