The second the door he went up to his room, he closed the door and went to the window to lock it. With no lock on his door, this and sitting in his closet were his only security and defense against his parents. He didn't regret coming home yet, but he knew the moment Baldric got home and realized he was back he would. The room smelt like he remembered it, lavender and the ocean, candles that Clementine had set up. She would always come over to help him light them when he didn't come to school, the smells calmed him when he felt two seconds away from a panic attack. He could leave today before Baldric returned from work and go visit her and everyone else; he wanted them to see him before he received bruises and welts.

With hesitation he left the safety of his room and left through the back door. His first stop would be Clementine, with her being the furthest and out of the neighborhood he was safest there. He checked the garage for his bike, forgetting that he had left at the train station months ago. When it wasn't there he went off to Kaitlyn's house to ask to borrow a bike. He knocked on the door and held his breath, he hadn't seen his half sister in almost two years seeing as how she only came back recently with her family. He stood quietly looking at the wooden door wondering if he should just leave. Just as he was about to go, the door was answered. The woman who opened the door was slim with bronze skin and long auburn hair that was tied into a loose bun on the top of her head. Brown eyes watched Clarke with recognition which showed on her face through a large smile. "Clarke! It's been ages since you stopped by how have you been? Your mom said that you were off at some school in America, what are you doing back?" she questioned hugging him tightly, her heels clicking when she approached him. It took Clarke a moment to realize who this girl was, he knew it wasn't one of Kaitlyn's aunts meaning it had to be one of her cousins.

"Abby..? You look so different.." he mumbled hugging her back.

"I dyed my hair and got a tan, plus growing another four inches helped." Abigail joked. "When did you get back in town?"

"Today. Is Kaitlyn here?" Clarke asked hesitantly beginning to wonder if his half sister would even want to see him after his abrupt disappearance.

"Yeah, come in. I'll go get her for you. She's in the backyard working on her football routine with Sam and Diego." Abby offered as she headed to the backyard.

Kaitlyn now thirteen, had grown to be quite tall especially to Clarke at 5'5". Her hair was shorter and now pulled into a tight ponytail. A fiery determination was held in her eyes as she dashed between her cousins to get the ball she was kicking in the netless goal. Clarke watched her with a smile, she had always loved football and it was about time she got a chance to really get into it, when she was younger there were too many older siblings living in the house who needed their parents' attention to pick out their next destination after high school and too many little kids who always wanted the attention. Despite Kaitlyn being an only child, she wasn't to get the attention that usually came with it because her mother worked so much meaning she was raised as if she and her now twelve cousins were siblings. "Kaitlyn, there's someone here to see you." Abby announced. Kaitlyn ignored her at first but Sam and Diego didn't. The boys stopped the game to look over at their cousin and couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the short boy beside her.

"Clarke!" they yelled gaining Kaitlyn's attention. She turned her sight towards Abby and Clarke, and began to cry the moment she saw her curly haired half brother. In a few quick moments, she was beside him and hugging him with all her might sobbing as a sense of relief fell over her. Sam grabbed his cell phone to take a picture of the moment knowing his Aunt Maria would want to see it.

"Where have you been?!" Kaitlyn cried tightening her grip on Clarke.

"I'll tell you in your room." Clarke whispered, his mouth suddenly dry. He had been anxious to see his friend and strongest ally but he hadn't realized just how nervous. He had explaining to do and he wanted to make sure to make every second with her and all his other first friends count. Kaitlyn agreed and dashed upstairs with him to finally get a chance to know what had happened to him in these past months that had filled her with an intense worry and grueling fear that her friend was dead.

Everyone in the Gutierrez household knew about the disappearance of Clarke and how much it had affected Kaitlyn. She had opened the letter from him on the same day Clarke had left for Hogwarts. Letters weren't private in the house due to having a large family which always meant everything is everyone's business. The letter had been taken from the mailbox around one o'clock and opened an hour later when Kaitlyn got home to do so. At first she skipped reading it believing her friend to simply have sent her some secret message in their old secret language, something they used to do when they were much younger. She didn't actually open it until after Clementine called her house to ask if she too had received a frightening goodbye note from Clarke. When she heard that, she tore it open and ran upstairs to read it in piece.

"Dear Katie,

I am sorry to tell you that we might not be seeing each other anymore. When you open this I'll be long gone, I was invited to attend a school far away. I have run away to be there. I wanted to thank you for being such a good friend but I didn't have the time or courage to do it in person so here it is in this letter. Thank you for bandaging me up every time something with Baldric or Mum occurred. You always understood I didn't like to talk about it because then it would finally feel real and not like some bad dream. You were always on my side even if I was being silly. You put so much effort to help me and care for me. You gave me a place to stay when my home was deemed unsafe because of the abuse and you never asked me if I was okay if you knew I wasn't. You would just hold me and watch movies with me.

You were my first friend and you haven't left. I can't stay. I can't bare it anymore. I know you want me to be strong, but I can't. It's too much. I hope to see you again soon. Take care of Ben he forgets to care for himself sometimes.

You're loving brother and friend

Clarke"

The letters caused their own chaos for each friend. When it sunk in, Kaitlyn fell into a state of constant declining. While Clarke hadn't been around very often the last couple years, before she could always go to his house to see him because he was always there. She lost her security blanket when he up and left from her life. The rest of her family was also affected by it, her cousins who had grown up around Clarke and those who were on his side fell into a state of paranoia over what might happen to them. Abby had proposed the idea he could be dead a month in.

Clementine's grades declined for a short while because she had been too busy, especially in the first week trying to figure out where Clarke was. Her teachers became worried when her As dropped to Cs, and it didn't take long for her pompous parents to send her to live with her uncle, Ryan, so he could straighten her out. He became a bit like a therapist for her and after the first month got her back on track. The hurt and concern for Clarke, never left though and it lurked in her mind.

Austin got into more fights. His guess about what happened to his friend was that he had been killed by his parents and they wrote the letters so the kids would keep quiet about the abuse. He couldn't stand knowing his friend was abused and his parents might have killed him, so he almost blew the secret more than once and was only able to be shut up by Clementine. The disappearance caused all the friends to fight more and he would especially go after Ben.

Ben spent his time with the adults, he would hang more around his parents so he could find out if they knew something about Clarke's disappearance. When he wasn't with them he was with Kaitlyn trying to pull her out of her depression. He would try to assure her that it would be okay or he would just hold her and let her cry. When Austin picked fights with him he would simply attempt to shove him away. He would often go to Clarke's house and play nice with his parents asking them about how they were holding up and offering his family's support.

Each child handled it differently when he disappeared, but when he came back they all did the same thing: they would hug him or cry and ask where he's been. They held a meeting the same day he got back, this time at the part instead of Kaitlyn's house. It wasn't much of a discussion as it was playing with Clarke and talking to him about what has been happening.

It was a good day for Clarke, he went back home with a smile and with promises to write once he got back to school. It stayed a good day until Baldric got home.