-Vic's POV-

I woke up slowly, with a huge pit in my stomach. Before I even looked towards the door at the neatly folded note, I knew she'd gone, I felt it inside me, her absence. I was going to get out of bed, unfold all of its corners and read what her last words were to me, but I decided against it, instead I buried my head under the covers and curled up, wishing she was back here with me.

A few hours later I felt someone shake me.

"Vic!" They said

"Vic!" They repeated, I groaned and rolled over, forcing my eyes open.

"Mm?" I asked rubbing my eyes, hating whoever had awoken me from my deep dark slumber.

"Leda's gone." I became more alert almost instantly. I knew she was gone, I already knew, but to have it confirmed brought me to attention straight away.

"She's..." I started, rubbing my eyes again and sitting up. Mike nodded.

"Gone" he repeat, I opened my mouth to say something but closed it when all words failed me. My gaze wandered to the note by the door.

Wait.

It was gone.

My mouth fell open, where the hell could it possibly have gone? Mike mistook my shocked expression to be about Leda's disappearance. Partly, it was but I was also panicking about where that note had gotten to. I searched Mike's face for any sign that he had it, any sign that he knew. About us. I came up empty handed though.

"Where?" I asked stupidly. He shrugged, sitting on the bed, his head in his hands.

"I don't know man. I don't know." He sighed "I shouldn't have been so fucking hard on her." He cursed himself. My eyes kept flickering to the door where the note had been present only hours ago, my heart rate accelerated, I had to find out what had happened to it. What did it say in it? Was it bad? Would it expose mine and Leda's secret?

"Did she leave a note?" I asked, praying I didn't sound too obvious. Mike furrowed his eyebrows and then sighed again.

"No." He shook his head, he actually looked a little hurt that she hadn't, as if her leaving a note would have hurt less. I felt a little calmer at Mike's answer but my mind still raced with the possibilities of where the note could be and what the content of it was. He put his head in his hands once again, he looked tired, stressed.

"Do you think this is all of my fault?" I shook my head, it wasn't Leda's fault or Mike's fault, heck it wasn't even Lily's fault.

It was mine.

I patted him on the back lightly and got up out of bed.

"'Sup boys. Why so glum?" Lily purred from the doorway. We both looked at each other and then back at her, our distaste for her presence almost tangible. "What?" She looked around confused as if we were the ones out of order.

"You fucking bitch!" Mike spat, standing up, the anger visible in his posture.

"Mike..." I muttered, warning him to get a hold of his anger.

"Excuse me?" Lily smirked as if his anger was somewhat amusing. In all honesty, it wasn't, I hated confrontation and I felt some form of anxiousness settle inside me. This could only end badly.

"Yes, fucking excuse you" Mike retorted getting closer to her, she tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded over her chest and that irritating smirk covering her face.

"Oh don't hold back, Michael, get it off your chest" there was even a smirk in her tone. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Don't you realize what you've fucking done? You piece of shit! This is all of your fault. Prostitution may be all you know but there is no need to walk around like everyone is in love with you. Nobody is in love with you, in fact we all despise you, you fucking shit!" Mike screamed. That wiped the smirk off of Lily's face, the ice queen had melted, tears formed in her eyes as her palm sliced across Mike's cheek.

I had to get out

I couldn't stand violence or confrontation. I felt my airways feel as if they were going to close, I quickly pushed past Lily and Mike and ran down the stairs.

"Is that all you've got?" I heard Mike yell with a little chuckle at the end just before I slammed the door on the way out. I walked down the street, the wind picking up and blanketing me in a chill that made me shiver. My heart was pounding and my mind was in a whole other place, no thoughts made sense, my head was too loud. I wanted to shout and smash something but I knew better than violence.

I wasn't my father.

At the end of the street there was a bus stop, a small, cubicle with one quarter of the wall missing so it acted like a door; barely any shelter from the wind but better than standing directly in it so I headed for it. The street looked different than it did from my bedroom window, bigger, I felt more ant like, small. I sat down on the metal bar that acted like a seat, the plastic roof of the bus stop shelter was cracked and had a small hole in it but it was better than nothing. I wrapped my arms around myself trying to fend off the cold, why didn't I get changed or at least grab a jacket before I left? I leant my head back against the plastic wall behind me and closed my eyes.

-Mike's POV-

My cheek stung from the aftermath of the slap, but the adrenaline pumping through my veins quickly numbed that.

"Is that all you've got?" I yelled in her face and she laughed cruelly.

"You're pathetic, Mike" she shook her head at me, as if she was saying I was an idiot, like she knew something I didn't.

