Work was tough today. There was a lot of paperwork that had to be done. There were too many people around him. His energy was depleted.
Bob was driving home at one o'clock in the morning. His head was pounding, and it felt like white-hot knives were stabbing his left temple. Migraine. He was so dizzy, probably shouldn't even be driving. But he was only a few more minutes away.
He made it home, parking in his driveway and stumbling out of his car. This was going to be a long, hard migraine to boot. He unlocked the door and walked inside. Usually, when he got home, Eirwen would start jumping up and down, barking about all sorts of things. Thankfully, she must have sensed something was wrong because she kept quiet and tagged along beside him, ready to help however she could.
Bob walked as quickly as he could to get to the kitchen, looking though the cabinets and medicines. He was a very organized person, so it was pretty easy to notice when things were gone or missing. Unfortunately, Bob realized that he no longer had any pain relief medicine. How could he be so ignorant? He must've used the rest of it for his last migraine.
He sighed heavily. Every movement seemed to hurt, so he plopped down on the couch and pulled the blanket onto him. He didn't care if he still had he shoes on. His jaw was killing him, his head was pounding, his heart racing and he was sweating like crazy. He was probably pretty pale.
Bob heard the slamming of a car door, laughter and people talking. He heard breaking glass. His heartrate sped up. Oh, no. Not again. Please, not again. Too late. He was already swallowed into a deep pit of darkness. He was unconsciously moving, trying to get out.
Eirwen watched confused. She knew her master was in pain. She knew that he had panic attacks. But he'd never done this before. She cocked her head. Her master was shaking. She had to help. Eirwen followed Bob around, barking a little. She had to get his attention. But he wasn't listening. She followed him for a long while. When nothing seemed to work, Eirwen resorted to what her master called Plan B.
Eirwen nosed her way out the dog door in to the back of the small house, and followed what Bob had taught her to do. She ran to the little hidden hole under the fence and crawled out. She had to find help. Master had showed her places to go. So, she went to the first one that came to her head.
Eirwen turned left down the street. She ran and ran, finally reaching a small house in a corner of a neighborhood. She ran to the front door, barking and scratching franticly. Finally, she was rewarded with the grumbling of a human and someone opening the door.
Hangman looked at her surprised. What on earth—why on earth was there a dog at his front door? He knelt. The dog seemed agitated. "Hey buddy, what's wrong?" He frowned and looked at her collar. Eirwen. Then he turned the tag around to see if there was an owner's name on the back.
Robert B. Floyd.
This was Bob's dog. Wait, Bob had a dog? Where was he? Was he okay?
"Eirwen, bud, what's wrong?" Hangman grew a little worried, "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Eirwen just sat there with a pleading sort of look in her eyes.
Hangman opened his door further and let her inside. After he'd gotten her some water, Hangman pulled out his phone and called Bob. It went to ringtone. He called him a few more times. Nothing. Growing more than concerned, Hangman called the Dagger's face time chat.
Five people answered the call.
"What in the world are you doing up at this hour calling us Hangman?" Maverick demanded.
"You're not drunk, are you?" Rooster asked, a small smile at his lips.
"What's wrong?" Payback added, seeing Hangman's face expression.
"Have any of y'all seen Bob?" Hangman responded.
There was a chorus of "no's". Hangman ran a hand over his face. "He's not answering his phone, I've called him at least a hundred times," Hangman spoke with a sigh.
"Why are you calling Bob," Fanboy asked, "Did he forget something at work?"
"No, no. It's just…his dog showed up at my door." Hangman answered, "Did you guys know he had a dog?"
A few people said "no," again, the Phoenix said, "Actually, I do know Bob has a dog. Iwren or something like that. He'd forgotten his glasses at work, so I asked him what to do with them and he just sent me his address. When I got there, he opened the door and the dog just peaked it's head out to see who it was. It was adorable."
"Do you still have the address number?" Maverick asked, his curiosity risen. It wasn't like Bob to not answer the phone.
"Let me look." Phoenix said, shifting in her bed to turn on her light.
They watch as the screen on her phone went from pitch black to a warm white. She pulled out a small book and was looking through the contents. "Ah, here we are." She told him the address.
Hangman was walking to his front door, keys in hand. "Eirwen, come here girl!" he clicked his tongue, "Let's go check on Bob, okay?"
He opened the front door, the cold air hitting him, and headed to his truck.
"Hey, I'm on my way to Bob. I'll keep you guys on call in case anything happens." Hangman decided, opening one of the side doors. He patted the seat, and Eirwen jumped in, sniffing around. Shutting the door, he then sat down in the driver's seat, putting his phone on the center council.
"I'm heading over there, too." He heard Maverick say.
"Okay." Hangman agreed.
Seven minutes later, Hangman was parked on the side of the road at the address Phoenix had sent him. He turned off the truck, letting Eirwen out and walked to the front door. Eirwen meanwhile was nosing around the bushes and looked at Hangman.
Hangman raised an eyebrow and looked around at the bushes too. On one of the branches, he found a key that was zip tied together. Using his truck keys, Hangman cut the tie and caught the key. Eirwen seemed very happy about that and trotted to the front door, sitting down patiently.
"You're a smart dog, you know that? Right, Eirwen?" Hangman shook his head in disbelief. He unlocked the door and stepped inside the warm house.
"Bob?" he called out. Eirwen trotted down the hallway and Hangman followed her into the kitchen. The light was on. "Bob? Where are you?"
There was no answer. Only the ticking of a clock somewhere in the house. He followed Eirwen around and found Bob's bedroom. The bed was made. There was no sign of someone sleeping in there. They went around the entire house and found nothing. Hangman did find out that Bob was a very organized person, there was absolutely nothing out of place, except for a medicine bottle with no medicine in it.
He looked back to his phone, which was still on call. "I can't find him." He frowned. Maverick looked to be in a car, which was a surprise, didn't he usually use a motorcycle? Rooster somehow was with Maverick. He was probably picked up. Phoenix was also in a car, while Payback and Fanboy were walking around grabbing some things or whatever.
"Did you follow Eirwen?" Phoenix asked.
"Yes, she can't seem to pick up his scent." Hangman answered.
"You don't think…he was..ya know?" Rooster asked carefully.
"I…I don't know." Hangman sighed.
Then there was a bark and Hangman nearly jumped out of his skin. "What in the hay, Eirwen?"
The others must have not been expecting the sudden noise either because there were a few shouts of surprise.
Eirwen ran out of a room and barked again. She put one of her front paws on Hangman's shoe and looked at him expectantly. "Show me," Hangman whispered.
Eirwen must have understood him and ran back into the other room. Hangman followed quickly. The room was dark, so Hangman turned on his phone light, looking around the room. It was a little office. There were papers, a laptop, pens, and pencils. But no Bob. Then he saw Eirwen sitting patiently at the desk. Hangman walked over and looked around.
"Oh, my goodness gracious." Hangman looked at the limp form hiding behind the desk, "Bob!"
...to be continued...