"You should get off baby, you sound exhausted."
"Mmm... I should. I have tai chi tomorrow."

Violet smiled as she closed the Stardew server. She leaned back and stretched, sighing in relief as she popped a few bones before she looked at her phone. "I love you! I'll shoot you a message on Line in the morning," she said.

"You should get some sleep too! Don't you have that photo shoot tomorrow, for that scholarship?" Violet hummed because she knew she was right.

"Yeah, but it isn't until eleven... I can stay up a little longer." Her response was a yawn and she smiled. "Have sweet dreams, Flower. I love you."

"You too, Violet! I love you!"

Violet didn't know, but as she hung up, those were going to be the last words she heard from Briar in awhile. She stretched again until her toes curled. She should sleep. It's nearly one now, and Briar is right; that photoshoot is going to take a lot out of her. She wondered if it was even worth it. There was no way she'd win that scholarship because her essay was so mediocre; as was her resume. But, the photoshoot was free and it came just from being nominated. She should just enjoy it. But she can't sleep right now, even if she laid down to try it wouldn't get her anywhere.

She grabbed her phone and went to her and Scarlet's chat in Line, then paused. Her friend had a lot going on too, and she was definitely asleep by now. She couldn't dump her stuff on her. She sighed and set the phone down, then looked at her desktop. Her background was that of flowering fields and bright yellow sun. She wished she could be there. She glanced towards the corner, where her game icons are. Her eyes settled on each one, but she's just finished playing Stardew for hours and she isn't in the mood for Sims.

Then her eyes fall on Minecraft, and she pauses.

It's been a really long time, she realized, since she's played Minecraft. Her and Briar hadn't touched it in a long time, and the other two were too busy for her to consider asking them. She didn't miss it, per se, because she never really left it. But she was nostalgic from her childhood heroes coming back, like Sky, Pewdiepie, and more returning to the old game, and she's not nearly as tired as she should be, so she found herself double clicking on the icon and opening the launcher.

She blinked. It's different from what she'd seen on the recent videos. She stared at it, then shrugged and grabbed her phone. She turned herself around the camera around, so it could see her and the computer screen. She smiled and held up a peace sign, snapped a picture, then added a caption that said 'Back at it again! 💜' She sent into the group chat and decided that yes, everyone was definitely asleep since no one had read it yet. She put her phone on the charger across the room, returned to her computer, then sat down and began launching the actual game.

It's about thirty minutes in. She's got the foundations of a house and was lucky enough to tame a dog. She had just put a shitty, definitely temporary roof on the house when she started yawning. She pushed on, determined to organize her chest first. It was a real mess, but that was no surprise when it belonged to her. Her eyes were stinging by the time she was done, and once she closed the chest she paused the game. She rubbed her eyes, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Something..." She muttered to herself, even though she was the only one in her room. She lifted her head, and if she had a mirror she'd be startled by her reflection. Her face was pale and her eyes were bloodshot. "Something's..." She pulled her glasses off. "Wrong..."  Violet slurred out and her eyes rolled back. Her dog barked on her game. Her head fell and collided against the desk. Her body slumped forward, limp, barely staying in her chair as her glasses slipped from her hands and shattered once they hit the floor.

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

Briar watched, trembling and being held tightly by her mother, as the broadcast interrupted their show like it did every day.

"Hundreds are still missing," the newscaster claimed as she set her papers down. She looked exhausted and depressed. She didn't fucking blame her. "Please, if you see any of these people, or have any idea about where they could be, contact your local police department."

For the next ten minutes, pictures of people of various ages and races flashed across the screen. Men, women, children, teenagers; they appeared with their names and where they had been seen last.

She knew that picture was coming. It had been flashing across the screen since these broadcasts started happening. It was always after some guy named Sam Iris. But she was never ready for it. She couldn't handle seeing her girlfriend's picture flash across the screen, grinning and holding her hand up in a peace sign, bright green eyes dancing with the caption 'Back at it again! 💜' underneath her. She screamed out her sob tonight and buried herself into her mom's chest as the picture glowed at them.

'Last seen in November 2017, in Indiana.'

Two years. Two long years.

It had been two years since she, Scarlet, and Sadie had seen their dearest friend.