A year of searching and making enquiries had not gone by fruitlessly though. Rumours and sightings filtered through and were investigated, and while some were found to be false - some had stuck and seemed plausible. Not only that, but they were clumped in one area. A town named Harper Rock not too far away from where they lived. This was why she found herself packing her bag under her fiancé's watchful and concerned eyes as she assured him that all would be fine. That she would be fine. He understood, of course he did - but none of them were blind to the fact that there were a LOT of rumours surrounding Harper Rock, and a much higher death rate to anywhere else in the area. But there was no stopping her, even if he'd tried, she needed to find Damien and bring him home before it was too late.
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She was settled and unpacked, her room in Hotel West really rather nice. It was finished to a good standard, and the staff seemed really friendly and personable. They'd given her a map and pointed her to the spots with the highest foot traffic, as well as areas to avoid. She'd even had them draw up a list of places to eat, and get some printing done. So it was, 3 days after arriving in Harper Rock she set out towards a place called the Voodoo Cyber Cafe, with her bag clutched to her hip and hand clasping it tightly as if it were the most precious thing in the world. Because inside, she had the last picture taken of her brother so that she could have some flyers made up to put up, hand out, and ask around with.
Harper Rock really wasn't so bad she'd discovered, though she was still glad that she hadn't told her parents where she was going! Some parts really were very pretty, and the streets were quite clean. The sun was shining down on her face, making her smile as if it was a message, or encouragement, that she was on the right path. People smiled and nodded to her as she went, and she returned the gesture, and of course - there were some people who stared at her stump. However she simply did as she always did when that happened, and used it to wave at them!
Before long she found herself pushing open the doors of the Cafe, and after a quick scout of the area, spotted a seat with a computer that was free and made a beeline straight for it. Settling herself down in front of the screen, she asked the waitress for a couple of hours of internet and also the use of her printer - then added on a large hot chocolate with all the trimmings. As soon as a username and password was provided to her, she logged on and the wait for it to boot up and work was intolerable. There was so much nervous excitement swirling around inside of her, she knew, she just knew that this was the last first step she'd have to take to find him. She was sure of it. While she waited, she used the scanner to take a copy of the picture and sent it to her email, so it was ready to use on her flyer.
As soon as it was working, she went straight online and brought out her notebook and pen. She looked for local message boards to try and find out what was happening in the city, where the 'hotspots' were that perhaps the staff at the hotel didn't know about. She planned to look everywhere, even in the areas the hotel staff had told her not to venture into. After all, she had no idea what state Damien was in. If he were here, living as a transient, then he'd probably be in the more run down areas and places to avoid. That made sense. On every local board she visited, she left a note and a copy of the picture she had with her saying she was looking for her missing brother. She even included her mobile phone number so that people would be able to reach her. She didn't care that these were her personal details she was putting up online, she just wanted to find him and would do anything she could to make that happen. Once the online options were exhausted, she set about creating her flyer and taking great care over it.
It all took her just under the two hours to do, but once done she was ecstatic andcouldn't wait to begin the search. She hit the print button, and asked it to print 1,000 copies, watching as the little graphic showed her document heading for the printer - only for the printer to turn on, start whirring, and then begin spitting out page after page, copy after copy, face after face. She downed what was left of her, now cold, chocolate and tidied up her stuff to go to the desk for her printing and to pay. The printouts went into a tote bag that was on her shoulder with the missing arm, so that she could easily reach across herself to pull one out and hand it out - she had it all planned. The money was handed over, and she asked if the waitress minded if she asked around - to which she was told to go ahead.
Flyer in hand, she began making the rounds - starting of course with the waitress herself - asking if anyone had seen or knew her brother. Hope was very evident on her face, as her eyes shone and she eagerly asked each and every person within the cafe. He was going to be found!
