Waiting For Mickey

Officer Terrance Rigby lightly bit his knuckles. 'Mickey' hadn't checked in yet. He was always prompt. Terrance sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. Why was he late? Did something happen? Or was the meeting taking longer than planned? If so, he felt Mickey was the kind of man that would let him know, so he wouldn't worry. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Several hours passed, leaving Terrance more and more agitated. Did he wait? Did he not? If something had happened to Mickey, he was on his own. A prospect he wasn't 100% confident about when it came to navigating the dark web, but he needed answers. Scrubbing the fatigue from his eyes, Terrance debated for only a moment more before lowering his fingers to the keyboard.

"About the Heartless in Seekonk," he inquired as Sora.

A chat box popped up in the corner of his screen. "Close this door, Sora," Riku said. "Trust His Majesty."

"Where is the king?" he asked Riku.

Riku didn't reply.

Terrance growled in frustration as he switched to his wife's Discord Chat to try and reach Mickey.

"Trouble?" his partner, Officer Braig Pratchett, asked, setting a black tea next to Terrance.

"I hope not," Terrance replied. "Have you had any communications from Mickey?"

"None. Why?"

"He hasn't reported his findings yet."

"Maybe he's still gathering intel," Braig shrugged, before taking a sip of his coffee.

Terrance glared at Mickey's offline status. "He'd better be."

He and Braig talked for another hour about other cases they were working before Terrance decided he'd best go home to try to sleep.

Terrance shuffled into his house, listening to his front door close with a resounding thud, before he crossed the front room.

"I'm home, Melanie," he said. He touched two fingers to his lips then lightly touched them to the glass protecting a photo of her. "I don't know if you have another way of reaching the man you call Mickey, but if you do please tell him to contact me. I love you. Pleasant dreams."

Turning away he locked the front door then climbed the 11 steps up to his den. He inserted the charging plug into his laptop. He opened Melanie's Discord Chat one more time in hopes that Mickey had responded. He was still offline. Shaking his head, Terrance turned to his recliner and sank into the worn chair. He turned the TV on low and leaned back. He closed his eyes. His mind tuning out the sound of the television as he drifted into a troubled sleep.