The Labyrinth on Bourbon Street 2

The Search Begins

MISSING PERSON
Baton Rouge Police Department

NAME: Lapis Lazarus Williams-Hernandez
AGE: 19 yr 1 mo 
ETHNICITY: Latina
DOB: 9/28/1998
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown (often dyed red), shoulder blade length
BUILD: Small/Curvy
SEX: Female

MARKINGS: Blue/green cancer ribbons on left shoulder, Argentina flag on right wrist, Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt on left shoulder blade, Winter Soldier (Red Star/Metallic grey Pattern) on right shoulder

CIRCUMSTANCES: Lapis went missing from Tulane University, New Orleans, LA. She was seen wearing a Tulane University Marching Band snap-back, light-wash jeans, a black Iron Man tank top, and black marching shoes. She was last seen by her fellow students in the Tulane University drum line. She has not been seen or heard from since her disappearance on December the twenty-seventh of two thousand seventeen.

Allie's dark eyes reflected the bold letters on the Missing Person ad. All of her best friend's information circled her graduation photo. Her gleeful smile mocked Allie with all of its utter carefree delight. She couldn't be smiling now, Allie thought. She knew that Lapis would never disappear completely off the face of the earth unless she was dragged away. A guttural feeling inside her brought on a horrible thought -- it was very possible that someone could have dragged her off the face of the earth. 

Ever since she got her voice back from He-Who-Shan't-Be-Acknowledged (the playful nickname the two of them coined to mildly spare themselves from judgement) and was given a But as a peace offering, she thought that the fiasco was just water under the bridge. It was only ever brought up again on the streetcar to graduation, where they reminisced on everything they could before they had to separate across the country for school. They didn't even mention it after the ceremony, and money from congratulatory cards turned into matching Captain America and Winter Soldier tattoos. But she was back now. She had just gotten off of a road trip from New York and was ready to meet her friend again.  

It was going to be one of those weeks; she was home for the winter holidays, and she was going to pick up Lapis from Tulane on the way back to New Orleans from Baton Rouge. She was planning to have one of those lock-your-doors-and-hide-your-daughters kind of weeks, complete with five dollar wine from the Winn Dixie. But as soon as she saw the tattered paper marking her best friend as missing, bottles of generic brand wine shattered on the ground. 

Allie yanked down on the ad and shoved it into her purse. She tore through the parking lot, to her midnight-black Ducati. It was almost impossible to see in the black of midnight, but instinct led her. 

She took to the expressway for just a little bit longer, and drove as fast as her motorcycle could go, and with the determination of a bullet.

She arrived at Lapis' house, taking the key from the chili planter on the porch and breaking the old, creaky door from its paint job once again. This was no time for nostalgia, so she swallowed any feelings that came to her. 

"LAPIS!!" She called out. She remembered that her best friend's promise to not be a hermit was at least somewhat hollow, and her house would be the first place to look for clues. 

She dashed up the stairs and towards the master bedroom, where she knew any evidence of Jareth would be present. She saw, on the wooden ground, the little red leather book that her friend read like the bible. Allie dropped to her knees to pick it up. She turned to one of the many dog-eared pages. 

"A journey soon begins. A young lady, mistreated and neglected, catches the attention of the illustrious Goblin King..." She read out loud. She flipped through the pages in desperate attempt to find anything. 

This shit reads like an operation manual. Allie thought to herself, thumbing through the photograph-esque pictures and the definitions that explained them.

Anything came in the form of the curtains. They rippled in the breeze -- but there was no breeze on this still December night in Louisiana. Allie tucked the book into her inside pocket and walked over to the curtains, her chucks thumping on the wooden ground. She grabbed the curtains and yanked them out of the way of the window.

All she saw was an empty balcony with a small whirlwind of fine golden glitter blowing in the soft breeze. Of course, New Orleans was one of the few places on earth where it was ordinary to see glitter everywhere. But judging by the drab quality of the house, Lapis hadn't celebrated anything in months. Someone who didn't belong had certainly left his calling card. Allie frantically searched the rest of the house, looking for clues. 

"Meow Zedong?!" She yelled out, knowing that Lapis's loyal pet Iff always came when she was called. She heard no pitter-pattering of little feet down the creaky stairs. She searched the closet, hoping to possibly piece together anything that was missing. No such luck. She checked the refrigerator and the pantries; a nearly-empty pot of cheesy mac and some rotting peaches told her all she needed to know. 

She searched the house for anything she could need. She yanked open the closet door to get a flashlight; the same one they used when they went trick-or-treating as kids. She tried her hardest to smother her nostalgia as she tossed it into her bag. She collected a battery pack, a few old photos of the two of them and wrenched her brain to think of anywhere Lapis could have gone in her time as a college student.

But there was one place in New Orleans that Allie knew she needed to go. If Lapis was confined to her quarters with nothing but her schoolwork and her overactive imagination, there was one place that Allie knew she would have to go. She would have to go to her job. She would have to visit an old friend of hers. He and Lapis were close -- to say the very least. She was sure that he would know where she went.