T.K. walks back into the waiting room to wait for Avery after her therapy appointment. After 15 minutes of waiting, he walks up to the desk.

'Hi, erm, my sister had an appointment. I told her I'd pick her up - her session should have finished by now. Do you know how long she'll be?' T.K. asks her.

'What's your sister's name?' The receptionist asks.

'Avery Kate Strand.' T.K. responds. The receptionist types Avery's name into her computer and after a couple of minutes looks back up at T.K..

'She isn't here.' The receptionst shakes her head.

'What do you mean she isn't here?!' T.K. exclaims.

'Her therapist was running late so we gave Avery the option to either wait or reschedule.' The receptionist informs him. That was probably around an hour and a half ago.

'Right, thanks.' T.K. sighs and the recepitonist smiles and nods. As he's walking out of the office, he gets his phone out and calls Avery. It goes straight to voicemail. 'Avery, when you get this, call me back, please.' He leaves a mesage. He hangs up and calls Owen.

'T.K., how did Avery do?' Owen asks as soon as he answers.

'Avery convinced me to leave her alone.' T.K. says. 'She left.'

'What?' Owen asks confused.

'I'm on my way to the station, I'll explain when I get there. I'm gonna text Carlos, see if he can drive around looking for her.' T.K. says before quickly hanging up. He goes to text Carlos but then he realises something. He goes into his contacts but instead of texting Carlos, he texts someone else.

To: Chimney (118 - LA)

Hey, sorry to bother you. Avery has gone missing. It's been a tough few days and I think she might be making her way to LA. Can you keep your eye out for her? 

In L.A. Chimney is sat at the table with everyone when he gets the message from T.K. Eddie notices that his eyebrows are furrowed.

'You okay, Chim?' Eddie asks. Everyone turns their attention to Chimney.

'Erm- kinda.' Chimney nods. 'You remember Avery?' Everyone nods. 'It's been a tough few days for her and has gone missing. Her brother thinks she might be coming here.' 

'I'll text Athena, see if she can keep an eye out for her.' Bobby states.

.

Back in Austin, Avery has packed an overnight bag with some spare clothes, pyjamas, food and drink, her wallet, passport, fake ID and a good few books alongside her IPad, a burner phone and chargers. She is sat at the bus station reading. 

All passengers for the 3pm Greyhound to Dallas, please make your way to stop 5A

Avery puts her book in her bag, stands up and walks to the stop. 

'Ticket?' The driver asks when she's about to board. Avery shows him her ticket. He looks at the ticket and then back at Avery. 'I'm also going to need to see some ID. You need to be over 18 to travel this distance and you look a little young.' The driver states, seeing that she'll be changing at Dallas to go on to L.A. Avery takes her fake ID out of her bag and shows it to him. 

'Thank you.' The driver nods, handing her ticker back and motioning for her to sit. She finds her seat and once she's settled, she disables the GPS on her phone, IPad and Apple Watch.

.

A few hours later, everyone from the 126 and Carlos are gathered at Owen + T.K's.

'We've searched everywhere she might be.' Owen tells them. 'No luck.' 

'She's also packed herself a bag alongside her passport so that has confirmed my suspicions that she's gone to L.A.' T.K. adds. 'I've contacted a firefighter she grew close to over there. His boss's wife is a police sergeant, they're going to keep an eye out for him.' 

'Are you two going to L.A. too?' Judd queries. 

'Not until we know she's definitely there.' Owen shakes his head. 'We want to be here just in case she comes back.' Carlos' phone pings and he looks at it. 

'I got something.' Carlos looks up. Everyone turns their attention to him. 'Since Avery is high risk I was able to get the tech team to trace her phone. She's disabled all GPS but last known location was the bus station. I'll go down there and check it out.'

'I'll come with.' T.K. states. He looks at his dad.

'Go.' Owen nods. 'Call me if you find anything.' 

Twenty minutes later, T.K. and Carlos are arriving at the bus station. They walk up to the ticket booth.

'Good evening, gentlemen. How can I help?' The clerk smiles. 

'Austin P.D, Officer Carlos Reyes.' Carlos flashes his badge. 'We were wondering if you sold any tickets to or have seen this girl?' T.K shows the clerk a picture of Avery. 

