Bad Without You - Atticus & Amanda
"Hey, Amanda-- have you by any chance seen Atticus lately? He hasn't been home since Monday."
"No, I haven't even been home since yesterday. Works been a bitch. The kids? Are they with you?"
"Yeah, they're with me. They're wondering where he is as well, I just assumed you'd knew--"
"Sorry, I don't. Does his work usually draw him away for this long?"
"No, that's the thing. It doesn't."
"And his phone? It's off?"
"Even his comm link is off."
"Huh. I'll see if it's turned back on, now."
"Thank you, Amanda. You really are a godsend."
"Stop sucking up, Alaric. It doesn't look good on you."
"Thank you anyway."
Click.
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Atticus was missing, Alaric didn't know where he was, and he needed Amanda's help to find him. What were the odds of that? Never in a million years would she have thought something like this would happen, especially with those two. The two beautifully engaged couple that she loved dearly.
She kept texting him throughout the day, checking rooms she thought he'd be in, but she never saw him or received any texts or calls back. That she found strange. And worrisome. Hopefully, he wasn't lying dead in one of the hundreds of rooms they had here. God, after how many years of not being here and she was already losing her way.
It was around dinner time, and she hadn't stopped. She sighed, knowing she needed something to eat but she didn't want to quit. So, she headed back to her room to change, then to go to the dining hall, grab a quick something, and leave quickly.
When she got to her door, she noticed it had already been opened. Someone had been here and she didn't know who. For all she knew, they could have still been in there. Slowly, she opened the door and peeked in for any sign of life.
And there she saw him. Though he was turned around and hunched over like Quasimodo, she knew it was Atticus. She always knew him. Again slowly, she closed the door and cautiously made her way to the bed.
"Atticus, everyone's worried about you," she said in a soft voice, sitting on the bed next to him.
