Paperwork. And a mountain of it.
Seeing that Daniel now had the mental capacity to scribble his signature on a blank line, he really had no other choice. He began by filling out the lengthy forms of Asher's rather mediocre school. He gave the school a vague explanation of Asher's absences, - not that it was necessary, as the names of the missing mammals had been covered by the news a million times - and then he continued to fill out the other seemingly inconsequential areas of the form.
As he looked more into the whole ordeal during the last three days, he realized that the other thirteen mammals were much older than Asher, feeding into Daniels growing anxiety. Even more, the fact that Daniel didn't even know if his brother was alive or not was suffocating him. He needed to be gathering evidence and finding clues, Not sitting down and doing stupid paperwork! He was furious!
"For how long will the student be absent for?"
"Is this an excused absence?"
It sickened him. He wanted to just tear the papers in half, but he knew that the faster he filed the paperwork, the faster he could go about actually trying to find Asher. 2 Hours . That's all he would allow for the offensive papers. No more, and hopefully, way less. He had already spent some time setting up makeshift furniture provided by the ZPD in his small apartment, and it was noon now. He couldn't afford to waste any more time. He felt a huge urgency. He needed to solve the case as fast as possible. But why? Why did he feel he could make a difference in a field he had no idea about, when professionals were already on it?
Thoughts began to cloud his mind: Look at you, how desperate you are. You need to calm down. Asher is safe. Little Ashy is safe. Asher would want you to stay calm. You'll find him soon. If not, they will. So just calm down. What are you in a rush for?
Despite his strict timeline, Daniel was religious in reading every single word to ensure he wouldn't miss something and have to sign all over again later. After completing the school forms, he then began to fill out the ZPD paperwork that was more relevant to the whole missing mammal fiasco. The process first involved providing information about the items the ZPD took on the day of Asher's disappearance - They had asked for the pillows that had been scratched up in hopes of gaining valuable leads or a foothold on where to begin the case. Apparently, and to Daniel's dismay, no officers had began investigating the missing mammal case because, in the words of the DCP, "Information is still being processed, and all able officers and ZPD personnel are currently providing assistance in other, undisclosed investigations."
The ZPD forms asked him questions about what he knew about the case, and the more he answered them the more he understood how little he knew about the case. He was totally limited by only having seen the end result, destruction, of what seemed to be a horrifying, and possibly deadly, episode.
"Argh! I'm such an idiot! How could I let this happen! My only job in life!"
He brought his paws to rub the bridge of his snout, an action that usually calmed him, but it didn't seem to be helping in this instance. As he brought his head back up from his paws, Daniel noticed what he probably should have noticed a day or two earlier, Asher's phone. Surely, his phone would contain the answers. Maybe Asher knew some of the missing mammals? It was a stretch, but it must contain something , right? Of course it would; teenagers keep everything on their phones, he amused. He thought as though he was much older, even though he was not too far from having just been a teenager himself. He reached over and retrieved the solid yet colorful brick.
"Danielll!" The young wolf whined for attention. "Do it again! Do it again!"
"Okay Ashy," Daniel replied jubilantly. "Pick a card."
Daniel opened up the deck and showed it to Asher, providing a wide array of possible cards to choose from. "Now, I'm gonna look away, okay? Remember your card and then put it back at the end of the pile. Just tell me when you put it back, okay, and don't forget your card!" A grin grew on Daniel's muzzle. Though they were about eight years apart, Daniel loved his little brother dearly.
"Okay!" His brother said, excitedly. Young Asher carefully surveyed the array of cards and chose one near the end of the deck. He glanced at it and then placed it back into the end of the deck, as instructed.
From afar, their mom was watching in amusement. She felt so much joy seeing them together like this.
Asher giggled, "Ooh. I chose a hard one, Daniel. I don't think you'll get this one!"
"We'll see," Daniel replied as he shuffled the deck carefully with his paws. "Tell me when to stop"
After a considerable amount of time was spent shuffling, Asher proclaimed "stop!"
"Hm... Alright." There was a slight silence, Then, Daniel pulled out a card near the middle of the deck. "Is this your card?"
He held out a four of hearts. Asher's face lit up. He chortled, "Howwww!? That's the card I chose. You're too good at this!"
Finding Asher's excitement most gratifying, Daniel simply replied, "A magician never reveals his secrets."
"Please-, I want to be like you! You're so good at everything, Danny!"
Cheerfully, their mom chirped from the kitchen, where she was now standing, "Come boys, You'll have to discuss that later. Dinners ready!"
"What's for dinner mom?" Asher asked politely.
