Ohana

Chapter Eleven

                  I don't want to do this anymore. They said they'd come back. They never came back.

'What do you mean 'gone'?' Liam asked, his whole body filling up with a sense of dread.
'That can't be right.' Zayn reasoned, though he was also feeling the icy cold hands of fear clenching around his stomach. 'If a child was missing it would be on the news. There hasn't been anything about him on the news.' There wasn't, they had checked.
'They thought they knew where he was at first so they didn't feel the need to put out a press release.' Paula said, looking miserable and tired. 'But he wasn't there and now he's gone. I need your help, you knew him best, where would he go?'
'We called.' Zayn ground out through clenched teeth. 'We called three times every fucking day. Why didn't they tell us he was missing? Why the fuck did they move him in the first place?'
'Because that awful woman took over for my case and flagged you two as unfit foster parents.' Paula explained, her eyes blazing with anger. 'Niall has been my foster case for the past year, she had no right to move him but she still did. When I found out he was gone this is the first place I came.'
Liam and Zayn looked at each other, fear clearly etched in their faces. 'We'll help.' Liam told her, pulling his jacket down off of the hook and putting it on. As a second thought he grabbed another jacket after putting on his boots; Niall would be cold when they found him.
'We'll start to look where we think he might have gone.' Zayn added, copying Liam. Paula looked them over and nodded.
'Call the police if you find him.' She told them briskly, stepping out of the apartment and hurrying down the hall to go back to the police station. She was consulting the police on where to search though it wasn't doing much good.
Zayn pulled out his mobile as they followed her down the hall, calling Louis and telling him what was happening as they ran. Over the phone they decided to go in opposite directions, Zayn and Liam would go east while Louis and Harry went west.
They checked every alley, spoke to everyone and walked for hours but they still found no sign of their son. In the back of everyone's mind there was this little voice nagging, reminding them that the temperature had been below freezing most of the time for the past three days that Niall had been gone, that most missing people died within the first 48 hours of their disappearance, that he was mute, scared and didn't know his way around London. The voice in their heads was telling them Niall was gone, dead, and never coming back.
On the other side of town Harry and Louis were having the same thoughts, the same feelings but they refused to give up. Louis was striding down the street, past another post box when Harry stopped and collapsed on the ground.
'Harry?' Louis called, looking back and hurrying to his side. 'Harry we don't have time for this, get up, we have to go find Niall!'
Harry shook his head as tears streamed down his cheeks. He put a hand on the post box and just cried, his whole body shuddering. 'He just wanted a fucking family.' He croaked miserably, looking up at Louis. 'That's what he asked for, in his letter. He put it in here Lou.'
Louis looked at the box as though it might have a map leading to Niall on it, but it didn't. For a long moment he thought he was going to end up in the snow like Harry when a new resolve hardened inside of him. 'We don't have time to be sad right now. Get up and get yourself together and we can still make his wish come true. So get up and lets go.' His voice didn't leave any room for argument and Harry soon found himself dragged up to his feet and they marched on.
xXx
Hours later, at three in the morning, Zayn's phone rings. It's the police. For a split second they think that maybe, just maybe, their son had been found. But when they hear the gruff voice telling them a cruiser was on their way to bring them into the station all hope was gone again.
Numbly they got in the back of the police car and were taken to the station. Inside they were greeted with grim faced officers, the chief, Louis and Harry, Paula and a man they assumed to be her husband.
'Thank you for your help tonight but you should go home and get some sleep. We'll call you if anything changes.' The chief said, looking at the six volunteers in front of him.
Louis answered before any of them could, his voice raw and hard. 'You're out of your fucking mind if you think we're going home while he's still out there.'
He looked them over and sighed, nodding. He wasn't met with sadness; he was met with a hard determination to find this missing boy.
'Alright we need to re-evaluate and figure out which areas haven't been covered and then we'll get back out there.' He told them. Someone pulled up a digital map and everyone lethargically crossed off the area's that they'd checked. The only places left were a warehouse district by the water and a suburban area almost an hour away.
'The warehouses aren't a place to be navigating on foot, and they're far away from his foster house but we should still check them. Get a car down there to check and the rest of us will spread out, two cars to that other area and the rest canvassing the area around his old home.' The chief directed them; some of their resolve had clearly rubbed off on him because he sounded much more determined now.
