Long Lost

No. Not her too!

Lili's POV
I woke up and Alex was gone. I lay in bed for a couple minutes more, just thinking of what to do for today. I knew we had to go shopping today...........or something along those lines. I hate to say it, but we don't shop normally. We....shoplift. Only food and clothes though. Nothing else. Alex has been arrested once, and it's because of me. The last time we did it, we got caught, so we had to run through the alleyways. We came to a fence.....he got over it easily, and I......just... couldn't. He climbed back over and got me up and over, but then he got cuffed. I was so scared, and I felt really bad because I was weak. I couldn't climb over one stupid fence, and he paid the price for it. He spent two nights in juvie, and I had to make do with what I could, hiding from the cops whenever I went out. He wasn't mad at me, he said, and told me he had to make sure I was safe. He trained me and made me practice a bunch to get over multiple fences, high and low ones. I walk downstairs, and see Alex already dressed. He heard me coming and looked. He put a finger to his lips, he was on the phone. After a couple minutes of talking, he hung up.
"Hey, I talked to Josh. He said he'd let us in through the back and keep us out of security's sight." He said, grabbing a slice of bread. Josh was a worker at the local grocery store, he helped us out when he could. He was one of Alex's friends.
"Security?" I ask, sitting down at the small table.
"Yeah, remember when we got caught that last time? They upped the amount of eyes watching the place." He replied, grabbing a piece of bread and tossing it to me. I eat it slowly. We take our time with these things, and plus, the store doesn't open for another two hours. So, me and Alex got dressed. I lost my jacket a couple days ago, and forgot about it until now. I told Alex and he handed me his favorite jean jacket.
"Are you sure?" I asked, unsure.
"Definitely, just give it back to me when you don't need it anymore." He says, taking his pj shirt off. I look away as he changes. Then he looks away as I change into camouflage skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a black tank top. I grab my sunglasses and he grabs his hat and sunglasses. We comb our hair before putting on our "disguises" and go outside.

Alex's POV
We walk down the cracked sidewalk to town. We kind of live in a bad neighborhood, so it's nice to walk outside of it and see new things. A rival gang jeers at us as we stroll by their alley.
"Oh look, if it isn't the lamest gangsters this town has ever seen! What's the plan today? Stealing candy from a baby?" The one I suspect is their leader asks. We shoot them a glare and continue on our way. A few more minutes later, we reach the grocery store and stop in our tracks. Three cops guard the front door, laughing and eating glazed donuts. I grab Lili and we duck into the alley next to the store and quietly sneak through to the back of the store. We hid on the other side of the dumpster and waited for Josh to come out. A few seconds later, the back door opens and Lili peeks over the dumpster. She taps my shoulder and we come out from hiding. Josh turns to see us and steps back a bit.
"Who are you guys?" He says. I pull my sunglasses down my nose and look at him like they do in the movies. Lili giggles and he grins.
"I was kidding, come on in." He said, pulling the door open. We step inside and walk through the many aisles of product that they sell. We pass through the employees only door into the main store. Lili starts to head towards the front of the store, but I grab her arm and she looks back. "What are you doing? That's where we don't want to go." I whisper, and she looks at me weird. "We need to look like normal customers to not blow our cover, so I'm grabbing a shopping basket to carry our stuff. We may be wearing disguises, but that won't be enough." She replies, giving me that "obviously" look. Smart girl. I nod and she goes. I browse the aisles and grab some apples. She finds me and I place the fruit in the basket. We get a couple weird looks but we get what we need and Josh takes us back out to the back of the store. We thank him for everything especially for putting his job on the line for his friends. He hands us both a chocolate bar and told us it was on him. We thank him once more and head back home.

*time skip to night*

Alex's POV

"Can I go to the park with Andy?" Lili asks me as we sit in the main room on our cell  phones. "Why? You know we don't go out after dark. Too risky." I say. She gives me her little puppy face. "Please? He wants to go with me. He just asked me." She says. I think it over, and finally decide. "Fine, you can go. Just please be careful. I can't bear to lose you too." She kisses my cheek and thanks me a billion times, grabbing the jacket I gave her this morning. I hear the screen door close and her saying, "Hey Andy!", the boy next door. He was her best friend. I hear him say, "Hey Lili! How are you?" and then I can't hear her response. I go back to playing on my phone when all of a sudden, I hear piercing screams and two gunshots, and then a high pitched "ALEX!". I throw my phone down and push the screen door as hard as possible, not worried about my phone shattering or the screen door breaking when it slams, and sprint down the sidewalk. I turn the corner and stop right there in my tracks. There's Andy, lying across the sidewalk at the entrance of a dark alleyway. I run over and get on my knees beside him. He is bleeding profusely from the stomach, and is struggling to stay alive. I hold his head in my lap and scream help, searching the empty streets for a passerby but found none. I look back down at Andy, helpless and scared. "Where's Lili?!" I manage to speak after screaming. He looks at me, and says the worst words. "They took her."