Fake It 'Til You Make It - Hamliza

Chapter 14: The Search

TW: gunshots, throwing up

Eliza woke up in Alexander’s arms. “Good morning”. He kissed the top of her head. She rubbed her eyes. “Good morning, babe.” She kissed his cheek. “We have a day off today.” He smiled. “We should take Pip somewhere!”, she said. “I’ll go get him.” Alexander got up. 

He slowly walked into the toddlers room and went over to the small twin bed with bars on the sides to keep him from falling. "Good mor-" he stopped when he saw the bed was empty and the bars were down. 'Hm.. maybe he got up already?' He thought and went back to Eliza's room.
"He's not in his room. Do you think he got up already?" He asked. Eliza's face paled. "What? U-um maybe he got up and went downstairs to watch TV but he's not allowed to go down the stairs on his own and I don't hear the TV…" she sounded terrified as she spoke, remembering Chelsea's words from the day before.

“Bathroom maybe?”, Alexander suggested. They ran across the hall to the bathroom. “Pip? Are you in there?” Eliza knocked on the door. Silence. “Oh my god-!”
“Maybe he went downstairs or in the backyard?” They walked downstairs, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “I feel like I’m going to pass out”, Eliza muttered. “Sit down. I’m going to call the police”, Alexander said. 

Eliza nodded then covered her mouth and ran to the bathroom. Alexander wanted to follow but the phone was already ringing. He sighed and talked to the 911 operator and told them what happened.
Eliza came back after a while and flopped onto the couch. She had tear marks down her cheeks. Alexander sat beside her and rubbed her back as they waited for the police to arrive.

There was a knock on the door. “Manhattan Police!” Alexander ran to answer the door, as Eliza cried into a pillow. “So what happened here?”, the policeman asked. “Well… I went into my…” he looked at Eliza, “girlfriends sons room and saw he wasn’t there. We looked everywhere and he was nowhere to be seen. Eliza mentioned she was threatened by a woman, Chelsea Pine.” The policeman wrote something down. “What was he wearing when you last saw him?” Eliza looked up, “I- I think he was wearing SpongeBob pajamas…”
“Can you describe him?”
“He has medium lengthed curly hair and freckles, he’s about 2’11 and 3 years old.” The officer nodded and wrote stuff down. “Stay calm, we will send out an AMBER alert and look for your son.”

Eliza nodded and Alexander pulled her into his chest. "Please check Ms. Pines house- she's the only person that I think would take him." Alexander added. The officer nodded and said some code into his walkie-talkie then left.
Eliza ran back to the bathroom again once the door was closed and threw up. Alexander followed this time and rubbed her back. "Are you ok-?" He asked gently. "I-i think so--"

Alexander also posted on Twitter a picture of Pip, and a statement. Eliza cried into his chest. “He’s out there.. All alone”, she whimpered. Alexander also cried into her neck. “I know….” Eliza looked up. “Do you want to try to look for him?” Alexander nodded and they got up. 

"How did she know I told you?" She asked quietly as they got their shoes on. Alexander shushed her and got up from his seat silently and started looking around.
"Here!" He whispered and yanked a microphone out from behind the clock.
"She has to be around here somewhere. Maybe down the block? Maybe next door?" He said once the microphone was disconnected. 

They walked outside into the cold October air, down the fancy Manhattan neighborhood. “She must’ve been somewhere- aha!” He pointed to a street security camera. “We have to go to the gate guards.”
“How did she even get in?!”
“She probably snuck through the woods or something.” They got in Alexander’s BMW and drove to the gate. “Hi how may I help you?”, the guard asked. “We have to check the security cameras… her son was kidnapped”, he pleaded. The guard nodded, and after some rewinding and fast forwarding, they found movement. “Aha!” There was a curvy woman, in a black hoodie, driving from the woods into the street. They noted her license plate number as she drove up towards Alexander’s house, and then came out with Pip in her arms. 

"Where does she drive off to?" Eliza asked, gripping Alexander's arm so tight it was red. "We're going to find out." He mumbled and switched the cameras a couple more times. 
The car stopped a couple blocks down the road and Chelsea and Pip got out and went into the house.
"I thought that house was abandoned!" Eliza exclaimed. Alexander nodded. "Perfect place to hide a child." He added, earning a couple weird looks from the guards.

Not even a few seconds later, they heard the dreaded gunshots, and then some police sirens. “WE HAVE TO GO!”, Eliza screamed. Alexander quickly got back into the car, followed by Eliza.
Alexander drove at least ten miles over the speed limit, but speed did not matter at this point. They ran up to the abandoned house, where the police were already standing around, and putting caution tape down, with medics on the scene.
Chelsea must’ve already ran out, and Pip was laying there, with gunshots through his stomach. “He still has a pulse!”, one of the medics announced. Eliza broke down onto her knees on the dirty floor, sobbing.