Daddy Issues

42|That dreaded phone call

"No more school day sleepovers." Me and Alex agree as we rush to get ready for school.

"I've got to go. I need to grab some things from home and as your mom just left. Perfect opportunity." He says and kisses me quickly before rushing out the house.

I finish pulling on my shirt and then rush downstairs. I take a mouthful of my coffee and then go to run out of the door when the house phone rings.

I let out a loud groan and rush over to the phone.

"Hello?" I ask impatiently. "Hi India." His voice calls and my heart drops into my stomach. So many questions start rushing through my head.

How did he get this number? What does he want? How is he? Does Josh know about this?

"Dad?" I ask as if it wasn't really him.

"Yeah. It's me." He groans. "Are you okay?" I ask as he coughs.

"I hate to spring this on you." He sighs. "But I was hoping you'd come back to LA. I'm in the hospital. I don't want to spill the details on the phone but it would be nice to see you one last time." He says and my heart faulters.

"What hospital are you at?" I ask. "Cedars-Sinai Medical Center." He says and I nod. "I'll be there soon." I say and he coughs again.

"Thank you, India. I appreciate it. You were always my favourite." He says and I nod. "See you soon dad." I say and end the call.

I head up to my room and shove a few things in a bag before getting in the car and preparing for this long ass drive to LA.

****
Aʟᴇx Pᴀʀᴋᴇʀ

"Hey." India's friend, Lily says coming up to me. "What?" I ask and she scoffs. "Do you know where India is?" She asks and I immediately go into panic mode.

"No? She was getting ready for school last time I saw her." I say and whip out my phone and call her house. No answer.

"Don't panic." She says and looks and me weirdly before gesturing for someone to come over.

"You seen India?" I ask and he scrunches up his face and shakes his head no. "Fuck." I say calling her housr again.

"Maybe she got called into work." He says and I rush to my car and head to her work straight away.

I head inside and straight up to the desk. "What can I get you." The lady asks and I glare at her.

"India Johnson." I say and she raises an eyebrow. "She works here. Is she here now?" I ask and she shakes her head no. "Shit." I mutter and head back to the car.

I get in the car and head for her house whilst calling her brother. Id rather not stress her mom out.

"Hey man, I'm in a lecture. Can I call you back?" He asks and I sigh. "I'm afraid not. It's india." I say and he sighs.

"It's India." He whispers and then a moment later he speaks up.

"What happened?" He asks. "I saw her this morning. She was leaving for school. Except apparently she hasn't been in school all day and she's not at work. She's not answering the phone. I'm on my way to your house nod but I didn't know who else to call to say she's missing." I say and he sighs again.

"It's fine. She probably fell asleep or something." He says and I nod. I pull onto their drive and the Jeep is gone.

"The Jeeps gone." I say walking up to the front door. "Really?" He asks and I nod. "Shit okay um... go inside." He says and I knock a few times but no answer.

"I'm gonna climb through the window. I'll call you back." I say and end the call. I walk round the house and climb into her room.

The house is completely silent. The thing that worried me the most, her blaket? Gone. I check around the house and call Josh back.

"Not here and her blanket's gone." I say and he mutters a string of curse words under his breath.

"Okay um... I'm coming home. Do NOT tell my mom, okay? I'm coming home and I'll sort it all out. Um... just go back to school or something." He says and I laugh. I actually laugh. "You're joking right?" I ask and he sighs.

****
I spent the next 4 hours at Hunter's place until I went back to India's place to get an update.

There's a cop car pulled up outside. I instantly feel sick and rush up to the door. I let myself in, not caring in the moment.

Kim is sobbing. I hear it the second I walk in and it's easily one of the first things I notice.

"This is Alex." Kim says once she notices me.

"You were the last person to see India?" A cop asks and I nod. "When was that?" They ask and I shrug. "This morning. Just before school. It was about 8am." I say and they nod.

"Where did you last see her?" They ask. "Here. Well not here, her bedroom." I say and I suddenly feel Josh's glare in the side of my head.

"Miss Leigh tells us you stayed the night last night." My eyes widen. I didn't know she knew I was here.

"Um... yeah." I say and they nod. "Did she seem distraught or have any reason to leave?" They ask and I shake my head no. She was very very happy last night but I'm not gonna tell them that with Josh already glaring at me.

"How did she seem this morning?" They ask. "She seemed fine. We were gettinf ready for school and other than the fact we were running a little behind, she was fine." I say and they nod.

They turn from me and to Kim and Josh. "We're gonna need the license plates of the car you described." They say and they look between each other.

"We recently had them changed. I don't remember them." Kim says and I turn to them. "I have a picture of the Jeep if you wanna see it. It has like a bit of the license plate in it." I say and they nod.

I get my phone out and show them a picture I took last week of India posing beside her Jeep. "Okay, that's great thank you." They say and I nod.

"Josh!" Phoebe yells walking through the door. "Phoebe?" He asks confused standing up.

"Conor told me about India, I got here as fast as I could." She says and hugs him.

"Any news?" She asks and they shake their heads. "We've updated the police and they're gonna be looking for her." Josh says and she nods.

The second the police left I slide onto the sofa and Phoebe sits beside me and that's where we all stay, for days. Waiting for an update, for a call.

My mom stops by often but she's busy at work.

The sicky feeling in my stomach continues to grow. I just want her to walk through that god damn door.

Why isn't this girl normal?

Why can't she let me know what the hell is going on? Where she is? What she's doing?