The apartment building was exactly as he left it when he started work the day that he and Joseph had received the call to investigate a crime right before Beacon. It was a simple robbery but it was a good chance to teach Kidman the ropes of being a detective. She was surprisingly observant for someone so young and just entering the force. Sebastian had chalked it up to her being curious. Of course there were some things that she had overlooked, not seeming important to such a young mind that led her astray from what had really happened. With Sebastian and Joseph's trained eyes and experience behind them, they had walk her through the crime scene, pointing out the things she missed. Well Sebastian did. Joseph was more of the silent, observant and jot down notes kind of person. Once he had formulated an explanation, then he'd speak his mind but only after he picked over the place with a fine toothed comb to really examine everything. Sebastian was more of the notice something and formulate as you go kind of detective. He often found himself reaching conclusions faster than Joseph but the younger man would find evidence that just backed up the story. They made a good team like that. It was their job to teach all this to Kidman, for her to find her own way to examining everything in an investigation. Of course when they had finished with their case, they were called to Beacon on the way back to the precinct. That's when everything went to hell. Literally.
But the old place was a sight for sore eyes for sure. Everything was in its place, even if it was a bit messy. Climbing up the steps of the apartment building, three flights of stairs to get to the third floor, Sebastian walked down a familiar hallway that was covered with faded and worn carpet. He honestly found himself thinking it should just be ripped up and let the hardwood underneath have time to breathe a bit. Considering that the carpet smelled of foot sweat, soot, and vomit in some places, it would be doing the building a favor. But he couldn't complain; he was actually happy to see the familiar stains in the carpet from drunken nights, not from him mind you, instead of the gore and blood from STEM. Ruvik's mind was a mess. Shaking his head hard, he cast aside those thoughts as he counted the doors on his right side to get to his. Five doors, he was the second to last one on the right side of the building. He had wanted the corner room, the seventh one, but apparently it was already booked up. Even if he had seen nor heard anyone come or go from that side of him. It wouldn't surprise him if it was used as some sort of extra space for someone to cheat on their significant other with whenever things got rocky. Considering his schedule was all over the place as a detective, it made the most sense as to why they hadn't run into each other. Not that Sebastian stuck his nose into it too much. He would just like to know the people living around him.
The man across from him was a Veteran, retired military. Navy, if he remembered correctly. He was just living out the rest of his days watching the news and listening to the radio, sometimes being heard yelling at how the government was screwing the nation over at the television. The couple to his left had moved in from the country so the husband could work. The wife would be working too, if she wasn't on maternity leave. From what Sebastian could tell, never having asked because of Lily, she looked about eight months. She was ready to pop at any moment now. And then of course he didn't know the people to his right. Or person, whoever they were. The woman across from them, however, was a single mom of twin boys. They were roughly seven or so, so they were a rowdy bunch. The raven haired man sometimes had to keep them from running through the hall with a football and such. For their safety of course. He tried not to slip in as a father too much. The couple living to the right of the Veteran were a quite bunch. He hardly heard a peep from them, not that he really minded. He did see glimpses at times, them either coming or going while he was either coming or going himself.
For the most part, the detective tried to not nose into people's business. He could at least sate his curiosity enough to be a good neighbor. Now that didn't mean he wouldn't go snooping if they had left their door open and no one was home. He had to, being a police officer and all. He'd have to make sure that they were alright and not harmed. Call it what you will, there was a reason he was a detective after all.
Jiggling the key into the lock to get the door open, Sebastian slipped inside without much trouble. The lights were all off but he could easily see down the hall of his apartment to the living room area thanks to the street lights right next to the building. He wasn't that high up that they didn't provide some light. Still not trusting the shadows, he flipped on his hallway light. It flickered for a moment from lack of use for a week or so before illuminating the hall. He felt relief wash over him when it came on. He was safe from the shadows at least. Filling the hallway walls were picture frames from happier times. Photos of Myra and his wedding, their honeymoon, and one of him kissing her very pregnant belly. There were photos of Lily as a little baby, still in diapers. There were ones for every birthday she had before she had passed. There were also framed pictures of Lily's drawings that she had given him over the years. Most of them were of him catching the 'bad guys' and family drawings. His most favorite photo though, would have to be the one at the end of the hall where a three year old Lily was seated on his shoulders, one hand covering one of his eyes while the other was reaching up to pluck a leaf from the tree they were under. Myra had taken it when Sebastian wasn't looking, obviously preoccupied with something else.
Walking into his living room, it looked exactly as he left it. Furthest from him was the fabric couch, able to fit three people, maybe four if they squeezed themselves in. It was a solid navy color, almost black it was so rich in the color. He wasn't exactly too fond of the color, and neither was Myra when she was still there, living with him. After the fire that Lily had died in, they had to grab whatever furniture they could to help knit their lives back together. It just hadn't worked out like that.
Littered around the couch were some beer cans, whiskey bottles and some glass shards. Before he reported in for the case the day he was connected to STEM, he had broken a shot glass after kicking it off the table. He had fallen asleep on the couch, which seemed to be a common occurrence for him whenever he drank himself to sleep. He had promised himself to clean it up when he got home. The irony of it all. On the coffee table was an ash tray full of ash and spent cigarettes. Some empty cartons were surrounding the tray. Taking up the other half of the coffee table was Myra's case file. The pale yellow folder was laid open for all eyes to see, the different pages full of her hand writing spread out as best as they could be on the table's surface. Some separate pages, sticky notes and filling up the margins of Myra's pages were Sebastian's own notes. Most were just saying that he was met with dead ends to the leads that she had left him. He was left with rereading all her notes that he could probably recite word for word to give him some clue as to what he was missing. She had obviously found something, seen a connection between Lily's death and something else. Why couldn't he? The television in front of the coffee table, against the wall that was closest to Sebastian was a standard unit. He had nothing fancy like Cable or anything. Just standard channels, mainly news. He was an officer, they were bland like that with their choices of television shows. It came with the work it seemed.
