Zootopia: Secrets And Deception

Chapter 2. The Void

It was August when they put Nick into the ground, all the other officers paid their respects to a fallen comrade and friend. Judy was given his medal for bravery and sacrifice for another's life, it made her feel sick inside and almost cried when she looked at the casket that held Nick. She could almost hear him say, "don't be sad, carrots. When I saw him pull that gun, there wasn't a doubt or a second thought in my head. I knew what I had to do, and I loved you too much that if it was you here in this casket and going to put into the ground, I would not have recovered." Just the thought of him brought tears that she attempted to choke back, but it was no use. Once she felt the tears coming, she couldn't stop them.
"Ready!" the drill Sargent yelled. "Aim! Fire!" it was almost instant as the twenty-one salute began firing. Bringing back the events of Nick's death, and made her jump at the sound of the rifles barking as one. "Aim! Fire!" Tears began falling from her face as Judy stood there. "Aim! Fire!"

After they had all left his grave, she stayed there, just standing right in front of Nick's gravestone what felt like a lifetime without him by her side, knowing that it would be a lifetime without him. It had started getting dark before she looked at her watch and saw that it was half past nine pm, and headed home. The walk from the cemetery was cold and hard, the street lights were dim and the wind was dry.
When she got to her apartment, she almost couldn't open the door, but took the keys out of her pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. Once it unlocked, the door creaked open, but she just stood there, looking into the darkened room. Judy then took a deep breath and walked in, closed the door, turned on the lights, and took a shower attempting to wash away the pain, but it only grew worse each minute she was away from him, each time she tried to fight it, and she couldn't sleep that night or any night for the next couple of weeks. The department gave her some time off, but it didn't help, even though she could feel him throughout every single day, she wanted him here, she wished he was here with her. Without him she was lost. Without him, she felt dead on the inside, she felt part of herself was missing like a puzzle missing the final piece.

That morning, Judy felt like a walk and some fresh air would do some good. She put on a pair of jeans and a plaid long-sleeved button up top, she rolled the sleeves up half way before leaving. She walked around for only a few minutes, but it felt like hours, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone just to see the screen saver. Seeing herself and Nick smiling, she remembered when they took that picture, it felt like yesterday. Judy almost died inside knowing without him she was incomplete.....without him she was.....lost. Judy couldn't bear it anymore and ran back to her apartment. Once she had closed the door, she slumped up against the door, hugged her knees, and broke down into tears.
Hours had passed before she moved from that spot, and decided to get up and look at Nick's suit he was wearing the night of his.....she couldn't find the words to finish that sentence, nor did she want to. She looked at his badge and almost cried again, because she remembered how she pinned that very badge on him when he had joined the officers at the ZPD, and became her partner. Before moving her hand away, she felt something in one of his pockets. Reaching in, she found a picture of her and Nick, the same picture that was on her phones' screensaver, it hurt worse to find that in the bottom right corner of the picture was stained with his blood on it.....his blood.....then she remembered when she was in the morgue, her hands were stained with his blood as she looked at Nick, lifeless and pale. Remembering how she felt wanting to never wash it off her hands. All her suppressed emotions and attempting's to block those painful memories from that night made her collapse on the floor, she was in tears and cried out, "Nick! I'm so sorry, Nick! I'm so sorry.....*sob....." she was alone, afraid, and in pain from all this. Suddenly, she heard a voice, a very familiar voice and listened intensely. "Carrots....." it was a little faint, but there wasn't any doubt, it was Nick's voice! "Carrots.....carrots....." it was growing louder and louder with each passing moment, "carrots!.....carrots!.....wake up, carrots!" she suddenly opened her eyes and saw him above her with a concerned look on his face. "Carrots, are you okay?" he asked gently. Upon seeing him, tears began to form, she jumped up and hugged him tight.
She then whispered in his ear, "I thought I wouldn't ever see you again.....*sniff.....because I thought I had lost you forever." He had a surprised expression on his face.
"You will never lose me, carrots. You were calling out in your sleep, what were you dreaming about?" but she didn't have the words to tell him of the nightmare she had. The only words she could mutter was.
"It was just a dream, it's not important anymore now that you are here. Protecting me at all times throughout the day." She knew that he would never leave her, he loved her too much to walk away. But what she didn't know was that in his pocket, was a small box and one very important thing on his mind.....a question.