Talk of the Town

No Way Out

*Anthony's POV*

It was 5am and I was parked outside of that kid's house. The kid who saw Alex leave with douche bag. His name is Shane and he happens to be a witness so I thought I'd take him with me as proof. Josh and Victor were in the car with me as we waited for Shane to come out.

He finally stumbled out of his house minutes later, clearly still half asleep.

"C'mon, Sleeping beauty! We don't have all day," Josh shouted and Shane threw himself into the backseat. I quickly sped off to the police station where officer Nicks was waiting for us.

"I thought I said you could come, I never approved of anyone else, Anthony," Nicks said, giving me a look.

"Yeah but this here," I said and pushed Shane forward, "Is an eyewitness. He saw Roman leave right after Alex," I said triumphantly. Officer Nicks looked baffled as he stood there silently.

"And these two are my boys. Well, the only ones who are able to get up this early," I told him and he paused for a moment before walking away. I looked at Josh and he shrugged.

"Well what are you waiting for? Peters starts his shift at 8:00 so hurry up!" He told us and we quickly followed him.

We sat there reviewing the tape for the 5th time. We watched Alex storm out then nothing. We watched her storm out again, then nothing- again.

I remember that day. If I had just stayed! If I stayed then I wouldn't have let her walk out like that. I would've gone after her and made sure that douche bag was no where near her! If I just made her my girlfriend...all of this could've been avoided. If I could've just man upped and got over the fact that not every girl is like Farah, then Alex wouldn't be missing! Now all I have is an image her crying her eyes out and telling me she hates me imprinted on my brain.

Now that douche bag has her and is doing God knows what to her and it's all my fault. Thanks Anthony, you're a real fucking gentleman.

"Is it naive to make plans, that seem so far away. There's a reason I feel this way," the sound of Let Love Bleed Red by Sleeping With Sirens pulled me out of my thoughts. My heart ached as I remembered when I held Alex close to me as we danced to this song. You know, when I had her and I didn't think that I was ever going to let her go? Yeah, I mentally scoffed, what an asshole you are.

Josh pulled out his phone and blushed when he saw the Caller ID. It must be Matt. I must say, I'm jealous. Not of Josh having a boyfriend but of them and their relationship. They get to be with each other. They get to kiss and hug and do everything together. They get to be with the person they love. I can't.

"WHOA WHOA WAIT! PAUSE THE TAPE!" Victor yelled. Nicks quickly paused the tape.

"what?!" I yelled and he pointed to the screen.

"Look! Notice at the top of the screen there's someone's shoe right after Alex leaves," he said and pointing to the barely noticeable shoe in the top right corner. "Now," he said and pressed play. "look, after she leaves, right as the shoe is coming forward like they're walking towards us, it just stops in mid air for a little bit then cuts to passing period," he explains and sure enough that's exactly what happens.

"That's my shoe," Shane said.

"Why did that happen?" Josh said.

"Video editing," Victor said. "What happened was, they cut out a part of the video and then paused it for a certain amount of time to make up for the time they cut out to make it unnoticeable," he informed us.

"Well I'll be damned," officer Nicks said. "I'll be taking your statement now, Shane," he said. "Listen, boy," he said to me "I'll present this information and we'll find Alex but you CANNOT say anything about seeing this tape, am I clear?" He said seriously and I nodded.