Finding Alex

Chapter 11

When Birdie had arrived at Liam's house she had found him at the dining room table packing an array of things into his backpack. A flashlight, some rope, and pictures of the walls in his room that Birdie had printed out at school. Two muesli bars remained on the table.

"In case we get hungry," Scott said, Birdie nodded, good idea. She had tied her hair back out of her face and was wearing dark clothes. The air outside was nippy so she thought to rug up, it was only going to get colder as the sun began to set. Liam was also dressed for the cold weather, he had shrugged on a jacket over his sweater.

"Do you think we have everything?" Birdie asked standing beside him and watching him pack the last few items into his bag.

"I think so, I guess we will find out," he said and gave her a reassuring smile. This calmed Birdie and she somehow knew they would be okay. Liam reached out and brushed a stay hair behind Birdie's ear, his cold hands brushed against her cheek and she felt herself develop goosebumps. Liam swallowed and moved away from her and Birdie let herself think about what would've happened if he didn't move away, only for a second before she snapped her attention back to the situation at hand.

"We should get going," Birdie said quietly.

Liam nodded and slipped his arms through the backpack, putting it on his back. He led Birdie outside. As they stepped out onto the porch Birdie pulled out her beanie from inside her jacket pocket, before she could place it on her head it caught the wind and flew out of her hands. Liam took after it and managed to catch it near the end of the drive way. As he bent down to pick it up he noticed a familiar car nearby, as he looked closer he saw two heads duck in unison away from the car window. Birdie had reached his side by then,

"Oh thanks! Cant lose my favourite beanie," she smiled. Liam turned to and lifted the beanie up, gently placing it on her head. He smiled and Birdie smiled back.

The two then made their way to Liam's car and climbed inside, desperate to get the heater going.

From within the car down the street Scott released a sigh, after watching Liam and Birdie interact his hopes of winning her back were slipping silently away.

Birdie looked down at the photographs in her hand, the ones they had taken of Alex's drawings on the wall in Liam's bedroom.

"Am I still going the right way?" Liam asked glancing at the photos before turning his eyes back to the road. They had been driving for about 10 minutes now and Birdie had been very vague on directions. Liam was worried she had no idea where to go and he had just been driving in a general direction. 

"Um yes, just go straight through town," Birdie said her eyes still on the photographs. The pictures that Alex had drawn seemed to be leading them out of town. Birdie looked up as they passed the town hall in the town centre, the library and the general store, matching the images drawn in the photographs to what she was seeing with her own eyes out the front window.

Liam kept driving as the centre of the town disappeared and again they found themselves in a residential area. As they drove further and further, perhaps twenty minutes beyond the town centre, the streets started to look a bit different. With a small distance of cropland between them, there was a clear divide between Monarch and this neglected community. Before Monarch became a new bustling hub, the place to be, it was known as Parkside. Parkside had been neglected for years, corrupted in itself until the government decided to put it to use. Instead of refurbishing, supporting and rebuilding the town to its former glory, they left it, let gangs run rampant, and built a new town a few miles down, Monarch. Though still recognised as part of Monarch and the former Parkside, this part of town was known to be a bit rougher than others. The houses were mostly community homes that the government had supplied to those less fortunate. Though Birdie understood that this doesn't necessarily mean they are all criminals, it was a known fact that this area was dangerous and that you would not want to be walking around there alone at night. She looked out the window and saw a group of kids playing soccer in the street. Kids go missing on this side of town. Some run away, others just disappear never to be seen again. Some return years later, with a new name or a new face. No one really seems to care, there are never investigations as large scale as with Alex's disappearance. Their faces are never plastered on street lights in the town centre, or on the news.