Staring at his phone was not helping, but after waking to his alarm, he didn’t seem to have the will to do much else. He sat on his bed, his feet on the floor, cradling his phone as he watched the minutes tick by. It was already too late to make it to school on time. JD sighed for the hundredth time over his lack of energy. He stared at his hands, his dark skin was dry and ashy from his lack of care. He tried to remember when he showered last. He tried to remember if he had eaten recently. He turned his phone over in his hands while his mind wandered again.

The buzzing from a burner phone pushed out JD’s thoughts. He scrambled for it before remembering it would be pushed through to his own phone. After taking a single deep breath he answered the call that was coming through on the Westbrooke number. “Hello?”

“I know it’s you, Vigilante, looking for your little sidekick.”

It was him, it was the police officer. “It doesn’t matter if you know it’s me, what matters is if you can help me find him.”

“I could be tracing this call right now, I could be at your door, what makes you think I will help?”

“Maybe you won’t. Maybe you can’t. Maybe you are at my door, but that doesn’t mean I’d come quietly, or at all.” JD was trying to hold his voice steady even as his hands were shaking and his heart was racing. “But I don’t think you’re tracing this call. I think you hide whatever power you have from the people you work with the same as I hide mine. If you can help me, if you do help me find my best friend, I am willing to negotiate.”

The older man scoffed, “Do you even have something to negotiate with?”

“I do.” JD clenched his fist until he could feel his nails biting into his palm. “We should meet, somewhere public, after 4.”

“Around the Clock Diner, at 4 then?”

“Yes.”

“How will I know it’s you?”

“I’ll find you.” JD answered simply and hung up the phone.

His shaking took over his body as he slid from his bed onto the floor. He grabbed a discarded pillow and cried out with his mixed feelings. Hope that he might find Marc. Fear that he’s facing a police officer and he’s a very much wanted criminal. Fear that he’ll be putting his niece in danger when he takes her along. Anger at himself for not being strong enough to do this on his own. He took a few breaths to calm himself, but the tears didn’t stop. They pulled him into a restless sleep on the floor.

JD woke around 2 and picked himself up off the floor. He moved mechanically through the motions of taking a shower and getting dressed. He remembered to lotion only because if Marc had been there, he’d have been assaulted by the lotion. He tried to smile at the memories, but instead he ended up fighting back tears. He sighed at himself again as he tied his converse sneakers. He trudged down the stairs and gathered his wallet and keys from the table by the door. All he had to do now was wait for Tasha to get home. He told his mom he was gonna take TT out for ice cream after school. She smiled at him, the hope she had that he was crawling out of his depression was clear on her face. JD went back to staring at his phone while he waited, absentmindedly scrolling through his social media.

TT flew in the door shortly after 3PM. In her usual rambunctious way shedding her book bag, coat, gloves, hat, and boots, in a straight line to the kitchen, much too fast for JD to catch her before she was asking her grandmother for chocolate milk. She was redirected back to the living room, Gramma helping her put all the discarded articles back on aside from the book bag.

JD smiled at TT and held up his car keys, “Ice cream?”

“Yes! Please!” and she was back out the door, JD trailing behind her.

JD hit the button on his keys to unlock it for TT before he was even close to it. She climbed into the back and buckled herself into her booster seat. She hated it, but Tanya insisted, the law was to use a booster until 8 years old. Jd slid into the driver’s seat and buckled up himself. Before starting the car he looked back at her. “You ready for this? We’re meeting someone who remembers Marc.”

“I know,” Tasha gave the best all-knowing look any 7 year old child could.

“We’re not going to park at the meetup though. I don’t want him to see the car. I don’t want him to know our names either, so don’t call my JD, and I won’t call you TT.” She nodded understanding. JD looked at her a little longer, she wasn’t scared. He wondered why he couldn’t have the same confidence as a second grader. After one last deep breath, JD started the car and they drove off towards the diner that sat on the outskirts between Northside and Westbrooke.

They parked about a mile away at a little used park hidden behind a copse of trees. TT grabbed a pencil and a notebook from the back of JD’s car. He smiled at her thinking she was just preparing herself to draw while the adults talked. She really was a very mature child, good at keeping herself occupied, and other than at home, she kept herself in line. He scooped her up and held on tight as he half flew half hopped to cover the mile easily. The last few hundred feet they walked hand in hand to the diner.

“They have the best sundae’s here!” Tasha piped up and started pulling on JD’s hand. He looked around and found that even though they were early, the person they were meeting was already here. When they got in and the hostess approached them, he pointed to the man sitting alone at the very back and told her they were meeting with him. She handed them a menu and led them to the booth.

Tasha slid into the seat first, so JD took the outside seat. JD knew this diner like the back of his hand, having worked as a dishwasher and busser for two summers. He knew there was an exit by the bathrooms, which were situated just to his left, and a kitchen exit, the doors of which were to the right. It was also quiet at this hour, rush would start around five thirty or so. JD felt confident that if he and TT had to run, they’d be good.

JD looked at the man expectantly as TT started to draw in her notebook.

“Y-you’re Vigilante?” the words were quiet, but the shock was apparent.

“Half of him, I can’t do it without Marc.” JD eyed the man carefully, trying to discern why the man seemed shocked.

“I just, I expected you to be white,” the older man paled at hearing himself say it out loud.

TT looked up, “Oh God.”