Shaded In

Trust Is A Two Way Street

Clem didn't like to yell at AJ, but he knew better than to do this. Her expression softened, however, when AJ turned to her with a worried look, almost like he was about to cry. "I can't find him, Clem!"

Clem furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Can't find who?" She asked wondering what the heck AJ was talking about.

"Disco Broccoli. I can't find him anywhere!" AJ said in a panic, clearly frustrated at not being able to find his favorite toy.

So that's what this was about. Clem felt herself relax, finally understanding what was going on. She knelt down to AJ's height so she could look him in the eye. "AJ, breathe" Clem put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. She could feel his body rise and fall with each exaggerated breath that was sucked in to try and calm his frayed nerves. "It's going to be okay. Will find him."

Clem looked up when she heard the movement of someone else through the clutter of the room. "I'll help look for him too." Came Violet's voice as she appeared next to Clem's left side.

Clem nodded in approval. "But first we need to clean all of this up. Okay, kiddo." She told AJ.

"But, what about..." AJ was cut off by Clem's words.

"I know bud, but we're not going to be able to find anything in this mess." She straightened back up, returning to her full height. "Once we put everything back where it goes it'll make it easier to find him."

AJ didn't seem to like the idea of having to wait for them to tidy up, but Clem's idea did make sense. "O-okay." He said, disappointment in his voice.

The next ten to twenty minutes were spent readjusting couch cushions, picking up papers, and packing away items into boxes that had been tipped over. The floor slowly changed from a war zone back to a living room.

While Clem and AJ worked on putting the last of some assortment of old objects into a box, Violet walked over to one of the couches and picked up a blanket that was half draped across the couch and half dragged across the floor. She picked up the blanket, feeling the soft material it was created from. She realized she had never seen this one before, it must have been AJ's blanket. She folded it back into a neat square and set it at the end of the couch when a thought crossed her mind.

Violet got down on her hands and knees between the coffee table and the couch. She bent her head down so she was eye level with the floor, and peered under the couch. It was dark, but she could just make out a shadowy figure towards the back. Without a second thought, she reached her hand under the sofa, aiming for the mystery object. Violet hoped there weren't any spiders under there. She could feel the collection of dust and derbies against the underside of the couch, which felt kind of gross but tickled to the touch. Her arm was just long enough as she grasped the to be determined object.

She pulled it out and, after removing a few clumps of dust bunnies, examined it in the light of the room. Her hand held what appeared to be a green vegetable, broccoli, that wore sunglasses and seemed to be in a dancing pose. She smiled knowing AJ would be elated to have this back. She stood back up and wiped some dust off her jeans. She turned her attention to the other two in the room as AJ continued to express his concern to Clementine.

"He's not in hear either. What if we don't find him?" The younger boy said to his so-called sister.

"Hey, don't worry goofball. Will find him. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day." She told him.

AJ's nose wrinkled in confusion. "What's Rome?" He asked, not familiar with the term.

"Uhhh, never mind. Don't worry about it." Clem told him, not wanting to explain it to him at the moment. She turned around to see how the other girl was doing. "Find anything Vi?" She called from across the room.