VIVERE

[Scars]

[Scars]

Chapter 4

“Congratulations on your discharge, kid.” Detective McMahon pats the boy on the head.

It has been a month since Danny brought the mysterious boy to the hospital, and now he has finally been cleared to be discharged. The detectives have been trying to find any leads in their investigation but have not made any progress unfortunately. In fact, there has been an increase in cases of missing people recently. For some reason, the detectives still think that the boy has some connection to the cases and refuse to send him to foster care. Instead, the detectives have found a place where the boy can stay while they continue to investigate.

“Geez, where the hell is our Uber? He texted us that he was almost here but that was 30 minutes ago!” Botello tapped his foot rapidly on the concrete while staring down at his watch.

McMahon wraps his arm around Botello. “Relax. He’ll be here any second now.”

“You told me that three times already!”

“It’ll happen this time. Trust me.”

“Trust my ass! We could have caught the culprit with the time we’ve been waiting here!”

“Botello, you know that wouldn’t happen. We’ve been doing this for over a month and still got jack shit. That bastard’s been toying with us. While we been looking at these smaller cases, Recks Black goes missing.”

As the two detectives were bickering loudly with each other, Danny, sitting on a bench behind them, unintentionally listened to their conversation. Of course, he noticed the name “Recks Black” being mentioned. Out of all the missing cases that have happened so far, this case has gotten the most media recognition due to the victim’s reputation. Recks was some hot shot recruit who came to Seattle on a recruiting visit at U-Dub. He was dubbed as potentially the “final piece” for Lorenzo Romar’s #2 nationally ranked recruiting class that already featured top 100 recruits such as Michael Porter Jr., Daejon Davis, and Jaylen Nowell. According to scouting reports, he was basically a much better version of Markelle Fultz. In other words, he was the complete package and a future NBA star. Last week, however, he went missing. He was last seen coming to an after-game party with Huskies player Matisse Thybulle but was never reported to be seen leaving the party.

While most Huskies fans have despaired about the news, Danny ashamedly felt happy. With Recks out of the picture, Romar and the Huskies will still be looking for a replacement for Fultz next season. Since returning to the team, Danny has steadily improved his playmaking and now leads the Metro League in assists with almost 6 assists per game. After performing well against Huskies commits numerous times, he hopes that they will take notice of it.

“Yo, DM! There you are! How's your hip?”

The voice came from Danny’s teammate Kyle Steele who sat down next to Danny.

“Kyle!" Danny daps up Kyle. "My hip's fine. I should be good to go next game. What brings you here?”

“Coach forgot to give you this after practice, so he told me to deliver this to you.” In Kyle’s hand was a sealed letter. “I think you might like this.”

“A letter?” Danny rips open the envelope and takes out the letter from inside. “'Dear Danny. On behalf of my entire staff, I would like to offer you a full scholarship offer to Seattle University.' This is a joke, right?”

“Nah, it’s legit, man. Look, I got the same letter from them.” Kyle takes out a similar looking letter from his back pocket and flashes it in front of Danny face.

“This must be a dream. There’s no way.”

“This is no dream. Congrats, man.”

“A D1 offer…A D1 offer!” Danny springs up from the bench as he lifts it up to the shining light from the lamp post. “Kyle, we finally did it.”

“For sure. But I’d bet that’s only the first of many for you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Danny chuckled.

“Oh, I just remembered. Did you hear the news about Cain?”

“News? I know he didn’t show to school or practice today.”

“Coach’s planning to bench Cain next game.”

“What?”

“Ever since you came back, Cain has been playing poorly. Then now that you are racking up the assist numbers, Cain has been looking lost when he’s on the court.”

“Hm, I guess that’s true. He was just running around during the Garfield game.”

“Anyway, my job here is done.” Kyle stands up from the bench and daps up Danny. “Stay safe, DM. That Recks stuff got me scared, man. I don’t want to see your face on my milk carton when I eat breakfast every morning.”

“I know. You stay safe too.”

The Xanadu basketball players have been conditioned by their coach daily to be aware of their surroundings due to the recent disappearances. Even before the Recks Black incident, many of the latest cases had one constant that connected them together. The victims, especially the ones in Seattle, had an athletic background.

