ANIMALS [Mitch Grassi fanfiction]

17

They needed to be at the police station at ten in the morning. Beau woke up first, and he left to the kitchen to eat something for breakfast while studying the webpages of new companies offering security systems. Mitch joined him roughly an hour later, still dead on his feet. He drank a coffee in silence and only munched on a sandwich – it felt physically impossible to have something nutritious in his stomach. Beau noticed it but instead of telling Mitch to eat more he only put some granola bars into his backpack.
"Will you need something?" he asked to make sure, digging into the bag once again. "I have water, tissues, hand sanitizer... Money... Oh yeah, don't forget your ID card and other stuffs."
Mitch only nodded, too tired and fuzzy to form a sentence. He didn't start a day without his meds anymore but the pills only added to the fog in his brain and it was frustrating.

The car ride was more than uncomfortable. Mitch never really liked to drive anyway so it was Beau behind the wheel. This time they weren't chatting about random nonsense as usually. Dark clouds were coming closer and closer, warning them for a possible storm, they could feel it in the humid air. Beau didn't take an umbrella.

The police office felt like a mess that day. Workers were running around, seemingly everyone was in a hurry and it also took a painfully long time for them to be noticed by the young lady at the reception desk. Soon they were led into a smaller room and two officers from yesterday came inside with an older man.
"It's a pleasure to meet you two," he greeted them. "I'm sorry to hear what has happened. We need some more details to start the investigation but for that I need to separate you two."
Mitch sent a worried glance towards Beau that he immediately noticed. "Is there a possibility for not doing that? I feel like Mitch has gone through quite a lot and I'd rather not leave him alone while he talks about what has happened."
"We can arrange that but only if you speak first without your friend being around and at the second round you promise not to talk while we ask the questions from Mitch."

Beau accepted that, so at the end Mitch was staying on his own for almost an hour. When the officers finished with Beau and came back for him, he already felt like passing out. He was dizzy from not eating and drinking properly in the morning and extremely nervous. He didn't know what he was allowed to say so he decided to stuck strictly to what exactly happened last night, no details from the past. But obviously the officers didn't leave him to get away with his answers so easily.
"What about the flowers? Your friend has mentioned someone sending you a bouquet earlier. What do you know about that?" The older man, Mr. Clark asked. Beau was sitting right next to him – they didn't leave him to have any physical contact with Mitch.
"Nothing," the tenor answered but also licked his lips immediately. It was a nervous habit of him so he already knew that they caught him lying.
"Nothing you know about or nothing you can talk about?"
The room was so tight. He needed fresh air.
"Nothing I know about."
Mr. Clark clicked his tongue. "See... We can't help you if you're not telling us everything."
Mitch didn't answer. They all knew it. They knew that he was lying.

After a small sigh, Mr. Clark continued. "So do you think the burglar was a male? Or do you know about any females that you had a contact with and-"
"Sorry to interrupt-" Beau raised his hand all of the sudden. "But I think you might missed the information that Mitch is my boyfriend. We're a couple so the incident I told you about was most likely over jealousy without any female."
He only got a small glance from the older officer before he looked back at Mitch. "Right, how could I miss it... So you think it might happened against your lifestyle?"

For a moment Mitch was about to correct him and say that Beau was talking about jealousy but then he noticed the tone of the officer's voice. Great, they got a homophobic jerk.
"Excuse me but if you have something against-"
"I don't remember asking you so you may stop talking!" This time Mr. Clark has interrupted Beau by raising his voice all of the sudden. It startled Mitch, and he looked down, his cheeks red from embarrassment.
"Sir, I don't think-" One of the younger officers from last night tried to help on the situation but he couldn't. Mr. Clark didn't let him finish either.
"We got so many cases from these type of people... They're always looking for trouble, they're mostly the deviant youth and it would make my life so much easier if they would tell the truth!" With this, he looked Mitch dead in the eye.

The interrogation was suspended. The two younger officers suggested a new someone in case they couldn't work together and the boys were grateful for the option. But for that day they were allowed to leave earlier as planned.

By the time they stepped outside, it was already raining. The drops on Mitch's cheeks felt like the tears he was too numb to allow yet.
"Let's order some food after we got home," Beau offered to break the silence. He started the engine and left the parking place. For some reason lots of cars were on the street – that day the whole city looked like an anthill, so buzzy and quick.

They've only left the car when the first lightning arrived, followed by a loud bang. It made Mitch jump, not expecting the sudden noise. He hasn't been afraid of storms but he didn't like them either. The thunders usually made him somehow anxious since he was a little child. He couldn't grasp the exact feeling he felt – it was scary, unpleasant and a bit hopeless at the same time. Like walking alone in the darkness on a cold winter night.

They dropped off their jackets and shoes in the hall, and Beau was already on his phone to order their lunch. The restaurant couldn't promise a delivery time quicker than 100 minutes although they were quite close to Mitch's place. They were drowned in orders as well.

Mitch was secretly expecting a message or a note from his stalker but so far there was nothing. It either could mean that he was scared off by the police- Or something worse that Mitch didn't even want to think of.

Mitch decided to make another coffee and Beau followed him into the kitchen with no words. He was waiting until Mitch poured the drink into a mug and took a seat. Then he took a deep breath. "Why didn't you tell the truth?" he asked though he already knew that he wasn't going to get an answer.

Mitch was keeping a secret. It was as clear as daylight.

"You know, I think we really should tell the others. Or at least Scott. They all care about you, they could help," Beau continued, acting like the question before never happened. There was absolutely no use on turning it into an argument.
"I don't want them to worry," Mitch shrugged.
"They already worry about you."

A thud coming from upstairs.

They both jerked their heads up at the same time. Their glances met. There was no security system working at the moment but they didn't think that someone would attempt a break-in again until-

Steps on the stairs.

Beau grabbed Mitch's wrist and dragged him out of the house, right into the pouring rain. All they could see was a figure in black climbing up on the fence, jumping and sprinting as fast as he could. He was gone in no time.

And it was him. It wasn't a random burglar, it was him, now Mitch saw it with his own eyes. He came into Mitch's house again, without even waiting for another night. Maybe it didn't really matter anymore if Mitch spoke. This guy was dangerous anyway.

He could show the letters. Maybe there was still a chance.

Mitch practically ran upstairs, leaving wet and muddy footsteps behind on the clean floor. He frantically dug into his closet to find the box with all the evidence in it but by the weight he already could tell that something was wrong. And when he took off the lid- All the letters were gone. The box was completely empty except a small piece of paper laying on the bottom with quick handwriting on it.

'911? I'm going to kill you.'