Connections

Terrance woke from his troubled sleep thinking about Riku's sudden appearance in the dark web. He did not recall that name in Melanie's list of KH friends in the Discord Chat. He scrubbed his face then got up from his chair. Sitting in front of his computer once more, he scrolled through Melanie's friends identifying—yet again—each and every KH name he could find. Riku was not among them. He folded his arms and bowed his head. If Riku wasn't one of Melanie's friends, who was he? And why had he accepted Riku's intervention and ignored the list of websites that had come up as a result of his search?

Riku's message seemed to have the same consistent wording of the other KH friends. 'Close this door.' And then there was reference to 'His Majesty' a.k.a. Mickey. So did that mean that Riku was one of Melanie's friends and she just hadn't gotten the chance to add him? Or was he strictly Mickey's friend? He scratched his whisker-roughened cheek. He hated pulling her other friends into this, but until Mickey responded, he needed to be able to get answers somewhere. And nowhere was safer right now then here on the chat.

So, Terrance accessed the KH Channel and asked, 'Has anyone heard from Mickey in the last few days?'

The responses he got throughout the day were far from encouraging. No one had heard from Mickey. He scrolled through the responses several times to make sure everyone had responded. He didn't see a response from Yen Sid.

'@Yen Sid?' he checked, since his status always remained idle.

'Sorry for the delayed response, Sora,' he replied. 'Talked with Mickey two days ago. Going to Seekonk.'

So Mickey had gone as he asked. But had he made it? Or had something else happened? Terrance sighed in frustration. 'Thank you, Yen Sid. Do any of you know which of Kairi's friends she nicknamed Riku?'

A few nopes. Severals nos and then Aqua responded.

'No one was worthy of that name!'

'And you know this… how?' Sora asked.

'We were roommates. I knew every man that came to visit Kairi and not once did she refer to any of them as Riku. Not even your own best friend matched her vision for Riku, Sora.'

A couple other friends voiced agreement at that.

'Thank you, Everyone.'

Terrance forcefully closed the laptop then tromped down the stairs. He jammed his feet into his shoes. He left the house, letting the front door close itself with a resounding slam. He locked the door then got into his car and drove into Boston proper.

He parked near the Prudential Building. He took the elevator to the Skyline Observatory. Once he stepped out, he crossed the room to the side that looked out toward Longfellow Bridge. He folded his arms and watched the cars pass over the bridge for several minutes.

"Connections," Terrance muttered. "Connections." He brought his right hand up to his mouth as he continued to observe the bridge. He pointed to one end of the bridge then the other as he contemplated the connections between Mickey, Seekonk, The Heartless, Riku, Yen Sid, someone else in the KH group being involved, and his wife, Melanie—Kairi.

'I didn't peg you to be an idiot, Ventus,' he heard Melanie say in his head as he went through the possible connections again.

A tear dropped onto his cheek and memories of Melanie pushed the puzzle from the forefront of his mind. She had proposed to him here.

"You know," he said softly, repeating her words, "if you take both ends of the bridge and put them together they make a ring."

He had laughed then, but he couldn't laugh now. Not with her dead and Mickey MIA.

Terrance wiped the tears from his eyes and cheek. He watched the bridge for another moment. Exhaling with some resignation, he turned and left for home.

He warmed a frozen dinner then returned to the den. He ate. He opened the laptop. While it woke, Terrance debated what his next move needed to be. He left the den long enough to throw the tray away and wash the fork.. Then he wearily climbed the stairs once more. He realized that even if he was to look for news of unpleasant happenings between Mattapan and Seekonk, he wouldn't know which of the victims was Mickey. Or if any of them had been Mickey. Terrance sat in front of the computer. He rested his elbows on the desk and his forehead against his loosely fisted hands.

Yen Sid knew Mickey was going to Seekonk. And despite knowing his relationship to Mickey in KH, would he be Heartless enough to harm Mickey? Or was it Riku and his message had been meant to throw him off the trail? Terrance brought his hands down. He opened TOR just before his computer let him know he had a message on Discord. Slowly he moved his mouse to pull the chat box to the front of the screen.

'Thank you for trusting Riku, Sora,' Mickey had written.

'Where the hell have you been?!' he responded.

Mickey sent a photo of a silver Mercedes Mystic with gold trim that had been t-boned then torn apart by the jaws of life.

"Shit," he cursed aloud then wrote. 'Are you okay? Where are you?'

'Well enough, but I won't be driving anywhere anytime soon. I get to enjoy the beautiful vistas of a hospital for a while.'

'How long is a while?'

'That I don't know yet, but longer than a few days.'

'I thought you said you were okay.'

'I am alive, and mostly functional, therefore I am okay.'

Terrance covered his mouth as he looked at what remained of Mickey's car. '...Where did the crash occur?' he asked as Sora.

'Somewhere along Route 25 near Wareham.'

'So, you never made it to Seekonk.'

'Correct.'

'What were you doing on 25? It's faster to go 93 or 95.'

'Had a personal errand to run before looking into your inquiry about The Heartless.'

'Do you believe what happened to you was an accident?'

'No, I don't. Which is why I am grateful you heeded Riku's warning.'

'About that. Who is Riku? He is not listed among Kairi's acquaintances.'

Mickey didn't respond for some time.

'Mickey? …Mickey, are you still there?'

'Yes, Sora. Just needed to shift into a more comfortable position. And Riku is trustworthy.'

'That still doesn't tell me who he is.'

'Because you don't need to know more than that for your current investigation.'

'How much of my investigation does he know about?' Sora asked, not liking the fact that Mickey was putting him off.

'Only what is necessary to keep you from trying to swim with the piranhas.'

'I don't think Kairi would approve.'

'Kairi approved years ago.'

'Then why isn't Riku part of the KH chat? And how come none of the others know she had a Riku?!'

'It's how Kairi wanted it.'

'…I don't understand.'

'At this juncture of your investigation, you don't need to,' Mickey replied. 'Just know that you can trust Riku to keep you out of trouble.'

'Alright. Do you have any suggestions for Donald and I about moving forward?'

'Focus on your other cases. We'll talk when I am no longer in the hospital.'

'But…,' Sora started to type.

'No rebuttals, Sora,' Mickey's reply popped up. 'Kairi would expect the same.'

He erased the but then replied. 'You're right. Wishing you a speedy recovery.'

'Thank you. Successful closures for your other cases.' Then Mickey's status changed to offline.

Terrance sat in front of the computer for several minutes before leaving the room to clean up and try to get some decent sleep.