Pointing the Blame (Detective a6d AU)

Familiar Corpses

Zak stared blankly at his monitor. He was a mess inside and out, and he had dark bags underneath his eyes. These days, he didn't feel like sleeping. His friend, Darryl, or more known as "BadBoyHalo" had had no activity for the past 3 weeks. On top of that, everyone Zak has asked had not heard from Darryl in that period of time.

"Hey Skep, you still there? You've been kind of quiet," Vincent said into his mic.

The sudden noise made Zak slightly jump with surprise as he was pulled from his dark thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah..sorry about that.." Zak replied blankly.

He found it difficult to find a reason to be happy. Not only has his best friend disappeared, but so many awful things have been happening to him recently. Horrible things like his sister falling sick and the divorce of his parents. Vincent always tried to comfort Zak as best as he could whenever he had the opportunity, but he was never good with topics like these. He was always busy with his detective training. He had picked up the career, and become part of the team.

"Hey, I know you're hurting, but things will get better..! I promise," Vincent said with forced cheerfulness.

The truth was, he didn't think things would get better for anybody, but Vincent knew he couldn't just say that.

Zak laughed sadly. "It's funny how you keep saying that," he murmured while pulling his sleeves over his hands.

Vincent thought desperately for a way he could try to cheer up his friend, when it clicked. I'm so stupid! Why haven't I thought of this before? He scolded himself in his head.

"Hey... do you think I'll be able to come over today?" Vincent asked, hoping with every bone on his body that Zak would say yes.

Zak cocked his head. "What? Why?"

"Well I thought since I'm not doing anything today, and we haven't seen each other in real life in a while then maybe.."

Zak looked around at his messy room. He had stopped caring about tidiness a long time ago.

"Uh..sure but my house is nothing...pretty."

"That's fine! I was thinking we could go some place else," Vincent said, well knowingly that his broken friend hadn't been outside in public ever since the downfall of his life.

"I don't really feel like going anywhere though," Zak replied in the same monotone voice he had held since the beginning of their conversation.

"Come on! It'll be fun! You can get your mind off your struggles for today. Plus, we haven't seen each other since..well..ever..!" Vincent chirped, trying to sound as positive as he could.

Zak let out a sigh. "Ok sure I guess..."

"Nice, I'll pick you up in 15."

"Sounds like a plan."

Zak opened his eyes, and realized the car had stopped.

"Oh you woke up just in time. I didn't want to have to wake you anyway."

Zak rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Are we here?" he asked sleepily.

"Yup! Your favorite amusement park too. This is gonna be so much fun!" Vincent said as he helped Zak out of the car.

Zak grabbed his backpack out of the trunk and swung it around his shoulders. The shorter boy squinted and looked about his surroundings.

"God, I forgot how bright it is outside," he said half jokingly.