Chapter 1: Someone at the Door (written on July 17th, 2016)
As she slept on her clearly used bed, there was a knock on the door that awoke her. At first, she paid no mind to it. She curled up the blanket and put the pillow on her head to try to drown out the noise. But more knocking occurred. Judy then sat upright on her bed and looked at the door. Although her eyelids were heavy, she could see the shadow of someone's feet under the door as light came in from the bottom. Judy gasped. After studying the shadow, she could deduce that they were rabbits' feet.
More knocking, this time harder against the wooden door.
"Hold on! I'm coming!" She moved the sheets out of the way and slipped into her bunny slippers. She quickly walked to the door and opened it.
There was no one. "Hello?" She looked down the badly lit hallways and saw no one in sight. There was hardly a sound aside from the hard metal from the next room. It frightened her.
She closed her door and proceeded to grab her smartphone. After scrolling down the contact list, she chose Nick. Fifteen seconds of ringing occurred before his voicemail automatically activated.
"Hey, Carrots! Nice to know you're callin' me! If you're hearing this, it means I'm not available right now. Call me back sometime! I'll be sure to answer eventually. Ciao!"
"Worth a try," Judy muttered. Putting down her phone on the desk, she looked outside her window. It was sprinkling. Down in the parking lot, she swore she saw a bunny wearing a transparent raincoat crawl into an orange van. She couldn't make out any details, but something was very suspicious. Who knocks then runs away? Surely this can't be a prank. No kid would be up at this hour.
She made her way downstairs and out the front door into the rain. She looked at the parking lot and saw the space where the van was. It was a handicapped spot. Interesting...
She looked around for any telltale signs and couldn't find any as the rain began to intensify. Five minutes later, she couldn't handle it and went back inside, towards her room. Her clothes were soaking wet, and every time she stepped, large puddles were created. The bunny took off her clothes, dried herself off, and put on the uniform she was going to wear for the day ahead. "There's no way I'm sleeping after this. Might as well get ready for work."
Later...
"Hopps! Officer Hopps! Wake up!" The bunny awoke at the same instant that some of Chief Bogo's spit got in her ears.
"That's a nice drool puddle you got goin' on there," Nick chuckled. Judy looked at the table and saw the drool under her head.
"Oh... Sorry. I didn't get that much sleep last night."
"Enough!" Bogo fumed. "As I was saying, there has been a skirmish between some of the wolves in Tundratown. According to reports, wolves have been hospitalized with broken limbs and claw marks on their bodies with varying degrees of severity. We are sending officers to quell the violence, preferably our canine forces." As the chief listed the animals going to be stationed at Tundratown by looking down at his clipboard, Nick began whispering something to his friend.
"Psst! Judy! Why did you call me last night?"
"Somebody knocked on my door at two a.m. and ran off. I wanted to notify you."
"That's why you didn't sleep at night? Why me?"
"Well, because the suspect ran off in a van similar to your friend's."
"What color was it?" he asked.
"Orange." Nick's eyes widened.
"Nonsense. Finnick isn't like that. It was probably a simple coincidence. Nothing more. Nothing less. Was there a design on the side of the vehicle?"
"I couldn't tell. The showers were obscuring my view."
"How can you be so sure it was orange then?"
"I don't know, Nick! Some things I could tell. Some things I couldn't. I'm only telling you what I know for certain."
"It's alright, Carrots. I believe you. What do you think of it?"
"Suspicious activity it was..." Judy rubbed her bottom lip with her left elbow on the table.