When the Stars Fall
Falling Star
The message from Maru was important.
After all, said message would have likely changed everything, had Maru not disappeared. The words she sent him left Sebastian smiling, something he'd not felt possible for some time, though Sam argued otherwise whenever Sebastian brought up the fact it felt like forever since he'd felt any positive emotions, but even negative things happening in his life didn't surprise him.
Which, thinking of it that way, Sebastian shouldn't have been surprised that things turned out that way.
Yet, the very moment Sebastian read her message, he honestly thought everything would change. More specifically…
Sebastian found himself out of his room, and not because he was going outside for a smoke or taking care of any of his physical needs, such as fetching something to eat from the kitchen. It wasn't because he was heading out to hang out with Sam at Sam's place or even the Stardrop Saloon. No, he'd stepped outside of his comfort zone and found himself sitting on a bench in the entrance to the family home waiting for his sister to arrive home, and all the while smiling.
This of course pleased Robin, who ran a carpentry business from the home and could see him from where she took customers' orders. She was, however, a bit off base for the reason behind the smile. "Are you going on a date with Abigail?"
"No. I don't like Abigail like that," he'd responded, his phone sitting on the bench next to him as he waited for Maru. Abigail at the best of the times was a friend and at the worst of times a downright nuisance, particularly when Sebastian did have to admit she would have been delighted if they would have started dating despite the fact, he said he wasn't interested. There wasn't anybody in Stardew Valley he was interested in, though Abigail pressed the question when he refused her advances.
"Then who are you waiting for?"
"Maru. I got a message from her, so I'm going to try."
Robin didn't ask what he meant by this, nor did Demetrius later on. Sebastian couldn't remember if he'd told Demetrius the same thing with absolutely no argument occurring between the two, or if his mother had, but he did remember the two wondering about what he meant by the word 'try'. Maru never came home, so he ended up not being able to try at all, meaning all he had left was that message.
A sudden loud sound caught Sebastian's attention, his head looking towards the stairs. He slowly pushed himself upon his bed, the phone still gripped in his hand while a frown crossed his face. What he heard from upstairs was the sound of raised voices, yet Demetrius and his mother never fought. The thought they might felt wrong, an unpleasant surprise for someone who would have said before Maru disappeared that nothing surprised him anymore.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, thinking he'd go up and intervene as the thought of them arguing made him sick, but then he heard Demetrius' voice rather clearly. "Can you please wait until we let Sebastian know what's going on?"
"We don't need you interfering," the voice of a man Sebastian didn't recognize replied. "We've already shown you the warrant."
This of course made the anxiety Sebastian felt rise, but Demetrius continued protesting. "You don't understand. My stepson is special needs."
The person in question ignored Demetrius and instead barged into Sebastian's basement room. Immediately, Sebastian recognized the person was a police officer, but he also recognized the fact Demetrius brought up something he'd thought the man didn't know as he'd thought he did a good job of not letting any of them know he was struggling mentally with so many things. The police officer looked right at him. "We're taking all tech devices but also searching the room for any drugs."
He wanted to say that they wouldn't find anything which wasn't legal, but nothing came out of his mouth. He simply sat there, frozen as his world was turned upside down, nor did his mind register the reason why. They were simply there, but then Demetrius showed up with another, drawing his attention with the words, "Everything's going to be okay Sebastian."
Except, that didn't feel at all like the truth, particularly when the man held out a bag. "The phone."
"What?"
"The phone is covered by the warrant."
"I…" He saw other officers in the room, some removing his computers, or at least the tower units for the non-laptop units while some searched the room for whatever it was they were searching for. He also saw his mother appear, her facial features quite evident making him realize the officers turned on the basement lights so it was no longer dim. He blinked, trying to focus on her face.
"Please. My son is autistic. You can't just…"
"The warrant mam. You clearly saw the warrant."
Someone gently pried the phone from his fingers, placing it into the bag. "Maru's message."
He realized it was Demetrius, who now sat next to him when his stepfather again told him everything would be okay. His mother soon joined them on the opposite side, pulling him into the hug while his mind struggled in keeping up with everything around him, including his mother bringing up the fact he was autistic.
There was something about finding his prescription medicine to which he'd replied, "that's mine," followed up by the officer asking if the doctor on the bottle was the local doctor, which didn't make sense given the fact he'd gotten them prescribed by his therapist that he visited once a week via the train, or at least when he could make it up the mountain to the train station. He'd not been since Maru disappeared, though he had taken his medication.
Robin responded and the prescription drugs went into the bag. "Hold on. He needs…"
"Sebastian…."
"Hold it." Demetrius' voice became firm, much, in the same manner, his voice did when he started lecturing Sebastian about something which always ended in the two of them yelling at each other. Sebastian shrunk into his mother."
"If you interfere…"
"Wrongful arrest," Demetrius stated firmly, glaring at the officer right in front of Sebastian. The other officers stopped what they were doing, glancing at each other.
More specifically, the officer stopped speaking, glaring at Demetrius.
"Now that I have your attention, let me make something quite clear. If you arrest my stepson without any evidence, particularly with you knowing Robin and I having provided him an alibi, I will have your job based on wrongful arrest. If you arrest my stepson for those prescription drugs and they turn out to be legally prescribed like I suspect, I will have your job based on wrongful arrest. I may be Black, but believe me when I say I actually do have the kind of connections which will result in you losing your job over this."
"We can at least take him down to the station for questioning."
"Not right now you won't, particularly since he does not have to come in for questioning unless a judge orders him to do so, but I'd appreciate you wait as he is in no state to be questioned by you. I also request that you have a proper advocate present."
"He's the one who needs to request a lawyer."
"I said advocate, not lawyer. Or did you clearly not hear me when I said my stepson is special needs, or when my wife pointed out he is autistic. Can't you see that from the way he keeps saying the same thing over and over?"
It was then that Sebastian realized he kept mentioning Maru's message over and over again. The officer stated. "Rather incriminating, isn't it?"
"Actually, given the fact you've not actually seen the message my daughter sent to her older brother, you can't actually say that. Or did it ever occur to you that you're taking his sister's last message to him away?"
Sebastian didn't realize when the police officers left, at least not until Robin and Demetrius spoke with each other while he sat there, almost as if in a trance. "I should call Sam and ask if he can come over tomorrow."
"Yes."
"What about his medication? He needs that, doesn't he?"
"I'll call Harvey and see if he knows who Sebastian's therapist is and see if he can't get us an emergency prescription, hopefully sooner than better."
Nobody yet answered what was going on, but then Robin placed her forehead against the side of Sebastian's face. "Sebby, sweetheart. They think they've found Maru."
She didn't say they'd likely found Maru's body, yet Sebastian somehow knew.
