The Boy In The Box (Newtmas au)

Chapter 31

Newt's POV

"Alby?"

Oh my God. I can't believe it. It really is him! After all this time! It really is my best childhood friend. I run towards him and carefully put my arms around him.

"Alby! Are you alright?"

His voice is small and shaky, like he doesn't really know the answer himself. I have to listen very carefully to understand the words coming out of his mouth. "I think so."

I let go of him and take a look at him from top to bottom. It's definitely him, but he looks bloody horrible. His dark skin is somehow pale and his eyes look hollow. Overall, he outs a look of confusion, like he has no idea what is happening.

"I don't think you are, Alby. What happened?"

Alby frowns. "What do you mean, what happened? I thought you would know what happened. Apparently you don't."

Now I am starting to be confused too. What the bloody hell is this shank even talking about? "How should I know what happened, Alby?"

The man shrugs. "I don't know, did we go to a party or something? I can't remember anything."

"Alby. What are you talking about? How could we have gone to a party?" I exclaim loudly.

"I don't know, okay! I must have been really drunk." Then it suddenly hit me.

"Alby," I say, my voice softer than before, "you really have no clue, do ya?" He shakes his head, so I carefully bring out: "Alby. You've been gone for two years."

And in that moment, everything starts happening all at once. In a matter of seconds, my best friend is on his feet, pacing over the porch. His hands are on his head and confused eyes look around. It looks like he's trying to get a grip on reality, but he's failing hard. He is breathing fast and he might even soon begin to hyperventilate. He's walking around faster and faster and I want to stop him, but just as I am about to reach him, he stops. His eyes land on Thomas and for a moment Alby just studies his face. Then he says on a rough tone:

"Who the fuck are you?"

Thomas stands still on the ground, astonished because the stranger is being rude to him. I can see anger and annoyance filling his eyes. Tommy isn't the person to let people be rude to him. He's the rude one.

I decide that I should take action before Thomas says something that will completely destroy Alby's senses. 

"Alby, this is Thomas. He's my boyfriend." Alby's body visibly relaxes, but his eyes still show a hint of hostility. He quietly apologizes.

"I'm sorry. I'm Alby." Thomas only nods, obviously not liking my friend very much.

I put my hand on Alby's shoulder. "Maybe you should come inside and then you can tell us how you got here." I lead him inside my apartment while Thomas follows with the bags. Alby sits down on the couch and once again it hits me that he is actually sitting here. Alive and well. "Please, Alby. Speak."

Alby takes a deep breath and then he says: "Like I told you, I don't know what happened at all. Today I just woke up in a buggin' ally. Shucking creepy if you ask me. And then I started walking around a bit until I started seeing familiar streets. Your apartment just happened to be close-by, so I thought I'd find you here. I couldn't find a key of my apartment anyway. And when you weren't here, I just sat down and waited. I just hoped you would come back soon."

"Fucking hell," Thomas breaths, that being his first words since we came home. Then Alby pleads: "Now you have to tell me what you know, Newt. I need to know what happened to me." 

I do as told, although I don't have much to say. "Well, about two years ago, you disappeared. No bloody signs or anything. You just disappeared. The police searched everywhere for you, but you were never found. And now I just found you on my doorstep. But I'm glad you're back, shuckface. I've missed you so much." I give myself the permission to hug him again, and he hugs me back.

He lets go after a minute or two and asks: "How could this have happened? How can I possibly not remember two years of my life." Thomas adds: "Yeah, it's like a weird deleted scene from a film or something. You know, after the film comes out, everyone wants to know what happened in the deleted scenes."

Alby nods. "Exactly! And I need to find out what happened. I have to know where I was these past two years." A frown sets on my face. I have a really bad feeling about all this. It's like we're just going to get in trouble again. I really had enough dangerous situations for the rest of my life. I still have nightmares very often and I'm scared Ethan and Edward will come back. I really don't need another crime scene in my life.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I hesitantly ask Alby. He puts his hands up in defense and exclaims: "I need to know, Newt! I can't live my life not knowing what I did for two years! I just have to find out." Then his eyes softened. "Please, Newt. I need your help. Please help me find the answers."

It's hard questioning yourself and thinking about life-depending choices when you have two men looking at you with something in their eyes showing you are the only hope they have. I could never say no to helping my best friend.

I'm just scared. Scared of losing him again, just after I got him back after two bloody years. I don't think I could ever go through something like that again.

But the look in Alby's eyes make me answer. I just hope I made the right decision. "Alright. I'll do it. We're going to find whoever did this to you." Alby smiles. "Thanks man." I nod at him, when Thomas catches my attention.

"What is it, Tommy?" I ask the guy who keeps waving at me. Thomas sighs. "Don't you think people should know that Alby here is back? I mean, the police have looked so hard for him and now he's just here. I think we should tell them." Then he turns to Alby himself. "Your family should know you're back. They've probably missed you like hell. I don't know you, but I bet there are a lot of people out there who can't wait to see you back after two years."

I nod. "He's right, Albs. We should let the world know you have reappeared. And if we get to the police station, we might even be able to find out more about what you were up to these past years. Who knows what they can find out now that you're back."

Alby sighs. "I guess you're right. I want to see my mom anyways. She must have been really shucking devastated when I disappeared. Come on, let's go to the police station."

I agree and we leave for the station immediately. It's time to let the world know Alby is back. And God I hope he's here to stay.

***

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

I know it's only the 31th but you can call that New Year, right? It's also my mum's birthday so I'll party anyways :)

I made this Newtmas playlist on Spotify and now I'm listening to it and it has only played 1D so far. It just hit me how many One Direction songs are in that playlist. whoops

I'm sorry for not updating for a while. I feel really dumb because I finished this chapter a few days ago but I just forgot to update it these past days. But anyways, I hope you enjoy it :)

ps. please give me review! I'd love for you to tell me what I can do better or should do or shouldn't do or whatever