"Oh I'm pathetic? No I'll tell you what's pathetic, trying to come between two people's relationship." I spat

"Ha! You don't have a clue what you're talking about. You don't even know half of the story." She screamed, what did she mean by that? What was she implying? What didn't I know? I didn't reply for a while and she crossed her arms over her chest, her usual smug expression wasn't at all present and I wanted to know what was ticking on in that head of hers. Her face was red and blotchy from her anger and her whole posture was defensive. I sighed.

"What don't I know?" I asked more calmly hoping that if I asked that way she'd not be stubborn and tell me.

"If I tell you, I can't use it as leverage" she said, just as calmly, almost sadly.

"Leverage? What are you talking about?" Perplexity engulfed me, I was clueless.

"Never mind" she huffed.

"You sound psychotic with all this leverage shit just be straight with me what's going on?" She shook her head, refusing to let me in on whatever it was she knew. I huffed.

"Fuck this." I mumbled and barged past her.

"Where are you going?" She asked perplexed and frowning.

"I'm off to go find where my brother ran off to, okay? Do something useful with your time while I'm gone and think of all the places Leda would possibly runaway to if she could." She pursed her lips but she didn't refuse. I ran down the stairs, almost falling down them and grabbed my jacket, today looked cold.

-Vic's POV-

I woke up, my mind elsewhere and my arms and legs numb from the cold. My teeth chattered as I scanned my surroundings, disorientated. Then I remembered, I was at the bus stop. Goosebumps decorated my arms and legs but rubbing them to warm them up hurt too much. I sighed. Leda where the hell are you? My breath came out in clouds in front of me, I shivered again. The bus shelter's plastic walls were foggy due to condensation, I yawned and stood up, my skin feeling like it was being stabbed by pins and needles.

-Mike's POV-

The chill hit me immediately as I stepped outside, it was so much colder here than in San Diego and I ached to be back in my hometown. I thought about my mom and the way she loved the heat. I didn't like to think about her.

"Mike!" I heard someone shout, I'd only just gotten out of the front yard and ten or twelve paces down the street. I spun around and Lily was running after me, she'd found the time to put on a see-through shirt that didn't quite cover her whole stomach. I rolled my eyes, what did she want.

"Mike" she said again, getting closer. I looked at her as if to say: what? And as she reached me to paused a second to catch her breath. All of a sudden I worried that Leda was in trouble, maybe she'd called as soon as I'd left the house, I began to panic and her catching her breath seemed to take forever.

"What is it?" I asked, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. She all of a sudden frowned and canted her head to the side. She looked like she was about to make a confession but was having an internal conflict on whether to or not.

"Um, never mind..." She muttered, still frowning.

"No say it. You obviously ran out here with your boobs almost on display and the shortest skirt you own on for a reason. Especially in this weather." I didn't mean to sound such a jerk, I was just worried for my brother and missing Leda.

"I uh...um..." She stammered it was weird seeing Lily so unsure of herself. "Just, good luck and be careful okay" after saying that she plastered a big fake smile on her face to mask that she'd settled to say something she didn't even want to.

"Um, yeah, thanks" I replied a little confused.

"Well, er, that's all, so I'll just..." She pointed to the direction she'd came from, the direction of the house and I nodded. She turned slowly and expanded the distance between us. That was probably the weirdest situation ever.

I shrugged and carried on down the street. I had to find Vic. Then I had to find Leda. It didn't take me much time to find Vic, I reached the bus stop at the end of the street, the plastic walls were condensed and foggy, I quickly popped my head inside the shelter and scanned it. Vic was stood, propped up agains the wall furthest from me, his arms wrapped around himself, shivering. His eyes were closed.

"Vic" I said firmly, he didn't open his eyes. The only movement was his shivering.

"Vic" I repeated a little louder. I walked over to him when he didn't reply a second time. I shook his shoulder, trying to rise him from sleep, he blinked a couple of times, furrowing his brows as he looked at me and then at his feet and then back at me. I think he was confused because he'd fallen asleep standing up.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my hand still on his shoulder. He exhaled loudly and then nodded his head, his eyes low. "No, don't start that not talking shit again. I want words, yes or no." He looked at me blankly and shivered, his teeth began to chatter together.

"Come on" I caved in "Let's get you home" I put my arm around his shoulder and guided him out of the bus shelter, once we were out and the wind hit us we both began to shiver. It was only down the street though so it would be okay.

As we walked through the front door, warmth danced around us, making my cold hands feeling like they were burning. I asked Lily to grab a blanket for Vic and she surprisingly enough she got it without complaining or rolling her eyes. I sat Vic in the living room, and wrapped the blanket around him. He stopped shivering after a few minutes.

