Darien sat up with a start. He blinked for a few seconds before his mind registered his surroundings. He was in his usual spot in the lab. He glanced around and saw that no one was there. Getting up, he reached for his jacket and-slipped right through it. He reached back in surprise. He turned and went back to the chair. He put his hand on it and it went through again, as if it was just air. He could see his hand through the other side of the chair. Darien shook his head.
"I must be dreaming." He muttered, and went to the door. He cocked his head and stepped through it.
"It's been hard on us all." Hobbes said softly. He was sitting in the Fish & Game office, The Keeper sitting in one of the other leather chairs.
Darien walked in. "Oh damn." He said. He bent down until he was face to face with the Keeper. "Oh damn." He repeated. Her eyes were red, contrasting with her usually fair skin.
"Hobbes?" He asked, waving a hand over his friend's face. The man did nothing.
"What the hell is going on?" Darien said.
"The point now is to move on." The Official said. "We will begin research again and we will move on."
"Sure. Sure we will." Hobbes said.
Darien walked to him. "Hello? What's going on? You can't see me. Great."
"I can't believe he's dead." The Keeper said. She sniffled. "And I was beginning to like him."
"Him? Who's him?" Darien shouted, confident that no one could hear or see him.
"I will file the necessary reports." Eberts said. He picked up a manila file and started to walk across the room to file it. Darien walked beside him and glanced at the file. What he saw made his blood run cold.
"Darien Fawkes: Deceased."
Part 1
"Where is he?" Hobbes asked. The Keeper looked up from her microscope and shrugged.
"I have no idea where he is. Have you tried his apartment?" She asked, her voice muffled by the microscope.
Hobbes nodded. "I've tried everything. Where the hell is he?"
The Official sighed. "Well, we don't know where he is and he needs an injection in 2 days." Hobbes stood up and started toward the door of the office. The he stopped.
"We'll find him. I'm sure he just needed to get away for a few hours. He'll show." Hobbes hoped that he sounded more assuring than he really was. The truth is, as much as Fawkes was his friend, he also knew the danger in a guy like him. He knew that he had the capability to bolt at any second. And he knew about the fear that existed in his own heart that one day, Darien Fawkes would not give a damn about the counteragent.
"Stop pacing. You're wearing out a track." The Keeper said.
Hobbes stopped. "It's cement."
"Still. Stop pacing. You're making me nervous." She said, returning to her specimen and leaving Hobbes to pace on the cement that was her lab.
Darien paced. He ran a hand through his thick hair and shook his head. "What the hell is going on?" He said. He found that while he could sit in chairs and such, he could not hold anything. Anything he touched seemed to be nonexistent. His hand would just pass right through. Darien stopped.
"Nah, it can't be." He started pacing again. Then he stopped. "Am I really a ghost?"
He shook his head and sat down on his bed. "I'm dead." He said, as if registering it for the first time. "I died? Geez, I thought people were supposed to be there for their own deaths. I learned about mine reading off an upside down file."
Darien closed his eyes. He suddenly felt very weary and very tired. He buried himself under the covers and fell into a deep sleep.
"He's not here." Hobbes said. "Where could he be?"
"He'll turn up. He probably just needed a few hours of sleep." The Keeper watched her rat for a second before making a note on a notepad.
"Yeah, that's it. He just needed some shut-eye." Bobby Hobbes stopped. "Hey, what happened to Hobbes?"
The Keeper looked up. Her face was blank. "What?"
"Hobbes. The rat." He gestured at an empty cage.
"Oh. Well, um. Sorry, he had a bit of an accident." She frowned and offered an apology.
"It's all right. Poor rodent." Hobbes silently left the lab.
"At this point, I'm sending you to look for him." The Official said.
"Don't have to ask me twice." Hobbes said hurriedly, already making his way to the door. "When I find that son of a-"
"Wait, Hobbes."
He spun around.
"Eberts here is going with you." The Official sat down and sipped his coffee.
"He is?" Hobbes said.
"I am?" Eberts asked.
"Yes, he is." The Official said. Eberts had a worried look on his face as they exited the room.
Hobbes and Eberts walked up the flight of stairs to Fawkes' apartment. Eberts couldn't help but be nervous and Hobbes was struggling with his inner self not to take his frustration out on an unsuspecting Ebert.
"Hey Fawkes?" Hobbes knocked on the door. "You there?"
Hobbes shook his head and turned the doorknob. He frowned as the door opened a crack. He glanced at Eberts, who was tapping his foot. Hobbes nodded to Eberts and he shook his head, insisting that Hobbes go into the apartment.
"Hey Fawkes, where have you been? Not answering the phone, I see." Hobbes said when he saw Darien lying in bed. "Are you feeling all right?"
Darien blinked. His vision was blurry. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear the fog. "Hobbes?" He said.
"Hey, you weren't answering your phone." Hobbes said. He turned to pick it up.
Darien got out of bed. "I must've been dreaming." He said. He went to tap Hobbes on the shoulder and his hand passed through him. His eyes went wide.
"Hobbes?' He asked. The man didn't turn. Darien waved his arms in front of Hobbes.
"Fawkes, I don't know what this phone did to deserve your abuse, but-" Bobby Hobbes turned and stopped his sentence. "Fawkes? Hey, come on. Where are you?" He put the phone back on the table and looked around. "Stop joking around."
"What is going on?" Darien said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hobbes standing at the foot of the bed. He was bent over, looking at the rat Darien had rescued from The Keeper.
"I don't suppose you know where Fawkes is?" Hobbes said. The rat just squeaked and continued to nibble on its food pellet. "Of course not. You're a rodent."
Hobbes looked up and walked out the door. He turned to Eberts. "Did you see Fawkes?"
Eberts shook his head. "I didn't look."
Hobbes took one last look inside and closed the door. "Let's go."
Darien stood by the window, watching Hobbes and Ebert exit the building. He watched them get into the van and leave. "Hang on, Hobbes. I'm gonna find out what happened."
He closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. He cast a grim look at the rat before walking across the room. He reached for the doorknob. Then Darien stopped and sighed. He paused and then stepped straight through the door. "Guess I'll have to get used to doing this." He said.