*~ One-Shots ~*

The Girl In The Basement

A head of curly blonde hair slowed to a stop in front of the tallest building for miles. The young man's dark grey eyes scanned the front of the beanstalk-like building, before slowly walking up the front steps with his hands tucked into the pockets of the trench coat hanging around his lean shoulders. Stalking through the lobby of the Detective Agency, a smile appeared on his face, thinking of his friends and co-workers that supported his coming out. A rainbow laptop hung around his shoulder as he entered the lift to go up to the second floor. His 3-piece suit and trench coat stood out amongst the plain shirts and ties his co-workers wore as he left the lift, heading towards his desk. His desk was littered with papers and files of old cases and random drawings his friends had given him. There was a woman sat by his desk, she was fiddling with a ring on her finger.

"Miss? How can I help you? Is something wrong?" Nico's soft voice was filled with questioning and worry. The woman's head snapped up towards him.

"Hi. Yes, please help. My name is Sophia Anderson and me and my husband just bought a house. We broke down the door to the basement in our new house, it had been locked and the real estate agent there wasn't one... There was a dead body with a wood chisel in their chest. I came here as soon as I could, they said you were the best detective for a murder." The woman, Sophia, was rambling at this point.

"Ok listen to me, You'll be fine and will be allowed to move in properly in a few weeks. Now, can you please go tell George, the tall one in the suit over there, the address and he'll send a Forensics team and some FBI agents over there." Nico softly addressed Sophia.

And with that the woman left and Nico was left with a new case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While speaking to the forensic scientist, Nico received the scariest news an older brother could hear. The body had been identified as Kailani 'Kai' Harding, Nico's younger sister. Kai had always been by his side and he had always been by hers. A ringing noise echoed throughout his head as his phone fell from his hands and clattered to the ground. The scientist's voice seemed to fade away, becoming a background noise as the ringing grew louder. Nico couldn't process it, How could someone hurt Kai? His little sister who brought nothing but joy to him?. Falling to his knees, Nico's breathing quickened as a million thoughts raced through his head. He couldn't breath. He couldn't see. He couldn't think. He lost his baby sister, his Kai, the one he raised because his parents couldn't . He didn't know what to do now, he couldn't function. He felt like his world had come down, like he'd lost everything.

Trying to slow his breathing seemed impossible right now. He tried breathing deeply but that wasn't helping, in fact it made it worse. He tried thinking of his anchor, the person that kept him calm and was always there for him, but that Kai and thinking of her made him feel worse. By now the ringing had stopped, but that just meant that all the other noise around him became a million times louder than normal. He could hear everything, the cars racing past, the people pushing their way down the street, the birds sitting on the windowsill, the people moving around the office in front of him. He heard it all.

Suddenly he was aware of the people in front of him, trying to help but they were just making it worse. No one seemed to be able to calm him. The yelling and the shaking didn't help, the world seemed to spin. The noise all stopped abruptly as everyone was pushed away. Someone was now crouching in front of him, telling him quietly to count to ten with him.

"1"

"1"

"2"

"2"

"3"

"3"

"4"

"4"