Everyone headed off; a small grain of hope was alive again. Though the words the man hadn't said hung heavy in the air, the likely hood of Niall being alive were slim now. At best.
xXx
They had been searching for hours, three police officers, Paula and her husband, Lou and Harry and Niall's parents, Zayn and Liam. They were heading for their fourth lap of the area when there was a whir of lights behind them and the three cars pulled up.
'Get in Kelly thinks he found him in the warehouses.' One of them said, looking as frantic as the rest felt. The drive over should have taken forty to forty five minutes but in the dead of night with lights and sirens they did it in twenty and soon enough they pulled up next to two more police cars and an ambulance.
'We think he's wedged himself in behind those boards back there.' The chief told them, pointing to where two officers were crouched down and shining bright lights into the darkness.
'Time to come out now son!' They heard one of the officers call in a gruff voice. Liam and Zayn were still only for a moment before they rushed over to them.
'Get out.' Zayn demanded, putting himself between where they thought Niall was and the two officers.
'Sir, please move and let us do our job.' The gruff one replied, trying to shoulder Zayn out of the way.
'No.' Zayn growled, glaring at him. 'You're probably terrifying him. Leave.'
'You can't talk to me like tha-!' The officer started before he was cut off by the chief.
'Out of there! Let him try.' He said and the two reluctantly left, leaving Liam and Zayn standing together with only the light of the cruiser headlights to see by. Everyone else hung back, Louis gripping Harry's hand, Paula standing with her husband, the medics waiting with a gurney and the police officers by their cars, all of them watching to see if it was Niall and if he was alright.
'Ni?' Zayn asked, crouching by the small entrance to the pile of boards. Only someone Niall's size could've gotten in there. 'Niall, baby it's just us. It's okay now.'
They heard a small rustling and both of their hearts stopped. It seemed an entire eternity and they had almost given up hope until they heard the rustling again and a small sound.
'Baba?' A raspy voice whispered from inside the pile.
'Oh Niall, oh my god.' Zayn gasped, starting to sob. He tried to pull away the boards to get to his son but they were old, broken and a mess and he couldn't get to him. The only way Niall could get out was if he crawled out the way he went in.
Zayn was frantically trying to pull Niall out, with help from Liam when his sons little body collided with his own. 'Baba!' Niall cried, his voice hoarse from lack of use.
'Shh, shh, Baba's here.' Zayn cried, gripping onto Niall as they both sobbed. He felt a larger pair of arms wrap around the two of them and he knew it was Liam.
'Daddy.' Niall croaked, shaking uncontrollably as he was held.
'I love you, I love you, I love you Niall.' Liam murmured, tears running down his cheeks as well. They were given a few minutes to themselves before the medics came in and needed to treat Niall. Refusing to give up his baby Zayn carried Niall to the ambulance while Liam walked with them. Just as they were passing the small crowd a nasty voice popped up.
'You naughty little boy!' The woman cried, what was her name? Oh right, Sylvia. 'That was very rude and inconsiderate! You and I are going to have a nice long chat before you go to your next placement! And don't think you get to stay with these two either! No sir!'
Before anyone had a chance to react Paula was in front of her, looking livid. 'Listen you vile bitch, you do not get a say in this boys' life anymore. You won't even have a job when this is done.'
'Now what makes you think-' Sylvia started to fire back when a man stepped out of a car and strode over, he was only wearing jeans and a plain shirt but he still had an air of importance about him.
'Me.' He said darkly. 'You're being reported and yes, you are fired.'
'B-but sir-' She stammered, clearly shocked by his appearance.
'You went behind my back to change that child's file and moved him and that is illegal. You are fired and you are being charged.' He told her, his tone menacing and rather frightening. 'Get out.'
As everyone watched the exchange with open mouths a medic had gotten Zayn sitting on a gurney with Niall in his lap so that he could be looked over. The light from inside of the bus helped everyone see Niall's injuries better and it wasn't a pretty site. He was covered in dirt and sawdust, he was wearing the same clothes he'd left in and underneath the beanie he had on his hair was matted into clumps. He clearly hadn't been washed since he left, he had a bloody lip, bruised cheek, black eye and his pants were stiff like he'd wet them and then they'd dried without being washed. He was only wearing the sweats and a thin sweater so under the blood his lips were blue and his face was pale.
He was hooked up to an IV and they drove to the hospital, Liam, Louis and Harry getting there in police cruisers. The rest of the night was spent listening to doctors tell them Niall had pneumonia, a broken wrist and hypothermia but that wasn't anything because he was going to be okay.
They were whole again.