The connection - New beginnings

Chapter Twenty - Missing

Chase

The drive to the creek had taken an eternity, luckily the Uber driver had shown up just as I'd ran out the house to get in my car. Drunk or not Alex wasn't safe right now and I needed to get with her. Natalie and Nate had come in the car with us with Jules and Lucas waiting for the second car. I looked over at my brother and could see the worry etched on his face. He may not be in love with her the way I still was but I knew there was no way in hell he wasn't getting in this car to find our girl.

"Can you wait here for a minute, I'll leave my bag in the car so you know we aren't going to do a runner or something" Natalie asked the driver who offered a small nod in reply.

"She's here, there's her car" I breathed in relief as her car came into view in the small parking area. I jumped out and ran towards the path that led to the creek before the car had come to a complete stop.

"LEX.....LEX" I called out into the darkness hoping she'd here me. I could hear Nate and Natalie close behind me as I emerged out onto the opening of the creek. My eyes scanned the shore in the darkness but they were met with emptiness. She wasn't here.

"Where the fuck is she" I kicked out at the stones beneath me in frustration.

"She's got to be here, her car is still here" Nate offered in way of hope.

"Maybe she went for a walk" natalie gestured towards the trees and my eyes scanned the tree line before letting out a sigh and heading towards them.

"ALEX" natalie called as we walked aimlessly through the forest. It was quiet too quiet. She wasn't here. Something was telling me she wasn't here. I'd feel it if she were.

"She's not here" I announced defeatedly 

"You don't know that" Natalie snapped back

"Yes I do....I'd feel it if she were" I felt Nate's eyes on me, he felt it too. She wasn't here.

As I turned to head back towards the water something shimmered in the darkness and caught my eye. I stopped dead in my tracks causing Natalie and Nate to almost bump into me.

"Watch it will you" Natalie's annoyed tone scolded me but I wasn't paying her any attention. Instead a took a tentative step forward and got my phone out of my back pocket to turn on the flashlight. I held it to the ground where them shimmer had caught my eye and bent down to see a few small pink sequins shining on the ground. I reached out with my hand and picked them up...my blood ran cold

"Her dress" Natalie whispered from behind me. I stood up slowly my flashlight still on shining over the nearby trees.

"Is that..." Nate asked with a shaky voice 

I nodded as I followed his gaze to where the light hit the tree in front, the sticky red substance glistened in the light... "blood" 

******************

Natalie

The past twelve hours had felt like a nightmare, I felt numb inside. How could this happen again, why weren't we told sooner that he was being released. Alex was missing, he had to have her. She wasn't answering her phone and it was definitely sequins from her dress on the ground at the creek, that and the blood on the tree. I let out a small sob as fresh tears fell down my cheeks.

"Hey, they'll find her. Alex is strong, she's going to get through this. We need to stay strong for her" Lucas soothed as he rubbed my back in comfort. I knew he was just trying to help but I didn't want to hear it. How did we know she would be okay, we didn't. She could be dead already for all we knew. I looked up at the noise of the front door opening, it was just another police officer. They had been searching the area surrounding the creek since first light this morning. Normally a person would have to be missing longer but Mrs Morgan hadn't taken no for an answer with Mike being on the loose it just seemed like too much of a coincidence to ignore.

"Did you find something" Mrs Morgan asked anxiously as the police officer approached. 

"Does this phone look familiar" he asked flatly as he held up a clear plastic evidence bag with Alex's phone inside. The screen was cracked and it didn't look like it was working any longer.

"That's her phone" her mum let out a sob as she reached out taking hold of the bag

"Where did you find it" Chase snapped from the open doorway. He must of just arrived, he took off shortly after the police finished questioning us last night. 

"It was about half a mile south from the tree you kids found, it was on the side of the road smashed up, probably been run over"

He took the bag back and handed it to another officer and left.

"We'll send it to forensics for prints but it's pretty beaten up...you kids sure your friend hadn't been drinking last night?"

"No she wasn't fucking drinking, what you think she hit her own head against that tree and then wondered off without her phone and vanished into thin air" Chase spat in anger.

"She wasn't drinking officer I swear. Alex would never drive whilst drunk" I chipped in trying to defuse the tension that was building.

"She was upset though, maybe she wasn't thinking straight" Zac interrupted 

Chase stepped towards him with a threatening expression "you shouldn't even fucking be here you piece of shit. Your the reason she ran off in the first place" Nate pulled Chase back before he could get closer. We didn't need a repeat of last nights fight.

"Enough...stop it guys, Alex is missing. She is what's important right now so please can you out your fucking male egos to one side because this isn't helping" I snapped at them as all eyes fell on me.

"Is there anything any of you can think of that could help us. Any small details, something out of the ordinary. You say you think this Mike guy has her but he's been released now for a couple of weeks. Have any of you heard or seen anything of him" 

The officer looked around at all of us but we all had blank helpless faces. I wish there was something I could do to help.

"She had some calls...she said she thought I'd called her and not said anything but it wasn't me" Chase spoke up.

"She had one a few days ago at the coffee shop, I asked her if it was a wrong number and she said she thought so but she'd had three calls this week. Whoever it was didn't speak" I watched as the officer wrote something in his notebook.

"We'll contact the phone company and see if we can get a copy of her call log, see who it was that was calling her" 

"I'm going back out to look for her, I can't just sit here and do nothing. She's in danger I just know it" Chase walked towards the door as he spoke. He briefly stopped and paused in front of Mrs Morgan and they shared a look. "I'll never give up on her" he spoke in a hushed tone before he headed out the front door.