You're Not What I Thought

Chapter Fifteen

Luke's Point of View 

I sat in the hospital cafeteria, just eating a bag of chips I got from the vending machine. I seriously have to stop snacking, this is like my 3rd bag. Calum and Ashton went home to sleep, while Michael's mom and I were going to stay for the night. Mrs. Clifford went home to shower about an hour ago, so I was on Michael duty. I wonder what Andy said to Michael. I hope it was something for them to solve everything and live happily ever after together. I looked at my watch and saw that I was gone for 20 minutes. They were probably done with their talk, so I walked back to the room. I entered the room, not really looking up from my bag of chips. 

"Hey Michael, do you think if I keep eating these chips I'll get really fat?" I ask with my back faced to him while I close the door. I hear no response and I get puzzled. 

"Michael?" I call as I turn around to see an empty bed. Oh no. I take in the scene and look in the bathroom. I opened the bathroom door to reveal no one. I was in a state of panic at this point. I just lost a hurt Michael at 9 at night. Shit, his mom will be back soo-

"Hi Luke, where's Michael?" Just my luck. I turn around to see Mrs. Clifford and I awkwardly smile, trying to make the situation better than it actually was. 

"Luke, where's Michael." she repeats. 

"Um," I starts, "I lost him?" I feel like I just shot her with a bullet of worry. Her face turns into a face of panic and concern. 

"What do you mean you lost him?" she says. 

"Andy came to talk to him and they wanted to talk alone so I went to the cafeteria, and when I came back, Michael was gone." I say shamefully. I feel a wave a guilt hit me. This is my fault. What if he got beat up again? What if he got hit by a car? What if he got mugged? What if he's dead? Oh my God. 

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Clifford." I say with misery evident in my voice. 

"We need to call the police." she says and dials. She starts talking to the police and I just stand there, freaking out. 

"Yes, he's 18 and has bleach blonde hair. He's hurt. Yes. Mater Hospital. Thank you." she says and hangs up the phone. 

"The police are going to come here, and we'll initiate a plan." she says and I nod. 

"I'm scared Mrs. Clifford." I tell her and she hugs me. 

"Me too Luke." she says. After our hug, we walk to the lobby of the hospital and meet the police. 

"Around what time did he leave?" the policeman asks and I shurgs. 

"I'm not sure, but I can call Andy and ask her." I tell the policeman and he nods at me. I dial Andy's number and wait till she picks up. 

"Hello." she says. 

"Andy! Where are you!?" I say a little too freaked out. 

"Why? What happened!? Is Michael okay!?" she asks worriedly. 

"No, you need to get to the hospital right now. Michael ran away or dissappeared." I tell her. She says she's on her way, so we wait for her to get here. A few minutes later, she shows up and comes up to me. 

"Any luck yet?" she asks me and I shake my head. 

"No, but the police want to ask you some questions since you were last with him." I tell her and she walks up to the police. 

"What's your name?" the policeman asks her. 

"Andy, I'm a friend of Michael's." she tells him. 

"Luke tells me you were the last one with him." he says and she nods. "Can you tell us what happened?" 

"Um, I was talking with Michael and he told me to leave, so I did. We didn't have the best talk, so I just went home. I didn't think that Luke wouldn't be back soon. I had no idea that he dissappeared." she says and we all sigh. We don't know where he is and it is worrying all of us. 

"I guess we will have to send some search parties. I'll tell the force to send two, one north, one south. You are welcomed to look around, but if you find him, tell us so we can call the search party off." the policeman says and we all nod. Mrs. Clifford says that we'll drive around the places we think he'd go and look around. We tell the nurse to see if he comes back. 

***

We've spent the past hour and a half looking for him. I swear, we went all over town. The first place we went was his house. He wasn't there. Then we went to mine's, Calum's, and Ashton's, but he wasn't there. Along the way we picked up Calum and Ashton for help. We went to the school, even though we all knew he wasn't going to be there. We looked around the park and along all the sidewalks around the neighborhood. He was nowhere to be found. Mrs. Clifford, Andy, Calum, Ash, and I were just sitting in the car, pondering where to look next. 

"How upset was he?" Ashton asks Andy and she looks up from her lap. 

"Pretty upset." she says. "I can't believe I made this happen." 

"It's not all your fault, I didn't keep a watchful eye." I tell her, but she shakes her head. 

"I'm the one who ticked him off. I should have never came to the hospital. None of this would have happened." she says. 

"Don't say that, you didn't try to make him upset." Calum says to her and places a hand on her shoulder. 

"I'm so worried." she says and a tear streams down her face. 

"Me too." we all say. 

"Where could he be?" Ashton asks. We sit in silence for a while, trying to find an answer. 

"Oh my God." Andy says and we all give her an excited and suspicious look. 

"What!?" I ask her. 

"I think I know where he is."