To the detective's left was a smooth transition from living space to kitchen and dining area. It was all one big open room. The dining table was pressed against the wall, stationed in front of the window that let him see into the building across from him. Three chairs sat around the table; Sebastian only used one. Then there was the standard kitchen and utilities: a fridge that was often times full of alcohol more so than food, countertop and cabinet space with a stove in the corner of the large room. The refrigerator was closer to the table than was the stove. In between the two appliances was the sink, partially full of dishes still. With a sigh, the weary man set his keys in a bowl one a tall table at the end of the hallway to his left. It extended the barrier between living room and kitchen a bit more on that side of the room. He liked it there. Plus it was easy to grab his eyes when he had to go or drop them off when he got back from a long day's worth of work. He slipped off his trench coat and draped it across the table top as well, not his usual spot to drop it off but it'd do for now. He made a beeline for his room which was to the side of the television, the door closed most of the time. Turning on the lights as he walked through his apartment, the bedroom light was the brightest by far. It nearly blinded him. Sebastian had to put his hand over his eyes to prevent from doing so. At least the bulbs were still good. Walking to the bed that was pressed against the wall in the center of the room, he sat down on the familiar mattress. It sank under his weight, groaning and complaining too. The raven started to take his shoes off, grunting during the process as his muscles were stiff from lack of good sleep and him being on edge all the time. Once his shoes were off, the man leaned back against the mattress to stare up at the blindingly white ceiling.
He didn't think he could sleep to be honest. He wasn't sure if he could relax enough to. He started to contemplate drinking himself to sleep, like he had been doing for the longest time now. With a sigh, the detective sat up as he scrubbed at his face roughly. Running both hands through his dark locks, Sebastian sighed before getting to his feet. Maybe a shower would relax him. It was at least a good place to start. He started to strip as he made his way to his connecting bathroom. First the tie that was only hanging from the back of his neck, then came off the vest. Next was the belt, since had one to use for every pair of pants he had. Flinging it to the side of the room, not sure where it landed, not that he cared at the moment; he stripped his button up shirt followed by his pants. In the bathroom, he slipped out of his boxers before stepping into the shower. Turning the water on, he adjusted the temperature before lathering shampoo into his hair. Once that was rinsed out, he started to scrub the grime of his body, finally feeling fresh for the first time since Beacon. Not that the precinct showers weren't bad, it's just if you wanted good quality soap or anything, you had to provide your own.
Exiting the steamy bathroom with a towel around his waist, he stopped right outside of the door way of the bathroom as his eyes were trained on a white figure. It ran around his room, oblivious to the bed in the middle of the room. Usually these figures would just disappear after running into something that was of the physical world but this one didn't seem to be the case. The little figure, about the height of a child, seemed to be dodging and jumping away from something that was playing with it. As something seemed to erupt from under his bed frame, colliding with the child, they both disappeared, leaving a pounding headache in its wake. Immediately dizzy, Sebastian placed his hand against the wall to steady himself, letting the pain pass.
It took a minute, white dots dancing across his vision before it subsided. With an uneasy breath, still strained with pain, Sebastian slipped on a pair of boxers and climbed into bed. Leaving the lights on wasn't probably the best way to sleep but it was the only way he could feel comfortable in his own home. It made him feel like a child once more, afraid of the monsters lurking in the dark. Ruvik ruined his reassurance that there were no monsters hiding under beds or in dark corners with his damned mind.
Laying there for a long while, Sebastian found that he could not relax. His amber eyes were trained on his dressed across from him with a pink bunny sitting on top of it when they weren't closed. It was Lily's, one of few that survived the fire. The pink bunny wasn't her most favorite toy but was still high up there. She had given this one the name of Cotton Candy or Cotton for short. Letting out a harsh breath, the man got out of bed and approached the toy within a few strides. Gently picking the bunny up, he stared into its beaded black eyes for a long while before glancing up to the ceiling. "I'm too old for this," he said to no one in particular but returned to bed with Cotton in hand. Getting comfortable under the blankets, he set the bunny on the pillow next to his so they were staring at each other. "You better not tell anyone about this, alright?" It made him feel a bit better. Although he was cursing himself mentally for talking to the bunny like it was real. He almost expected it to respond or nod its head. There was no telling what was going to happen in STEM. Still convinced that he was still connected, he thought that whoever was controlling it would make the rabbit respond. Or attack him, one of the two.
Closing his eyes, Sebastian put a hand on the bunny's body to keep hold of it. The detective soon found himself falling into the comfort of sleep.
Author's Notes: Here's chapter two. I seem to be on a roll with these. I'm already working on chapter four. I figured that since I was so far ahead of the ball game, it would just be cruel to make you guys wait a week for the next update. So here we are. I think I'll just update this whenever I get a new chapter written up. So there might be longer pauses than a day or so, especially when I start work. Just be patient with me.
Feel free to leave a review of what you think. I would love to hear from you guys, whether you hate it or not. I promise this is leading somewhere, just stick with me alright. Love you all.
See you in the next chapter!~