This is set in vague roaring twenties to fit the Call of Cthulhu stuff. I went full pretentious, but I had fun with it. This might be edited later.


It was a rainy day, like usual. The scent of wet cement wafted through the air, clinging to the clothes of passersby. The downpour could still be heard in the diner, in between the soft chatter of the patrons and the bell ring of those seeking refuge from the rain. Rose Lalonde was used to such a day, usually whenever she and John would meetup to discuss cases, like they were went to do now. He told her it was a missing person's case. Typically, they don't do missing persons, but it was a request from his cousin, and it wasn't like he could say no to her. Rose couldn't even say no to Roxy asking to finding the cat she lost during her early years.

The waitress comes around and places two cup of coffee on the table. Wordlessly, she moves two ten dollar bills to the table. She picks up hers, cooling it before taking a sip. She hears the bell ring as the door swings open and it closes. She hears the footsteps make their way over to her, and she doesn't need to look back to know who it is.

"Sorry I'm late." John says, sitting down. The umbrella leans against their booth, and he places his hat next to him. "Couldn't find an umbrella."

"Oh, it's fine." Rose says, "I'm glad you did though, wouldn't want to show up with a wet coat, would you?"

"Obviously." he says. "Especially not now. It's getting colder, and you'll get tuberculosis!"

"That's an old wives' tale. And it's pneumonia." Rose says with a laugh. John takes a sip of his coffee. "Anyway, what about the case?"

"Jane told me about it." he says, reaching into his coat to pull out a file. He opens it, taking out a picture of a young woman, probably in her late teens or early twenties. He hands it to her, and she squints at it. A girl with long, black flowing hair and a round, bubbly face. "You know Jane does a lot charity work, right? Well, this is one of the girls she takes care of."

"Do you know her?" she asks.

"Sort of. She's a few years younger than me, but I remember seeing her back when we were teenagers. Jane always took her in because she would always be wandering around, like she didn't have a home. Her name's Feferi, by the way."

"That's a… unique name." Rose says, "No last name?"

"No. I don't think she ever had one, personally." John says. "I mean, I always thought she was an orphan, but she always showed up with different clothes. I think Jane tried following her home one day, but she lost her trial."

"It seems like you should have reported something." Rose says, "Why didn't she?"

"She was just a kid, and it's not like she was doing anything wrong." John says, tugging at his coat. "Besides, she never did anything weird until she went missing."

"What happened?"

"She just wasn't showing up anymore. Jane asked around but no had seen her."

"Right, but if she asked around, then what leads do we have?" Rose asks.

"I did do some asking around before I got here." John says, taking out a file and sliding it down to her. "Jane didn't know about this, but some people did report seeing someone like her on a bus recently."

Rose opens the file, reading over the report. A girl with remarkable resemblance to Feferi was seen entering a late night bus, looking concerned. There was no one else seen on the bus aside from the driver, a Mr. Vantas.

"I see." Rose says, closing the file with a satisfied smile. "We have our first lead."


Rose tugs at her dark coat, rain still pouring around them. John held up their umbrella, and the two of them waited for the bus, huddled under it.

"I've seen that driver before." Rose says. "He always makes stops here. I think he's the only one who goes out of town."

"Do you go out of town often?" John asks. "I know you go to the library a town over. I don't know why you do, though."

"Oh, research." Rose says. "I only go out once a month. The library a town over, they have a microfilm."

"Those things? They'll kill your eyes." John says with a laugh. "What do you need the microfilm for, anyway?"

"Newspapers." she says, "A lot of things they don't write down in history books. Anything a newspaper has is going to stay. It's where you can find things people likely won't remember in ten years."

"Like what?"

"There was a murder around the bus stop here." Rose says, surprising him, taking some amusement in his reaction. "No witnesses. The bus driver drove up to find the body laying here. Their throat was slashed, but evidence says they died from strangling."

"They probably did that to mess with the investigation." John says, looking away. "Really creepy though. Did anyone get prosecuted?"

"Nope. It's a cold case." Rose says. "I don't think it'll be solved anytime soon. No witnesses and no indication of a clear murderer. The victim didn't even have any loved ones to interview."

John doesn't say anything else, but only as the buss tires screech up. They both look up, seeing the gray, empty bus with no one else inside. No one, but the driver. The door opens and Rose walks forward, ignoring the rain on her coat. She takes her first step inside, John staying behind her. She stops in front. The driver doesn't notice her at first, keeping his eyes on the road. It's not until he takes a quick glance to the side that he notices her, looking at her with a confused and somewhat offended face.

"What the hell are you doing? Go sit down, I'm about to start driving." He says, looking away.

"I will, but first I need to ask you something." Rose begins, reaching into her coat, taking out Feferi's picture. "Have you seen this girl?"

"I've seen a lot of girls walk in and on this bus." He says, not looking at the picture. "I see a lot of people. That doesn't mean I remember them."

"Sir, please." she says, annoyed and presenting Feferi's picture closer to him. "She's a missing person and she was last seen coming onto your bus. If you can tell us where you dropped her off, that would help us."

He sighs, turning to look at the picture. His expression changes to one difficult for Rose to read. It looked like a mix of confusion, shock, and concern. It certainly tells her that he had seen her, and he remembers her, but he looks disturbed to remember it.

"Okay. I have seen her." He admits. "She looked worried, so I thought someone was after her or something else. I left right after she got in, but she came up and asked me to drop her off somewhere."

"Where?" Rose asks.

"Newport." he says. "It's that fishing town down south. It's out of my route, but not too far."

"I've heard of it." Rose says, thinking. She had heard of it, but any stories she heard were mentioned in passing. It always seemed like a stop or a forgettable dot you'd see on the local map. If she was scared, then that would explain hiding somewhere most people pass over. "That's more like a little podunk town, isn't it? If she was scared, then was probably hiding."

"Yeah, but you don't just go down there willingly." Vantas says. He takes his hands off the wheel as if to demonstrate, "So, if you do go down to a little podunk town to hide. There's a million of those down here. But /Newport? They don't like getting new people down there."

Rose frowns, not sure what to make of it. She tells him not to drive off yet, stepping off to talk to John.

"I heard most of it." he says, before she gets the chance to speak, reliving her of the exhausting task of having to rely the same information. "If she did go down there, it couldn't hurt to look around, right?"

"Right." Rose says, looking behind to check and see if the door was still open. "But the way he talks about Newport, I don't like it. I think he knows something we don't, or something is wrong there."

"On the upside, we won't be there for a long time." John says, smiling, clearly trying to cheer her up. "You know, the bus is here too, we can go there right now."


and then they did
next chapter will be up soon. I still dont know how to end my chapters.