"Don't run off like that again, Vic, jesus" I sounded patronising but that is how it had always been, me - the younger brother - playing the father figure. I pitied him, he looked so childlike, cold and afraid. I may have lost my girlfriend but he'd lost his best friend.

"Are you both okay?" Lily asked in a small voice sounding something I'd never heard her sound before. Concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay. You good, Vic?" He nodded and bit his lip which I knew meant he wasn't but I didn't push him.

-Vic's POV-

There was warmth everywhere, I felt cosy and warm but still there was a chill way deep inside me. I felt ridiculous for feeling that strongly for someone who was in a committed relationship (to my damn brother) but that's how I felt.

"I have some things to take care of so I'll be back to check on you soon, okay?" Worry laced Mike's tone. I nodded, he was being extremely vague about these 'things' he had to take care of but I shrugged it off, too exhausted to care. Lily watched him carefully as he left the room without a single glance in her direction. Once he'd left the room it was just the three of us, me, Lily and our good friend. Silence. Lily blew air out from between her teeth and looked around the room awkwardly. My gaze stayed fixed on the fireplace, thinking if I stared at it for long enough it'd take me to wherever Leda was.

"Here," Lily broke the silence, pushing something white in my face. The note! I looked at her blankly for a second, wondering what could possibly have possessed her to take it in the first place or what she'd gained from taking it. "I'm sorry, okay" she said sounding only slightly sincere and not making eye contact. I took it and unfolded it, my heart in my mouth. I thought of all the things it could contain:

I don't love you anymore

Let me go

I love Mike

I regret ever taking things further

I hate you.

My heart beated faster than ever, my palms began to sweat. I unfolded it and began to read, my heart began to ache. Why didn't I just got with her when she asked? I felt Lily's gaze penetrating straight through me, her eyes burning a hole straight through the paper and then my skin.

"I'm sorry I took it..." She sighed and I shrugged, unsure myself of what I meant by the shrug but I didn't feel like talking. "I haven't read it." She clarified and I didn't respond. I just kept reading and re-reading the note, my heart feeling heavier each and every time.

"What's that?" Mike asked and my heart leapt into my mouth as my whole body froze. He couldn't read it!

"Um, nothing" Lily snatched the paper out of my hands and crumpled it into her hand. (Due to lack of clothing she couldn't exactly stuff it into her pocket)

"It's obviously something..." Mike was growing more and more suspicious by the second, he raised his eyebrow at me as if waiting for an explanation, I couldn't even open my mouth to attempt to make an excuse. I just sat and stared at him, my mind completely blank.

"What the fuck is going on? Why is everyone being so fucking secretive?" He was getting angry, he sounded just like Dad when he got angry. The thought brought goosebumps to the surface of my skin.

"It's nothing Mike, calm down" Lily said.

"Calm down?" He repeated like the words didn't make sense in the same sentence. "Calm down?" He repeated again more furiously. I opened my mouth to finally speak but he spoke over me. Typical.

"My girlfriend has either been kidnapped or has runaway and in some part I'm hoping its the former because I couldn't bare the thought of her running away from me. So don't tell me to fucking calm down okay?" He screamed, Lily coward away from his voice, something inside her eyes dying.

"My daughter is missing?" A different voice sounded. Mike, who had put his head in his hands looked up, Lily who was looking at her feet also looked up and I turned my head to the right to see who had spoken. Leda's mom was stood in the doorway, her face had gone pale, her usual smile was nowhere to be seen, only her jaw hung open and the handbag she usually held so proudly was hanging on the hook of her index finger.

Words failed all of us. I looked at Lily who looked at Mike who looked at Lily and then looked at me. None of us having a clue what to say.

"I'll say it again. My daughter is missing?" Her voice was stern. Only this time it didn't sound like a question. More like a statement.

"Uh, yeah, she...she left, I don't know when" Mike shrugged looking distraught.

"Left or was taken?" Her mom challenged.

"Honestly? We don't know. There was no sign of a break in or a kidnapping but who knows" Mike replied. Lily looked at me and bit her lip, thinking exactly the same thing as I was. That we knew exactly what had happened, she'd left, but we couldn't tell anyone that because they'd need proof and we couldn't give them the proof without ruining everything.

Her handbag dropped to the floor, her eyes wide and her jaw almost on the floor.

"But-t I only just got her b-back" she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. I couldn't watch this, I just couldn't. I stood up from the couch and ran out of the living room and up the stairs, the note imprinted into my brain.

Why didn't I just go with her?

Notes

Okay this is a really shitty chapter to say I've been writing it for almost a week.

Sorry for the disappointment, darlings.
The next one will be better!

Hope all is well with everyone, I love you guys.