'Her name's Avery Strand.' T.K. informs them. 'She's my sister.' The Clerk looks closely at the picture. 

'I did see her.' The clerk nods. 'But I personally didn't sell her any tickets. Do you know where she might be travelling to? I can check the booking system.' 

'We think she might be making her way to L.A.' T.K. replies. The clerk looks down at the computer and after a couple of minutes, looks back up.

'There was a booking made through the app to go to L.A. via Dallas but it wasn't made under the name Avery Strand.' The clerk says. 

'Was it made under the name Kate Strand by any chance?' T.K. questions. 'That's her middle name.' 

'It was.' The clerk nods. 'Is she in danger?' 

'Yeah.' Both T.K. and Carlos nod. 

'Let me notify security and TSA.' The clerk says. 'They can take you to a private room where you can and get hold of the driver of the bus to L.A.' 

'It's already left?' T.K. asks.

'She booked a direct connection. No wait time.' The clerk says.

'Then let's go.' T.K. nods.

.

Another few hours have passed. The Greyhound Avery is on to L.A. is at a rest station. Everyone is outside stretching their legs. As they are about to board, a couple of police cars pull up with lights and sirens.

'Crap.' Avery whispers to herself. Since she has her bag on her shoulder, she slowly walks away, trying not to draw attention to herself and hides at the back of the gas station they'd stopped at. She peeks around the corner and sees the driver talking to the officers and looking through the bus manifest. The driver nods and one officer climbs on board and the other checks the ID of passengers who haven't re-boarded yet. After about 5-10 minutes, the officer that was on the bus steps off and shakes his head, the other officer also shakes his head. The two officers start walking around, shouting Avery's name. Avery fumbles through her bag, takes out a cap and puts it on. She then carries on walking away until she's far enough away to not be caught. She takes the burner phone out of her bag and dials a number. She puts the phone to her ear. 'Hey, it's me.' She says as soon as the person on the other side picks up. 'If I text you where I am, how soon can you get me a ride?'

.

In Austin, Owen has joined T.K. and Carlos at the bus station, they are in the security offices. Carlos has just heard back from the officers that caught and searched the bus. 

'Some officers where able to catch the bus just as they were re-boarding at a rest stop.' Carlos starts. 'The driver told them that she was on the bus but when officers searched and checked ID's, she wasn't there.' 

'She must've known they were there for her and ran.' One of the security officers states. 'It seems she's dead set on getting to L.A.' 

'What we don't know is why.' T.K. states. 'She has a history of psychosis but it's been fine, she's been taking her meds.' 

'But if she suddenly stopped taking her meds in the past few days, it could have caused an episode.' Owen tells T.K.

'If she as been having a psychotic episode, she's damn good at hiding it.' T.K. sighs. 

.

Back where Avery is, a car is pulling up in front of her. The window rolls down and she sees her friend, Jason, smiling at her. Avery opens the door, chucks her bag on the back seat and climbs in, shutting the door behind her.

'Timing is as impeccable as always.' Jason says.

'Just drive.' Avery states. 'Get me away from here before the cops stop you.' 

'Geez, Ave.' Jason sighs. 'What kinda trouble are you in?' He starts driving. 

'I may have run from my therapy appointment after rescheduling because my therapist was running late.' Avert tells him. 'Without telling my dad or brother.'

'But if the cops found you-'

'They figured out what I'm doing.' Avery finishes. 'Given all your contacts, I thought you were gonna get someone to pick me up, I didn't expect you to.'

'Nice to see you too' Jason replies, laughing sarcastically. Avery hits him in the chest with the back of her hand. 'Ow.' He rubs his chest with one of his hands before placing it back on the wheel. 'I was on my back to L.A. from El Paso, visiting family. If I'd have known you were coming to L.A., I'd have come to L.A. and picked you up. When you called I was about 15 minutes away.'

'Hence why you said "timing is as impeccable as always".' Avery says.

'Yup.' Jason nods. 'What are you going to L.A. for anyways?' 

'There are some demons I need to battle.' Avery sighs. 

