The City of Havamon

Chapter 4 - Missing

Alex paced in his room, anxiously waiting for a response from Laine. Why hadn't he come to school yesterday? Did it have something to do with the... thing Laine saw half a year ago? It couldn't be, he must be overthinking!

Alex checked his phone again, hoping he had missed a notification or something like that, but his heart sank as he saw nothing except his home screen. Laine hadn't even responded to his message from last night! His worry grew as he scrolled through his messages to Laine. Over fifty messages sent, zero responses. Maybe he had upset Laine? If he had then he has to fix it, he can't stand Laine being angry with him.

Alex got tired of waiting for a response and chose to go over to Laine's house instead. He knew his mother would object to him leaving so suddenly, so he snuck out his window and dashed as fast as he could to Laine's house, and knocked on the door. Before the door was answered, he could hear yelling and panic coming from inside. That couldn't be good. His eyebrows creased in concern.

Laine's brother, Ian, opened the door. Upon seeing Alex, his dark blue eyes crinkled in mild frustration, yet a glimmer of hope shone in them. "Now isn't really the best time, Alex. Unless you know where Laine is?" The kid asked hopefully.

Alex shook his head no. "I... I came here to see if you guys knew where he was..." What happened to Laine, if even his family hadn't seen him...?

Ian's face fell. "Well...he didn't come home yesterday, dad thinks he ran away, but mom and I know he wouldn't do that." The worry in his eyes...

"Do you think it has something to do with the... event... from six months ago?" Alex asked.

Ian's eyes widened in shock. How did Alex know about that? Laine didn't tell anyone else besides him and their mom. Not even their father knows. "You... You know about that?" He spoke his concerns.

Alex nodded, concerned. What if Laine was captured? What if he died? And what if... what if it was all Alex's fault? Of course it was! He shouldn't have let Laine go home alone! He could have saved him! He-

"HE'S YOUR OWN SON, ASSHOLE!" Pauline, Ian and Laine's mother, screamed from inside, not letting Alex finish his thought.

"STOP YELLING!" Jeremiah, their father, shouted in response. What was going on in there?!

Pauline stormed out of her room, slamming the door on her way out. As she entered the living room she noticed Alex at the door with Ian. Taking a slow, deep breath, she forced all her bubbling anger down. To see what was the problem. "Alex? What are you doing here?"

Alex looked at Pauline and his eyes watered. "Laine... he's really not here...?" He could feel his anxiety spike.He just knew something was wrong. His hands started shaking, it was all his fault. "He... he's been kidnapped, hasn't he?" They really don't have another explanation...

Pauline's eyes widened as she heard Alex speak those words. Her heart ached as she watched him cry. She crouched down next to him, rubbing his back. "I'm sure Laine is okay! We're gonna find him! Don't you worry, okay? Does Winona or Pedro know you're here?"

Winona Witlock and Pedro Santos were Alex's parents. They divorced when Alex was as young as 5 years old, and have never spoken without a fight ever since.

Alex shook his head and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "I... I really wanted to know if Laine was okay, and... and I didn't think I'd get permission to come here, so I snuck out..."

Pauline sighed and pulled out her phone to call his parents. "Which parent are you with right now? Mom or dad?"

Alex didn't respond, he was staring at the ground instead, thinking about his last memory of Laine. The tears in his eyes started to stream down his cheeks.

Pauline's heart sank as she watched this. Her best friend's child, and her child's best friend, was crying on her doorstep. She let out a small, pained sigh before dialing Winona's number. She'll just ask her who he's staying with.

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By the time Winona came to pick up Alex, he was already sobbing, mumbling what Pauline would mark as utter nonsense; "it's my fault, isn't it?". After Pauline explained the situation, Winona carried her son home, tucking the child into bed with a sad glance once they arrived home.

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Alex woke up the next morning, with a feeling of determination. He was going to find his best friend no matter the cost. He called Ian to ask what he knew, and started to play detective. With what Laine told him, and what Ian just told him, he concluded that he was looking for a tall blond man with blue eyes and various scars. He can't be too hard to find, right?

Well unfortunately for Alex, Ian, and Pauline, Dimitri was more than just difficult to find, he was impossible to. Unless you saw exactly where he kidnapped Laine, you could never trace his steps. So these three would waste just over 2 months searching for what they can't find.

That is, until Alex took a small walk to clear his head at just the right time.