--

It took almost two hours before the Uber arrived and another hour of sitting through traffic, but the four had finally arrived at their destination. In front of them was a somewhat run-down two-story house with a sign titled “DAY CARE” hanging on the front of the porch.

“Here we are. Danny, ring the doorbell and bring the kid inside, and we’ll call this one a mission accomplished.” McMahon pushes the kid over Danny.

“Why me? He’s your responsibility.”

“Well, you see here. Because of that Uber, we’re very behind schedule so we’ll have to run along now.”

“But I still need a ride home. Who’s gonna- Ow!” A stack of cash hits Danny in the face as the detectives run away into the dark. Danny let out a heavy sigh and put the cash away in his backpack. “What a bunch of useless bums. I’ll get myself killed before they find the culprit.”

Danny rang the doorbell and was immediately responded with a “Coming!” from behind the door. The door was promptly opened by a girl who looked around the same age as Danny.

“Huh? Danny Mortisson?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Um, you the one in charge of this place?”

“No, my mom is. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to drop off this kid.” Danny steps to the side to show the boy who was hiding behind him.

“Oh yeah. I thought he was going to arrive here way earlier. It’s like almost midnight now.”

“Right…sorry about that. Our Uber driver came a little late.” Danny replied while giving a nervous laugh.

“Eh, that’s fine. You brought him here safe and sound. Why don’t you come in?”

The girl led them to the living room and prepared herself and Danny coffee.

“Thank you” Danny grabs the coffee and takes a sip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name before.”

The girl spits out her coffee in surprise. “What? You don’t know my name?”

“No, I think this is the first time we met.”

“You're kidding me, right? We’re in the same chemistry class. We’re literally lab partners!”

“We are?”

“We were classmates in kindergarten too.”

“Sorry, I don’t remember that. Who remembers anything from kindergarten?”

The girl rolls her eyes. “It’s Louise.”

“Ohhhhh Louise. Now I remember. You’re the person whose homework I always copied from in Pre-Cal last year. You’re a lifesaver!”

“You did what?”

“Nothing.” Danny nonchalantly replies as he takes another sip of his coffee.

An older lady emerges from the kitchen. “Good evening. Thank you for your assistance, sir. My name is Sylvia, the one in charge of this place.”

“Oh, it was no problem, ma’am.”

Danny explained the entire story about how he met the boy and his current job to Sylvia and Louise.

“Amnesia and his parents cannot be found. How awful,” Sylvia commented, showing a woeful expression.

Louise raises her hand to get Danny’s attention. “I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“So, what’s his name?”

“His name? He doesn’t have one.”

“What do you mean he doesn’t have a name? How have you known him for over a month and still haven’t given him a name yet?”

“Dunno, never felt the need to.”

“It’d be troublesome if we don’t know what to call him by,” Sylvia said. “Louise, can you bring him here?”

Louise went to the living room to retrieve the boy who was quietly sitting on the couch. “Here he is.”

“Thank you, sweetie. Now then.” Sylvia faces the boy. “What name shall we give you?”

Sylvia stayed silent for a few seconds before she palmed her fist. “Cassius.”

“Cassius? Why Cassius?” Louise curiously asked about her mother’s choice.

“It means hollow in Latin. Without any memories of anyone or anything, his life feels hollow. It’s a little depressing of an idea, but I think this name fits. Do you like that name?” Sylvia directs her question to the boy.

“Cassius…it feels strange.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Mm-mm. When I heard you say that name, something about it feels…very familiar. I like it. I really like it.”

Sylvia gives a warm smile. “I’m very glad to hear that. Welcome, Cassius.”

[Agent]

Washington State looking real good so far

[Scars]

Washington State looking real good so far

not bad of an option

[Scars]

[chosenone58]

So the kid finally has a name….

Danny Phantom shattering dreams out here

[kibaxx7]

Must pay close attention to this one!

[Scars]

So the kid finally has a name….

Danny Phantom shattering dreams out here

Danny Phantom's a cold nickname

Must pay close attention to this one!

Welcome aboard! Good timing, I think things are gonna be ramping up now

[Scars]

[Scars]