Chapter 2

Ezra's POV:

We arrived at the hospital a little while later, at exactly four.

"I want to be a big boy today and do the exercises with the doctor all by myself" Alex said out of nowhere. Alex had fell from the stairs a couple of weeks ago and he had to do exercises at home every single day. He hated to do them, because he would rather play with his toys, so he was excited that this was his last day.

"Are you sure?" Aria asked him before I could. Alex nodded in confirmation.

"Take Teddy with you though, as a supporter" Aria said just before doctor Palmer arrived.

"Hello everyone" He said before he continued, "This is your last time today, isn't it? Are you ready?"

"Yes, this time I want to go alone and be a big boy" Alex said proudly, holding onto Teddy just a bit tighter.

"Let's get this over with then" Doctor Palmer said as he took Alex's other hand and led him to his office.

"Coffee break, my dear?" I asked Aria as I grabbed her hand and rubbed it soothingly.

"Lead the way" She answered me. We made our way to the small shop on the other side of the hospital, Aria's hand still tangled in mine. On our way there, Jason passed us. He came after her after she told him she wasn't available. He even tried to rape her one time, but I was there just in time to save her. I felt Aria's grip tighten as she saw him and I couldn't blame her. I decided not to talk about it and walk further toward the shop. After we bought ourselves two cups, we settled on a dark blue bench in the corner of the shop. There were some other couples with their kids and some elderly people. I saw Aria watching a couple with two little ones.

"What are you thinking?" I asked her even though I had a pretty good idea what she was thinking.

"Just something" She said all giddy.

"And what is this something exactly, my darling?" I asked her trying to sound curious.

"Do you ever think about a second child, a little brother or sister for Alex?" She answered. I knew she also thought about it sometimes. It definitely would be nice for Alex to have a sibling, another kid to play with.

"Of course I do, I would love to have another child" I said my eyes locking with hers. Her eyes read excitement. I held her eyes locked with mine for a few moments, before we left the small shop again. We entered the right department again as we saw Wren almost running toward us. It looked like he sought us and he didn't have good news.

"What's wrong?" I asked him when he reached us.

"Alex's missing" He said a little bit out of breath.

"What do you mean, he's missing?" Aria said still processing what Wren's statement meant.

"Doctor Palmer was grabbing some equipment in the other room and when he came back, he was gone. We've searched the whole floor for him already, including the closets. He's nowhere to be found" Wren said sincerely. A single tear left my eye and I saw the tears welled up in Aria's eyes as well. She wrapped her arms around me for comfort, as I held her closer to me. Why did we have to leave Alex alone in the Doctor's office? Why didn't we come with him?

"Where's Doctor Palmer now?" I asked him still holding onto Aria.

"I think he's downstairs waiting for the police to arrive. They wanted me to break the news to you, because I know you personally" He answered after he thought for a few seconds.

"Aren't there any video-tapes from Doctor Palmer's office? So you can see what happened to him?" The thought invading my mind that there was still hope for Alex.

"There are not, because of the clients' privacy" He said in his British accent. He looked down, he felt bad for us, I could tell. We were friends in high school, we have known each other since he moved here from England. We competed with each other in every way possible, but we were best friends as well.

"Let me take you into a more private room, until the police comes. I figure they will have some questions for you as well" Wren said who went ahead of us. After a few minutes, he led us to a small and dark room. There were computers all over the place. It looked like they showed what the security cameras recorded.

"You two can just stay here until the police arrives, there is a coffee machine behind that door" He said as he pointed to a dark green door on the other side of the room. Before either Aria or I could respond, he was out of the room again. I sat down on one of the chairs sprawled around the room. Aria continued to stand, staring into the darkness. I couldn't bear to see her like that and pulled her into my lap as I wrapped my arms around her. We sat there for a few minutes curled up to each other.

"What's this place?" A sobbing Aria said looking up from her former composure.

"I think it's a security room or something?" I answered her, looking for myself to have a more detailed opinion.

"I want to know for sure if there isn't any tape from Doctor Palmer's office" She said determined. When Aria had something on her mind she wanted to do, she did it, no matter what. She could be a little stubborn sometimes, but that's something that I always liked about her.

"Let's see, these computers go like the departments are placed in this hospital, so Doctor Palmer's office should be" She paused to walk further to her right to see if there were any cameras in his office.

"here" She let out a sigh. Unfortunately, Wren was right, there was just one camera of the department and it gave a look at the reception room. Suddenly all computers went black. Aria shot me a confused look and I was pretty sure my face read the same thing.

"What just happened?" I asked her, even though I knew she probably couldn't answer me.

"I didn't touch anything. It just went black, all of a sudden" She said, her voice sounding almost a little scared. As sudden as the computers went black, they lit up again. But now, all computers held the same view from one single camera. First I wasn't sure what the place was, but after a little while I realized it was the main entrance. There were people walking through the double doors and the video seemed odd. Why was there just one camera fixed on one point right now?

"Does this seem weird to you?" Aria asked, at this point I was sure I detected the fear in her voice. I didn't really know how to respond and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. My eyes still fixated on the monitors. There wasn't anyone out there anymore, until the double doors opened again. A person with all black clothes left the hospital in a hurry. I couldn't make out their face, because this person wore a hat. The person almost passed the camera's view when I saw Teddy. Alex's Teddy.

"Wait Aria, did you just see that?" I asked her panicked.

"No, what did I miss?" She asked holding onto my hand a bit tighter. There had to be a rewind button here somewhere.

"I have to find the rewind button first, just to be sure" I said trying to sound stable again, for Aria. We went back to the middle of the room, where a lot of buttons were located. I saw Aria debating with herself as well which button it was, because there could have been millions of them.

"I think it's this one!" She practically yelled pointing with her left pointer finger to the supposed rewind button. I nodded to her in confirmation as she pressed on the button. All the cameras went three minutes back in time. After thirty seconds the blackened person showed up again.

"You see this?" I pointed to one of the monitors to Teddy.

"That's definitely Teddy" She said afraid.

I'm excited to hear what you guys think so far, let me know!