'To do with your mom?' Jason queries and Avery nods. 'Man, when you told me what she did, I wanted to kill her all over again.' Avery glares at him. 'What?' He laughs. 'You said you wanted to do the same.' 

'That's because I would.' Avery nods. 'She lied to me. She manipulated me. What's your excuse?' 

'She manipulated and hurt my best friend.' Jason says seriously. 'That's my excuse.' He adds. 'I saw first hand how angry you were at your dad and then when you found out the truth you couldn't stop feeling guilty.' He continues. 'And you still feel guilty. Is that why you're going to L.A.? To try and get rid of that feeling?' 

'I need to do something. When I first got to Austin I was a total bitch to him. He didn't deserve that.' Avery responds. 

'And he doesn't deserve worrying about whether your safe.' Jason raises an eyebrow. 'Before you say anything, I'm not going to tell anyone you're here. That's for you to do.' 

'Thanks.' Avery smiles slightly. 'Listen-'

'You can crash with me.' Jason cuts her off. 'Mom's out of state. I don't want you sleeping rough or in some creepy motel.' 

'You're the best.' Avery grins at him. 

'I know I am.' Jason beams. 

'Arrogant.' Avery mutters. 

'Run-away.' Jason smirks.

'Oof- burn.' Avery exhales as she puts a hand on her chest, pretending to be offended. 'Couldn't think of a better insult?'

'I could never insult you.' Jason replies.

.

It has been a couple of days, T.K. and Owen have arrived in L.A. and are working with L.A.P.D to track Avery down. Avery has been staying with Jason and has kept her phone off so she doesn't see any texts or missed calls from Owen or T.K. Owen and T.K. are outside the 118 talking to Chimney.

'Have you heard from her?' Owen asks Chimney. 

'Not yet.' Chimney shakes his head. 'She hasn't reached out to anyone else either.' He continues. 'I've been looking for her on my off days but so far I've had no luck.'

'She could be anywhere.' T.K. sighs frustrated 'I should have stayed with her, then none of this would have happened.' 

'Don't blame yourself, son.' Owen puts his hand on T.K.'s shoulder. 'She's smart and persuasive.' 

'We'll carry on keeping an eye out for her.' Chimney assures them. 'We passed her picture out to other stations so they know who she is if the come across her on a call.' 

'We appreciate it.' Owen nods. 'Her picture is going out to the news any minute. There's no sign of foul play, obviously, but because she's at risk, we were advised to let the media cover the story. She'll be embarrassed if she sees it but if it gets her home safe, I'm fine with that.' 

.

At Jason's house, Avery and Jason are in Jason's room, talking. They are both sat cross-legged on his bed. 

'Now that you've had some rest, when are you going to fight those demons you were talking about.' 

'Today.' Avery replies. 

'And then you'll call your dad?' Jason asks. 

'Yeah.' Avery nods. Jason's phone pings and he looks at it. 

'Well you better get going now. The whole of L.A. will be looking for you.' Jason states. 

'What?' Avery asks confused whilst taking the phone from him. She sees the breaking news alert on his phone. '"At risk teen missing from Austin, Texas believed to be in Los Angeles".' She reads the headline. Underneath it is a picture she posted on her Instagram the day before she left Austin. 'At risk?!' She exclaims as she chucks the phone back to him. 'What makes them think I'm at risk?' Jason raises an eyebrow. 'Fine.' She huffs. 'Yes, I'm at risk but did they really have to go the news? It's not like I was abducted.' 

'But you could have been.' Jason tells her. 'Look, go do your thing, come back and we'll call your dad.' 

'Thanks.' Avery smiles slightly. 'I'll back by 5pm.' They hug and she leaves.

It gets to 8pm and Avery hasn't returned to Jason's. He is still in his room waiting. He had tried calling her but she had left both her usual phone and burner phone in his room.

'Screw it.' He says to himself. He picks up his car keys and heads out.

Twenty minutes later, Jason is pulling up in front of the police station. He quickly pays for a ticket to park before walking in and to the front desk. The desk sergeant looks up at him.

'Hi, my name's Jason Anderson. I have some information on the whereabouts of Avery Strand.'

~~~~

This chapter was getting long so I decided to end it here! Where do you think Avery has disappeared to now? I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Let me know what you think!

Much love