"Your favorite, Cheesy egg omelets with rice and green beans. Dad should be down shortly, so you both take a seat. We're eating a bit early tonight so Asher can get ready for his 2nd Grade class party tomorrow morning."
"Wow! I love cheesy egg! Thank you mom! I love you!"
The seemingly minuscule phone was nested in Daniel's furry paws. The passcode unlock screen had flashed in front of him. Luckily, Asher had been transparent with his digital enterprises. Daniel's right thumb bounced across the screen, typing in the password that Asher had told Daniel about months sounds of clicks filled the air.
052404.
*1 Failed Attempt: Please Try Again*
Confused, but relentless, Daniel tilted his head slightly to think.
Asher.. What would Asher...
An idea surfaced.
021715.
The screen unlocked, and the colorful display of square applications appeared.
February 17th. Of course. That tragic day. Daniel wanted it out of his memory. From delightful to dismay. The crash happened on that day, just over a year ago. But then it occurred to Daniel that Asher must have changed it to that recently, and he then felt deeply troubled. He hoped Asher was okay. He just wanted Asher to be happy again. Taking a deep breath, Daniel drew his attention back to the phone. He felt horrible searching the phone. He was invading Asher's privacy after all. But he felt that this was for the greater good.
Daniel began to look for any signs or notes of escape or violence on Asher's phone. However, checking Asher's contacts, notes, or search history did not seem to help. With sweating paws, Daniel began to grow tense from his ears to his now stiff appendage of a tail. Then, he checked the notifications. None, except for the messages Daniel had sent three days before. Which he felt was rather strange for someone who had gone missing. Surely Asher had others watching his back.
Tapping on an unread notification from himself, he was brought into the chat between him and Asher, with the last message sent the day Asher went missing. However, just as Daniel was about to close out of that chat to find something more advantageous. Something caught his eye. An unsent, seemingly draft message displayed on the typing space. Intrigued, Daniel tweaked down the brightness and pulled the phone closer to his muzzle to read it.
(The previous message by Daniel: ) "Today you may or may not be getting a super splendid surprise! 0.0"
"... Thanks Daniel. But, I don't really feel like I deserve anything this year. I'm sorry. I don't even know why I'm saying this here. I just needed to tell you. I know you work so hard and you don't deserve my poor attitude. I'm sorry. Recently I've been feeling a little bad. I'm sorry. Sometimes recently I just feel like I want to -"
The message was cut off.
"Feel like what!? Asher, Feel like what!?" He exclaimed, weakly, in attempts not to suffer another defeat by a new party that was landlord.
He was crying now. He had never once thought Asher was a nuisance. Daniel never once asked him to apologize. Tinted cards flew in the air, shuffled. Guilt consumed him. It swallowed him entirely like a torch-flame. Asher, what have you done? Where are you now? Please Asher, come back. He wanted to give Asher a warm, soft hug. He feared for his own life at the atrocities that Asher could be facing at this very moment. Atrocities Asher would have to face on his own.
"Asher!" He cried to the air, "Don't ever say things like that! Mammals love you! Mammals care about you! I care about you!" A flood of tears. "Mammals care!"
...
Mammals care ... Mammals.. Care... Mammals had cared! That day! Daniel's co-workers had been concerned for him! They must have known about Asher, for why else would they have been so wary? The realization struck like gold. Somehow, even though Daniel was the one who reported it a couple hours later, his co-workers had already known! He had just wasted three days; and, possibly the three most important days of his life, on nothing, when the answer was so obvious! Nate knew! That zebra knew! Today, Daniel would ask Nate. Nate would give him all the answers, and Asher would be home in no time.
It was close to four now. And having regularly had the later shift of 11AM to 7PM, he still had just about three hours to get to his office and ask that Zebra. He quickly set Asher's phone on his desk. Scurrying out the door, Daniel then quickly pulled out his own phone and called a Zoober, because it was a million times faster than having to wait for the scheduled subway.
A solid fifteen minutes or so later, Daniel found himself in a ZooberX car, and another good fifteen minutes afterwards, he had arrived at the office.
He reassured himself: It won't be long now. You can give him his gift soon.
The doors swung open.
"Nate!" Daniel howled. His voice echoed off the walls of the large edifice. This garnered considerable attention from the present bystanders.
Then, Nate, who had apparently not been that far from the uproar, approached him from a corner.
"You called for me, Daniel? You haven't been to work in a while. Are you okay?" The Zebra began.
The wolf saved the small talk.
"Tell me what happened to Asher that day. My brother. The one I brought to work that one time. You know what happened to him, don't you?"
The Zebra paused.
Then, cautiously, he answered, "Why, I'm sorry Daniel. I thought you knew." Nate glanced at the floor and continued. "Well, it was like he went savage, Daniel."