Broken

chapter twelve

Ezra's POV:

The back of the taxi is cluttered with various decorative items, which makes me feel more and more nauseous with every corner we turn. He knows the way but the taxi doesn't seem to move faster than twenty miles per hour, so it feels like an eternity until we reach her house.

I run up the steps two at time, ringing the doorbell over and over until someone answers.

"Ezra? What are you doing here?"

"Where's Aria?" I ask, holding my voice steady.

"She said she was spending the day with Spencer today. Why?"

"I think she might be in trouble."

"What are you talking about?" I don't mean to panic her but I'm failing to be calm.

"She was supposed to meet me."

"Wh- Meet you?" She shakes her head, "No. She told me she was with Spencer, but..."

"But what?" I press.

"She hasn't come back. I didn't think it was unusual, she did this all the time in California."

"All due respect, this isn't California."

"I'm well aware of that," she replies, matter-of-factly.

"We need to find her. Something's wrong."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Because like you, I know Aria, and I know she wouldn't leave me at the airport without telling me she wasn't coming."

"Whoah whoah whoah. First of all, why the hell was she meeting you at the airport? She wasn't going to leave with you, was she?"

"No, no. Of course not. I've been away on business. She was coming to meet me off the plane."

"Why?"

"Look, I can explain everything later. But right now, we need to find her. I might be overreacting, she might have broken down somewhere, but we can find that out for definite if we report this. I'm going to the police station and you're coming with me," I find myself saying.

"What if she comes home?"

"Mike's here, right?"

She nods.

"Then he can call us if she does. Let's go."

The taxi is still at the end of the driveway, so we get in and tell the driver to take us to the station. Ella texts Emily and Spencer to meet us there, but is silent for the remainder of the ride. She chews on her thumbnail, nervously. I give the fee and an admittedly meagre tip to the driver who doesn't stop complaining until he drives away.

"Spencer," Ella calls as we see a group of three outside the doors – Emily, Spencer, and Hanna.

"Mrs Montgomery, I'm so sorry. I was just covering for her. I had no idea this would-"

"Don't worry about that right now."

I rush through the double doors to the main desk and frantically speak to the receptionist, "I'd like to report a missing person, please."

"Hold on a moment." She holds a finger up to me, a phone pressed to her ear.

"A sixteen-year-old girl is missing! Please, can you help me?"