•Familia•

Chapter 13: Missing Persons Report

Aaron POV
Not long after the girls take the kids out the police arrive. We explain our point of view and Alex explains his. They scribble down notes in their notepads.

"Why do you think that this is a missing persons case?" One officer asks

"Because this is very unlike her. I might not be a missing person, she might've just left. We just want to stay on the safe side" Alex says and sniffles up one of his tears.

"Do you have any idea of where she could be?" The officer asks

"No. All I have is her location on my phone, but she might've turned that off"

"Can you pull that up for me?" The cop asks. Alex does what he's told. Her location shows a house. It's not to far.

"Does this place look familiar to you?" The cop asks

"It does. It belongs to a family friend. He's tried to hit Lauren up multiple times but he was rejected. After that interaction I thought it would be some tension between them but it wasn't. They were all buddy-buddy after that. They would talk but I always thought it was about business. I got suspicious at times but she told me not to worry. Now I'm starting to re think that" Alex says

"Don't worry, we'll get a search warrant and search the house. We'll see if anything is really happening" the police says. I'm starting to think that Lauren wasn't kidnapped, it might be intentional. I hope is it's not but Alex might have to brace himself for heart break.

I step outside for a second. I know from all those crime watch shows that the police keep close eyes on the victim and their families just in case it's more to the story, but I have nothing to hide. I decide to call the girls and check up on the twins.

"How are you guys doing?" I ask

"Good we just finished getting ice cream. They're sure to have a sugar crash soon" Roni says

"I call you guys and tell you when to come back as soon as these cop cars clear up. I don't want the kids to be scared by them. They're working on getting a search warrant, but it's not looking to good"

"Oh no. I'll hope for the best"

"I am too" I say and hang up. It's been a long night and it doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon.

I walk back ion to Alex pacing the floor. He seems nervous. I mean who wouldn't be. I was in this situation once and I was nervous. I tell him the same thing that he and Lauren told me to do.

"Sit down. Take a deep breath. Relax. Whatever's happening is a part of your life's plan and it was meant to happen." It doesn't seem to work. Who is I'm Kidding? It barely worked for me what makes me think that it's going to work for him?

The police do a late night search of the house. They come back with bad news that they found Lauren in the house. She seemed to be ok. She explained that she was just staying the night and taking a trip away. She also gave the police some letters.

"These are for you" he says. Alex takes the envelopes with tears in his eyes. If anything I know Alex and I know that he's trying do hard to not let the cops think that he's weak or vulnerable. As soon as he closes that door it's all going to come out.

Just as I predicted he cried and cried when the door open. He tried to call and text Lauren but there was no response and his text went straight to undelivered. She blocked him. I call Roni. She tries. She blocked to. Everyone tries. We're blocked. Alex looks like he could just curl up in a ball and die. In his hand is still the bright white envelopes with cursive letters on the front. It's so unlike Lauren. She normally has so many colors and decorations and cool fonts and that's non existent now.

"Should I open it?" Alex says through tears

"It's up to you man" I say. He takes a look at the envelopes with his name on it. He carefully rubs his finger across the seam where the paper folds. He's contemplating. He gently opens it.

Alex I know I broke your heart. Trust me I didn't want to but I don't know what else to do. I want to be free. Take some time to myself. From YouTube, marriage, and parenthood, I feel chained down. It's so hard to be me. I thought about coming back but I think that will cause to much damage. When I said I love you to you it wasn't a lie. I did and will always love you and the kids. This was such a hard thing for me to do but I just didn't know what else to do. I didn't feel like me. Please don't waste your time trying to contact me. You have better things to do than that. There's one more thing that I have to break to you.

There's someone new

That's the last straw. Alex slams the letter down on the coffee table and runs upstairs. We hear his room door slam. Kian and I stare at the tear stained paper wondering what it could've said. I pick it up and read the last words in bold, underlined print. I can instantly feel pain. It can't be as big as the pain that's in his heart. I go after him. Kian holds me back

"Give him his space" he says. It's hard but I sit down. I pass him the paper for him to read. He just stares in shock. It's hard to look at the paper. I can't imagine how Alex feels. I feel mad with him. All of a sudden I feel that I wasted all of our time filing a missing person report on someone who just gave up there whole life and family and at this point just missing out on all the good things.