To the Moon and Back

What if she got caught by the cops this time?

I call Luke who has been sniffing around the area probably noticing Sharky's scent and we go back to the car.

I sit down and think for a minute then I decide I will have to try and find out so I head to the police Department on Eastern Avenue and walk in.

The office is pretty quiet in this early morning hours and there are only a couple of officers working at the desks behind the glass security wall, taking phone calls or typing into their computers.

"Excuse me sir," I approach the officer at the front desk. He is a guy in his 40s and about half a head shorter than me and pretty chubby, he wears no cap and his hair is thin and greasy. "I am looking for a person and I would want to know if she is with you."

The guy looks up from his paperwork and frowns as he sees me, he looks me up and down with a derogative expression. I don't care about that though, I haven't shaved in days and with my tattoos, leather jacket and ripped jeans I probably look like a criminal.

"Is this person missing? For how long? We do not take reports unless the person is missing for at least 72 hours." He says in a bored voice as if he has to say this sentence pretty often.

I clear my throat. "No officer, or maybe yes, the person is missing, but all I want to know is if you have, sort of, picked her up."

Now he looks at me with more interest. "Are you thinking she would be the victim of an accident or an assault?"

"I don't know, maybe, but she could also have been arrested."

I have his full attention now. "Uhuh, what's the name of the person?" He grabs his keyboard and looks at me for an answer.

"It's, Shar- , I mean Charlie,"

"Surname?" He starts typing.

It occurs to me that I don't even know her full name. What kind of a friend am I? Why did I never ask her? I am always so occupied with my thoughts and feelings that I am never aware of the simplest things you do when you meet people.

Oh god, I hate myself.

"I don't know" I say feeling defeated.

The officer sighs and looks up to me from his desk.

"Look, if you are not a relative I am not allowed to give out any information about the arrest of a person anyway. It is part of the privacy regulations."

"But-, but- I need to find her, I really need to know what happened. Please. I am - her friend" I feel desperate now, how could I explain to him what I feel for her, what we are. I run my hands through my hair to try and pull myself together.

"Uhm, well, we could sort of speak hypothetically." The officers voice changed to a friendlier tone. " it was a pretty quiet night, we only had a few accidents and arrests. So if you could describe the person, then maybe I could give you my guess, if I have seen someone that matches your description tonight."

"Oh, Okay," I smile because there might be some hope at last. " well she is about that tall" I make a motion with my hand at the top of my chest. " She is in her early twenties, has short blonde tangled curls, amazingly blue eyes, an awesome smile and likes to wear black hoodies and jeans, and she is Australian."

The officer has to grin at my description but then he looks in his computer and sighs rubbing his neck with his hand.

"Well I am not saying that it is her, but we have arrested a person tonight whose description would match yours. She has been charged with federal property damage and drug possession. As she is not an US citizen there will be a hearing tomorrow morning and if that doesn't go well she will be deported to her country of origin."

"What?" I am so upset that I didn't get all of what he was telling me.

"That means, when the judge at the hearing decides to sent her back to Australia she will be escorted to the airport straight away and put onto the next possible flight." He looks at me. "I am sorry, that's all I can tell you."

"When is the hearing?" I ask automatically because I can't think straight at the moment.

"It is not scheduled yet, but it will not be open to the public anyway. That means you can not attend it." He looks at me to check if I understood, I probably seem like a retarded person in my state of confusion.

"Can I see her?" I ask grabbing a hold onto the edge of the desk because I am not sure my legs will support me much longer.

"No, sorry. A person in custody is not allowed to have any visitors." He smiles sadly and shakes his head.

"Okay, thanks for your help." I turn around and walk out to my car like I am on auto-pilot, I feel nothing, I am empty and numb, I can't even cry any more.

I don't really know how I got back to her place but I only realise I'm there when I drive into the backyard of the building.

I climb the stairs with Luke jumping up happily beside me. He has no idea of the kind of tragedy that happened. How blessed to know nothing and just live in the moment, I think.

I enter the apartment and everything reminds me of the times we had together. The canvas is still taped to the floor and the empty bottles that sit on the kitchen counter are the ones we drank last night.

If only I would have gone straight back to her instead of stupidly drowning my hurt in alcohol, maybe she wouldn't have gone out to spray, and I could have saved her.

It is all my fault. I wasn't there when she needed me and she doesn't even know that I broke up with Lisa, all she knows it that I left without a goodbye.

It is morning when I realise I must have been sitting on the couch for hours just staring at the walls. I don't know what to do.

Notes

Poor Alex. :( Also I decided to let the story take place in LA. So I need to switch some things but I will make more sense in future chapters this way, so... just all please forget about Baltimore and think California instead. :)